What Is the First Covenant?
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The first covenant in the Bible is the Adamic covenant, and it’s initiated by God with Adam for His perfect purposes. When we read the Bible, we see it’s one continuous, unfolding narrative about God, His covenants that propel the narrative forward, and His plan for our redemption. Ultimately, however, it’s about His glory and all things being “made new” in Christ Jesus (Revelation 21:5). The Adamic covenant is the first one which God made with humanity, and it’s important for us to know its details.
A covenant is a formal agreement between two parties, defined by specific promises, with the relationship between the parties being central to the covenant. Agreements are regularly made between people, but all of the biblical covenants which drive God’s redemptive history forward are initiated by God. A covenant with God, however, has a very particular characteristic. He initiates His covenants and fixes the fundamentals of each. God’s covenants are also unilateral, meaning the fundamentals are not based on what man brings to the covenant or on his acceptance. Humanity is a recipient and not a contributor, although man is responsible to keep the covenant as God commands and receive God’s promises because of the covenant.
The Bible is the greatest book ever written, and to further explain how covenants move God’s plan forward Pastor Stephen Wellum calls covenants God’s “plot movements.” He further explains, “The Bible’s plots movements of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation are explored to understand the Bible’s message. Second, the Bible’s story is explained by thinking through how God’s plan is unveiled through the covenants from the Creation Covenant to the New Covenant in Christ.”
What Are the Other Biblical Covenants?
While many biblical covenants are specifically noted as such, some are inferred (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17). For example, the Davidic covenant was not at first called a covenant, but later passages refer to it as one (2 Samuel 23:5, Jeremiah 33:21).
The main covenants which propel redemptive history to Christ are:
- Adamic/Creation (Genesis 1:28; 2:15-17)
- Noahic (Genesis 6:18a)
- Abrahamic (Genesis 12:1-9; 17; 22:1-18)
- Mosaic (Exodus 19-24, esp. 24:7)
- Davidic (2 Samuel 7:8-29)
- New (Luke 22:19-20)
What Are the Details of the Adamic Covenant?
God’s covenants fall within four major movements: creation, fall, redemption, and new creation.
The first biblical covenant is the Adamic Covenant (aka the Creation Covenant or Covenant of Works).
We read about this first covenant in Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.’”
While the Bible doesn’t specifically use the word, “covenant,” the meaning is clear God is setting His covenant with Adam (see Hosea 6:7, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with Me.”)
Later, the biblical narrative adds specifics to the covenant, “Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:15-17, LSB).
Following are the details of the Adamic Covenant, the first covenant in the Bible.
1. In verse 26, we see what preceded the covenant. God made man in His image, and therefore Adam was an image-bearer, as is all humanity after him.
2. “God blessed them.” God’s favor rested upon Adam and Eve; they were in a favorable relationship with their Creator.
3. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Adam was to cover the earth with his image, which is God’s image (Imago Dei). With God’s blessing, man could fill the earth for God’s glory.
4. “Subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” Adam and his descendants were to have dominion over the land and created beings.
Adam was to multiply in his perfect state and in a favorable relationship with God. So too, the Garden where God placed them was to expand and eventually cover the earth.
God set the covenants before time began, but when sin entered history, everything but God changed. His “movements” continue toward ultimate redemption in Christ. And so, within every covenant we find the four elements seen in the first covenant: a blessing, the promise of descendants, dominion, and land. Each component displays God’s ever-present worldwide mission of redemption for all nations—Jews and Gentiles (Genesis 17:4; Leviticus 19:33-34; Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 3:17, etc.)
Was the First Covenant Fulfilled?
That which Adam couldn’t fulfill because of his sin, Christ fulfilled in His atoning work on the cross. God had set a test for Adam to gain the covenant reward God promised. Pastor Richard Lucas explains further, “On condition of that covenant obedience, God promises eternal life, symbolized by the tree of life (Genesis 2:9; 3:22,24 cf. Revelation 2:7; 22:2). However, Adam failed the probationary test and transgressed God’s covenant command (Genesis 2:16-17), which plunged all humanity into a state of sin, death, and condemnation” (Romans 3:23).
Each covenant after Adam built upon the previous, but not until Christ did the first covenant gain true fulfillment. Christ, as the Second Adam, instituted the new covenant of grace. He is the mediator (Hebrews 9:15; 12:24), and the promises far surpass the promises made to the earthly bearers. Jesus’ covenant is one of eternal life with God (not only land), in His everlasting rest (Hebrews 3:18; 4:1, 10). Our obedience doesn’t merit us His promises; Jesus, our representative Head, met all the requirements of the law and bought us life on the cross.
When Jesus met with His disciples in the upper room on the night before He went to the cross, He shared what we know as the last supper with them. As He shared the cup, He said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). Later in Scripture, the writer of Hebrews says, “When He said, ‘A New Covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear” (Hebrews 8:13).
It makes sense that the first covenant is becoming obsolete, for Christ inaugurated the new covenant when He put on flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). So much for us is temporary. Thankfully, these perishable bodies will be replaced with imperishable — fit for eternal life with our Savior and Lord (1 Corinthians 15:53).
Pastor Michael Horton writes, “Once the New Covenant arrived in the person of Christ, the old covenant became obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Having served its function of leading Israel to Christ, the sacred status once applied to the nation and its land is now applied to the body of Christ, consisting of Jewish and Gentile believers together.”
The first covenant with Adam matters to us because through it, God’s redemptive plan was set into motion. We can see how each successive covenant builds on the previous, leading to the ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our inheritance is coming when the Lord consummates His kingdom. Until then, we fervently hold to our Lord Jesus Christ so we will receive the completeness of the New Covenant when He returns. Every time we partake of communion, we do it in remembrance of the Lord, proclaim His death and look forward to His return (1 Corinthians 11:25-26). Therefore, take heart and rejoice, for your redemption is coming (Luke 21:28)!
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Simon Skafar
