To those who have been part of the Builders class for a while, welcome back from our summer apart.  To those who are new to the Builders, welcome!  For the next 6 weeks, we’ll be taking a farily in-depth look at the major Scriptural covenants between God and man.

This week we’ll spend a little time going over the nature and form of biblical covenants.  For the moment, consider a covenant between God and man to be the terms and conditions for people relating to God.  They generally consist of defining the specific obligations of God and man, the blessings for keeping covenant, and the curses for breaking it.  Every covenant between God and man in the Bible points to the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood.  We hope to show this very clearly in the coming weeks to highlight the excellencies of the New Covenant.

Then we’ll particularly take a look at God’s covenant with Adam.  The text for this covenant can be found in Genesis 1:26-30, 2:16-17, and 3:16-19.  Take a few minutes to read through these texts so we can all be prepared for our time together in the Word on Sunday.

As you read these texts, do you see a covenant?  What are God’s “obligations” in it?  What are Adam’s?  What blessings and curses are associated?

Of particular application to everyone, including our whole class, is the covenant curse, condemnation, given to Adam and inherited by all people everywhere (excpet for Jesus) since then.  In what ways do you see the results of Adam’s curse today?  How do they point to Jesus?  Check out Romans 5:12-21 for extra credit (and insight)!

Here are my notes, if you’re interested.