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Covenants in the
Bible:
The concept of covenant is one
of the most important theological ideas in
the Bible. It is the theological glue that
binds the Bible’s storyline together. The history
of salvation and the unfolding of God’s
plans are revealed through the major
covenants. They are the way God has chosen
to communicate with the human race, whether
in the garden of Eden, or after sin entered
the world. God’s desire and intention to
dwell with His people was always the goal of
His God-given covenants (Ex. 6:7; 29:45; Ezek. 11:20;
2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3).
A covenant was a
pact, treaty, or agreement between two or
more parties that laid down conditions and
guaranteed benefits, depending upon a
person's response to keeping the covenant.
Then the covenant was sealed by some form of
a witness (Gen. 21:22-32; 31:44-54; 1 Sam. 18:3-4; Mal. 2:14). The covenants
between God and man differed from purely
human covenants in that they were not
agreements between equal parties. God was
always the giver and man the receiver. Man
could not negotiate an agreement with God or
make demands upon him. God's promises
originated in his sovereign grace alone, and
man could do nothing but accept or reject
God's directions. A Covenant was a legally
binding agreement, much like a contract is
today. Each covenant has special rules that
must be followed. There are two basic types
of divine covenants in the Bible,
conditional and unconditional. A conditional
covenant depended upon a human response to
be fulfilled. An unconditional covenant was
a promise made by God to bring it to
fulfillment.
The Old "Mosaic" Covenant:
Before God made His covenant with
Israel, God chose Abraham from among all the
people on earth to produce through him a
people for himself, the
nation of Israel (2 Cor. 11:22), and to give
them the land of Canaan as a place for them
to dwell in (Gen. 12:5-7). God also promised
to bring from that nation one man, Jesus
Christ, the promised seed, who would be the
Savior of the world. In fulfillment of this
promise, Abraham became the physical father
of the nation of Israel (Matt. 3:9; John 8:37). Because Abraham accepted God's
promise by faith, he is also the spiritual
father of all those who accept God's
promises by faith, regardless of their race
or skin color. Just as God declared Abraham
righteous according to his faith, He also
declared that all those who trust in Him by
faith would also be declared righteous in
His eyes (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:11; Eph. 2:8-9).
Through Abraham, all the people of the world
can receive the blessings that God has
prepared for the human race (Gen. 12:1-3;
Gal. 3:14, 29).
God entered into the
Mosaic Covenant with Abraham’s physical
descendants, the nation of Israel, 45 days
after their exodus from Egypt on Mount Sinai
(Ex. 19:1-2; Lev. 26:46). The covenant had
three main parts: the Ten Commandments, the
ordinances, and the elaborate system of
worship that included the Levitical
priesthood, tabernacle, offerings, festivals
and Sabbath days (Ex. 19-40; Lev. 1-7; 23;
Rom. 9:4). All of the festivals and Holy
days were symbolic of God's actions
regarding the nation of Israel, and His plan
of salvation. The Apostle Paul told us the
ceremonial feasts and holy days that God
gave to Israel were simply shadows pointing
forward to the work Christ would accomplish
for those of us who believe in Him (Col. 2:17; cf. Heb. 8:5; 9:9; 10:1). During the
time of the Old Covenant, each feast or
festival was meant to remind Israel of God’s
saving acts for His people in the past and
His ongoing providence for them in the
present. But they also pointed forward to
the one who would come to be the ultimate
expression of God’s goodness and grace, and
God’s ultimate revelation of Himself, Jesus
Christ (Heb. 1; 10:1).
The Ten
Commandments form the basis for the rest of
the laws in the Old Covenant (Ex. 34:28;
Deut. 4:13). As part of the Old Covenant,
the people agreed to obey all the laws in
Exodus 20-24. Later, God gave Israel
additional laws and regulations regarding
how they should conduct themselves in the
Promised land in the book of Deuteronomy,
but those laws were still considered part of
the same covenantal agreement God made with
Israel on Mount Sinai. Some people believe
that these laws constituted a second
covenant, but they are still the same
covenant God made with Israel in the
beginning. In fact, the book of Deuteronomy
stresses the fact that its laws are not a
new law, but the original law given to
Israel at Mount Sinai (Deut. 4:44-49; 5:1-5; 6:20-25).
The Sabbath was meant for Israel alone
because it served as one of the ceremonial
signs of the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 31:16-17; Ne. 9:13-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20). Christians live
under a totally different covenant (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8), and are not required to observe any
of the ceremonial signs of the Mosaic
Covenant (Acts 15:1-28). The rites of circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14;
Lev. 12:1-3; Gal. 5:11; 6:15; Col. 2:11),
the Passover (Ex. 12:13-14; Lev. 23:4-8; 1 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 4:10-11; Col. 2:16-17), and the Sabbaths (Ex. 31:16-17;
Ne. 9:13-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Gal. 4:10-11;
Col. 2:16-17; Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-16)
were all made obsolete by the New Covenant
Jesus Christ gave us to keep in its place.
The Mosaic Covenant was based on the
conditional Hittite, suzerain-vassal
covenant treaties from 1400 - 1300 B.C., and
was designed to bring about the promises God
made to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant.
Conditional covenants were commonly used
between nations around Israel at the time of
the exodus. The covenant had very specific,
blessings and curses that were based upon
Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant
regulations in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-30.
Exodus 19-23 are important
chapters to understand Israel’s history as a
nation. God told Moses in Exodus 19:5-6,
that “if” Israel obeyed Him, they would be
“His chosen people” and a “treasured possession”
(see also: Deut. 28:1, 15). Ultimately,
those blessings were to be extended to all
the other nations on earth (Isa. 2:2-3; 11:10; 14:1; 55:5; 56:3-8;
Jer. 3:17; 16:19; 33:9; Zech. 2:11; 8:20-23). By reflecting
God’s holiness, Israel was to serve as God’s
witnesses to the rest of the watching world (Lev. 19:2).
The
Ten Commandments are the actual words of the
covenant.
Exodus 34:27-28, “And the
LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for
in accordance with these words I have made a
covenant with you and with Israel.” So he
was there with the LORD forty days and forty
nights. He neither ate bread nor drank
water. And he wrote on the tablets the words
of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (see also: Ex. 20:1; 34:1, 4;
Deut. 4:13; 5:2-3; 9:9; 1 Kings 8:9, 21; 2 Chron. 6:11).
The Ten
Commandments are the framework, or outline
for the rest of the 613 laws of the Old,
“Mosaic” Covenant.
The stipulations
for the Mosaic Covenant are recorded in the
first five books of the Hebrew Bible and are
collectively called the Torah, or the
Pentateuch. This covenant itself is referred
to as the Law, the Law of Moses, the Mosaic
Law, the 613 Mitzvot, or simply the
commandments of God. It would be impossible
for anyone to actually keep the Mosaic Covenant today
due to the lack of a temple in Jerusalem and
the Levitical Priesthood.
Some people teach that there is a
difference between the Law of Moses and the
Law of God. Proponents of this teaching
claim that the Law of God was written by God
Himself (the Ten Commandments), and are
binding on believers today, while the Law of
Moses was given only by the hand of Moses
and was for Israel alone.
However,
there has never been a distinction made
between the Ten Commandments and the Law of
Moses. The Jews never made that distinction!
In the Torah, the Jews never even refer to
the Decalogue as the Ten Commandments. They are called the
Ten Sayings, the Ten Statements, the Ten
Declarations, the Ten Words, or even the Ten
Things, but they are never called the Ten
Commandments (Ex. 34:28, Deut. 4:13; 10:4).
The Mosaic Covenant makes no distinction
between the moral and ceremonial laws. The
laws of the covenant are called the “Law”,
the “book of the law of Moses” (2 Kings 14:6; Isa. 8:20), and the “book of the law
of God” (Josh. 24:26). Nehemiah 8 uses the
following phrases interchangeably to show
they are the same law; “the book of the Law
of Moses”, “the Law”, and “the book of the
law of God.” In fact, the scriptures tell us
that God gave the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:6;
Ne. 8:1), and Moses gave the Law of God (Ne. 10:29; 2 Chron. 34:14). They are one and the
same Law.
Israel failed to keep the conditions
of the covenant:
God wanted
Israel to succeed so He extended grace to
them over and over again through His
prophets, but the nation continually
rejected God until He had enough with their
rebellion and sent them into captivity for 70 years because of
their covenant violations (Deut. 28:63-65;
Josh. 24; Judg. 2:1-3; 2 Kings 17:7-23; Jer. 25:3-11; 26:1-9; 32:21-23). God’s purpose
for sending Israel into captivity was for
them to learn through adversity what they
could have learned through times of
blessings and prosperity (Jer. 25:5-7; 46:28; Ezek. 20:35-38). After their
captivity was over, God fulfilled His
promise to bring them back from their
captivity (Deut. 30:1-10), and then promised
to establish them as His covenant people
once again, if they would keep His covenant
faithfully.
God was patient with
Israel and gave them every possible
opportunity to come back to Him and be
blessed, but once they rejected His Son,
Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and King,
He brought the Old Covenant to an end and
gave the New Covenant to His people in its
place. Just before his death, Jesus warned
His disciples about the destruction Israel
was about to face because the nation
rejected Him as their Messiah (see: 1 Kings 9:7; Isa. 53:1; 6:10;
Jer. 12:14-17; 18; 22:5; 26:1-6; Dan. 9:24-27; Matt. 21:42-44; 23:37-39;
Luke 13:34-35; John 1:9-13; 12:37-40; Rom. 9-12; 1 Pet. 2:9).
The New
Covenant completely replaced the Old Covenant:
The New Covenant that Jesus made for God’s
people to live by is superior to the Old
Covenant in every way. Under the Old
Covenant, if a Gentile wanted to keep the
Passover and the other Jewish feasts they
had to be circumcised and become a Jew
(Ne. 13:15-21; Ex. 12:43-49). The
New Covenant is more inclusive than the Old
Covenant was and does not require a Gentile
to become a Jew to join the covenant
community (see: Acts 15:1-28; Gal. 3:28;
Eph. 2:11-22; 2 Cor. 3:1-11).
The New Covenant
is a different type of covenant than the
Mosaic Covenant was; it was the Last Will
and Testament of Jesus Christ.
Much of the New Testament was written to
show how Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant
promises. The Old Covenant depended upon
Israel's faithful response to be fulfilled.
The New Covenant is an unconditional
covenant where God brings His covenant to
fulfillment through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 9:15-17 says, “Therefore
[Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant,
so that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheritance, since a death
has occurred that redeems them from the
transgressions committed under the first
covenant. For where a will is involved, the
death of the one who made it must be
established. For a will takes effect only at
death, since it is not in force as long as
the one who made it is alive.”
The
book of Hebrews is the only book in the New
Testament that makes the concept of covenant
a central theme. The emphasis is on Jesus
Christ, the perfect High Priest who provided
a new, better, and superior covenant to the
one God made with Israel on Mount Sinai (Heb. 7:22; 8:6).
Jeremiah’s promise of the New Covenant finds its
fulfillment in Him (Heb. 8:8, 10; 10:16). He
was the perfect covenant mediator who
provided an eternal inheritance for all
those who love him in a way the Old Covenant
could never do (Heb. 9:15; 12:24).
You cannot have two
wills in effect at the same time.
Jesus was fully aware that the Old
Covenant was still binding on Israel while
he lived. Matthew 5:17-18 says, “Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say
to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the
Law until all is accomplished.”
The New Covenant is the fulfillment
of the Old Covenant Law.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant Law by the
offering of His perfect life, death and
resurrection for all those who believe in
him. Christ kept the Law perfectly (Rom. 10:4). He accomplished all that the Law and
the Prophets said that he would do in his
first coming (Luke 24:44-47; 18:31; John 17:4). Christ has taken away our bondage to
the Law and given us freedom in place of slavery (John 8:32; 36; Acts 15:10; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 2:4; 3:25; 5:1). Christ abolished
the Old Covenant Law by fulfilling it and
removing the law’s condemnation for those
who believe (Eph. 2:13-16; Matt. 5:17; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 9:11-14; 10:1-10). This is the
reason for Jesus keeping the dietary
restrictions and Sabbath days as well as the
other Old Covenant requirements that
Christians are not required to keep under
the terms of the New Covenant of grace
(Matt. 26:17-26). No one is expected to keep
the laws of the Mosaic Covenant anymore,
Jesus Christ fulfilled them all for us (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Acts 15:1-28; Col. 2:13-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12;
Eph. 2:11-18; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:13-9:4; 10:23-25).
The New
Testament writers point out repeatedly that
the New Covenant has fulfilled the Old
Covenant. By this they mean that God brought
to completion the plan of salvation he had
been working out for the human race through
the nation of Israel. The plan of redemption
that God promised through Israel was brought
about through Jesus Christ, Israel’s
promised Messiah (Deut. 4:25-31; Judg. 2:13-16; 1 Kings 8:33-34; Ps. 81:7-10; 89:29-37; Isa. 1:16-20; Acts 2:36-39; Rom. 3:21-26). All of the Old Testament promises
of God are fulfilled in him (2 Cor. 1:20),
and the Old Covenant blessings promised to
Israel find their ultimate fulfillment in
the New Covenant, body of Christ, the Church (Deut. 7:6-8; 1 Pet. 2:9-10; cf. Acts 3:25-26; 13:32-39; Rom. 15:8-9; Gal. 3:16-22; Heb. 7:6; 9:15; 11:13).
The New Covenant is the
promised everlasting covenant that was
established by Jesus Christ himself (Heb. 9:20; 10:22; 13:20; Luke 22:20; Dan. 9:26-27), that fulfills all of the preceding
biblical covenants; a covenant in which all
believers have the full forgiveness of sins
(Jer. 31:34), are sealed and permanently indwelt by the
Holy Spirit; and are empowered by the Spirit
to live lives that are pleasing to God (Ezek. 36:25-27; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 1:22;
Jer. 31:31-33; Phil. 2:12-13).
The
people of God are the elect from all ages, consisting of
believing Jews and Gentiles that was first
formed as the body of Christ, the Church on
the day of
Pentecost (Eph. 2:15; Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-10; 2:11-41; cf. John 7:39; 17:21; Col. 1:26-27;
Heb. 11:39-40).
The Old &
New Covenants have similarities and
differences:
The Law of
Christ and the Law of Moses have similar
commandments, but just because nine of the
Ten Commandments are reapplied in the New
Covenant doesn’t mean that the Law of Moses
is still in effect. If Christians steal
something, they break the law of Christ, not
the Law of Moses. If we choose to keep parts
of the Old Covenant law, such as the Sabbath
or the dietary restrictions, we are free to
do so, but keeping the Law of Moses out of
the belief that we are obligated to keep
them denies the perfect and finished work of
Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.
Jesus introduced the New Covenant with His
disciples the night before he died (Jer. 31:31;
Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20;
Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6-11;
Heb. 7:22; 8:8-10; 9:15; 10:16; 12:24; 13:20),
and brought it into effect by His death
on the cross (Gal. 3:15-4:7; Rom. 6:14-15; 7:4-6;
Heb. 9:12-17; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 Jn. 1:7;
cf. Heb. 8-10). Jesus’ sacrifice made a complete
remission for the sins of all those who put
their faith in Him. He paid the price for
our redemption with His own blood (1 Pet. 1:18, 19), and freed us from sin’s curse and
the demands of the Old Covenant Law to
become God’s children through faith in Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior (Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Rom. 8:12-17). The Old Covenant
sacrifices were only symbolic
representations of what Christ would do on
our behalf and were unable to atone for the
sins committed under the Old Covenant (Heb. 9:15). The sacrifice that Jesus offers us
fulfilled all of the Old Covenant practices
and ceremonies and secured our total
forgiveness and sanctification as God’s
people (Heb. 10:1-18).
The New Covenant
has its own legal demands called the law of
Christ:
Christians are
under the law of Christ, or the law of the
Spirit of life, the only binding
law for the New Covenant Church (Gal. 6:2;
1 Cor. 9:20-21; Rom. 6:14; 8:1, 2, 10, 11). It is made up of
Christ’s law of love (Matt. 5:44; Gal. 6:2;
James 2:8; Rom. 13:8-10), His commands and
teachings (John 13:34; Phil. 2:4-12; Matt. 28:20; 2 Pet. 3:2), and the commands and
teachings given in the New Testament
epistles (Acts 1:1-2; 2 Pet. 3:2; Eph. 2:20;
Jude 1:17; 1 Jn. 5:3). Jesus Christ is the
greatest revelation of God to the human
race. He is the Word of God incarnate (John 1:14).
He is the pinnacle of divine revelation
(Matt. 17:1-8). He said all of the
scriptures pointed forward to him and the
work he would do for us. The Old Testament
scriptures need to be interpreted in light
of the work that He has accomplish for
us (Matt. 5:17-18; Luke 24:27, 44; John 1:1-3; 5:39, 46;
2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The law of Christ
is an entirely New Covenant.
Charles Ryrie describes what’s changed
between the Old and New Covenants this way,
“The law of Christ contains some new
commands (1 Tim. 4:4), some old ones (Rom. 13:9),
and some revised ones (Rom. 13:4,
with reference to capital punishment). All
the laws of the Mosaic code have been
abolished because the code has. Specific
Mosaic commands that are part of the
Christian code appear there not as a
continuation of part of the Mosaic Law, or
in order to be observed in some deeper
sense, but as specifically incorporated into
that code, and as such they are binding on
believers today. A particular law that was
part of the Mosaic code is done away; that
same law, if part of the law of Christ, is
binding. It is necessary to say both truths
in order not to have to resort to a
nonliteral interpretation of 2 Corinthians 3
or Hebrews 7 and in order not to have to
resort to some sort of theological
contortions to retain part of the Mosaic
Law.” [see: Basic Theology – The End of the
Law].
God's laws change depending on
the covenant you live under. The New
Testament tells us many times that the
Church is not under any of the laws of the
Mosaic Covenant (Acts 15:1-28; Rom. 6:14; 7:1-14;
Gal. 3:10-13; 3:24-25; 4:21; 5:1, 13; 2 Cor. 3:7-18). Many things from the Law
have clearly changed. Under the New
Covenant, no one is commanded to keep: the
Seventh-day Sabbath; the rite of
circumcision; the dietary restrictions and
cleanliness laws; the new moons
celebrations; the Holy days; annual feasts;
the Levitical Priesthood; or the animal
sacrifices.
Paul specifically
said he wasn’t under the law of the Jews any
longer because as a follower of Jesus Christ, he
was under the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:19-23;
Gal. 6:2; Rom. 8:1-2). If you want to know what laws a
Christian is supposed to live by, you have
to read the terms and conditions for the New
Covenant, not one of the covenants that came
before it.
God wants us to be with Him for eternity.
Jesus Christ died for our sins and all we
have to do is accept His free offer of
salvation by grace through faith in Him
alone to inherit eternal life.
Have
you made Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life yet?
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