Christians, Abraham, and the Abrahamic Covenant in This Dispensation

The question concerns the relationship between Christians today and Abraham, particularly in light of the Abrahamic covenant and the present age of grace. To answer carefully, we must distinguish covenants and dispensations.

subsection*The Abrahamic Covenant and the Present Age

The Abrahamic covenant promised Abraham a land, a nation, and blessing. It also declared that those who blessed Abraham would be blessed and those who cursed him would be cursed. That covenant is foundational to Israel’s kingdom promises and is bound up with the later Davidic and kingdom covenants.

From a Mid-Acts dispensational standpoint, these covenants are real, unconditional, and still ultimately binding on God’s future dealings with Israel. However, they are not the operating covenantal framework in the present dispensation. They are, so to speak, placed in abeyance while God conducts His present work of forming the body of Christ.

In the current age:

• There is neither Jew nor Gentile in terms of spiritual position in Christ.
• The Abrahamic and kingdom-related promises are set aside temporarily, awaiting future fulfillment with the restored nation of Israel.
• God is dealing with humanity on the basis of grace through faith in Christ, not on the basis of Israel’s covenants.

For that reason, the practical question, “What are we Christians to Abraham?” is largely moot in terms of covenantal obligation. The Abrahamic covenant is real and secure, but not being actively administered in this dispensation.

subsection*Blessing and Cursing Israel Today

Many dispensationalists argue that the Abrahamic promise, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,” is directly in force today for nations and individuals with regard to Israel. They build foreign policy and personal attitudes around this text as if it were presently operative.

I differ at this point. Because:

• The Abrahamic covenant is part of the larger kingdom program, which is now paused.
• We are in what can be described as an “age of silence” regarding covenantal dealings with Israel.
• The body of Christ is not functioning under Israel’s covenant structure.

Therefore, I do not believe we must say, “I will bless Israel because of the covenant word that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse her will be cursed” as though that specific formula is being actively applied today. Rather, we should ask, “What is wise, moral, and God-honoring in dealing with all nations, including Israel?”

subsection*Why I Still Advocate Christian Zionism

Even though I regard the Abrahamic covenant as temporarily set aside as to its administration, I still believe it is wise and right for Christians to support Israel in significant ways. Not because we are trying to leverage a covenantal blessing, but because it is strategically, morally, and culturally sensible.

Consider the following:

Israel broadly shares with many Christians a Judeo–Christian worldview. Israel values free enterprise and relative economic freedom. Israel upholds basic individual liberties (including for women) more than most neighboring societies.

When we look at the ideological divide between, for example, the modern state of Israel and many of its surrounding adversaries, we see that Israel is far closer to us in worldview than those who openly oppose both biblical morality and Western civilization.

Therefore, partnering with Israel is sound on grounds such as:

Shared respect for life, law, and ordered liberty. Shared defense of certain ethical and social norms rooted in the Old and New Testaments. Strategic alignment against regimes and movements that hate both Christianity and the Judeo–Christian heritage of the West.

The puzzling move is not Christian support for Israel, but the liberal habit of siding with groups that reject and despise Western values while opposing Israel, which—in many key respects—shares those very values.

subsection*Dispensational Consistency

To keep our theology consistent, we must not drag into this dispensation covenants that God has intentionally set aside for future fulfillment. A useful analogy is currency. If a nation formally discontinues a certain coin and withdraws it from active circulation, pricing and transactions should no longer assume that coin’s use. You do not keep pricing everything at “$14.99” in a world where the one-cent piece no longer actually functions in common exchange.

In a similar way, the Abrahamic, Davidic, Mosaic, and kingdom covenants are presently on hold in their covenantal operation. They remain valid promises of God, but they are not the rulebook for this age. Our spiritual and ethical framework today is:

Salvation as a free gift by grace through faith in Christ. Our completeness in Christ apart from Israel’s covenants. Moral living grounded in the character of God as revealed in Scripture, not in legal or covenantal obligations laid specifically upon Israel.

Thus, Christians today are not covenant partners with Abraham in the Abrahamic sense. We are not spiritual Israel. We are not under that covenant. We are members of the body of Christ in a distinct dispensation that was unrevealed in Old Testament times and not governed by the Abrahamic framework.

subsection*Practical Posture Toward All Nations

Given this, how should we regard Abraham’s descendants and the nations in general? We should evaluate our posture toward any people—whether Jewish, Arab, Chinese, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Ukrainian, or anyone else—on two primary considerations:

What is most consistent with the character and purposes of God as revealed in Scripture? What is genuinely wise and beneficial for our own people and for the cause of truth and righteousness?

That means:

We do not invoke the Abrahamic covenant to compel certain policies, as if that covenant were operative law in this age. We do recognize that God has future plans for Israel rooted in that covenant, and we avoid aligning ourselves with those who seek to destroy or delegitimize Israel. We treat Israel and all nations through the lens of justice, truth, prudence, and a Christ-centered understanding of human dignity and sin.

subsection*So What Are Christians to Abraham?

In this dispensation, Christians are not covenantal heirs of Abraham in the same way Israel is. His covenant promises define Israel’s future kingdom status, not our present identity in the body of Christ.

We respect Abraham as the father of the nation through which Christ came, and as a key figure in God’s redemptive history. We acknowledge that God will yet fulfill His promises to Abraham and his physical descendants in a future kingdom age. But we do not place ourselves under that covenant nor use it as the direct governing framework for Christian life and national policy today.

Our relationship to Abraham, therefore, is:

Historical and theological (we appreciate his role in God’s plan). Christological (we rejoice that the promised Seed, Christ, came through his line). Eschatological (we recognize that his covenant will be fulfilled in Israel’s future).

Yet our daily Christian experience, identity, and obligations are rooted not in the Abrahamic covenant, but in the mystery revealed to and through Paul concerning the body of Christ and the gospel of grace.

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