Old Covenant and New

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OLD COVENANT AND NEW COVENANT
An excerpt from "A Study of Law and Grace"

pdf

Dr. Paul Manuel—2011

Many Christians read Jesus’ statement during the Last Supper—“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20b)—and they assume that he is identifying the new covenant with his death, that his vicarious sacrifice is the new covenant or, at least, an integral part of that agreement. Those two elements of God’s plan are, in fact, quite distinct. Deliverance from sin is not a provision in the new covenant any more than deliverance from slavery was a provision in the old covenant. Deliverance of either kind is, rather, a prerequisite to the contracts God makes.

To most Christians, this may seem an overly fine distinction. What difference does it make if Jesus’ sacrifice is a provision in or a prerequisite to the new covenant? Either way, believers still benefit. …While the advantage is the same, the attending obligations are not.

• If Jesus’ sacrifice is a provision in the new covenant, part of that contract, then gentiles who avail themselves of the pardon his death affords are party to this agreement and must keep its terms. Thus, gentile believers have to obey the laws God gave to Israel.

• If Jesus’ sacrifice is a prerequisite to the new covenant, separate from that contract, then gentiles who avail themselves of the pardon his death affords are not (automatically) party to this agreement and are not (thereby) required to keep its terms. Only when gentile believers subsequently choose to enter the new covenant must they obey the terms of that contract—the laws God gave to Israel.

God makes the Messianic covenant, like its Mosaic predecessor, with the people of Israel. Also like the earlier agreement, the later one allows non-Jews to participate but does not obligate them. The primary difference between the two contracts is that the first admits anyone, whereas the second admits only certain ones: Whoever would enter the new covenant must first experience the new birth.

Israel has not yet realized the New Covenant fully, for God has not yet gathered all the exiles to the land as He will when the messiah returns, and many of Abraham’s descendants do not yet have the intimate knowledge of God they will possess when the messiah returns. In this sense, Jews who are faithful to God but who do not consider Jesus to be the messiah, still regard themselves as operating under the Old Covenant. For Jews who are faithful to God and who do consider Jesus to be the messiah, his death ratifies the New Covenant and enables them to appreciate the unfolding of God’s plan even before Jesus’ second advent. This overlap of the two covenants accords with the statement in Hebrews that indicates there will be a gradual transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant as more Jews recognize Jesus to be the messiah:

Heb 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

For some Jews, that transition happens sooner rather than later.

A pdf is here.