Divine Covenants in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Abraham)

The first stage of the divine covenant plan is revealed in the marital covenant between Adam and Eve. Even after they violate that covenant, God’s justice is mitigated by His sworn mercies. God renews a domestic covenant with Noah and his household (Gen 6:18). God renews a tribal covenant with Abram, who is called to serve as a channel of God’s fatherly blessing to all nations (Gen 12:2–3).

This Abrahamic covenant advances in three distinct divine covenant-making episodes.

God first makes a (kinship) covenant with Abram (Gen 15:1–21), which is then renewed—with Abraham—through the covenant of circumcision (Gen 17:1–27). Finally, God rewards his servant’s loyal obedience at the Aqedah by swearing to renew the covenant with Abraham’s seed (Gen 22:15–18). These covenants are cumulative. Genesis 15 describes the initial covenant with Abram, where God upgrades His earlier promise to make of him a great nation (Gen 12:2a) into a covenant oath (Gen 15:16–21). The circumcision covenant (Gen 17) upgrades the second promise of “a great name” (Gen 12:2b) into a covenant of “kingship” over many nations (Gen 17:6). Genesis 22 describes how God swears a covenant oath to the seed of Abraham (22:15–18), following the Aqedah, to confirm the third promise (Gen 12:3)—to make him the source of God’s fatherly blessing for “all nations” (Gen 12:3). The subsequent divine covenants in salvation history are grounded in the Abrahamic covenant.