Biblical

Foundation
of the Church
Overview

1 COVENANT BETWEEN YAHWEH AND ABRAHAM

2 COVENANT RENEWED AND LAWS GIVEN

3 VIOLATION OF THE COVENANT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

4 GREAT MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

5 RELEVANCE OF THE COVENANT

6 DID JESUS INYEND TO ESTABLISH THE CHURCH?

Covenant between Yahweh
and Abrahan
The covenant is a promise that God
made with Abraham. According to
the covenant, God would offer
protection and land to Abraham and
his descendants, but they must
follow the path of God. God then
commanded Abraham and his future
generations to perform the ritual of
circumcision (brit milah) as a symbol
of the covenant
 1. Covenant between Yahweh
and Abrahan

Covenant Covenant Covenant

Yahweh shall give
is derivedfrom the Abraham the land of Abraham and his
Hebrew word “berit”, Canaan, the promise of descendants shall
which refers toan countless descendants worship and keep
agreement or a legal and the assurance of Yahweh as their
contract between Yahweh’s Protection only God
kins. and the liberation of
the Hebrews.
What motivated Yahweh to
form the covenant?
Yahweh, out of His gratuitous,
overflowing love, reached out to
Abraham. and to all of Israel, and
even intended for the people a share
of his Divine life in paradise from the
very start of his creation. Catholic
tradition calls it “grace” (God’s self-
offering of Himself to man, God’s gift
of Himself to man.
2. Covenant Renewed and
Laws Given
But the promises were put to the test.
The new pharaoh turned the Israelites
into slaves
He raised up a liberator in the person of
Moses
Israel pledged its worship and loyalty to
Yahweh alone.
The Ten Commandments
Israel evolved into an organized
worshipping assembly of Yahweh,
guided by fundamental laws, beliefs and
rituals.
Violation of the Covenant and
its Consequences
But the promises were put to the test.
The new pharaoh turned the Israelites
into slaves
He raised up a liberator in the person of
Moses
Israel pledged its worship and loyalty to
Yahweh alone.
The Ten Commandments
Israel evolved into an organized
worshipping assembly of Yahweh,
guided by fundamental laws, beliefs and
rituals.
3. Violation of the Covenant
and its Consequences
They resorted to the
01 pagan worship of the
Canaanite gods.

02
Israel’s kings ordered the
execution of prophets

Consequence: Separation of
03 the Northern and Southern
Kingdoms of Israel.
 Great Messianic Expectation

Who would have ever thought that

such God eradicated the punishment
for violating the condition of the
covenant, and recoiled in his
compassion for love of his covenant
partner, Israel, who had fallen into sin
 4. Great Messianic Expectation

Israel, reflecting its own history of sin and

sacrilege towards the sacred bond,
started to pray and to hope for divine
intervention, for the "Deliverer" who
would restore the unity and fidelity of
Israel to their God; for the "Savior" who
would redeem the fallen race from sin; for
the "Anointed/Chosen
 4. Great Messianic Expectation
One" who would restore the sacred
covenant between Yahweh and his people,
and offer a lasting reign of peace, prosperity
and stability. Thus, the expectation of a
Savior, of a Messiah was born! To this day,
believers of Judaism await for the coming of
their Messiah. But for Christians, such
expectation was already realized and
fulfilled in the life and person of Jesus
Christ; such broken covenant was fully
renewed by the passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus.
5. Relevance of
the Covenant
It is imperative to ground our
discussion of the Church with
the formation and experiences
of Israel as the covenant-
partner of Yahweh based on
the following related points:
 that the nature of the covenant remains an essential concept in
understanding the relationship between God and his people;

that the idea of a religious assembly, Qahal Yahweh, is based, first

and foremost, on God's gratuitous initiative to reach out to his
people;

that Israel, like any community of faith, has to freely respond on

the basis of faith and loyalty towards Yahweh aided by the
commandments, precepts and traditions handed unto them; and

that God renews his covenant unto us through the life and person
of Jesus Christ-the ultimate realization and fulfillment of the
long-awaited Messiah.
Did Jesus intend to
establish a Church?
 Conclusion
As believers, we may be so convinced of the
continuity of the Church from the intention and
action of Jesus but the same Holy Spirit, who
leads us to such wisdom, calls us to be united
with our brothers and sisters amidst our
differences, through our attitude of respect
and loving patience, especially to those who
oppose or challenge us in our belief and in our
faith.
Thank
You
 The preaching of Jesus was directed in the first place to Israel,
as he himself said to his followers: “I was sent only to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24). But from the
beginning of his active life he invited everyone to conversion:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent,
and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
However, this call to personal conversion was not conceived in
an individualistic context; rather, he was continually looking to
reunite a scattered humanity into the People of God whom he
had come to save.
Open to all of humanity, Jesus intended to reunite the people of
the Covenant. A clear sign, in fulfilment of the promises made to
his people, is the institution of the Twelve apostles, with Peter at
the head.