November 11, 2006
“Making Covenant Possible”
Over the years, there has been something of a muddle about the old and new covenants.
• There are those who believe that the New Covenant will not be established until the return of Christ.
• And in consequence, we are still under the Old Covenant.
• I know the genesis of that idea and I will come back to it.
But let me make one thing clear first.
As Christians, we are in the new covenant, right now.
In the words of the Master himself:
(Matthew 26:26-28 KJV) And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. {27} And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; {28} For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
• There is no reason to dance around this statement.
• Jesus was instituting a New Covenant with his disciples on this night.
• And it was not merely symbolic of something to come later. It was real. It was immediate. It was for all of us.
• Paul:
(1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NKJV) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; {24} and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." {25} In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." {26} For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.
• So let’s get one thing straight right from the start.
• We who have been baptized and taken the Passover, have entered covenant with Jesus Christ.
• And it is a new covenant in every sense of the word.
• But in order to minimize confusion as I proceed, I will call this the Christian Covenant, because there is yet another “New Covenant.”
Now, why was this ever a problem ?
The problem arises from the old idea of an equation between the Old Covenant and the law. I.e. the Old covenant = the law, and vice versa.
• Moreover, the old and new covenants are exclusive. That is to say that if you are under the new covenant, you are not under the old.
• And therefore, there is no need to keep the old testament law.
• I don’t know the origins of this doctrine. I do know that it mightily confused the issue in our former church.
In spite of this idea, we know that the law is not abolished,
• I think I have established beyond a reasonable doubt that the NT church observed both the Sabbath and the holydays. [in The Thread.]
• So, the church in our tradition felt it necessary to fight off the idea of a transition from old covenant to new.
Now let me place a new thought on the table for consideration:
• Is it possible to be under the Old Covenant and in the Christian Covenant at the same time?
• I think it is, and I will come back to this if time permits.
But first, Let me take a moment to clarify some issues.
• Where does the idea of an old covenant come from?
• The term is well established in common usage.
• But oddly, the expression is used once and only once in the entire Bible.
(2 Corinthians 3:12-14 KJV) Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: {13} And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: {14} But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ.
• The Hebrew word is beryith. The Greek choice for translation is diatheke, (which also refers to a last will and testament.)
• It allows a play on words by Paul, but it is still the word for beryith.
This isn’t really the origin of the expression “Old Covenant.”
For that, we have to go to the book of Hebrews and a long explanation of the ministry of Christ.
(Hebrews 8 KJV) Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; {2} A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. {3} For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. {4} For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: {5} Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. {6} But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. {7} For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. {8} For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: {9} 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 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. {10} For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: {11} And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. {12} For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. {13} In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
• This is the origin of the expression, “Old Covenant” which is so firmly established in common usage.
• But it didn’t really originate here.
• Paul is quoting Jeremiah.
(Jeremiah 31:31-34 KJV) Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: {32} Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
{33} But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. {34} And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Now we have to think this through.
When God says to Jeremiah, “My Law,” it is hard to imagine that this is any different from what we read in Deuteronomy.
• It was spoken to Jeremiah and pronounced to the people.
• What would they have thought “My Law” meant.
• And what is the primary difference relative to the law?
The difference is that instead of it being external, it is now internalized.
There is a glaring omission in both these passages. Did you catch it?
• What about the Gentiles?
• Are they left out?
• Yes, as concerns this covenant, they are omitted.
The joker in the deck, and one commonly overlooked, is that this is a covenant with a political entity.
• Two political entities, in fact.
• As used in the OT, the expression “The House of” has to do with the government and the people governed.
• It is not ethnic, as “The Children of Israel”
• Thus, it includes all those within the polity.
• Which includes even strangers.
• The House of Judah, when it went into captivity, included people of other ethnic identities.
• It was the house of Judah that was allowed to return.
• The House of Israel, long gone when Jeremiah gave his prophecy, have never returned as such.
So, when you look at this Old Covenant/New Covenant issue, you find a true end time event of the reconciliation of two nations to God, and the establishment of a New Covenant with God, for the nation.
But the idea of covenant is a lot older than Moses.
• God made a covenant with Abraham.
The Abrahamic covenant was personal and familial.
• It was Abraham’s personal relationship with God and that of his family for generations to come.
The Christian covenant is also personal and familial.
• It is personal to us as we are baptized and partake of the bread and wine at passover.
• But it also pertains to our family.
(Acts 10:44-48 KJV) While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. {45} And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. {46} For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, {47} Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? {48} And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
• Note well, it was not just Cornelius. It was everyone who could hear what Peter said.
(Acts 16:25-33 KJV) And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. {26} And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. {27} And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. {28} But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. {29} Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, {30} And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? {31} And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. {32} And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. {33} And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
• Now lest we misunderstand the reach of this, there is this from Paul:
(1 Corinthians 7:8-14 KJV) I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. {9} But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. {10} And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: {11} But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. {12} But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. {13} And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. {14} For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
• Now if you ask me for details as to how this works, I will have to profess ignorance.
• But it still seems clear to me that the Christian Covenant, like Abraham’s, is familial.
Now I suggested I would return to the idea of being under two covenants at the same time.
• There was a major flap in the early church over the baptism of Gentiles.
(Acts 15:1-5 NKJV) And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." {2} Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. {3} So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. {4} And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. {5} But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
• Now here is an important distinction, and it is lost on most Christian readers.
• For these believing Pharisees, the Law of Moses included the Oral Law and the customs and traditions.
• I had not fully grasped this until I read Jacob Neusner’s book “Judaism when Christianity began”
• The traditions of the Elders had been elevated into the position of equality with the words God spoke to Moses at Sinai.
• Acts 15 is the story of the Jerusalem conference and I will leave it for your later study.
• The decision was that they would not impose Judaism on Gentile converts. They need not be circumcised.
• They could hear Moses read in the Synagogues (written law) every Sabbath.
• This they needed to do.
• But here is the kicker. They did not abolish circumcision for Jewish men.
• Circumcision was a part of their physical covenant with God and their inheritance of their land.
• This was something that Gentiles could not inherit anyhow.
• So Jewish Christians could be under two covenants at the same time.
Now I want us to think about some personal implications of what we know.
What happens to you when you are baptized?
• You wash away your sins.
• You are justified before God, forgiven of all your sins.
• Because you can’t enter covenant with God in a state of sin.
Consider Isaac:
(Genesis 26:1-5 KJV) And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. {2} And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: {3} Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; {4} And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; {5} Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
• Note well. Keeping the law will not bring you into covenant.
• But keeping the law makes the covenant possible.
So after Baptism, you can stand before God, forgiven, clean, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
• But there may be an important second step after Baptism.
• The entry into covenant.
The day will come when you partake of the Passover—the bread and the wine which symbolize the broken body and the blood of Jesus.
• This is the moment of covenant, a covenant renewed year by year.
I sometimes wonder if we forget that we are in covenant with Jesus Christ.
• We have been baptized. Forgiven. Washed, justified.
• But have you, in your heart of hearts, entered covenant with Jesus Christ.
• Are you aware? Do you know?
And do you live your lives in communion with him?