Scott Hahn, who has made a careful study of covenant in the Bible, makes an important distinction between covenant and contract. Though the two have certain features in common—most especially the delineation of mutual obligations—the signal difference is that a contract determines “what is mine” while a covenant determines “who is mine.” But the covenant has to be sealed by a sacrifice because we live in a world that is off-kilter. Prior to the fall, the human pledge of fidelity to God would have been effortless, a sheer joy; but after the fall, it must come at a cost, and through a painful
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