We are all familiar with wedding ceremonies. This magical event brings loved ones together to witness an unparalleled expression of love and commitment—two people swearing to uphold a binding agreement never to be broken. The gravity of this agreement is so powerful that the very words are spoken publicly so that all in attendance become witnesses to the vows the bride and groom make to each other. A vow is a sacred promise, a promise that is intended to stand forever. The promises to love, honor, cherish, protect, provide for, and remain faithful to one another are to be practiced until only death brings separation. This sacred agreement is a covenant, a mutually binding relationship that is characterized by promises and obligations to which both parties commit.
There are many kinds of covenants in the Bible as well, all of them are binding agreements between two parties committed to carrying out specific covenantal stipulations. Covenants were so common in the cultures of both the Old and New Testaments that the word shows up at least 271 times throughout the typical English Bible. Covenant is at the core of every era in human history and has served as the basis for every redemptive relationship between God and individuals, tribes, and nations. In fact, from the beginning of creation, God has never had a personal relationship with any person, tribe, or nation apart from a covenant: God had a covenantal relationship with Adam (see Hosea 6:7), Noah and his descendants (see Genesis 6:18, 9:9), Abraham and his descendants (see Genesis 15:18, 17:10), Moses and the Israelites (see Exodus 34:10, 27), and the descendants of King David (see Jeremiah 33:21).
All of these covenants were mutual agreements with established expectations placed on both parties. God made promises to Adam, and with the promises came expectations (see Genesis 2:4-17). God also made promises to Noah, and again with these promises came expectations (see Genesis 6:9-22). The same is true with God’s promises to Abraham (see Genesis 17:8-14), and to Israel (see Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 28:58-61). In all of these covenants, those who entered into the covenant with God did not earn the right to do so, it was solely God’s grace that made the relationship possible. However, once the covenant was entered into, God fully expected the stipulations of the covenant to be obeyed.
Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ means entering into a covenant relationship as well, a covenant the Lord Jesus himself inaugurated on the night of his arrest and later ratified by his own blood through the crucifixion: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). It is easy for Christians to miss why covenant matters because many of us make a sharp distinction between God in the Old Testament (the “covenant” God) and Jesus in the New Testament (the “relationship” God). To many of us, the “God of the Old Testament” often appears harsh, unyielding, and even violent, while Jesus is considered meek and mild. However, it is a core Christian doctrine that God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament are one and the same (see John 1:1, 5:18, 10:33; Philippians 2:5-6; Colossians 1:15-21; 1 Timothy 1:17).
We tend to emphasize the covenantal nature of God in the Old Testament (laws, rules, commandments) while emphasizing the relational nature of Jesus in the New Testament (grace, love, forgiveness). However, the truth is, we cannot be in a relationship with God apart from a covenant any more than we can be in a covenant with him apart from a relationship—relationship with God means being in a covenant with him. Thinking about our faith in the context of covenant is uncomfortable to many of us because we usually associate covenants with Israel’s laws, legalism, or even images of animal sacrifice. In truth, the new covenant is the most powerful expression of God’s merciful love of, commitment to, and purpose for, the Church.
Understanding the New Covenant
As we understand our relationship with the Lord Jesus as a covenant, it is important to remember that Jesus himself announced its commencement the night he was arrested—how precious to know that we are entering into something that began with the Lord Jesus himself! That night with his disciples, Jesus fulfilled a promise God made through the prophet Jeremiah over five hundred years earlier. Jeremiah wrote that God promised to establish a new covenant with Israel, a covenant that would be open to gentiles as well. This covenant would completely fulfill and replace the covenant God made with Israel through Moses, “Jesus is the mediator of a far better covenant than the covenant with Israel through Moses since the new covenant is based on better promises” (see Hebrews 8:6). These “better promises” include forgiveness of sins, redemption from death, adoption as children, glorification in heaven, and eternal life in the presence of God—better promises indeed!
The Scripture affirms that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant and understanding this is how we are to come to him. As we choose to become a follower of Jesus Christ, to receive his forgiveness and trust him for our salvation, we must understand that we are entering into a “life covenant” with the Lord—one in which he will fulfil the many amazing promises he has made to us and one in which he fully expects us to carry out our end of this covenantal agreement…pick up our cross daily, deny ourselves, and live for him through surrender and obedience until we join him in his kingdom.
What Is the New Covenant?
The New Testament is the record of God fulfilling his covenantal promise to Israel (which will ultimately include the Gentiles as well), a promise he made through the prophet Jeremiah more than five hundred years before Jesus was born—“The time is coming when I will make a new covenant…It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers…I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-32). This is a powerful promise in light of Israel’ collective failure to keep the commands of the Mosaic covenant. The covenant with Moses, though holy indeed, was a series of external commands written on stone. Consequently, there was no intrinsic motivation driving the people of Israel to withstand the forces of the nations around them and doggedly obey the laws of God (other than potential consequences).
However, under this promised new covenant, God will work within his people what the law could not do from without—they will be given the internal desire and ability to obey because of transformed hearts and minds, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you, I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). God himself will renew his people so that their rock-hard hearts will be softened and enabled to be conformed to his own will. Though they have no means to see it, the time is coming when God himself, through his Holy Spirit, will reside within each one of his people and will do in them what he requires of them.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (Hebrews 10:1). The new covenant is the fulfilment of the old covenant, from religious structures and elements to the law itself. To fully grasp the significance of this powerful truth, we who follow Christ need to become aware of how prolific the language of the new covenant is in the New Testament(1) and how to identify it. Following is a description of many of these “shadows” and their new covenant fulfillment:
Temple – The temple played the central role in the worship and covenant history of Israel in the Old Testament; in fact, Israel was forbidden to formally practice their religion anywhere else because the temple was the dwelling place of God on the earth. The temple was that which unified the twelve tribes of Israel, bringing them all together as one nation and served as their cultural anchor. In the New Testament, the “temple” is equally central to the worship and identity of the Church. Yet, in the New Testament, the Church itself is identified as the new temple of God (see 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:21-22). This temple is identified as the “dwelling place for God in His Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22); it is built from living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5), constructed on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone (see Ephesians 2:20).
Jesus declared that the actual stone temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed (see Matthew 24:1-2; John 4:19-24), an event which occurred in 70 A.D.; since then, those who worship God worship him in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).
Commandment – When we think of the word commandment, we almost immediately think of the Old Testament. Yet, the language of commandment is central to the new covenant as well. For example, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:15, 21). Starting in John 13, Jesus is instructing his disciples just prior to his arrest and crucifixion—in these powerful chapters, Jesus uses the word command eight times when giving his disciples his final instructions before he is taken from them (John 13:34, 14:15, 21, 15:10, 12, 14, 17).
Even up to the time Jesus returned to his Father, he emphasized to his disciples the centrality of obedience to his commands in the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20AT).
In fact, between the command/obey word group and the imperatives in the New Testament, there are hundreds of commandments in the new covenant believers are to obey. The importance of obeying what Jesus commanded is demonstrated in the Gospel of Luke where Luke records Jesus asking this ominous question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Covenant Meal – In the Church, communion has replaced the Passover meal as the celebration of the new covenant and the memorial meal of the Church’s rescue and exodus from bondage, not to Egypt, but to sin and death. Celebrating communion is also celebrating the commencement of the new covenant; Jesus himself being the very first to pass the bread and cup while inaugurating the new covenant (see Luke 22:20; Acts 2:46; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Jude 1:12). The “love feast,” as it was known in the early Church, rapidly replaced the Passover meal as the celebration honoring Jesus. This has come down to us as the celebration of communion, or the Lord’s table.
Mediator – Moses was the mediator of the old covenant, but Christ is the mediator of the new covenant so that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set us free from the sins committed under the first covenant (see Hebrews 8:6-7, 9:15, 12:24).
High Priest – Jesus himself is the High Priest of this covenant (see Hebrews 7:18-28), and is therefore able to forever save those who come to God through him because he lives forever as our intercessor (see Hebrews 7:25).
Passover Lamb – Paul identifies Jesus as our Passover Lamb, sacrificed for sins once for all (see 1 Corinthians 5:7); Peter refers to our redemption by the “precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (see 1 Peter 1:19; Exodus 12:5).
Covenantal Sign – Baptism seems to have replaced circumcision as the covenantal sign, “In him you were also circumcised…with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God…” (Colossians 2:11-12).
Blood – Jesus gave his own blood to ratify this new covenant and has freed us from our sins in order to serve the Living God (see Hebrews 9:14-15; Leviticus 17:11).
Priestly Ministers – The Apostle Paul identifies followers of Jesus as ministers of the new covenant (see 2 Corinthians 3:6). Paul also identifies his ministry to the Gentiles as a priestly ministry, so that we might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 15:15-16).
Sacrifice – The language of sacrifice is still used in the new covenant, but not animal sacrifice. Instead, in the new covenant, we are told to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (see Romans 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:5).
Incense – Just as Aaron was to burn fragrant incense before the altar of God (see Exodus 30:3-7), so now the good deeds of Christians are that fragrant offering (see Philippians 4:18).
Priesthood – The Church is identified as a “royal priesthood,” language taken from the Old Testament (see Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).
Covenantal Warnings – Powerful warnings are written to those who would profane or reject the new covenant (see Hebrews 10:29; 2 Peter 2:20-22).
Covenantal concepts occupy large sections of at least four New Testament letters. In his letter to the Galatian Christians, Paul uses Sarah and Hagar as an illustration of the two covenants—the old covenant characterized by slavery while the new covenant is characterized by freedom (see Galatians 4:24-26). Paul also has a lengthy discussion with the Roman Christians about the old covenant and the law giving way to the new covenant and the Spirit (see Romans 7:4-6, for example). Later in this same letter, Paul uses new covenant language and imagery when describing the ministry God has called him to, “…to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:15-18).
In a large portion of 2 Corinthians, Paul reflects on the wonder of the new covenant in light of the old. He tells the Corinthians that he and his companions are ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. Paul celebrates the new covenant, which is far more glorious than the old covenant which was engraved in stone and brought death, “For what was glorious (the old covenant) has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory (the new covenant)” (2 Corinthians 3:10, parenthetical clauses added; see also 3:1-18). Later in this same letter, Paul talks about Christ dying for all and that those who now live in Christ belong to him and are a new creation, the old having passed away with his death and resurrection, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The sine qua non of the discussion regarding the passing of the old covenant and the inauguration of the new is without question the letter to the Hebrews; almost the entire book is a discussion of this fact. The writer is adamant about the reality of the old covenant and all of its parts having passed away with the coming of Jesus Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant. It would be impossible here to reproduce all of the relevant material from this letter. Therefore, I strongly encourage the reader to carefully peruse the letter to the Hebrews, paying great attention especially to chapters 9 and 10.
The primary purpose of this letter to the Hebrew Christians is to convince them that they continue to be in a covenantal relationship with God, but it is no longer the covenant of Moses. The new covenant is now in place for all followers of Jesus everywhere, including those of us who are Gentiles. Three times in this passage the writer emphasizes that what Jesus did, he did once for all: Christ entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having gained eternal redemption for those he came to save; …now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by sacrificing himself; we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The New Covenant and the Lord Jesus
It is incomprehensible that God would enter into an everlasting covenant with human beings—this is an incredibly powerful expression of his love for us and desire to be with us…forever and always. The fact that he ratified this covenant with the blood of his own son is nothing less than astonishing! Could he be any clearer in expressing how much value he has placed on reconciliation with us? You are loved! I am loved! There can no longer be any doubt as to whether or not this is true. The question no longer lies on God’s side, it now comes directly to us—will we respond to the incredible love of God by surrendering our lives to him or will we ignore the greatest opportunity given to any human being and continue going our own way?
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we immediately enter into this new covenant with God. What a glorious truth! Not only has God, who does not lie, told us that he sent his Son to save us, but he proved how much he loves us by placing our reconciliation with him in the context of a covenant. To use a trite illustration, this is like a man dating a woman faithfully for many years, but never asking her to marry him, because to marry her would put their relationship in the context of a covenant and would make it unquestionably permanent. God could have sent Jesus to do all the same work that he did, and we would be no less saved by trusting him. However, God is showing us how deeply he loves us by expressing his love in the context of a covenant. In other words, he is proving to us that he wants this to be a permanent relationship.
How should we respond to such an amazing expression of love? By understanding and obeying the terms of the covenant. Again, to return to our marriage illustration, when we enter into the covenant of marriage, it is a joyful, wonderful, and powerful moment. Many of us have experienced the incomparable feeling that comes with being chosen (above all others) by another person who promises to commit the rest of his or her life to us…there is almost nothing else like this in all of life! However, marriages that are successful are the result of two people understanding that feelings may come and go, but the commitment to following through with the marriage vows and the unequivocal devotion to our spouse, under all circumstances, is what makes a marriage succeed.
This is true with our covenant with God as well. As we choose to surrender our lives to him and he brings us into this covenant with himself, our response must be one of love and gratitude, as well as obedience. God gave us the Bible, especially the New Testament, to instruct us in what he expects us to know and obey regarding our beliefs and behaviors. As we learn to read the New Testament as an explanation of the new covenant, and as we begin to intentionally incorporate what we learn into our lives, this is where we will find complete and total security in our relationship with God. God will never go back on his promises; he will never break his covenant with us. However, he has given us, as his sovereign decision, the free will to either obey him or not. We know from many other life experiences that if we fail to do what is expected of us, we will suffer the consequences of that failure, whether it is job related, law related, or relationship related…we must do what is required to avoid negative consequences.
Because God loves us so much, he makes available to us everything we could possibly need to successfully carry out our side of the covenant. As we become followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us for the purpose of guiding and convicting us as we face the many choices, temptations, and trials of life (see John 14:26). God has also promised to forgive us when we fail as we confess our sins to him and ask for his cleansing (see 1 John 1:9). He has promised to be at work within us to carry out all that he expects of us (see Philippians 2:13). Besides all of this, he has given us the glorious promises of heaven and eternity with him as the result of our faithful perseverance. God is for us—he has done, and continues to do, all that is necessary for us to be faithful to the end. Our contribution to that success is nothing more than, by the grace and power of God himself, learning from the scriptures what he expects from us and choosing daily to live that out in our lives. This is what he has expected of all Christians throughout time and continues to expect from all Christians everywhere.
Many Christians believe that only the old covenant contains commandments to be obeyed and assume things are not like that anymore. However, even a limited perusal through the New Testament shows this assumption to be mistaken. On the night of Jesus’ arrest, the last time he would teach his disciples prior to his resurrection, he said to them five times, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15), “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21), “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23), “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:10), and “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).
Just as Israel was called to keep the commandments of the old covenant, Christians are called to keep the commandments of the new covenant. The apostles understood this and made sure that those who came to Christ through their ministries understood it as well. The apostle John, who was there to hear the words of Jesus that night, reiterated this message to his readers some fifty years later, “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commands” (1 John 2:3), “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them” (1 John 3:24), “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands” (1 John 5:3).
Likewise, when the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians who are arguing over circumcision, he reminds them, “For whether or not a man is circumcised means nothing; what matters is to obey God’s commandments” (1 Corinthians 7:9). The apostle Peter leaves no doubt as to why he is writing a second letter to his readers, “I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2).
What emphasis does the Lord Jesus place on keeping his commands? It is the difference between stability and catastrophe, “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice will withstand even the most powerful storms, but the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice will experience total ruin” (see Luke 6:47-49). Here, and in many other places, Jesus is adamant that hearing his teaching is not enough; it is crucial that all who follow him hear his words and do what he has says, that is, keep his commandments.
The People of the New Covenant
The promise of the new covenant to Israel also opens the door to the new covenant to all people, Jew and Gentile alike. In the Old Testament, God foresees a time when even the most violent enemies of Israel will worship with her, “In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’” (Isaiah 19:24-25). Elsewhere the prophet Isaiah records these beautiful and powerful words regarding God’s invitation to people of every race,
“Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.’ …Foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. The Sovereign LORD declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered’” (Isaiah 56:3, 6-8).
This is the very passage Jesus quoted when he drove the money changers from the temple grounds (see Mark 11:17). Matthew quotes another passage from Isaiah that he believed prophetically described the ministry of Christ, “…he will proclaim justice to the nations…, in his name the nations will put their hope” (see Matthew 12:145-21), clearly casting a vision beyond Israel alone.
Jesus plainly expressed this open invitation to the new covenant, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Elsewhere he says, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Again, Jesus says, “Believe me…, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…. A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:21, 23).
Indeed, the Great Commission itself indicates that Jesus has his heart set on all people, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In his instructions to the disciples after his resurrection he says, “…You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In the book of the Revelation, John sees ahead to the time when all of this has been accomplished, “You [Jesus] are worthy…because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).
The apostles also recognized this new people of God made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul writes, “There is no longer Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28). Elsewhere Paul writes, “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). In his letter to the Ephesians Paul explains how Jesus made one new race out of the two races that had forever been at odds, the Jews and Gentiles (see Ephesians 2:11-22).
Likewise, in a beautiful passage reassuring the Gentile followers of Jesus that they are completely acceptable to God, Peter writes, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). The vast majority of Christians in the world are what the Bible calls Gentiles. We are the people Peter is referring to here, this makes the new covenant even more precious to us. It is common to hear Israel referred to as the “chosen people,” even so, those of us who have entered into the covenant that God has now offered to all who call upon Jesus are no less chosen.
(1) It is helpful to note that the English term, “New Testament,” comes from the Latin translation of the Greek for new covenant. Our Bible is literally divided into Old Covenant and New Covenant.
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