What is the essence of the New Covenant? The most significant scriptural reference to the New Covenant is Jeremiah 31:31-34. Its significance is attested to in that the writer to the Hebrews, who was focused on distinguishing the New Covenant from the Old Covenant, chose to quote Jeremiah verbatim in Hebrews 8:8-12. Let’s look the passage in the Amplified Bible translation:
8 “However, God finds fault with them[1] [showing its inadequacy] when He says, “Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant with the house of Israel[2] and with the house of Judah[3]; 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not abide in My covenant, and so I withdrew My favor and disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds [even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding], and engrave them upon their hearts [effecting their regeneration]. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 “And it will not be [necessary] for each one to teach his fellow citizen, or each one his brother, saying, ‘Know [by experience, have knowledge of] the Lord,’ for all will know [by experience and have knowledge of] Me, from the least to the greatest of them. 12 “For I will be merciful and gracious toward their wickedness, and I will remember their sins no more.”
I have underlined above the two major aspects of the New Covenant[4]:
- God imprints His law upon the minds and engraves it upon the hearts of New Covenant people.[5]
- New Covenant people all know the Lord (namely, have experiential knowledge of God through relationship with Him).[6]
The third aspect of the New Covenant we find in Ezekiel 36:26-27:
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
- New Covenant people have a new heart which causes them to desire to be obedient to God, and a new spirit which empowers them to be pleasing to God. They have “received the Spirit of Christ” and are “led by the Spirit”.[7]
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“What is the New Covenant All About?” is an excerpt from the eBook “A New & Living Way”, pages 237-238. See the corresponding eBook on our website.
At Christ’s Table – ACTpublications © 2018
“Explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” 1 Corinthians 2:13
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FOOTNOTES
[1] “them”: Israel and the Old Covenant
[2] The Northern kingdom when the nation was divided.
[3] The Southern kingdom when the nation was divided.
[4] There is a third aspect which I will refer to from Ezekiel 36:26-27.
[5] Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16
[6] Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:11; Cf. Jeremiah 9:23-24; Isaiah 54:13; John 12:32
[7] Romans 8:9-10, 14; Cf. John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6
