UNDERSTANDING GOD AND HIS COVENANT.

A Covenant is an agreement between two entities and involves promises on the part of each to the other.
The Scripture provides an insight into the meaning of this important idea. The word "covenant" comes from a Hebrew root word that means "to cut." This explains the custom of two entities passing through the cut bodies of slain animals after making an agreement.
Genesis 15 explains this custom by saying, "The Lord said to Abram, 'I Am the Lord, Who led you out of Ur in Babylonia, to give you 'this Land' as your own.' But Abram asked, 'Sovereign Lord, how can I know that 'this Land' will be mine?' The Lord answered, 'Bring Me a cow, a goat, and a ram, each of them 3 years old, and a dove and a pigeon.' Abram brought 'the animals' to God, cut them in half, and placed the halves opposite each other in two rows; but he did not cut up the birds. Vultures came down on the bodies, but Abram drove them off. (Genesis 15: 7-11)
The apostle Paul speaks with very deep knowledge and understanding about God's Covenants with His People in this way:"I am speaking the Truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My 'conscience,' ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's Curse and 'separated' from Christ. They are God's people, He made them His children and revealed His Glory to them; He made His Covenants with them and gave them the Law." (Romans 9:1-4) Then the apostle adds more knowledge and understanding using this words, "So then, my friends, because of God's great Mercy to us I appeal to you: 'Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him. This is the True Worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the 'standards of this world,' but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of 'your mind.' Then you will be able to know the Will of God." (Romans 12: 1-2)
"Moses wrote this about 'being put right' with God by 'obeying' the Law: 'Whoever obeys the commands of the Law will live.' But what the Scripture says about 'being put right' with God through Faith (to avoid the vultures coming over us) is this: 'You are not to ask yourself, Who will go up to heaven to bring Christ down?' Nor are you to ask, Who will go down into the world below to bring Christ up from death?'  What it says is this: 'God's Message is near to you, on your lips, on your heart,' that is, the Message of Faith." ...  "For it is by our Faith that we are 'put right' with God; it is by our confession that we are saved." (Romans 10: 5-9)
Abraham, the father of faith, and his children were commanded to be circumcised as a "sign of the covenant between God and His people." The sign is not physical it is spiritual. Paul teaches us about this matter by saying, "You call yourself a Jew; you depend on the Law and boast about God; you know what God wants you to do, and you have learned from the Law 'to choose' what is right; you are sure that you are a guide for the blind; a light for those who are in darkness, an instructor for the foolish and a teacher for the ignorant. You are certain that in the the Law you have the full content of knowledge and of Truth. You teach others -why don't you teach yourself? You preach, 'Do not steal' -but do you yourself steal? You say, 'Do not commit adultery' -but do you commit adultery? You detest idols -but do you rob temples? You boast about having God's Law -but do you bring shame on God by breaking His Law? The Scripture says, "because of you Jews, the Gentiles speak evil of God." If you obey God, your circumcision is of value; but if you disobey the Law, you might as well never have been circumcised. If the Gentile, who is not circumcised, obeys the commands of the Law, will not God regard him as though he were circumcised? And so you Jews will be condemned by the Gentiles because you break the Law even though you have the Law written down and are circumcised; but they obey the Law, even though they are not physically circumcised. After all, who is a real Jew, truly circumcised? It is not the 'man' who is a Jew 'on the outside,' whose circumcision is a physical thing. Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been changed by the circumcision, and this is the Work of God's Spirit, not of the written Law. Such person receives praise from God, not from human beings."  (Romans 2: 17-29)