The Nature of the New Covenant

The Previous Section: Christ Was a Prophet Like Moses

So if Christ was a prophet like Moses and mediator of a new and better covenant, what is the nature of the new covenant?  Was the law simply too hard to keep?  No, scripture says the Law was not too difficult to keep.  The righteous one who lived by faith saw the law as no burden.  It was something light, that nourished the soul:

Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jeremiah 6:16 ESV

The law was meant to be easy. And the new covenant meant that the Law was written on the hearts of believers by the blood of Christ in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31-34. In other words, they desired it. It was something enjoyed, not burdensome.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Jeremiah 31:31,33 ESV

The Bible says the one who lives by faith does not say in their heart, the law is too lofty or too deep/difficult to be kept, but rather, that it is near to them.  It is not a heavy burden too hard to bear, and the Bible speaks against this very thought throughout Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. The same is also seen in Jeremiah 6:16, Jeremiah 31:31,33, and Deuteronomy 30:11-14.  Recall what it says of the Torah in Deuteronomy 30: 

¹¹ “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 ESV  

Now transition to the NT and read Romans 10 as Paul speaks of the how the one who lives by faith views the Torah in accordance with Deuteronomy 30:11-14.  He is lamenting his Jewish brethren misunderstanding of the law.  He states that Christ is the goal, end point, culmination, or embodiment of the Law (see NIV translation of Romans 10:4).  Christ is the end goal for what it means to live out the Law as was intended. The verse does NOT say that Christ ended the Law as some believe.  

Paul states that those who believe that they are justified by works must live and die by those works (which are never enough to gain entrance to heaven), but the one who lives by faith, knows their works are only an outward expression of their faith, and that their entrance into heaven is gained by grace.  It’s not that those who live by faith don’t keep the law, it’s that they keep it for different reasons.  For the one who depends on the Law for their righteousness, it becomes a burden that ultimately brings death. But for the one who depends on faith for their righteousness, the Law is easy. 

Before reading the Romans 10 passage, Romans 10:4 should be examined for context. It states that Christ is the ‘end of the law’, but a better reading is as ‘fulfillment’ or ‘culmination/embodiment’.

Let’s read Romans 10:4 it in the NIV before reading Romans 10:1-13:

A better translation is that Christ was the embodiment, or true picture of the Law.  Christ is the culminating ideal for what it means to follow the Law.  This does not mean the law is ended, but that we are given a supreme example of what it means to live it out. With this understanding, let’s read Romans 10:1-13:

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ² For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³ For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. ⁵ For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.  ⁶ But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).  ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:1-13 ESV

His commandments were meant to be kept out of love for Him, through desire of the Spirit, but human flesh polluted His ways.  So, while speculation to some degree, God removes some of our freedoms in the new covenant through Christ so that He will not have another failed marriage. In other words, in the beginning of the law, we may have autonomously hungered for God to some degree and He allowed levels of autonomy within free will. As we see in Deuteronomy 5 when Moses brings the 10 Commandments to the 12 tribes, God states that if only the people could remain with their contrite heart and keep His commandments, that it would go well with them forever.  

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. ² The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³ Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.⁴ The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, ⁵ while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.  He said: 

[10 commandments are then read to the people, and then a narrative about how the people feared to go up with Moses on the mountain because of their awe and respect for God, and how they desired to do what He asked of them.  We continue with verse 28:]  

²⁸ “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. ²⁹ Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Deuteronomy 5:28-29 ESV

God desired a faithful heart for the law keeper above all else from the beginning, but the marriage contract was broken, and God did not want a 2nd failed marriage.  So we see that the new marriage covenant is the law being written on our minds and our hearts by Christ, as it is He who brings us to the Father.  And if done so by Christ, we know it cannot fail. In other words, it is He who chooses us, and not for any special deserved reason that is within us, but because for His glory only.  It is no longer we who choose Him. This may not have been the case with the first covenant, but again, to some degree that is speculation and delves into ideas of determinism vs free will.

Regardless, we must understand that the new covenant cherishes something God has always desired, a faithful heart, above all else.  So what changed in the New Covenant?  The scriptural difference seems to be the intervention of God.  While the Old Covenant focuses on ‘You will’ in the commandments, the New Covenant focuses on ‘I will’ through Christ.  In other words, WE failed our first marriage contract with God, and God will assure there will not be a 2nd failed marriage.  This direct intervening nature of God in the new covenant was prophesied in Deuteronomy, just after the prophesy that scattering of Israel that would occur. It states that after the scattering, God will change hearts:

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” 

Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV  

Understand that it is God who will change our hearts after the scattering by the coming of Christ. With this is mind, read Ezekiel 36:22-32 and see how God will transform the new covenant into something HE DOES, not something WE DO.  Notice all of the ‘I will’ statements from the Father:

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel,  Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  ²³ And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. ²⁴ I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.²⁸ You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰ I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.  ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.”

Ezekiel 36:22-32 ESV

The same verbiage is seen in Hosea 2, where it is God who actively participates in the new covenant with His people, through an alteration of the heart toward a desire to fulfill His commands.  

¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. ¹⁵ And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹ And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.  ²¹ “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, ²² and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, ²³and I will sow her for myself in the land.  And I will have mercy on No Mercy,^[h] and I will say to Not My People,^[i] ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.”

Hosea 2:14-23 ESV

Recall Ezekiel 37 and the unifying stick of Ephraim (the north) and Judah (the south) – see Is 11:1-16, Zech 3:6-10.  But take special note of the 1st person language usage here.  Note how active God is with the joining of the two houses into a single stick.  It is God who is doing the work in the new covenant, not us.  

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷ And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him.  And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. ²⁰ When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, ²¹ then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. ²² And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  ²⁴ “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ²⁵ They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷ My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Ezekiel 37:15-28 ESV

This is why there is no condemnation or penalty of death for those who are in Christ, for if indeed they are in Christ, their heart is changed by God from a heart of stone into one of flesh (see Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26).  A heart of flesh desires to fulfill the law and live by scripture and follow His ways and live as He did. The primary outward difference between the covenants is the penalties, for Christ paid those penalties of death, so that we don’t have to.  The sacrificial system for Jews ended with Christ, and this is no coincidence. Christ lifted the curse of the law, but this does mean the blessings for following the law no longer apply.  In other words, Christ lifted the curse of death that was received for not following the Torah in Deuteronomy 30:1-4, but He did not lift the blessings one received for following it.  The child of God was blessed if he/she followed the law, and cursed if they did not.  In the New covenant, that same child of God is still blessed for the keeping the commands, but their curse of death was lifted. Their heart is changed toward the Father and they are forgiven their occasional trespass.  It is not a license to continually trespass and violate the law.  The New covenant is a free license to violate the old? Seems absurd. Furthermore, the person that continually violates the Torah, by not having an inward desire to keep it, may not have had a heart changed from stone to flesh to begin with.

This is the true meaning of Paul’s law of sin and death.  Violations of the law, which are sin, brought a physical and spiritual death penalty, but in Christ in the New Covenant, we are forgiven those transgressions of the law. This does not mean we should sin continually and violate the law, but rather, that we know our transgressions are forgiven when they do occur.  How ridiculous it seems to have so many scriptures speak highly of the Torah, for Christ to live it out fully, and then for us who are in Christ to completely throw it away so we can be a law unto ourselves? Does freedom in Christ mean freedom to violate the law? That seems absurd. Ask yourself, which commands do we keep, and which do we throw out? Who determined that? Do we keep 9 of 10 commandments, and throw out the rest? Do we keep the 10 commandments, but continue to eat swine and forget His feasts? Where does it say that that is acceptable? You will not find it. We will discuss Paul’s statements about food and special days later on, but I assure you, the verses do grant a free license to violate the Torah.  Indeed, the church that continually violates the Torah is not worshipping as God intended. The sacrificial/penal system was abolished, for Christ paid our debts, but that doesn’t mean we are free to willingly wrack up debt and violate the law in the belief that we are ‘free’ to sin as we please.

Paul wrote that sin held the sting of death through the law, but thanks to God through Jesus Christ, we now live in victory for our transgressions.  Sin is defined through the law, and violations of the law brought literal/spiritual death penalties, but through Christ we are now victorious and do not fear those penalties, for our hearts are changed. Sin ends in death, and this is only defined WITHIN the law. Without the law, we do not know what sin is. Again, violating the law, IS SIN. Read scripture now with new eyes: 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 ESV

We desire to fulfill God’s commands to the utmost, and if we fail, we are to be forgiven, not given any of the harsh penalties of the Torah (Galatians 6:1).  

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Galatians 6:1 ESV

In Romans 2, we read that because our heart is changed, we have become a law unto ourselves.  In essence, the law demands death for sin, and all have sinned, so we all stand condemned.  Yet for those whose heart is changed from stone to flesh, there is no condemnation, for we are doers of law, even without hearing it.  This does not mean you are free to make up your own moral codes. The Law defines sin.

“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 2:12-16 ESV

We know from the Torah that Circumcision was an act of the heart, from someone who desired to love God (Leviticus 26:41, Deuteronomy 10:16).

“For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.  His praise is not from man but from God.”

Romans 2:25-29 ESV

In Romans 8, we read there is no condemnation of death for violations of the law for those in Christ, for we are set free from the death penalty that we deserve for our transgressions.  We are set free from the law of sin and death.  We are not free to violate the Torah, we are simply freed from the penalties for our violations. The Torah was weakened of its power by the flesh through Oral tradition (Talmud) and doctrines of men taught as commands of God.  God wants us to follow His laws, not man’s laws. We fulfill the true law by being in Christ, for sin (or law violations) are nullified via the change in our hearts and our faith in Christ.  There is no condemnation of death for those who are in Christ. The one who is not in Christ and has not had a changed heart toward Torah observance is still in the flesh to some degree, and does not submit to God’s Law, for it cannot.  As Paul writes, ‘For those who are in the flesh cannot please God.’ Again, we weakened the law as it was intended by injecting our own interpretations and heavy burdens (Talmud), and this had to be rectified. Read now Romans 8:1-8:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Romans 8:1-8 ESV

We see the scripture now in a new light.  We understand that the law was meant to be lived out through faith, and that it was our disobedience that brought the death penalty for our hardened hearts (Exodus 33:3-5, 34:9).  This living through faith is the new covenant, and Paul explains the new covenant to the church in Corinth.  The old covenant condemned violators to a spiritual and sometimes physical death.  Man corrupted His ways and piled on unrelenting rules/regulations in the form of the Talmud.  But there is now no condemnation of death in Christ.  The letter kills (condemns us to death), but through Christ, we live.

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, ⁶ who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁷ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?  ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰ Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.  ¹² Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, ¹³ not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶ But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:4-18 ESV

Finally, in Colossians, Paul states that we are not to fall prey to human traditions and empty philosophies, such as the Talmud and Kabbalah, but hold fast to the spiritual circumcision through Christ.  We were dead in our trespasses, condemned to death for our law violations (sin), but are alive again through Christ who abolished those penalties that legally stood against us.  

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Colossians 2:8-15 ESV

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