The Old and New Covenants

Opening your Bible now, please, to Romans 3 briefly, and from there we're going to other places. You may recall that several weeks ago, on the Wednesday nights when I have been teaching, we have been looking at the opening verses of Romans chapter 3.

And our focus on that passage last time, not last Wednesday, but the last time I was speaking, brings us to a broader discussion that we're going to take up today in regard to the Old and New Covenants. But the thought that launched us in that direction is found in Romans 3.1, where Paul, after having explained in chapters 1 and 2 that there really is no difference in the spiritual condition of Jews versus Gentiles, all have sinned, all are equally guilty before God, none of them have an advantage with God, the only way of salvation is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of whether you are Jew or Gentile. And then he says in chapter 3 verse 1, What advantage then has the Jew?

What is the profit of circumcision? A pretty natural question to raise after you have just been told that Jews have no advantage. And so then the question is, well, if they have no advantage in salvation, no advantage in their privileges before God, then what advantage would there be in having been a Jew, having been born into the nation of Israel, being raised in that environment, is there any advantage at all for the Jew, or what profit is there in circumcision? And you remember his answer in verse 2 is much.

We expected him to say not much, but he says much in every way, and what is that great advantage? He says chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God, that is the word of God. And that is what Israel had that the other nations did not have. God's word came to Jewish prophets, to men inspired by the Spirit of God who were Jews. And the word of God came to them and they delivered it to their people in their language, the Hebrew language. And so there's great advantage to being born into the nation of Israel because that's the nation that has the scriptures. And Gentile nations didn't have the scriptures, very rarely had any.

Translation into other languages was virtually unknown at that time in history. Nobody but the Jews spoke Hebrew, all of the scriptures at that time were written in Hebrew. So Gentiles didn't have that advantage, there was a great advantage in being a Jew, namely having the word of God in the Hebrew language. But that caused me, as you may recall last time, to focus a bit on that question about circumcision. What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Knowing what an emphasis the Jews placed upon circumcision, and knowing that the Jews considered that circumcision itself gave people a privileged standing with God. They didn't conceive that circumcision in itself saved them, at least most of them didn't I suppose.

But you really do wonder if some of them may have harbored that notion when you read some of the responses of Jewish people in the New Testament scriptures. But nevertheless, they seem to believe that circumcision was a right that conferred special privileges on those who received it. And Paul says, nope, the only advantage that Jews had is not circumcision, it's scripture. And he doesn't indicate that there's anything else, he doesn't indicate that circumcision is an advantage for them at all.

What was circumcision? Well, circumcision was the sign, or the mark, of the old covenant. This is what's going to get us into the discussion of the covenants.

It was the mark of the old covenant. Those who were circumcised were marked as members of the covenant community. And of course we now call it the old covenant, but it only became the old covenant when the new covenant was introduced.

Up until that time, people didn't talk about the old covenant because there wasn't any other covenant, that was it. And so circumcision marked one as a member of the covenant community. And as you know, there are many Christians in our day who embrace what is often called covenant theology, and along with it, pedobaptism, and they equate water baptism under the new covenant with circumcision under the old covenant, and in some cases equate special status to those children who have been baptized into the covenant community as they conceive of it, is having a special privileged status with God because of that mark of the new covenant. As the mark of the old covenant was circumcision, the mark of the new covenant is water baptism.

Now, is that a proper understanding? My understanding of scripture would say no, it is not. It is a misunderstanding of the relationship between the old covenant and the new covenant, and I think it's vitally important that we understand this distinction. And so now we go back to Jeremiah chapter 31, if you will turn back in your Old Testament to Jeremiah 31, where the prophet Jeremiah introduces the new covenant that in his day was still future, but now it is foretold. Jeremiah 31, beginning at verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquities and their sins. I will remember no more.

We'll stop there. What I'm going to cover in the next 20, 25 minutes or so is, first of all, looking at this announcement of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31. We'll point out a few things there. Secondly, the fulfillment of the new covenant as we see it described in the New Testament scriptures, primarily in the book of Hebrews, and then thirdly, some of the implications of the new covenant which grow out of what we learned from the first two examinations. The first one is the announcement of the new covenant in the verses I just read in Jeremiah 31.

Two things primarily are emphasized here. That is, number one, the recipients of this new covenant, and number two, the differences of the new covenant as compared to the old. Who are the recipients of this new covenant? They are described as the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Verse 31, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Now, reading that in Jeremiah 31 doesn't surprise us at all. Of course, Jeremiah's writing in terms of the divided nation, which was divided after the death of Solomon into the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom, the northern kingdom known as the kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom known as the kingdom of Judah.

So that's what Jeremiah is referring to. The house of Israel, the house of Judah, both sections of the nation of Israel that had been divided into two separate kingdoms are named here as the recipients of this covenant. So those are the recipients. In other words, Jews, Israel, right.

And that's the recipients. What are the differences between the old covenant and the new? Well, the fact that there are significant differences is stated generally in verse 32, and then two specific ones are enumerated in verses 33 and 34.

But first of all, the statement of verse 32. This covenant with the house of Israel and house of Judah is, quote, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. This new covenant is not like the old one.

Now let's pause for a moment there. A lot of the difference between understanding the relationship between the old and the new covenant and whether baptism should be viewed as related to circumcision or not, what that hinges on is in how much similarity should we understand between the old covenant and the new covenant. Is it more similar than not, or is it less similar than we might conceive? Now, this general statement certainly doesn't answer all the questions, but just generally speaking, as we read this statement about the introduction of a new covenant, does that language sound like Jeremiah by the Spirit of God is emphasizing similarity or differences? Is he emphasizing continuity? That's the more technical term.

Continuity or discontinuity? The way he states it here, would he lead us to look for similarities between the old covenant and the new covenant, or would he instead lead us to think more in terms of differences between the old and the new covenant? And again, I point your attention to verse 32, this new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with the fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. This covenant is not like the old one.

Isn't that what it says? It's not like the old one. Now, one formulation of covenant theology, and as I say these things, I must be honest to tell you that gradually over the years as I've studied Scripture, my understanding of Scripture much more closely parallels covenant theology than dispensational theology. But that doesn't mean I believe in everything that classic covenant theology teaches, and here's one of these areas where I see a problem.

Classic, if I can use that term, classic covenant theology, they're different versions of covenant theology, so they're certainly not all people who believe in covenant theology believe alike. But classical covenant theology emphasizes one covenant of grace with two administrations. In that way of thinking, we're only dealing with one covenant, not two. One covenant of grace that begins in the Garden of Eden, and two administrations.

Just by putting it in that kind of language, you see they're de-emphasizing the differences. They don't say a covenant of grace in the beginning, and then another covenant called the old one, and then a third covenant called the new one. No, the old and the new in their system is not two separate covenants, it's just two administrations of the one covenant. Is that what this text would lead us to think?

I think not. So, the differences are stated in verse 32. We are to look for differences.

Now, what are the differences, and two in particular are spelled out here. The one difference, the first difference in verse 33 is that the new covenant is internal as opposed to the old covenant which is external in regard to the law of God. Verse 33, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Now, the old covenant didn't talk in terms of writing God's law in the mind and on the heart. It talked in terms of writing God's law on tablets of stone, and writing God's law on the parchments of scripture.

External, not internal. And speaking in this language of internal application, internal placing of God's law in hearts is talking about an inward understanding, an inward ability in the new covenant that seems to be missing in the old. So that's the first difference, internal versus external location of God's law, verse 33. And then there's another significant difference, maybe even more significant, but well, they're joined together. And that is, in verse 34, every new covenant member is a regenerated believer.

That is highly significant. This is how the new covenant is going to look, verse 34. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me.

No more when the new covenant comes. Now, when Jeremiah's writing in terms of the old covenant, what you have is members of the covenant community who don't know the Lord. And so people have to teach the members of the community the word of God and urge them to believe the word of God because they don't know the Lord. And, of course, that's inevitable if you're going to inaugurate people in the covenant community at eight days old when they're circumcised. Of course they don't know the Lord. They can't know the Lord at that age. So they're going to grow up unconverted. And the hope and desire is that along the way they will come to embrace the promises of God's word and truly become believers and be regenerated.

But there's no guarantee of that. And you realize that having many unregenerated members of the covenant community for indeed they are, they are considered members of the covenant community once they are circumcised, they are full members of the old covenant. And having unconverted members of the old covenant is by God's design. He designed it that way. It's not something that man came along and messed up.

That's the way God designed it. In the old covenant, we're going to inaugurate people into the covenant community who are unbelievers. But not under the new covenant.

No more, no more. That way, verse 34. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, from the poorest of them to the richest of them, and so forth.

You can insert several ideas into that least to greatest. The least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, and their sin I will remember no more. No more will anyone have to tell a member of the new covenant community that you need to go to the Lord. You need to believe the Lord. You need to know the Lord. You don't know the Lord.

They all do. So right away, we see a pretty big distinction. And we'll get to the implications of that later. But that's the announcement of the new covenant and its contrast with the old. Now, turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 8. And we'll take up the major, the most major passage in scripture that deals with the fulfillment of the new covenant. And that's Hebrews, chapter 8, verses 7 through 13. We'll refer to more briefly in Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 16 and 17. But let's focus on the chapter 8 passage. Hebrews 8, 7 and following. For if that first covenant had been faultless, the first one, he calls it here.

It's the one we're calling the old one. But the first one. If the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

I have to chuckle because even as I'm speaking, I'm thinking, well now wait a minute. Under covenant theology, the first one goes back to the Garden of Eden. That doesn't fit in here at all. But the writer of Hebrews says the first one is the one that came under Moses. Isn't that what it says? If the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, and here now he's quoting from Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, exact language from Jeremiah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. You say, well that's a little bit different language than Jeremiah.

How do you explain the difference? That's the difference in the Hebrew scriptures and the Septuagint translation, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their mind and will write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That's right out of Jeremiah 31. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. That comes to the conclusion of the quotation from Jeremiah 31, but he concludes that section with verse 13. In that he says, a new covenant, he has made the first, or the old covenant, the first covenant obsolete.

Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. All right, the fulfillment of the new covenant. What do we learn in Hebrews chapter 8? First of all, the inadequacy of the first covenant. If, back to verse 7, the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. If the first covenant would have been adequate, we wouldn't have needed a second. But it wasn't. It wasn't adequate. And as we learn elsewhere, particularly in the book of Galatians, we're going to run out of time.

I can't go to too many places now. But as we learn elsewhere in Scripture, the problem of its inadequacy was with spiritual inability. It wasn't with the word of God. It wasn't with the promise of God. Nothing wrong with what God said. What God said was His word. It was perfect.

It was flawless. But remember, the law was external. It wasn't internal. It wasn't written in their hearts. And so even though they had the law, they had no ability to keep it.

That takes something internal, not external. So here's what God requires. Here's what the law says.

This is what I know I must do. They even promised many times. All that the Lord commanded we will do.

But they didn't, they couldn't, because they needed an operation on their heart. And the old covenant didn't provide for that. I'm trying to remember that phrase. Work and do the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands.

Run and do the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. A better promise the new covenant brings, I'm slaughtering this quotation. It bids me fly and gives me wings.

It bids me fly and gives me wings. An internal work in the heart to give us an ability to know, to understand and obey God's word. So we see the inadequacy of the first covenant. We see this quotation of Jeremiah's prophecy, which I just read in Hebrews 8 through 12. And we see in surrounding passages here the inauguration of the new covenant.

It was inaugurated by Jesus. Go back to Hebrews chapter 7 verse 22. By so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. Now the reason I'm taking time to emphasize this is because when I get to one of the implications here we're going to find people who say, well that covenant that Jeremiah foretold has not yet been inaugurated. It blows my mind that anyone could draw that conclusion.

But there's a reason for that, which I'll explain to you in a moment. But it seems to me the Scripture is clear. Yes, it's been inaugurated. Jesus did it. Again, 722, by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

He's done it. It was inaugurated by Jesus. Look at chapter 8 verse 6. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, this is Jesus, in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Yes, it's been inaugurated.

It's not waiting future fulfillment. It's been inaugurated. Jesus did it when he came. The night before he was crucified he gathered his disciples in the upper room. He reached down to the Passover table under the old covenant, and he picked up a couple of elements and inaugurated a new ordinance, the Lord's table, out of the elements of the Passover. There's some obvious connection here, but a new covenant. And he said, this is the new covenant in my blood.

This too is oft as he drink it in remembrance of me. And he went to the cross and shed his blood, it was inaugurated with his death, with the shedding of his blood. Yes, it's been inaugurated. It was inaugurated by Jesus and it was finalized by Jesus. I don't take time now to read chapter 10 verses 11 through 18, but it talks about Christ passing into heaven and having finalized. So he inaugurated the new covenant and he completed it.

It has been inaugurated, it's in effect. And Jesus has done everything that needs to be done to make it effective. I don't have that ability and power, but Jesus does, and he gives it to his people. He gives it to those who are members of the new covenant community. Now, that gives me a few minutes to talk about some implications of the new covenant. As I study these passages in Jeremiah and then in Hebrews, I realize that my understanding of this passage presents, number one, a problem for pedobaptism, and number two, a problem for dispensationalism, both.

The first one first, a problem for pedobaptism. Pedobaptism paralleling the old covenant and basically saying that the new covenant is just like the old covenant except we change circumcision into baptism, but otherwise they're the same. Whereas, as I understand it, the whole emphasis is upon the difference, and the new covenant requires an inward change of heart and mind.

And here's the difference. All members of the new covenant community are regenerated believers. No more shall a man teach his neighbor and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. Now, it's clear he's talking about the members of the new covenant community.

Obviously, he's not saying that there's nobody in the world, nobody in your community, nobody in your neighborhood who doesn't know the Lord, and you don't have any need to tell other people to know the Lord. Of course, we continue to preach the gospel and tell people to know the Lord, but the people who belong to the new covenant community know the Lord, every one of them. You don't teach them to know the Lord.

They've already been born again. They know the Lord. Now, you teach them more of his word and help them grow in grace and become better followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you don't have to tell a single member of the new covenant community to know the Lord.

They already know the Lord. All members of the new covenant community are regenerated believers in stark contrast to the members of the old covenant community, most of whom were unbelievers when they were inaugurated into the covenant community by circumcision. Therefore, and here's the implication, all members of the new covenant community are regenerated believers, and therefore, only believers may receive the sign of the new covenant, namely water baptism. Who was eligible to receive the sign of the old covenant?

Any Jewish baby boy born to Jewish parents. He was eligible to receive the sign of the old covenant, and upon the rite of circumcision, he became a member of the old covenant, but he wasn't regenerated. But the new covenant's different. Everybody who receives water baptism should be. We can't see hearts, of course, but as far as we can tell, we only baptize people who give a credible profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only believers, those who are already believers, those who already know the Lord, they're the only ones who receive the sign of the new covenant, namely water baptism. That's my understanding. I think the Jeremiah 31 passage has a huge problem for those who believe in pedobaptism. But number two, it also has a problem for dispensationalists.

Just a short word on that. And that is, it's obvious, isn't it, from what we read in Jeremiah 31 and then the fact that we come to Hebrews chapter 8 and 10 and we realize that this new covenant has been fulfilled, it's been inaugurated. But who was it addressed to? The house of Israel and the house of Judah.

There's only one conclusion I can draw. The New Testament church must be the house of Israel and the house of Judah. No dispensationalist is prepared to say that, to accept that.

This is where the battle comes in. This is why dispensationalists will often say, well, Jeremiah's covenant hasn't been fulfilled yet. Something else is kind of interim in here, but the one that was made by Jeremiah, the prophecy that was given by Jeremiah, is only going to be fulfilled among the Jews. In the millennium, in the future, it's Israel. This forever separation of the church and Israel right on to the end of time is part and parcel of dispensationalism, which I used to embrace and believe myself, but things like this began to call this into question.

And here it is. The new covenant has been inaugurated. It has been fulfilled.

It was promised to the house of Israel, the house of Judah. It has been fulfilled in the New Testament in the church. It applies to all who believe, Jew and Gentile. Therefore, the church must be...

I'm sorry, dispensationalists, to have to say this. The church must be spiritual Israel. The church is the house of Israel. It is the house of Judah. It is spiritual Israel. What are you going to do with that?

What are you going to do with that? Well, we've got to interpret the Bible literally. You can't make the house of Israel, the house of Judah to mean the church. No, you can't unless the Bible does. And if the Bible does, then you not only can, but you must.

You must. And it forces you to understand scriptures in a whole new way. It forces you to interpret scripture in a different way. It forces you to realize that there are more things in the scriptures that must be understood metaphorically, symbolically, spiritually to spiritualize.

You can't spiritualize these promises that are made to Israel and apply them to the church. I would not dare do that unless the Bible did, and if the Bible does, I can't dare not do it. I'm forced to do it.

Maybe kicking, dragging, screaming and saying, no, no, no, everything about my background and training says, no, you can't do that. You shouldn't do that, but you must. The scripture demands it. The church is spiritual Israel. The promises made in Jeremiah to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah were made to the church, made up of believing Jews and Gentiles and fulfilled in the church, and therefore the church is spiritual Israel, not physical Israel, not the physical descendants of Abraham, but spiritual Israel. Paul makes that clear elsewhere that everyone who has faith in Christ is a son of Abraham. Obviously not a physical one, but a son of Abraham. It's a spiritual matter. So there is my explanation of the Old and New Covenant from our study in Romans chapter 3 and the mention there of circumcision. Let's pray. Father, may your word enlighten our hearts and guide our understanding of the truth which you have given as we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.