Is The Covenant With God
Unconditional Love?

The covenant with God is a contract between God and humans.

It is only by religious covenant that God relates to humans...if we follow the revelations of both Old and New Testaments.

It is in God's covenants with us that he formalizes his promises to use and binds himself to keep his part of the bargain...if we keep our part.

Aristotle suggested that a relationship with God was not possible...because of the great disparity between God and humans.

But the God of the Scriptures solved the problem...by means of the covenant.

In a covenant...which is a contract...there are conditions binding on each party. No conditions...no covenant. No covenant...no relationship to God.

And those conditions are boundaries on our relationship to God...exactly how we relate to God and God to us.

A covenant and a contract are identical in form...and there is no such thing as a covenant...or a contract...without conditions binding on both parties. It would be a contradiction to hold otherwise.

After all...when you sign a contract...say to make car payments...the contract will give the details or conditions that you must comply with. Nowhere will it say...pay whatever you like...whatever you can...whenever you can...we don't care...we're just happy to have you as a customer.

And the same is true of God. God always lays down conditions for his people...and for himself.

People under contract...who operate as if there are no conditions suffer the penalties. So...

Covenants are contracts. They are usually...but not always...associated with religious matters. While the term contract is usually associated with ordinary civil matters. But they are identical in their elements.

The covenant and the contract have these elements in common...

• The subject matter must be lawful.
• Each party must be able to provide specified lawful benefits desired by the other party.
• There are stated conditions which each party must comply with and agrees to comply with.
• Both parties must accept and give free consent to the benefits and terms of the covenant or contract.
• There is a penalty clause for non-compliance with the conditions.

The fundamental element is the exchange of benefits. When benefits are accepted...obligations are incurred...and a contract goes live and online (so to speak).

The religious use of the covenant puts our fundamental relationship to God on a sound rational basis...as opposed to a mystical or quasi-mystical basis.

We know God's will...we know what to expect...what to do to fulfill our part...what happens when we don't.

Breaking with the conditions of the contract with God is sin...and it activates the penalty clause.

Using the list above...we can analyze God's covenants...God's contracts...with humanity starting with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden .

As you can see from the covenant with Adam and Eve...our relationship to God has a definite structure and...

that structure underlies all modern civil contracts and religious covenants...mutual benefits exchanged...terms and conditions that all parties to the agreement must follow...penalty clause.

You can check the contract between God and Noah (Gn 9:1ff)... the contractual promises to Abraham (Gn 17:9ff)...and the contract with Moses (Ex20:1ff).

And we can see that these foundational contracts...and all the others...between God and humanity are identical in form.

Each of the above elements is present in every covenant God makes with humanity. Even those God prizes highly...like Moses...must conform to the requirements of the agreement or bear the penalty clause.

And just like the banker will invoke the penalty clause...and foreclose on a property for non-compliance with the terms of the contract...God promises...in both Old and New Testaments...to invoke the penalty clause "on that day"...on Judgment Day.

And it is by these means that God closes the gap between our vast differences and enters into relationship with humanity.

God may love his creatures to an extent that the human mind cannot comprehend. But...there are conditions placed on us...if we are to receive the benefits of God's love...And there are penalties promised to those who fail to perform as agreed under the covenant.

This can be seen in a parent's love for a child.

The parent may look on her child with a sense of boundless love. But the only child who experiences unconditional love from its parents is the infant...up to about eleven months...who cannot get around on its own.

As soon as the child is capable of self locomotion...there won't be any change in the fact of the parent's love...but there will be conditions...boundaries and limitations...put in place...that the child must comply with...in order to enjoy the expression and benefits of her parent's love.

What teenager hasn't heard those tough love words from a parent:

Much of what goes on in family therapy is to get children and adolescents to comply with the conditions of the...loving...parents.

Breaking with the conditions of the contract with God is sin...and it activates the penalty clause. The idea of sin has no meaning if there were no conditions placed on us by God that we could violate.

But...as with most contracts...there is a grace period to make amends. But the amends must be timely because...

Judgment day is not reconciliation day (Mt 24:30,31).

Those who say "God loves me unconditionally"...do not know the scriptures because God denies those who do not live according to the covenant...even when they deceive themselves that they are doing so (Mt 7:21ff).

Much of what goes on in the sacrament of reconciliation...in the catholic church...is...or should be...to get the penitent back to observing the terms of the covenant with God. And that is...

When the rich man asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life (Mt 19:16ff)...Jesus responds...

Then Jesus iterates the commandments for the rich man and adds "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."

He also invites the man to untie himself from his possessions and follow him. But that was not a commandment...just a suggestion...a benefit which the man refused...and was free to refuse...without compromising his salvation.

Keeping the Ten Commandments as the foundation of one's relationship to God and as the foundation of ministry has several benefits for you...

• You are promised eternal life(Mt19:16ff
• You will be an effective minister because you will know where you are leading the people
• You will be a very effective spiritual director as you lead them to reconciliation under their contract with God

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