What we can learn from having a covenant relationship with God

Exploration

1. Understanding Covenants

Definition and Significance

• General Handbook: Covenants (3.5.1)
• Guide to the Scriptures: Covenant

2. Covenants in the Scriptures

Key Examples

• Abrahamic Covenant: God promised Abraham that his descendants would be numerous, inherit the land of Canaan, and be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 17:1-9).
• Mosaic Covenant: Through Moses, God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and other laws, promising to make them His chosen people if they obeyed (Exodus 19-24).
• New Covenant: Established by Jesus Christ through His atonement, offering salvation and eternal life to all who follow Him (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:6-13).

• Nephite Covenant: The Nephites were promised prosperity and protection as long as they remained righteous and kept God’s commandments (2 Nephi 1:20).
• Baptismal Covenant: Individuals covenant to take upon themselves the name of Christ, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end (Mosiah 18:8-10).

• Bible: Genesis 17:1-9, Exodus 19-24, Luke 22:20, Hebrews 8:6-13
• Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 1:20, Mosiah 18:8-10

3. Personal Growth and Transformation

Spiritual Development

• Faith and Obedience: Developing trust in God’s promises (Alma 32:21).
• Repentance and Forgiveness: Regular self-examination and repentance lead to spiritual renewal (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43).

• Alma 32:21
• Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43

4. Community and Unity

Building a Zion Community

• The Law of Consecration: Early Saints practiced the law of consecration, creating a unified community where resources were shared to ensure everyone’s needs were met (Doctrine and Covenants 42:30-42).
• Modern Application: Programs like ministering and service projects continue to build community and support among Church members.

• Doctrine and Covenants 42:30-42

5. Guidance and Protection

Divine Guidance

• Holy Ghost: The gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion for those who are baptized and confirmed (John 14:26; Doctrine and Covenants 20:77).
• Protection: Stories of divine protection in the scriptures, such as the Israelites being led by a pillar of fire and cloud (Exodus 13:21-22).

• Bible: John 14:26, Exodus 13:21-22
• Doctrine and Covenants 20:77

6. Eternal Perspective

Hope and Vision for the Future

• Eternal Life: The ultimate promise of eternal life for those who keep their covenants (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7).
• Temples: Temple covenants and ordinances reinforce the eternal nature of God’s promises (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4).

• Doctrine and Covenants 14:7
• Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4

7. Personal Testimony and Experiences

Importance of Personal Testimony

• Conversion Stories: Accounts of how making and keeping covenants have changed lives.
• Everyday Miracles: Testimonies of guidance, protection, and peace experienced through covenant-keeping.

Conclusion

• Approximately 5,800 Greek manuscripts exist.
• Including translations into Latin, Coptic, and Syriac, the total number is approximately 24,000.
• The oldest fragment, the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, is dated to around 125 AD, approximately within one generation of the completion of the New Testament texts.

• About 10 known manuscript copies.
• The oldest surviving manuscript dates to around 900 AD, approximately 1,000 years after Caesar's time, allowing substantial time for potential textual changes.

• Around 49 extant manuscripts.
• The oldest manuscript is from around 1100 AD, about 1,400 years after Aristotle's lifetime, providing ample time for variations and changes in the text.

• Psalm 22, written around 1000 BC, was fulfilled during Jesus' crucifixion, when He was "pierced," His clothes divided, lots cast for His garments, and darkness covered the land.
• Isaiah 53, written in 700 BC, details the suffering servant and the crucifixion of Jesus.
• See many more examples in this link.

• Biblical textual criticism's goal of restoring the original texts of the Gospel texts is an arrogant attempt to achieve an impossible and ambiguous task. Michael W. Holmes in "From 'Original Text' to 'Initial Text': the Traditional Goal of New Testament Textual Criticism in Contemporary Discussion" declared inadequate or deficient the traditional goal as many scholars consider that the study of the history of transmission of the text should be a legitimate goal in its own right rather than just a means of reaching the original text and finding the 'original text' is in itself an inherently ambiguous term subject to the serious question of whether it can be considered a goal. Eldon J. Epp in "The Multivalence of the Term 'Original Text' in New Testament Textual Criticism" expounds its complex meaning as the question which encompasses all of the questions about the issue of canon, the transmission in different languages despite Jesus' primarily Aramaic teachings, the formation of oral and form tradition of pre-literary Gospels, the Synoptic problem and its compositional stages alongside the Epistles, Acts, and Apocalypse, the textual decision among various readings without an 'original text' basis, and the validity and reliability of the text-critical methodologies that attempt to establish criteria of originality, eclectisms, and claims of theological and ideological alterations of manuscripts. Finally, Reuben Swanson in "New Testament Greek Manuscripts: Variant Readings Arranged in Horizontal Lines against Codex Vaticanus: Romans" went as far as to say that the traditional goal was a delusion, fictional, mythical, and impossible because first, only fragments of copies before 350 AD are owned which had not preserved 'the original pure text', and second, any final judgment between readings is subjectively conditioned by background, training, and theological bent.
• Aside from the sheer impossibility of textual criticism's goal to restore the 'original text', the science does not comprehensively answer the 'obscure zone' of the history of the texts. In fact, this 'zone' not only weakens the claim that the initial texts were preserved but also strengthens the hypothesis that the initial texts underwent many changes and alterations which may be called "corruptions". Ameri provides 10 major signs:
  • The text itself, based on Philip W. Comfort's "The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament", gives proof of corruption in the 'obscure zone'. Comfort divides New Testament texts into two categories: texts that maintained the same shape of the autographs and texts that underwent the first phase of composition, edition, distribution and the second phase of re-edition and ditribution. Although no scriptural proof was used, philological studies presented by Comfort were enough evidence.
  • The earliest extant manuscripts received its most unorganized and chaotic transmission during the 1st and 2nd centuries. Helmut Koester in William J. Petersen's edition of "Gospel Traditions in the Second Century: Origins, Recensions, Text, and Transmission" and David C. Parker in "The Living Text of the Gospels" both assert that most substantial alterations of the Gospel texts happened in the first 150 years, leaving no guarantee of identicality between the archetypes of the manuscripts tradition and the original texts. Thus, the originality of the 3rd-century copies can be put into doubt as the 'enlightened zone' emerged from the 'obscure zone'.
  • Complementary to the issue of early transmission during the 'obscure zone' is the tendency of later Gospel scribes to harmonize the Gospels by removing discrepancies that make accounts conflicting. D. C. Parker's "The Living Text of the Gospels" was primarily cited as it said that the text and its traditions remained fluid even after the evangelists which was demonstrated by the harmonization phenomenon. Ameri hypothesized that this phase of New Testament transmission shows signs of being pruned to fit the orthodox creed of inerrancy; therefore, allowing for the possibility that scribes did more than just accidently change the Scriptures.
  • The location of the earliest manuscripts give evidence on the unreliability of the earliest manuscripts themselves as something close to the autographs. Egyptian manuscripts, instead of considering them as transferred manuscripts from somewhere else, must be considered as Egyptian versions because of a lack of evidence on the part of critics that hold the former opinion. Timothy J. Finney in his dissertation "The Ancient Witnesses of the Epistle to the Hebrews: A Computer-Assisted Analysis of the Papyrus and Uncial Manuscripts of PROS EBRAIOUS" demonstrated that they had similar orthography. Based on the hypothesis that shared orthography meant shared provenance, the scribes who distributed the copies were possibly from the same region, namely Egypt. The fact that these Egyptian manuscripts differ from patristic citations as they used the Western text-type instead of the Alexadrian one adds doubt towards the earliest extant manuscripts.
  • 2nd-century citations by the Church Fathers provide evidence of alterations in New Testament manuscripts. William P. Petersen's essay, "The Genesis of the Gospels", presented 6 observations among the use of New Testament texts by early witnesses: 1) Gospel quotations tend to be prominently harmonized, 2) extra-canonical material is prominent and mixed with canonical content, 3) passages with parallel to the canonical Gospels have variants, 4) the sequence of recognizable material between parallel passages are altered, 5) the earlier the citations are, the vaguer and less parallel the citations become compared to the canonical texts, and 6) the earlier the citations, the less emphasis on Jesus' life and teachings.
  • Following on Church Fathers, the Western text-type used by the majority of patristic texts are not a homogeneous group. Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman in "The Text of the New Testament, Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration" said that von Soden had to organize 7 sub-groups of witnesses which were more or less related to the Western texts. Michael W. Holmes in David E. Aume's edition of "The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament" also noted that the Western text-type exhibited harmonistic, paraphrasing, substitutive, and additive tendencies of scribes, which strengthens the claim that the 'obscure zone' was a period of uncontrolled transmission and alteration.
  • The Synoptic Gospels, specifically Matthew and Luke, showed signs of using a common Markan source. However, despite using a common text, authors of Matthew and Luke exhibited minor disagreements against Mark. Helmut Koester in "The Text of the Synoptic Gospels in the Second Century" posited that Matthew and Luke did use Mark, but a copy that was different from later texts, earning the designation Proto-Mark that had no disagreements with Matthew and Luke during the early few centuries. Daniel B. Wallace in "Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament: Manuscript, Patristic, and Apocryphal Evidence" affirmed that the Mark that Matthew and Luke used was different, but suggested an opposite hypothesis that the copy was different from Proto-Mark and that the two Synoptic Gospels paralleled later versions.
  • The heretics who were accused of tampering with Scriptures are as, if not more, reliable than the orthodox tradition. Bart Ehrman in "Misquoting Jesus" flipped the claim towards the orthodox scribes as they frequently changed texts to eliminate "misuse" by heretics. Gilles Quispel in "Marcion and the Text of the New Testament" would even say that Marcion preserved the readings of his time rather than alter them. This claim was not unheard of among pre-Nicene Fathers, as Origen quoted Celsus, an opponent of Christianity during the centuries of the 'obscure zone', who accused some Christian believers to alter the original texts three or four or several times over to deny criticism in "Contra Celsum".
  • Lastly, the non-canonical gospels raise questions towards the relationship between the canonical and non-canonical traditions during the early distribution of the original Gospel autographs. Tatian and Clement of Alexandria are examples of Fathers who held non-canonical verses as no less authoritative than other canonical texts. William L. Petersen in "The Genesis of the Gospels" finds extra-canonical clauses in the Diatessaron as proof that there was no established text of the Gospels and that the parts of the current canon were subject to the whims of any writer, editor, or harmonist.
  • Overall, considering the issues found during the 'obscure zone', the critical editions of current scholarship are not found in any extant manuscript, version, or Father citation.
• Given the diversity of the extant manuscripts, many textual methodologies emerged, more often than not conflicting and demonstrating a non-linear pathway towards the restoration of the original texts. The main methods are listed: 1) Textus Receptus compiled by Erasmus in the 16th century based from the Byzantine type-text manuscripts which became used during the 16th and 17th centuries but abandoned in the 1900s, 2) Majority Text method which emphasizes the presence of the original text through repeating patterns and readings found in manuscripts, forming a statistical construct of the text, 3) Traditional Critical Method used mostly by 19th-century scholars by basing a new constructed text from an extant manuscripts and assessing its readings by comparison with other texts, and 4) Eclectic Method where a scholar has free choice to establish pre-adopted rules to determine the best variant reading. Ameri concluded that the certainty of the Church in the unsullied transmission of Biblical texts is deceptive and reasoned eclecticism cannot be used to fulfill the traditional goal of textual criticism.
• All in all, textual criticism fails to cater to the Christian need of an original and reliable Bible. The United Bible Societies Greek New Testament is an example of changing preferences within the discipline. Despite reclassifying the readings throughout its editions with considerable differences, the authority was uncertain with the use of 59% of its variants. Bart Ehrman in Barbara Aland and Joel Delobel's edition of "New Testament Textual Criticism, Exegesis and Early Church History: A Discussion of Methods" shoots the mercy bullet that virtually no one has read the New Testament in their original form.

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The Coming of the Holy Spirit
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

2:1–13 The Holy Spirit descends as a gift, sounding forth one message in many tongues, showing that Israel will soon burst its ethnic bounds. Cynics of all eras belittle God’s mighty deeds and explain them away. However, humility before the Holy Spirit is in order, along with sheer wonder that God gives Himself to people of all nations. • “Come, holy Fire, comfort true, Grant us the will Your work to do And in Your service to abide; Let trials turn us not aside.” Amen. (LSB 497:3)
2:14–41 Peter shows from the Scriptures that Jesus is Israel’s Lord as well as Savior of the nations. Rejoice that God pours out His Spirit in Baptism and multiplies His blessings to us in daily repentance and forgiveness. He makes a new Israel, a new house of David—the Church! • Lord, grant that I may confess and proclaim You with confidence, as Peter did. Amen.

2:1 day of Pentecost. Fifty days after the Passover Sabbath (Lv 23:15–21). Pentecost likely also commemorated the giving of the Law on Sinai, as later rabbis attest. On this new day in Ac, God’s people are publicly formed through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. They acquire the names “Church” and “Christians” in the NT but also stand in faith with believers of the OT, who trusted in the coming Savior. Cf Mt 8:11. arrived. Gk has sense of “fill up, complete” (cf Lk 9:51; Gal 4:4). they. Possibly just the 12 apostles (cf 1:26; 2:14), though the fulfillment described in vv 17–18 hints that the 120 are meant. (Reference to the 120 is much more remote; 1:15.) Chrys: “Was it upon the twelve that [the Holy Spirit] came? Not so; but upon the hundred and twenty. For Peter would not have quoted to no purpose the testimony of the prophet” (NPNF 1 11:25). all together. Continuing their practice of fellowship and worship. in one place. Setting unclear. Possibly the building containing the Upper Room (1:13), though how the apostles’ message could reach the crowd (vv 5–11) is unclear and never explained. This has led some interpreters to suggest the temple courts as a likely location.
2:2–3 like … wind … as of fire. The manifestations were indescribable because they revealed God’s miraculous activity.
2:2 house. Gk oikos. Luke usually uses this term to denote a private dwelling (or for the family as a “household”) but also uses it for the temple (Lk 6:4; 19:46; Ac 7:47, 49; cf Lk 24:53; Ac 2:46). The setting for Peter’s sermon (vv 14–41) had to accommodate thousands of people. According to later Christian tradition, the house with the Upper Room was located on Mount Zion (southwest hill of Jerusalem) and would have been outside the city wall.
2:3 tongues as of fire. Luke describes the scene with a comparison. The emphasis in the wording is on the mouth (“tongue,” “speak,” “utterance”), which may indicate where the “fire” appeared (see Moses’ appearance in Ex 34:29). The fire appropriately appears as tongues of flame, since the Holy Spirit works through the apostles’ speech. In the OT, angelic spirits were described as fire (see note, Ps 104:3–4). Fire also represented the presence of God’s Spirit (Ex 3:2–4).
2:4 filled with the Holy Spirit. Anointing with the Holy Spirit brings a startling transformation. The Spirit never becomes a personal possession but remains a heavenly gift, received by the repentant through faith. speak in other tongues. Miraculous ability to communicate in foreign languages the speakers had never learned (vv 7–11). Cyr Jer: “The Holy Spirit taught them many languages at once, languages which in all their lives they never knew” (NPNF 2 7:128).
2:5 Jews, devout men from every nation. Jews dispersed throughout the world who piously observed the Law, now in Jerusalem to observe the required feasts.
2:6 God brings the people together to hear His Word. These miraculous events are God’s extended appeal for Israel to receive Jesus as their Messiah and to become part of the new Israel, the Church. speak in his own language. The hearers understood the proclamation neither in Aram nor in common Gk but in their local languages.
2:7–8 An obvious miracle. Working men from Galilee would hardly be accomplished linguists.
2:9–11 These groups, coming from all corners of the earth, point forward to the universal character of the Church. Twelve diverse regions signify all people. The Jewish Dispersion had spread to all these places. The mention of the capital city of Rome represents the empire, which encompassed the known world. Jews and proselytes. Represents all worshipers of the God of Israel, whether ethnic Jews or Gentile converts. Cretans and Arabians. Has the sense of all from west and east, from island and mainland.
2:11 proselytes. Gentile converts to Judaism who were circumcised and likely also received a baptism for cleansing. mighty works of God. Cf Dt 11:2; Ps 71:19; 105. Luth: “When God wanted to spread the gospel throughout the world by means of the apostles he gave the tongues for that purpose [Acts 2:1–11]. Even before that, by means of the Roman Empire he had spread the Latin and Greek languages widely in every land in order that his gospel might the more speedily bear fruit far and wide” (AE 45:359).
2:12 This extraordinary work of God needed explanation.
2:13 Just as some rejected the earthly Jesus, so mockers and skeptics have always dismissed the Church’s message (cf Mt 10:22; Jn 15:18–20). Cyr Jer: “In truth the wine was new, even the grace of the New Testament; but this new wine was from a spiritual Vine, which had oftentimes [before] this borne fruit in Prophets, and had budded in the New Testament” (NPNF 2 7:128).
2:14 Peter. Spokesman for the Twelve; always named first in lists of the apostles. His work is the focus of chs 1–12.
2:15 third hour of the day. Hour of prayer and sacrifice at the temple.
2:17 last days. Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy to state that the decisive stage and climax of history has arrived with Christ and the Church (cf 1Co 10:11; Heb 1:2; 1Pt 1:20). pour out My Spirit. God gives His people not just things, but Himself in the Third Person of the Godhead. The promised Baptism with the Spirit was “poured,” showing that the term “baptism” was not regarded strictly as immersion (cf v 33). all flesh. God’s salvation is universal in scope; He pours out the Spirit on all kinds of people.
2:18 servants. Like Mary (Lk 1:38) and Paul (Rm 1:1), all Christians are bond servants of the Lord. He gives them His Spirit, yet they belong to Him.
2:19 wonders … signs. Works that demonstrate the arrival of the last days, begun in the earthly life of Christ and continued here in Ac (cf v 43; 4:16, 22, 30; 5:12; 6:8; 8:6, 13; 14:3; 15:12). above … below. Emphasizes the dramatic top-to-bottom change in creation that God enacts.
2:20 the day of the Lord. When Christ returns in glory. Refers to a time (not strictly 24 hours) in which God dramatically reveals and/or executes His judgment by condemning the wicked and delivering the righteous. The prophets often use this phrase with reference to the end of history (cf 2Pt 3:10), yet it does not always have this ultimate sense.
2:21 calls upon. A cry from the heart, lamenting sin and imploring mercy.