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The Grace-Filled Conditional Covenant
The Bible, in Deuteronomy 26:16–19, declares a covenant between God and Israel. It begins by reminding the people that God has commanded them to keep His statutes and judgments with all their heart and soul.
It also sets forth their duty to walk in God’s ways and keep His law. In return, God promises to make Israel a holy people, high above all nations of the earth. These verses point to a central biblical truth: God’s blessings are conditioned on obedience.
The Renewal of the Covenant
At this pivotal point in Deuteronomy, Moses is not just reviewing the law for Israel, he’s also renewing the covenant. The younger generation is on the brink of entering the promised Land.
In the subsequent chapters, particularly Deuteronomy 28, the conditions of the covenant are explained in detail through blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. This passage was so significant that an open Bible was once set to Deuteronomy 28 when U.S. presidents took their oath of office, underscoring the gravity of aligning one’s life and leadership with divine law.
This is of special interest recently since FBI Director Kash Patel took his oath on the Bhagavad Gita, a book that offers no consequences for disobedience or unrighteous behavior. (I’m not mad at Kash, simply saying that there is a night and day difference between the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita) More on that next week.
Some antinomian commentators today see these verses as a simple conclusion to Moses’s summary of the law. Yet scholars such as Anthony Phillips have pointed out that the blessing remains conditional upon obedience.
Israel’s great error was to assume that God’s blessings were inherent in their lineage or land, as though the covenant promises were an unconditional, inherited possession. The same error is often seen in various churches, nations, and families that have been blessed. They treat divine favor as a “permanent right” and forget that God’s covenant calls for continued faithfulness.
Grace and Law Together
These verses remind us that God graciously gives His covenant and law to Israel, not as a burden but as a gift. A covenant is a form of contract. When the contracting parties are equals, both have something to offer one another. However, God is wholly sovereign, and mankind can’t add much to that.
This is why His covenant is both an act of grace as well as a declaration of law. He redeems a people for himself, and in His mercy, he sets forth how they may live under His blessing. The inseparability of grace and law is a testament to the depth of God’s love. The Old Testament repeatedly shows that obedience leads to blessing, while disobedience leads to curses.
The sin of many throughout history has been to treat God’s providential blessings as though they were natural or automatic. When people assume they have a guaranteed claim on God’s favor regardless of obedience, they invite judgment. The Pharisees come to mind.
Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the need to walk in God’s ways, keep His statutes, and listen to His voice with all one’s heart and soul. This does not demand flawless obedience at all times but does require a total direction of faithfulness and loyalty to God’s covenant.
Blessings with Obligations
Obeying God’s covenant law is portrayed as the path to life. Deuteronomy 28 makes this choice explicit: obedience leads to life and blessing; disobedience leads to death and curse.
Psalm 1 reiterates the same truth by depicting the righteous as flourishing trees rooted in God’s word. In the same spirit, we are told to revere the covenant law grounded in God’s nature. Human law often reflects the arbitrary will of the state, but God’s law reveals His character and righteous order.
Verse 19 of Deuteronomy 26 contains a remarkable promise: that God will make His faithful people high above the nations he has made. This promise serves as a key to understanding how God governs history.
The operative legal framework here is that God is the sovereign Lord and Israel is His vassal people. God exalted Israel when they were faithful and judged them when they turned away. The same truth applies to any people or nation that acknowledges God’s covenant. If they remain faithful, they are blessed; if they reject Him, they invite His judgment.
Conditional Blessings in Both Testaments
Throughout scripture, grace and law are inseparable. Some have argued that the New Testament emphasizes only spiritual blessings, as though God’s gifts to believers today are wholly different from the material and national blessings once promised to Israel. Yet the Bible reveals that God does not simply bless the soul and ignores the body or communities.
Those dualists (like John Darby) who insist that everything in the Old Testament is merely material and that everything in the New is purely spiritual often contradict themselves by praying for physical healing, material provisions, and earthly prosperity. Nothing wrong with asking God for food to eat or that God keeps our families healthy, right? Or consider physical safety when we or our loved ones travel. In reality, prayers like this simply acknowledge the need for the unbroken continuity of God’s grace, both spiritual and material, across all generations.
In fact, our efforts to be obedient are at the very heart of the covenant. God recounts His gracious deeds for Israel and then requires that they obey His law and remain His people out of gratitude. No one should suppose that covenant blessings automatically belong to them because of national identity, church membership, or any form of race or heritage. From generation to generation, people must repent, believe, and obey. That’s the deal.
The Danger of Assuming Unconditional Favor
A recurring sin in Israel was the assumption that God’s love and favor were theirs unconditionally. In our era, many antinomians in the church are repeating the same error by talking about “unconditional love” in ways that ignore the call to holiness and faithful living.
Okay, 1 Peter 4:17 reminds us that judgment begins in the household of God, and the Gospels declare that those who have been given much will have much required of them. The more one receives God’s truth and blessing, the more they are accountable to him.
Our modern world often denies God’s absolute control in history, preferring the idea that life is governed by chance, random forces or human power. In contrast, the biblical covenant tells us that everything works according to God’s plan.
Our God is so intimately involved in the material world that not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will, and every hair on our heads is numbered. There is no area of life or history that lies outside His rule.
Duties Instead of Rights
It’s also important to recognize that scripture does not speak of inalienable rights in the way modern political language does. Instead, it emphasizes duties to God and to our neighbors. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves by respecting life, marriage, property, and reputation, thereby fulfilling the law’s requirements.
And so love is thus “more than a feeling” like the song by Boston. It’s an active obedience to God’s commandments. Where societies focus on entitlements and so-called personal rights, the biblical covenant calls us back to responsibilities and faithful service.
Marriage vows, for example, promise self-giving to the other person rather than a list of demands for what one expects to receive. The overall message of God’s covenant is that when love is defined by obedience to divine law, it brings blessings and order to life.
Covenantal Conclusion
God’s covenant is a gift of grace that demands faithfulness and obedience. The blessings it brings are indeed conditional, because God is not bound by our assumptions. Quite the opposite is true… we are bound to Him.
To make His grace a possession or an unconditional guarantee is to misunderstand scripture and invite judgment today just as much as it did in ancient Israel. True freedom in Christ is found under His covenant law, where grace and obedience work together to bring about life and blessings.
