Faith First Media

The following is an excerpt from the book A Theology of Peace by Matthew Elton, copyright 2009 Matthew Elton.

The New Covenant

In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.”

--1 Corinthians 11:25

The Old Covenant made by Moses had done a mediocre job of mediating between God and mankind. It had provided animal sacrifices as an imperfect means of atoning for sin, and it allowed the high priest to enter the Tent of Meeting once per year in order to speak directly to God.

But the New Covenant made by Jesus is far superior to the Old Covenant. Animal sacrifice no longer needs to be practiced because Jesus died once as a perfect, ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins of all mankind. And rather than entering an earthly tabernacle for annual communication with God, Jesus serves as our perfect high priest through his ascension into a heavenly tabernacle where he is always able to serve as a mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), making intercession for us. The Bible states cearly that the New Covenant is the “far better” Covenant:

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

--Hebrews 8:6

but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him,“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.

--Hebrews 7:21-24

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

--Hebrews 9:11-14

The New Covenant brought about significant changes in the relatonship between God and mankind. In this New Covenant, God promises to forgive us of our sins and put His laws in our hearts and minds so that they will no longer need to be taught because everyone will know them:

10 But this is the new covenant I will make

      with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:

   I will put my laws in their minds,

      and I will write them on their hearts.

   I will be their God,

      and they will be my people.

 11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,

      nor will they need to teach their relatives,

      saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’

   For everyone, from the least to the greatest,

      will know me already.

 12 And I will forgive their wickedness,

      and I will never again remember their sins.”

--Hebrews 8:10-12

The Law of Moses was engraved on stone tablets, but the laws of the New Covenant (i.e. the teahchings and commands of Jesus) are “written” in our hearts. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to bring to remembrance the Lord’s commands, and to lead us in the way of righteousness.

Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

--2 Corinthians 3:3

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

--Romans 2:29

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

--Romans 7:6

He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?

--2 Corinthians 3:6-8

As these and other similar scriptures demonstrate, there is a connection between the Holy Spirit and the life of the New Covenant. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit proves that the New Covenant has been firmly established and is still in effect to this day:

Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

  “This is the new covenant I will make

      with my people on that day, says the Lord:

   I will put my laws in their hearts,

      and I will write them on their minds.”

  Then he says,

   “I will never again remember

      their sins and lawless deeds.”

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

--Hebrews 10:9-22

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

--Ephesians 2:14-19

When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

--Hebrews 8:13

The New Covenant has rendered the Old Covenant “obsolete”. While under the Old Covenant the Jews were seperated from the Gentiles, the New Covenant has destroying this dividing wall and united God’s people - both Jew and Gentile - as one, allowing for peace between Jew and Gentile. The New Covenant is a win-win for everyone. All Christians are united under a common faith that is now available to all peoples, and the Jews win as well because the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. The book of Hebrews makes it clear through the use of the present tense when speaking of Christ’s mediation of the New Covenant that the New Covenant is in effect right now:

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

--Hebrews 8:6

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

--Hebrews 9:14-15

You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”

No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

--Hebrews 12:18-24

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

--Galatians 3:23-29

The Law of Moses brought people to the Messiah by forcing them to acknowledge their sin and need for redemption. But now that the Messiah has come, a New Covenant has been established - one far more perfect than the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was created specifically for the children of Israel. As such, it created a race barrier that distinguised the descendants of Abraham as God’s chosen people, while keeping everyone else of God’s promises. Thew New Covenant, however, makes God’s promises available to all people - to Gentiles as well as Jews, to slave, to free, to men, to women. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from - biological genealogy no longer has any merit. Under the New Covenant, we are all heirs to the promises of God that began with Abraham.

This means that the New Covenant has brought about major changes for the people of God. The old ways have been rendered obsolete, and a new way has been established. The Law of Moses is no longer in effect. Instead of following the Law of Moses that was carved into stone tablets, we follow the laws of Christ that guide us in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us:

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

--Romans 7:6

He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

--Romans 8:4

The Apostle Paul tells us to “follow the Spirit”. The Spirit will lead us on the path to righteousness not only by aiding us in carrying out the great commission of testifying the risen Christ to all people, but by aiding us in living out the Kingdom lifestyle and thus serving as living witnesses not only though our preaching but through our lives that have been changed forever by the power of the Gospel message.

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

--Ephesians 5:16-25

Although the Law of Moses has been rendered obsolete, the desires of the sinful nature are still sinful, and living according ot the sinful nature wil block us from entrance into the Kingdom of God. But if living according to the leading of the Spirit, we will not follow the desires of the sinful nature, but instead our lives will produces love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gnetleness, and self-control.

However, the Holy Spirit not only aids us in living a holy life, but it also serves as a guarantee of the promises to come:

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.

--2 Corinthians 1:21-22

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

--2 Corinthians 5:4-5

And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he put his seal on you by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

--Ephesians 1:13-14

he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”

--Titus 3:5-7