The new covenant represents the culmination of God's saving work among his people. God regenerates his people by His Spirit and renews their hearts so that they obey him. All of God's promises from the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

What is a covenant/Testament? The bible is divided by the Old and New Testament and in other words, Old and New Promises. God has made promises to his people. Starting with Adam and Eve and ending with his Church.

It is by understanding the promises of God, we can understand and appreciate His work in redemption. The promises show his character and attributes and how the law is like gravity. What comes up, must come down. What laws are broken, consequences will ensue. The 10 commandments only show how far we are from God and his holiness.

The six chapters cover the six covenants.

The covenant of Creation
The Covenant with Noah
The Covenant with Abraham
The Covenant with Israel
The Covenant with David
The New Covenant.

God has made promises to his people with these covenants but what is our responsibility? Covenants are for those in committed relationships and with committed relationships, we have a responsibility to respond to the promise. Each covenant is building on the previous and does not necessarily need us to comply but defines who God is. This is what he has done thru his Covenants and that he can be trusted in Faith. A mind-set responding to God's covenants should be a desire to be in his presence, not to manipulate God to get what we desire. Our desire should be for him.

As each of these Covenants show the character and strength of God, it also reveals our weakness and self rule we settle into. A study on the covenants is a strong foundation in walking in faith.

A Special Thank You to Crossway and Netgalley for the aRC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Schreiner's look at covenant is brief and approachable, but lacks the historicity and citations needed to make this a worthwhile addition to a theological library. As part of a series to inform readers on different aspects of biblical theology, it might serve as a good introduction to covenant for someone completely unfamiliar with what is (contra Schreiner in this book) central to Scripture.

I found this book to be extremely helpful in understanding the structural unity of the Bible. As so many of today's Bible studies for lay people focus on a single book or topic, it was refreshing to focus once again on the unity of the whole of scriptures around the structure of God's covenants with man and His fulfilment of them. God's glory is expressed in the integrity of His fulfillment of all His covenants.
The Short Studies in Biblical Theology series stated purpose is""This series is designed to help readers see the whole Bible as a unified story--culminating in Jesus." The book has addressed its stated purpose well. I will recommend this book to those who are new to those struggling to see unity between the old and new testaments and to those who want to reject parts of the old testament as unrelated to our present faith.