What is the correct distinction
between the Old and the New Covenants?
Many wrong practices and doctrines are based on a
misunderstanding of the difference between the Old and the New
Covenants.
The Old and the New Testaments together form the Holy
Scriptures. All Scripture is necessary: “All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may
be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy
3:16, 17).
This does not mean, however, that everything in the Scriptures
applies to us as law. Noah was commanded to construct a boat to
save his family. His example of faith and obedience is edifying for us,
but we do not have to build a boat!
Through Moses, God gave a law to Israel. We can learn much
from that law. But it was never given to the church of Christ as a law.
In the first century this point was clarified. Some Jews wanted to
obligate non-Jews to keep the law of Moses. “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.’
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” (Acts 15:1, 2).
The same idea was advanced by certain ones at Jerusalem: “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’” (Acts 15:5).
Peter refuted this: “And when there had been much dispute,
Peter rose up and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a
good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows
the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as
He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a
yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we
were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they” (Acts
15:7-11).
Notice that this applies to all disciples, not just to the Gentiles.
Christians are not obligated to keep the law of Moses because it is a
yoke that no one can bear.
What then is the value of the Old Testament for Christians? “For
whatever things were written before were written for our learning,
that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Jesus said: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the
Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say
to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no
means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks
one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall
be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and
teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:17-19).
Although the Old and New Testaments together form the
Scriptures, the New Covenant supersedes and replaces the Old
Covenant. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught many things that
are different from the law of Moses. At the same time He emphasized
that He was not against the law. The Old Testament had its function in
God’s plan. Jesus came to fulfill the old law and bring a new one.
Although the law was replaced, that was not a ‘destruction’ because
the Old Testament foretold its own replacement!
In Hebrews, Jeremiah 31:31-34 is quoted as proof that the Old
Covenant has been replaced: “But now He has obtained a more
excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better
covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first
covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought
for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘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 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. ‘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 write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. None of them shall 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. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will
remember no more.’ In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made
the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is
ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:6-13).
Jesus did not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to
fulfill their predictions. Anyone with true respect for the law of Moses
would also accept Jesus and become a Christian. But hypocrites who
did not respect the law would also not accept Christ (See John 1:45;
5:45, 46).
In our time, many unchristian practices and doctrines are
supported with passages from the Old Covenant: the establishment of
central ecclesiastical organizations; the maintenance of a separate
priest class; the use of candles, incense and musical instruments in
worship; the observance of the Sabbath and the obligation to give a
tenth, to mention a few. None of these practices have been given to the
New Testament church. But people who want to do such things, or to
bind them on others, refer to passages in the Old Testament in an
arbitrary manner to support their ideas. I say ‘in an arbitrary manner’
because to be consistent they would have to do everything required
under the Old Covenant, but they of course do not want to do that.
Some claim that the ten commandments in the Old Testament
still apply as law for believers, even though the rest does not. Their
argumentation is: “What? May we murder and steal and commit
adultery?” Many are deceived by this superficial argument, but it is
not valid.
The ten commandments no longer apply as law because in the
doctrine of Christ they are completely superseded. In the Sermon on
the Mount Jesus demands much more of us than the ten
commandments. He not only forbids murder and adultery, but also
the causes, hate and lust (Matthew 5:21, 22, 27, 28).
Paul wrote that the ten commandments have been replaced by
something much better: “But if the ministry of death, written and
engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his
countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of
the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation
had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was
glorious, what remains is much more glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).
The ten commandments, engraved on stones, were a ministry of
death that had to disappear. Christ brought something better.
The gospel of Christ encompasses all fundamental, unchangeable
values of the ten commandments. Christians certainly may not steal
or murder. But they avoid this because of their love for God and
fellowman, not just because there is a command: “You shall not kill”.
Certain externals in the ten commandments are not included in
the New Covenant. A Christian has not been told, for example, that he
may not make a statue; he has been told not to worship idols.
According to the ten commandments, however, one may not even
make a statue.
Nor is the Sabbath command applicable under the New
Covenant: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a
festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to
come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16, 17).
Although we can learn much from the Old Testament (the Old
Testament helps us understand the New), we now live under the New
Testament, a covenant of grace.
We are not under the law of Moses, This is stated many times in
the New Testament. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin
because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”
(Romans 6:14, 15). “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become
dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married
to another - to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should
bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4). “But now we have been delivered
from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should
serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter”
(Romans 7:6). “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). “For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes” (Romans 10:4). “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us
to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come,
we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24, 25). “But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). “For He
Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down
the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the
enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so
as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making
peace” (Ephesians 2:14, 15).
It is important to know when the New Testament went into
effect. “For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are
dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives” (Hebrews
9:16, 17). Thus, the New Testament took effect after the death of
Christ.
Jesus Himself lived under the Old Covenant: “But when the
fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4, 5).
This means that many things in the four Gospels still relate to the Old
Covenant, although Jesus, in anticipation, also taught many things
that are part of the New Covenant. If we use our discernment, we can
distinguish between the two.
By overlooking the distinction between the old and the new
covenants in the Gospels, certain false doctrines are advanced. Some
teach, for example: “Jesus kept the Sabbath, we must do the same.”
Jesus also kept the Passover and worshipped in the temple. Must we
follow these examples? Of course not. The Sabbath, the Passover and
the temple service were part of the Old Covenant. Some have claimed
that Jesus’ teaching about divorce does not apply to us because He
spoke before the New Covenant took effect. From the text it is clear,
however, that Jesus was not teaching the law of Moses (his teaching
was completely different). He was presenting His own teaching that is
part of the new covenant.
All the Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments, are
useful for our instruction. But we do not now live under the law of
Moses or the ten commandments. The gospel of Jesus Christ applies
to us; we serve God under the New Covenant.
What did God say from heaven when Peter’s words indicated that
he placed Jesus on a par with Moses and Elijah? “Then Peter answered
and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make
three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’ -
because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.
And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of
the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’” (Mark 9:5-7).
Let us make a correct distinction between the Old and the New
Covenants. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in
time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1, 2). Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc.,
Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)