Christ Covenant Church

Constantly explaining and reiterating what God has done (the historical context) (1:5-3:29, 4:3-4, 10-14, 20-22, 45-49, 5:2-6, 22-31, 6:20-23, 7:7-8, 17-19), what God requires or promises and Who God is (the theological context) (4:1-2, 5-9, 15-19, 23-40, 5:1, 32-33, 6:1-4, 10-19, 24-25, 7:6, 9-16a, 20-24) is essential to establishing: 1) God’s justice (4:41-43, 6:25, 7:16b) and 2) covenant laws (4:44-45a, 5:7-21, 6:5-9, 7:1-5, 25-26).Obeying God’s “commandments/statutes/rules” is the repeated prerequisite to possessing: 1) abundant life/God’s promises and avoiding God’s wrath (4:1, 3-4, 40, 5:29-33, 6:17-19, 7:9-26), 2) a good reputation with outsiders/evangelizing others (4:6-8).Obeying God’s “commandments/statutes/rules” requires: 1) continual instruction (4:1, 5 – “taught” [perfect participle – continually teaching], 14, 5:1, 6:1), 2) not adding or taking away from the list (4:2, also 5:32 – “You shall not turn to the right hand [add] or the left [take way]”), 3) carefulness & diligence (i.e. investing lo