What is so NEW about the New Covenant?

“We are under the New Covenant, to keep the Law is to go back under the Old Covenant”

“Jesus included some of the commands from the Old Covenant in the New Covenant. That is a far cry from saying that we are still commanded to obey the whole Law of Moses.”

The above quotes were taken from arguments given to me from other believers as to why believers today should no longer obey the Torah (God’s Law or instructions). These quotes at one time also reflected my past attitude of Old Covenant vs. New Covenant. Whenever the subject of Old vs. New would come up, I had always just assumed this to be the case without ever questioning or examining this assumption. This was mainly due to the fact of how the Scriptures are divided into two sections (Old and New) and the popularity of this teaching in the Church today. In this essay I wish to examine the common presuppositions concerning the New Covenant to see if they match up with what the Scriptures actually teach. Does the New Covenant free believers from obeying the Torah? What are the responsibilities of those in the New Covenant? To whom does the New Covenant apply? When does the New Covenant begin? And most importantly, what is so “New” about the New Covenant?

What is and is not a Covenant?

Before plunging into the newness of the New Covenant, it is best to briefly revisit what is a covenant. A covenant is a legal agreement between two or more parties that includes a contract that defines the relationship between the associated parties. The contract specifies any privileges, terms, conditions, and responsibilities of the covenant relationship. An example of a covenant is a Jewish marriage. The covenant of marriage between husband and wife is that they will both love one anther and be faithful to one another. The contract that states the terms and conditions of the relationship of both the husband the wife is called a Ketubah. The Ketubah, for example, specifies that the husband is responsible to provide food, clothing and marital relations to his wife. The Ketubah is not the covenant itself but part of the covenant that defines the responsibilities in order to maintain the covenant relationship. In the same way, the Torah (God’s Law) is not the covenant of Moses. The Torah gives the terms and conditions of the covenant of Moses but is not the covenant itself. The covenant of Moses is found in Exodus 19:3-6 which basically says that if Israel obeys God’s Torah, then they will be a Holy nation unto Him (He will be their God, they will be His people). Moses then brings this covenant to the people in verses 7-8 and they accept this covenant. Then God proceeds to give Moses the Torah starting with the Ten Commandments in chapter 20. It is important to keep in mind that this is a covenant made with a nation, not with individuals.

Seeing that a covenant is a legal agreement, it should be mentioned that it is NOT a collection of the books of the Scriptures. The division of the Scriptures of “Old Testament” (testament a Latin term for covenant) and “New Testament” is a man made division and not a Biblical one. The Scriptures started with the Torah (books of Moses), then came the writings and the prophets and finally the Gospels and Apostolic writings. At what point did the Scriptures themselves become a covenant? The Scriptures contain covenants but are not the covenants themselves. From this point on the “Old Testament” will be referred to as the Hebrew Scriptures and the “New Testament” as the Greek Scriptures.

The Context of the New Covenant

The only place the phrase “New Covenant” is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures is the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31. Let’s take a look at the context of this passage. The book of Jeremiah is about a prophet that was sent to the people of God (Judah) to proclaim to them that they have been unfaithful with the covenant they made with their God. As a result, they were to experience the curses of the covenant (Deu 28:15-68) and that God is sending a nation against them to destroy their city and lead them to exile from the land. However, in this book, Jeremiah gives the people hope of a time of restoration in the last days. In chapters 30-33 God expresses His love for His people and says that He will restore both Israel and Judah back to the land and will cause them to be a faithful nation so that He may bless them. This is the context in which Jeremiah is proclaiming the future “New Covenant” in chapter 31.

31 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD,"I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

What is the New Covenant?

In verse 31 the Lord says He is going to make a New Covenant. It is interesting to find that the word “new” in Hebrew does not necessarily mean brand new as in never existed before. The word is chadash which could also mean “renew” as in Laminations 5:21, “Restore us to You, O LORD, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old.” In the Septuagint and almost every place in the Greek Scriptures [1] that the phrase “new covenant” is used, the Greek word for “new” is kainos meaning “new” as in respect to quality (as in renewed) not time (brand new), which would be the Greek word neos. This means that the Apostles understood the New Covenant as a Renewed Covenant. It is really the same as the previous covenant, but being upgraded like upgrading previous existing software. Who, according to this verse, is this Renewed Covenant made with? It is with the “house of Israel and with the house of Judah”. (Notice it says nothing about the Gentiles, but more on that later). Remember that after King Solomon’s rule, the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south.

Verse 32 begins to compare the renewed covenant with the previous covenant made with their fathers, which is the Mosaic Covenant. God says that the renewed covenant will not be like the Mosaic Covenant in what way? The Mosaic Covenant is described as, “My covenant which they broke”. This is important to keep this in mind as God further describes the renewed covenant and its impact on the people. Also, notice that it says, “Covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt”. It was with their fathers (the Jews) that came out of Egypt that He made the covenant with. Therefore it cannot be said that the receivers of the renewed covenant are a “new Israel”, the Church or any other kind of replacement people.

Next, verse 33 goes on to say, “‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD”. What happened to the house of Judah? What is God trying to communicate by leaving out Judah? By leaving out Judah, God is describing the time when He will bring back His people to the land and once again the two nations (Israel and Judah) will be one nation reunited again. (Ezekiel also prophesies of this time of restoration in the giving of the Spirit in 36:22-32 and when the Messiah is to come (or return) to rule over the people in the Land in 37:15-28.) So, what are the responsibilities of God and the nation of Israel in this covenant? “I will put My Torah within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Amazing, God is going to write His Torah on their hearts! Is this some “new” Torah that He is going to write? According to the text, it is not a new Torah. It is the same Torah He gave to Moses on the mountain. This means that the renewed covenant is characterized by His Torah. Someone might ask, “Then how is this any different than the Mosaic covenant if it is the same Torah?” It is different because in the Mosaic covenant the Torah was written on stone, but in the renewed covenant the Torah is written on the heart. In order to understand the significance of writing the Torah on the heart, one must first understand Hebrew concept of the function of the heart. To the Hebrew, the heart is were the moral decisions of right and wrong take place. It is the very conscience of a person. Thus, by writing the Torah on the heart, all of the decisions of a person are filtered through the Torah. “Thus, when Jeremiah promises a ‘new covenant’ with Israel in which the Torah is written on the heart, he prophesies that the nation as a whole would one day live out the righteousness of the Torah. Surely it was this thought that Paul had in mind as he looked forward to the time when ‘all Israel will be saved’.”[2] That is why He goes on to say, “…and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”. [3] That will be the first time in Israel’s history when not just a remnant is faithful and obedient to God’s covenant (Rom 11:5), but the nation as a whole and thus as a nation will receive the full benefits of the covenant promises.

The national revival of Israel in Jeremiah’s prophecy is further demonstrated in verse 34. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD”. What does it mean that all of Israel will “know” the Lord? Is this some theological knowledge about the Lord? The Hebrew word for “know” has a connotation of a unique relationship as in Genesis 4:1, “Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain”. The meaning of “to know” as a covenant relationship fits the context for He said previously “…I was a husband to them," declares the LORD”. Yeshua uses the word “know” in the same fashion, “And the I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matt 7:23) “Therefore, when we hear Jeremiah saying that no one will need to teach the nation of Israel, saying “know the Lord,” we should understand this to mean that no one will have to urge Israel to be loyal in a covenant sense to the Lord, for everyone will “know” Him, that is, be faithful to Him in covenant relationship, from the least to the greatest.”[4] By God writing the Torah upon the heart and thus causing Israel to be faithful to the covenant, God will be able to bless Israel with all of the blessings of the covenant (Deu 28:1-14).

When Israel as a nation is living out the Torah, she will certainly receive Yeshua as Messiah because the goal and aim of the Torah is to lead people to the Messiah.[5] That is why it says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more”. This will fulfill the words spoken by the angle to Joseph, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."[6] This is what Yeshua meant at the Last Supper when He took the wine and declared, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood,” “which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins”.[7] Forgiveness of sins can only be found in the redemptive work of the Messiah.

Someone may be thinking, “If the new covenant concerns the nation of Israel in the future, are not we as believers’ part of the new covenant now?” Yes we are. This is possible because we have been made the first-fruits of the final harvest of Israel. God has certainly put is Torah in our hearts, has given us His Spirit, and has forgiven our sins. Therefore we have entered in as members of the new covenant.[8] There has always been in every generation a remnant chosen by grace that has been faithful to God. They have been members of the new covenant that have walked in the ways of God. However the fullness of the new covenant will come at a time when God will unite the house of Israel and Judah and will all be faithful to God and His Torah. The new covenant is simply a national expression of what each redeemed individual has experienced.

Conclusion

What have we learned by looking closely at Jeremiah 31? Let’s go back and try to answer the original questions from the beginning.

Does the New Covenant free believers from obeying the Torah?
No, it does not. The New covenant is actually characterized by the Torah when God writes it on the heart. It is this action that enables new covenant members to be obedient and faithful to God and His Torah.

What are the responsibilities of those in the New Covenant?
The only responsibly that is mentioned in the new covenant is God’s responsibility to place the Torah in the heart of His people. The responsibilities of man are still the same, to be faithful to the covenant by keeping the commandments of the Torah.

To whom does the New Covenant apply?
The primary focus of the New Covenant concerns the nation of Israel when God will reunite both the house of Israel and the house of Judah into one nation. However, all those that believe in the Messiah are able to enter in as first-fruits of the new covenant.

When does the New Covenant begin?
The fullness of the new covenant has not yet arrived, it is yet to happen. However, in every generation God has chosen a remnant to receive the benefits of the new covenant through faith. Therefore this covenant is not time bound. Abraham, Moses, David and others that lived before the death of Yeshua had the Torah written on the heart, had the Spirit of God, and had their sins forgiven just as those who have lived after His death. [9]

What is so “New” about the New Covenant?
The new covenant is the work of God by the Spirit that will cause the whole nation Israel, for the first time in History, to be faithful to the covenant made God at Mt Sinai by writing the Torah on the heart. The whole nation of Israel will receive Yeshua as Messiah and as a result, they will all have their sins forgiven. So, the newness of the new covenant is not a new Torah or a putting away of Torah, but it is a renewed heart and a renewed spirit in the nation of Israel.

Notes
1 The only exception to this is in Hebrews 12:24. I'm not sure at this time exactly why the author would use a different word for "new" here.
2 Tim Hegg The Letter Writer: Paul’s background and Torah Perspective pg 240
3 Jeremiah 24:7; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 34:30; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8
4 Tim Hegg The Letter Writer: Paul’s background and Torah Perspective pg 242
5 Galatians 3:24; Romans 10:4 Here the Greek word for “end” is telos and should be understood as goal, aim, or purpose. This is where we get the words “telephone” and “telegraph”.
6 Matthew 1:21
7 Luke 22:20; Matthew 26:28; cp. Mark 14:24
8 For a more thorough discussion on this, please read my next blog “What is so “Old” about the Old Covenant?”
9 One cannot have faith in God without the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14-17). Paul gives Abraham and David as examples of how one is justified by faith. Hebrews 11 gives plenty of examples of people living before Yeshua that lived by faith. David said that the Torah was written on his heart (Ps 40:8) and that he delighted in the Torah of God (Ps 119). This would have been impossible to do without the Spirit of God (Rom 8:5-9).