Saints LightThe Big Story: Salvation History in Seven Covenants
The Bible is one story of God forming a family through a series of covenants, each wider than the last, fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus.
What this lesson teaches
- A covenant is a sacred family bond, an exchange of persons, not just a contract.
- A helpful map: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses at Sinai, Moses at Moab, David, and Jesus.
- Each covenant widens God's family, from a couple to the whole world.
- The New Covenant in Christ fulfills the others and will never be replaced.
Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites
- CCC 54-58
- CCC 59-61
- CCC 62-64
- CCC 66
CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.
Scripture read in this lesson: Genesis 12:3; Jeremiah 31:31 (Jeremias in Douay-Rheims); Luke 22:20.
A sample question from this lesson
How is a covenant different from a contract?
- A covenant is shorter and less binding
- A covenant is always written on stone
- A covenant exchanges persons and creates a family bond
- There is no real difference
Show the answer
A covenant exchanges persons and creates a family bond. The lesson explains that a contract trades goods, while a covenant is an exchange of persons: 'I will be your God, and you will be my people.'
The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.
Words to know
- Covenant
- A sacred bond by which God makes people his family, with promises on his side and faithfulness asked on ours.
- Salvation history
- The story of God's saving actions in human history, from creation to Christ and the Church.
More terms in the Catholic glossary. More passages in the Scripture index.
Read the full lesson in the app
"The Big Story: Salvation History in Seven Covenants" is lesson 5 of The Bible, the Catholic Way. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.
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