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To be clear, covenants were important long before Jesus established the Catholic Church in fulfilling the New Covenant.
A contract is an exchange of services, whereas a covenant is an exchange of persons. And whereas a contract can be broken, a valid covenant is indissoluble. The solemn importance of covenants in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and beyond is also seen in God’s swearing sacred oaths in binding himself to his people. And whereas mere humans can and have strayed throughout salvation history, God will not. That is, God ensures that his covenants will be fulfilled, even when his people transgress seriously, such as through idolatry.
God makes three covenants with Abram/Abraham regarding the latter’s descendants: 1) to make of them a great nation (Gen. 15), fulfilled in the founding of Israel by Moses (Ex. 24); 2) to make of them a great kingdom (Gen. 17), initially fulfilled in David and his royal descendants (1 Samuel 16ff.); and 3) to make of them a “catholic” or universal blessing (Gen. 22), i.e., one meant to impact all nations, and ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the King of kings, who restored and fulfilled the kingdom of Israel in founding the Catholic Church (Luke 1:26-33; Matt. 28:18-20).
For more on the importance of covenants in salvation history, please see our tract “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth” and my apologetics essay “Pentecost and the Papacy.”