magen

The Covenant Cut

Genesis 15:1-21

Abram falls into a deep sleep while a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass alone between the halved animals. The covenant is cut without his participation. One verse later, Yahweh reckons his faith as righteousness — a half-verse Paul will quote four times in Romans 4 alone. Gen 15 is the locus of the unilateral covenant, the chapter where God himself walks under the self-curse, and the OT verse from which the New Testament builds its entire grammar of grace.