Original Research

The covenant with Abraham in the context of Africa

J. A. van Rooy
In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi | Vol 31, No 4 | a1617 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v31i4.1617 | © 1997 J. A. van Rooy | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 13 June 1997 | Published: 13 June 1997

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J. A. van Rooy,, South Africa

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Abstract

The Covenant of Grace is God's way of exercising his sovereign rule in personal fellowship with humankind. There are certain aspects of Old Testament belief which are unique to it, and which provide the basis for covenant fellowship. These aspects include the personal nature of God, his sovereign rule over history, and the fact that humankind was created in God's image, although it is by nature in flight from God. On this basis it becomes possible for God to seek humankind, to elect a people for Himself and to conclude a covenant with them which requires faith, love, fellowship and obedience. African religion in its different forms does not provide such a basis, since God is either impersonal, or remote, and not interested in the doings of humankind except in so far as they might threaten the cosmic order. The relationship between God and man is automatic, whether He is conceived of as Creator, or as the first ancestor, or in­ discriminately, as the source of energy.

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