jeremiah1five said: Faith was not required in these two covenants. The covenant exists for the purpose of saving the Hebrew people and giving them eternal life. This was accomplished when God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for this people. This covenant is not a reciprocal covenant. God created man and from this God chose to separate one family and save not only the head of the family (Abraham) but also his descendants/seed.
Have you even read the covenant as written by Moses in Genesis 12, 15, and 17? If you did you'd see there is no mention of faith being required of Abraham or his descendants. And when we get to the Mosaic Covenant the only requirement is obedience. Have you even read the Pentateuch?
Here are the promises God made to Abram the Hebrew (Gen. 14:13.)
2 And
I will make of thee a great nation, and
I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:2–3.
Take note of: "In thee." God is referring to Abram's seed/descendants because "IN THEE" only Hebrews are his seed and later, mixed-race Hebrews, BUT NOT NON-HEBREW GENTILES for Gentiles do not come out of Abram's lions/seed. Non-Hebrew Gentiles called at the time Adamites are the seed of Ham and Japheth. Non-Hebrew Gentiles do not come out of Abram's loins. Two Hebrew parents cannot have non-Hebrew offspring.
More covenant promises from God to Abram:
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: Genesis 12:7.
And it should be noted that Abram DISOBEYED God and did not take his family as commanded by God. The ONLY person that is his family is Sarai, his wife, and the souls he got in Haran.
Lot is his brother's son, NOT his immediate family. He also took with him his father.
Abram was in Ur when God told him to "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee." Genesis 12:1.
According to Stephen
Abram STOPPED to live in Haran until his father died THEN he obeyed God to leave his country to a place God will show him.
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken;
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
Acts 7:2–4.
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. Genesis 11:30–31.
Abram did not OBEY God but took extended family, stopped in Haran UNTIL his father died, THEN he left to journey as God commanded him.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the
south. (EGYPT) Genesis 12:9.
10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into
Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. Genesis 12:10.
God promised further:
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir;
but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said,
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees,
to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And
also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And
thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 In t
he same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19
The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20
And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21
And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Genesis 15:4–21.
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee,
and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and
thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 And
I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and
I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7 And
I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And
I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee;
Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant
betwixt me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and
my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 And I will bless her,
and give thee a son also of her: yea,
I will bless her, and
she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael,
I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But
my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
Genesis 17:1–27.
The Abraham Covenant is described above. I have underlined God's promises and NOWHERE DOES GOD REQUIRE FAITH FROM ABRAHAM OR HIS SEED.
Here we see a twisted theology. We are told in Hebrews: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
Yet David says:
4 Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest,
And causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
Even of thy holy temple.
Psalms 65:4.
Saul wrote to the Hebrew people (Hebrews 11ff) and he is speaking/writing TO the HEBREW people. They are ALREADY in covenant and don't have to worry about faith. Dead men have no faith. It is Jesus' faith by which anyone who is in covenant with God is saved.
16 Knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16.
It is through covenant God saves the Hebrew people. And it is through Jesus' faith by which everyone in covenant is saved and everyone in the Abraham Covenant shall be saved. And faith in NOT required to be saved for it is Jesus' faith that is gifted to a covenant believer through which they are saved. Faith is a gift. Dead men have no faith which is why Jesus exercised His faith by which God honored and through which those in covenant are saved.
Both the Abrahamic and the Mosaic covenants required faith. That would be the only way they could come to Him, by believing that He exists and believing that they would be rewarded for seeking Him.
Read above. There is no faith required by God upon Abraham and his seed.
The Abrahamic covenant existed not only for the salvation of the Hebrews but for "all the families of the earth". Genesis 12:3:
Here is the Scripture which you so conveniently cut off the most important part of the passage:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3.
"In thee" means his seed, his biological seed, whether they are fully Hebrew or mixed-race Hebrew the only way a non-Hebrew Gentiles can be saved in to have at least one Hebrew parent in their ancestry for God's promise extends to Abraham's DNA.
And I will bless those who bless you (which includes his seed, Christ, and all those in Christ), and the one who curses you I will curse. (also includes Christ, and all those in Christ).
"And in you (includes Christ and those in Christ) all the families of the earth will be blessed." Not just Abraham, not just the Jews, but ALL THE SEED of Abraham, Christ and ALL IN HIM.
EVERY covenant is reciprocal, by definition. There is no promise of eternal life and salvation from God to mankind that does not have conditions that man must meet.
Besides circumcision God required nothing else, not even faith.
The Mosaic Covenant is the same. The only thing God required in this covenant is obedience. NOT faith.
Even when God first spoke to Abram, God told him to leave his country, his relatives, and his father's house and go to a land that God would show him. Hebrews tells us that that required obedience and faith for Abraham to do what God said. That was the condition.
Apparently you reject much of Paul's teachings, which encompasses all the teachings of Christ Himself and the entire New Testament- to your own destruction.
As I said above Abraham was disobedient. Instead of going where God told him to he stayed in Haran and until his father died, THEN he went forth where God instructed him.
You need a refresher course in the covenants.
Tell me, in Jeremiah 31:31-34 is described the New Covenant. Tell me...are non-Hebrew Gentiles included in this covenant?