Renewing Your Mind – "The Meaning of Covenant"

Date: January 27, 2026
Host: Ligonier Ministries
Speaker: Dr. R.C. Sproul (from archival series, "The Promise Keeper: The God of the Covenants")
Summary Prepared for Listeners

Episode Overview

This episode explores the profound meaning and biblical significance of "covenant." Dr. R.C. Sproul explains how God’s covenants form the backbone of redemptive history, anchoring His promises and actions firmly within real human history rather than abstract or mythical realms. The discussion addresses misconceptions about salvation’s relationship to history, the nature and translation challenges of covenant terminology, and the pivotal moments that define covenantal transitions in Scripture.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. God’s Covenant Promises in Real History

• Fulfillment of Promises:

  • Dr. Sproul opens with an affirmation that God acts within actual time and space, not merely in an abstract spiritual sense.
    • “When God makes a promise, he fulfills it, and he does so in real time and space.” (00:00, Speaker A)

• Centrality in Redemptive History:

  • All covenants—from Abraham to Christ—unfold within real historical events and lineages, culminating in the arrival of Jesus.
    • “Everything in Old Testament history before the birth of Christ was moving towards that moment.” (00:06, B)

2. The Controversy of ‘Redemptive History’

• History vs. Existential Experience:

  • Dr. Sproul details 20th-century theological debates, particularly the ideas of Rudolf Bultmann who separated “salvation history” from literal history, demythologizing miracles as mere myths for existential impact rather than historical fact.
    • “Bultmann... believed that salvation is not something that happens on this level, but it happens vertically... immediately and directly from above. Sort of a mystical thing when a person has a crisis experience of faith.” (01:10, B)

• Scholarship Responds:

  • Oscar Cullmann and Herman Ridderbos countered by defending historicity as essential to biblical revelation:
    • “There is such a thing as salvation history because the Bible does give us the history of redemption, the history of salvation.” (03:30, B)

3. Biblical Events as Historic, Not Merely Historical

• Chronos and Kairos:

  • Dr. Sproul distinguishes between ordinary time (chronos) and meaningful, history-shaping moments (kairos), using both biblical and modern examples (e.g., the birth of Christ, Pearl Harbor, 9/11):
    • “Kairos has a special meaning... moments in time that are pregnant in their significance.” (09:50, B)

• Fullness of Time:

  • The arrival of Christ is presented as the quintessential kairos—God’s decisive act in fully-saturated, pivotal history:
    • “At the heart of the biblical announcement of the coming of the Messiah is the statement that Jesus came in the fullness of time.” (12:30, B)

4. Covenant Terminology: Berit, Diathēkē, and Translation Issues

• Old vs. New Testament Language:

  • Dr. Sproul explains the translation of the Hebrew 'berit' (‘covenant’) to the Greek 'diathēkē’ (‘testament’), noting the mismatch and why alternatives were rejected:
    • “There wasn’t any word that really matched the Hebrew term berit that is now translated by the English word covenant.” (17:50, B)

• Covenant as Divine Promise, Not Mere Agreement:

  • Divine covenants are arrangements made by the sovereign Initiator (God), not between equals, and carry irrevocable, grace-based promises.
    • “When God makes a covenant with his people, he can punish them for covenant breaking, but he never, ever destroys the covenant promises that he makes.” (20:00, B)
    • On the difference between Greek synothēkē and diathēkē: “The Hebrews would have none of that... covenants that God makes with his people are made between a superior and a subordinate, not between two equal parties.” (21:30, B)

5. Distinctions in Biblical Covenantal Eras

• Old Testament vs. Old Covenant:

  • Sproul highlights the difference between literary (Old/New Testament books) and historical (Old/New Covenant periods) uses of the term:
    • “When we talk about Old Testament, New Testament, we’re not talking about two covenants. We’re talking about two books...” (23:10, B)

• When Does the New Covenant Begin?

  • Dr. Sproul proposes that the New Covenant era begins with Jesus at the Last Supper, not at Pentecost:
    • “I’m persuaded that the New Covenant begins in the upper room the night before Jesus’ death, when he changes the significance of the Passover and declares the making of a new covenant in his blood, which covenant is then ratified the next day on the cross.” (24:00, B)

• Further Distinctions:

  • Promises to discuss next time: the “covenant of creation” (before the fall) and “covenant of redemption” (after the fall).
    • “The Old Covenant does not start until the fall... we distinguish between what we call the covenant of creation and the covenant of redemption.” (25:00, B)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “God’s fulfillment of covenants is critical to the message of both the Old and the New Testaments.” (00:33, Host – Nathan W. Bingham)
• “The Bible is filled with allusions to real history.... God’s working in and through the normal plane of history.” (05:10, B)
• On the significance of ‘kairos’: “Everything that ever happens in time is historical, but not everything that happens in time is historic.... Chirotic events take place not in some never never land of existential gnostic thinking, but actually in the plane of history.” (10:30-11:30, B)
• “The concept of berit is an agreement plus... the divine promise, the divine sanction that rests ultimately on the integrity of God and on his sovereignty, and not on our weaknesses as covenant partners.” (22:30, B)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic Summary | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–01:10| God’s promise-keeping in real time; Covenants overview | | 01:10–05:30| History vs. existentialism; Bultmann vs. Cullmann/Ridderbos | | 09:50–12:30| Chronos vs. Kairos; Historic moments and "fullness of time” | | 17:50–22:30| Language and translation of ‘covenant’ from Hebrew to Greek | | 21:30–23:10| Difference between covenants—divine sovereignty vs. equal agreements | | 24:00–25:00| When does the New Covenant begin? Last Supper and Cross | | 25:00–End | Upcoming discussion: covenant of creation vs. covenant of redemption |

Conclusion

Dr. Sproul grounds the biblical meaning of ‘covenant’ in both linguistic nuance and redemptive history, making a case that God acts decisively in history and his promises stand not on human reliability but on divine sovereignty and faithfulness. The historical, not mythical, nature of God’s work is essential to understanding the significance of biblical covenants, and this truth shapes the entirety of Christian theology and hope.

Next Episode Preview

Dr. Sproul promises to unpack the difference between the “covenant of creation” and the “covenant of redemption” in the forthcoming session, further illuminating how God relates to His people throughout all of history.