We can understand who we really are when we claim the title of “Child of the Covenant.”
In Acts 3:25, Peter tells the people of Jerusalem that “ye are the children…of the covenant.” In 3 Nephi 20:26, Jesus similarly tells the people of ancient America that “ye are the children of the covenant.” More recently, President Russell M. Nelson told Latter-day Saint young adults that they are “children of the covenant.”
Photo by Gil Ver
For many Christians, the identity of being “children of the covenant” can feel less familiar than other identities that President Nelson mentioned, namely “child of God” and “disciple of Christ.” Though we may recognize the phrase children of the covenant, we may not fully understand what it means in daily life. Perhaps being a child of God is a more universal identifier, while the basic concept of the “covenant”—and all that goes along with it—does not seem too different from being a disciple of Christ in general. So why did Peter, Jesus, and President Nelson use this particular phrase?
BYU religion professor Hank R. Smith observed that some Latter-day Saint young adults may not be confident in answering this question, so he set out to help them understand their divine origin, purpose, and potential. In his article “Covenant Identity and the Work of Gathering Israel,” he recounts the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, and boils the records down to a story of a family—the family of God.
He explains how the Lord established his covenant with Abraham and renewed it with his posterity (the House of Israel), but eventually the House of Israel was scattered. Professor Smith teaches that “dispersion did not signal abandonment; it became the means by which covenant lineage extended into many lands.” Further, he explains that the Lord “promised he would gather them together again one day.” And this gathering is an important part of what being children of the covenant is all about.
Professor Smith explains the gathering as a process of inviting others to make covenants with God: “The Lord gives divine commandments and promises to Abraham’s posterity; as they live faithfully they receive blessings, and with those blessings they are to bless the entire human family. They are to invite any who are willing to let God prevail in their lives into the same covenant promise. Covenant identity carries both privilege and responsibility.”
Professor Smith teaches that it is our divine responsibility to help the rest of humanity hear God’s divine call. If this seems too great to bear, Professor Smith reminds us that “the covenant does not rest upon flawless people but upon a faithful God.” All that is required of us is to share our testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone willing to hear it. “If [we] disengage from covenant purpose,” Brother Smith warns, “[our] lives will feel incomplete, not because of social expectation but because deep down [our] spirit knows why [we] came to earth.”
As a young adult, soon to leave my undergraduate journey behind and begin the rest of my adult life, I feel a call to make positive change in the world, but I often don’t know how or to what I should direct those energies. There are a few paths I could pursue, such as environmentalism or political activism. However, God has called me to a higher goal: the gathering of Israel, through which all other injustices will be rectified. Professor Smith recalls that the Israelites rejected God’s will and “could no longer make a difference in the world because they were no longer willing to be different from the world.” How do we make a difference? We can start by “[participating] in the Lord’s redemptive work alongside family and loved ones.”
As children of God, we know who we are in God’s plan. As disciples of Christ, we know to whom we must look for guidance and salvation. As children of the covenant, we “situate [ourselves] within a redemptive mission that began with Abraham and continues to this day.”
Discover more about the Abrahamic Covenant and how it applies to you by reading Professor Hank R. Smith’s article, “Covenant Identity and the Work of Gathering Israel.”
Source: Religious Studies Center
—Faith Murri, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY NAASSOM AZEVEDO
Find more insights
Read Emma Campbell’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Our Identity Gives Us Purpose” to learn more about your first divine identifier, child of God.
For more about God’s great plan for you, read and watch Elder Brian K. Taylor’s BYU address, “Rise to Your Divine Identity, Purpose, and Destiny.”