The Covenant of Faith

The Covenant of Faith

Gen 12:1-9, John 3:1-17 T Lent 2

INI

We tend to find our identity based on what or who we’re connected to. I’m German and English because of the ancestry of my parents. I’m a Lutheran because my parents brought me up in that church. I’m an Arkansan because I was born and raised here.

But to find identity that matters most above all, we must agree with what Jesus says to Nicodemus – flesh gives birth to flesh. The things mentioned before are fleshly things. Those markers of identity won’t endure eternally. And today, Jesus upends any thinking about the flesh’s inheritance of eternal things.

He says, “You must be born again to enter the kingdom of God .” Not improved. Not informed. Not connected. But born. A new birth. With a new identity. Which must come from above.

The first reading from Genesis presents the turning point in the Old Testament Scriptures. God presents Abraham with a promise. He binds Himself to Abraham. He says, “Go to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” I’m sure you’ve heard this promise to Abraham cited in modern political discourse to justify political actions towards the nation state Israel. But when this is used to justify modern political discourse, it’s used in error and misunderstanding. It’s the same misunderstanding that Nicodemus had in the Gospel – that God’s favor is based on fleshly things, like genealogy, not faith.

But that’s how the Old Testament Jews always thought of this Abrahamic covenant – that his name was going to be great because his children and great grandchildren, and everyone else on down the line would grow and multiply. Those born into Abraham’s bloodline would receive this promise of greatness, and those outside of it were doomed. Thus, the understanding started that entrance into God’s kingdom came by birth.

But as we will see in the epistle lesson, the covenant was grounded in promise, and received by faith. Not by birth or genealogy. For flesh can only give birth to flesh. But only the Spirit can make one be a part of God’s kingdom.

For example, look at Rahab in the Old Testament. She wasn’t born from Abraham’s geneology. Yet, when God’s people came to take over Jericho, she and her family was spared and incorporated with God’s people. Why? Because she believed in the power of Yahweh, and hid the Israelite spies as they sought Jericho’s overthrow. Faith brought her into the covenant, not birth.

The Old Testament is filled with examples of people coming into God’s covenantal people not by birth, but by faith. And we also see God’s wrath on the Israelites when they trust in their fleshly birth, instead of having faith in God’s word and promise.

But a New Testament example shows this well – the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazurus begged at the foot of the rich man’s gate, but received no help from him. But then when they both died, Lazarus went to heaven, nestling safely under the bosom of Abraham. The rich man was sentenced to eternal torment. The rich man pleaded with Abraham, even calling him ‘father’. Now that tells us – the rich man was a Jew. He was born into the Abrahamic covenant. But that fleshly birth availed him nothing, because he didn’t have faith.

This sets us up to hear and understand our epistle text well. Paul writes that Abraham wasn’t justified before God because of any good works that he did, or because of his flesh, or because He or anyone after him were born into the right family. Paul says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” So we see, the inheritance of God’s promises are based in faith – not that one was born into the right family through the flesh.

And here’s Paul’s overall point – who’s Abraham’s offspring? The ones who receive this covenantal promise? It’s not necessarily those of Abraham’s blood. But rather, it’s those who share Abraham’s faith. Through faith, Abraham becomes the father of many nations. And so we see, the new Israel isn’t defined ethnically, but spiritually, through faith!

And before we think of ourselves as above critique here, we should recognize how easily we take faith and turn it into a trust in the flesh. For example, one may begin to trust in act of baptism apart from a living faith in Christ by saying “well, I was baptized as a baby. I grew up Lutheran. My parents or great grandparents were members at that church.” So the assumption follows – I don’t really need to gather with the Church or hear the Word, because I’m already attached by my heritage.

But that’s fleshly thinking. It’s easy for us to believe the kingdom of God is ours because our name is written on a baptismal certificate or membership roll, apart from a faith that actually trusts God in daily life. But truth is, faith can’t be inherited. It’s given through rebirth.

This misunderstanding also appears in Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus in the Gospel. In their talks about who the kingdom of heaven belongs to, Nicodemus assumes that fleshly birth determines that. If you’re born in Abraham’s bloodline, then you’re good! But Jesus corrects this misunderstanding. He says, “Unless one is born AGAIN he cannot see the kingdom of God… Unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” And then Jesus gives the why: flesh gives birth to flesh. Spirit gives birth to Spirit. Your natural birth and bloodline can’t give spiritual life. Rather, one must be incorporated through a spiritual birth from heaven.

And this spiritual re-birth is what baptism is. The grammar won’t allow two separate births of water and spirit. It’s one action. And that new birth by water and spirit comes in Holy Baptism. The Early Church Father John Chrysostom wrote on concerning this new birth saying, “As a womb is to the embryo, so the water is to the believer, since he is formed and shaped in the water.” And for this reason, the church has commonly referred to the baptismal font as the womb of the church.

Because by this birth of water and Spirit—and not of the flesh—we are incorporated into the covenant given to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. Not because we were born into the right family. Not because we made a decision. Not because we improved ourselves. But because God acted.

Here’s the truth: faith can’t be born from flesh. It doesn’t come from heritage, intellect, emotion, or will. Left to ourselves, we can’t believe. Flesh doesn’t trust God, but resists and doubts God. It would rather work to justify itself.

But the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

In Holy Baptism, the Spirit isn’t awakening a sleeping faith within us. The Spirit is CREATING life where there was none. He’s doing what happened at the beginning of creation—hovering over the waters and bringing life out of death. God speaks through water and Word, and faith is born. It’s created, not self-generated from our flesh. Because flesh gives birth to flesh, and spirit gives birth to spirit.

And what He creates, He sustains.

Just as you didn’t cause your first birth, you don’t cause your second. Just as you didn’t choose to begin breathing, you didn’t choose to begin believing. The Spirit creates faith within lifeless corpses, and sustains that faith through Word and Sacrament.

That’s why this rebirth is necessary.

Because if entrance into the kingdom depended on flesh – on ancestry, morality, intellect, sincerity, no one could enter! But the kingdom is entered by a spiritual rebirth, which comes in Holy Baptism, through which the spirit gives faith.

So when Jesus says, “You must be born again,” He isn’t laying a burden on you. He’s giving you a promise. What you can’t produce in the flesh, the Spirit provides.

And that Spirit has caused you to be born again through water and the Word. You’re not who your ancestry says you are. You’re not who your failures say you are. You’re who your baptism says you are.

You’re born from above. You’re a child of Abraham by faith. You’re an heir of the promise.
You’re a child of God, upon whom His favor rests.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston