The Meaning of a Pledge, Vow, Commitment, Contract and Convenant

The Good Lord has placed on my heart a need to look at the meaning of several types of interactions between people and people and the Lord. It is important to understand what level of input you are expressing and agreeing to. This will be a several part blog looking at the meaning in our present terms and how it is used in the bible. So lets begin and I know you will see the value of this shortly.

Lets talk about the lowest form of commitment you can make to another person or to God which is a pledge or stating " I agree to to this".Miriam Webster defines as Simple Definition of pledge

a serious promise or agreement, a promise to give money, something that you leave with another person as a way to show that you will keep your promise. Used everywhere in the Bible here is the most common useage Job 24:3  They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.  It is important to note that in a pledge we are promising to pay for something at a later date without receiving any thing yet. 

 

The next word we are going to look at is Vow ,  Merriam Webster defines as : a serious promise to do something or to behave in a certain way The bible uses as Genesis 28:20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,Here we see that Jacob had made a promise to God to do this . This was a one sided agreement or in essence a prayer to God to do something if I do right.Note the idea of a promise for me to keep. 

 

Finally for this week a Commitment - 

:  an act of committing to a charge or trust: as) :  a consignment to a penal or mental institution  :  an act of referring a matter to a legislative committee b :  mittimus a :  an agreement or pledge to do something in the future; especially :  an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date b :  something pledged c :  the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled <a commitment to a cause>

according to Miriam Webster.

Used in the bible - the actual word is not used but the word commit is Psalms 37:5 - Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. Commitment is a new world word that only starts to appear later in history it notes a pledge or vow to do something in the future. 

So in essence what we have seen with the words  Pledge, Vow, Commitment is a statement that we will pay in the future some act or object. We see these words used all the while to notate a commitment from God. What we will see is that God makes a much more solid agreement and pays it forward leaving no doubt about his resolve to the agreement. 

Please stop by next Sunday as we bring this all to crystal resolution , Remember our LORD  is all about his love for us and how he cares always for our best interest.