Genesis 17:1–14
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We come now to a foundational chapter in the history of redemption. If you want to understand the Bible, you must understand the covenants. And if you want to understand the covenants, you must understand this one. Genesis 17 is where God formalizes, expands, and puts a visible, physical sign on the covenant He made with Abram back in chapter 15. This is not a new covenant, but a new administration of that same covenant of grace. And like all of God's dealings with men, it is filled with staggering promises and weighty obligations. We live in an age that loves promises but despises obligations. Modern evangelicals, particularly those of the baptistic persuasion, have a notoriously difficult time with this passage. They want to treat the Old Testament like the embarrassing attic of the Bible, full of strange and dusty artifacts that have no bearing on our sleek, modern, individualistic faith.