|
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 (Exod. 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 His promise 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 (Gen. 16-20; Gal. 3:16). 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
determined that all those who trust in Him by
faith alone 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
(Exod. 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,
new moons,
and Sabbath days (Exod. 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, His one and only Son (Heb. 1; 10:1;
John 3:16-18).
The Ten
Commandments formed the basis for the rest of
the laws in the Old Covenant (Exod. 34:28;
Deut. 4:13). They were the broad categories
upon which the other laws were based. As part of the Old Covenant,
the people agreed to obey all of the laws
given in
Exodus 20-24. God also gave Israel
additional laws and regulations in the books
of Leviticus and Numbers, and special laws
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 the book of Deuteronomy constituted a second
covenant, but it is still the same covenant
that 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 Book of the Law was placed beside
the Ark of the covenant so it could be read
regularly. No one was allowed to open the
Ark in which was the actual covenant
containing the “words of the covenant”, the
Ten Commandments. Some theologians believe
the Book of the Law was just the book of
Deuteronomy but it was most likely all five
books of Moses and had two written copies of
the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:2-17;
Deut. 5:6-21), alone with all of the rest of the
613 Laws of Moses to be read publicly every
seven years (Deut. 31:9-15). I believe all
five books of Moses were included because
the Book of the Law was one of the titles
given to the Pentateuch in the rest of the
Old Testament (Deut. 31:24-26; Josh. 1:8; 8:34).
The Sabbath was meant for Israel alone
because it served as a ceremonial sign of
the Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 31:16-17;
Ne. 9:13-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20). Christians live
under a totally different covenant than
Israel did, and are not required to observe
any of the ceremonial requirements of the
Old Covenant Law (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Acts 15:1-20; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11;
Rom. 14:5-12; Eph. 2:11-18; 2 Cor. 3:3-11;
Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
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 based upon
Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant
regulations given in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-30.
Exodus 19-23 are important chapters
for
understanding 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” (cf.
Deut. 28:1, 15). By reflecting God’s
holiness, Israel was to serve as God’s
witnesses to the rest of the watching world
(Lev. 19:2). Ultimately, those blessings
were to be extended to all the other nations
on earth. One by one the nations would unite
with Israel in serving the one true God,
Yahweh (Isa. 2:2-3; 11:10; 14:1; 19:18-22;
Isa. 45:14; 55:5; 56:3-8; 60:1-12;
Jer. 3:17; 16:19; 33:9; Zech. 2:11; 8:20-23).
The
Ten Commandments are the actual words of the
covenant.
Exodus 34:27-28
says, “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’” (cf.
Exod. 20:1; 34:1, 4;
Deut. 4:13; 5:2-3; 9:9; 1 Kings 8:9, 21; 2 Chron. 6:11).
One of the most distinguishing features
of the Ten Commandments is that they are the
only laws ever specifically referred to as
“the covenant” (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 29:1; 2 Chron. 34:31). That is why
they were among the items placed inside the
Ark of the Covenant. They were the
foundational laws upon which the rest of the
613 laws contained in the covenant were
based.
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.[1] 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 was never a distinction made
between the Ten Commandments and the Law of
Moses in the scriptures. 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, and even the Ten
Things, but they are never referred to as the Ten
Commandments (Exod. 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 the
very 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 to
teach
them 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 and then promised to establish
them as His covenant people once again, if
they kept the covenant faithfully (Deut. 30:1-10).
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 coming
destruction of the nation along with all of
its temple services (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; Exod. 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 (Matt. 1:23; 2:4-6; 22:45; 27:46; 27:57-60;
Luke 24:44-45; John 1:29; 5:39; Acts 3:22; Hebrews 8-9). 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, “For this reason
Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,
that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheritance–now that he has
died as a ransom to set them free from the
sins committed under the first covenant. In
the case of a will, it is necessary to prove
the death of the one who made it, because a
will is in force only when somebody has
died; it never takes effect while the one
who made it is living.” (NIV)
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 (Gal. 4:4; John 8:46;
1 Pet. 2:22). 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 did away with
the Old Covenant Law by fulfilling it and
removing the law’s condemnation for those
who believe in Him (Eph. 2:13-16; Matt. 5:17;
Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 3:6-11; 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
(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 (Isa. 42:6; 49:8;
cf. Dan. 9:26-27; Heb. 9:20; 10:22; 13:20;
Luke 22:20), that fulfills all of the preceding
biblical covenants; a covenant in which all
believers have the full forgiveness of sins
(Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:12; 10:17), are sealed and permanently indwelt by the
Holy Spirit; and are empowered by the Spirit
to live lives that are totally 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 and
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 a Christian steals
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 the children of God 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
what the New Testament calls the law of
Christ, or the law of the Spirit of life. It
is 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 (John 13:34-35;
Matt. 5:44; Gal. 6:2; Rom. 13:8-10;
James 2:8; 1 Jn. 4:7-8; 5:3),
Christ’s commands and teachings (John 13:34;
Phil. 2:4-12; Matt. 28:20; 2 Pet. 3:2); and
the commands and teachings of the New
Testament epistles (Acts 1:1-2; 15:1-28;
2 Pet. 3:2; Rom. 8:1-4; 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),
and the pinnacle of divine revelation
(Matt. 17:1-8; Heb. 1:1-3). 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
Old Covenant 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 sacrificial
system.
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 (John 3:16-18;
Eph. 2:8-10).
Jesus came into this
world to set us free from “the law of sin
and death” (Rom. 8:1-2). All we have to do
is put our faith and trust in Him for our
salvation.
Have
you made Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life yet?
References:
1. see:
A List of the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)
|
