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Something to ponder #2: What, if any, are the differences between the Old and New Covenant?
What, if any, are the differences between the Old and New Covenant according to the Word of God? How does the conditional promises made to the nation of Israel tie into this and are these conditional promises made to the Israelites in the Old Testament binding on the child of God today?
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Under both covenants people are saved by grace through faith but one difference is there is spiritual regeneration under the new covenant and God puts His Spirit in us. I'm unsure how people remained under God's grace under the OC except through offering sacrifices and making atonement for sins. I need more instruction regarding these things.
Another difference is that those under the old covenant were under the penalty of the law but the new covenant has taken away that penalty.
I still have difficulty understanding the whole difference, especially regarding the law. Under the old covenant, the law is described as written in stone. I've understood that to mean the stone tablets given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Under the NC the law is written on hearts that have been softened but sin is permanently forgiven. I don't really understand what this means except that God convicts us inwardly of sin and righteousness.
Both covenants were made with the house of Israel and Judah but Gentiles are now invited to be under the NC, too.
Ezekiel 36 ESV
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. iAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 jAnd I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 lYou shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jeremiah 31 ESV
31 o“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, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 sFor 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. uAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Time is brief this A.M. as I will be heading to church shortly, but would like to make one comment regarding the Law written on stone and the Law written on our heart.
The Law written on Stone (be forever true) was an external Law that man attempted to adhere to. The Law written on our hearts is an internal integration of the Law and our life. It is no longer an outer influence seeking to compel us to follow, but a driving force, as empowered by the Holy Spirit, to guide us in the way we should live. With the integration (may not be the best word) of God and the Law in us we now experience a binding to God and His ways that would have been limited before and brings both an awareness and power to resist and overcome sin, but because of liberty given man we must still choose God over sin in our day to day lives.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Thanks. This is an important piece of the puzzle, for me, in which I'm missing quite a few pieces. I understand that under the NC, we are changed from the inside out. We are illumined by God's Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. There is belief and repentance, then transformation. At first, it's the new birth, then afterwards this illumination and repentance occurs continuously in the process of sanctification. This is called mind renewing in Scripture. Good works (following and doing His ways) will flow from within, and, of course, as you said, we must still choose God's will over sin everyday.
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This may be a weird or ignorant question, but was the righteousness of Christ an imputation to His people under the old covenant, too? Is that what saved by grace through faith really means?
Many have the understanding that under the old covenant people were saved through keeping the law and their own righteous acts. It was my understanding for many years.
This is too important to get wrong for when one is trusting in Jesus as Savior, one must know what the things are for which they are trusting Jesus to have done for them, especially in light of the many scriptures like Matthew 7 where Jesus says He doesn't know those people and the way Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, showing His complete displeasure with their attitudes as well as behaviors.
Recently, as I was reading Hebrews 11, verse 29 stood out for me:
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ESV
Were those who crossed the Red Sea justified by faith inspite of all their bad works afterwards? Are they part of the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1 for believing God, and like Abraham, were justified by faith and not as ones who sought righteousness by their works?
I know we have these verses:
Romans 4
English Standard Version (ESV)
Abraham Justified by Faith
4 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
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The problem that often confuses people is the mixing of the covenants. There is the covenant given to the Israelites regarding the promised land, of which had various conditional promises. These conditions were mostly dependent upon their obedience in order to remain in the promised land. The covenant that was given to Abraham preceded the one given at Mt. Sinai. One of the main points of Galatians is to distinguish between the two covenants.
When we look at God's Word it is necessary to discern to whom God is speaking. Is the comment for all people or a particular group. Most of the promises given at Sinai were given conditionally to Israel. The covenant given to Abraham, which is before the other, is for us today and is how we enter into a covenantal relationship with Jesus. This relationship is dependent upon faith and not works (keeping in mind that true faith will result in works ... right living). Thus, any hope man has ever had rest on the work of Christ. Our righteousness and holiness apart from Christ is no better than filthy rags, even if we attempt to live by the law. The righteousness and holiness that we possess that is of value to God is that of Christ Himself.
One last point regarding your basic question. The work of God, His shed blood on the cross, has been a part of the plan from the beginning. For the Word of God speaks of the Lamb slain before the beginning of time. To God this is a done deal ... it was going to happen. At the same time God established time for governing man and the history of mankind. Because He chose to establish time and work in time there was a moment established for the physical act of shedding the blood for sin. The Bible also speaks of His shed blood as being the blood of the new covenant (new in time, but not new to God). The shedding of the blood was the culmination of His work in redemption regarding the forgiveness of sin. Under the old covenant man looked forward by faith to what God was going to do, yet they had limited sight. God, over time, expanded their understanding as to what He was going to do, but it was still a mystery yet to be full revealed. After the cross the mystery has been unveiled and we now see clearly regarding His shed blood. Both sides of the cross require faith in God and His work on our behalf regarding salvation.
Now, with that said, we must recognize that salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned. Yet, being a Christian is hard and often costs us everything. Forgiveness and regeneration are not the end result, but rather the beginning of our new life in Christ. The child of God is called to live in a manner that is in alignment with God and His Word. We are called to holy living. Regardless if we will experience perfection in this life or not our goal remains the same ... holiness (holy living).
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I hope it's Ok to talk about some things that I'd really like to talk about concerning some of the teachings I was under through my early twenties up to my late thirties, but I don't want to destroy or tear down anyone's belief system and I definitely don't want to mislead anyone into a license to sin by saying noone can be saved through keeping God's law because if God is still counting my sins against me everyday until I repent and confess them each night, then I don't want to heap even more upon myself through being accountable for the sins of others as well who are sinning because of something I told them.
Here's the thing. I wasn't taught that I'm still under the OC but I was taught that what changed under the NC was a different law was given to us -- the two great commandments which sum up the OT law -- and also some new commandments given that fall under the great commandment, water baptism and holy communion. Additionally, what Jesus did for us was simply do away with animal sacrifice as His shed blood is sufficent atonement to provide forgiveness, but the new commandments must be kept and any breaking of them, such as failing to assemble and take communion on Sunday mornings, is counted and held against us until we confess and repent and we must endure to the end, keeping them, remain faithful in keeping them, turning from sin, "turn or burn" was said to me.
Under the old covenant it is commonly believed that it takes both to be saved -- keeping the moral law and making the animal sacrifices. Under the new covenant it is believed that it takes both to be saved, too -- the shed blood of Jesus for when we fail and commandment keeping that makes us more and more righteous until we finally have enough righteousness to enter eternal life, and the grace of God helps us keep these NT laws.
The teaching is this.
There are two types of righteousness mentioned in the Bible:
Believing in God and His Words
By doing acts of righteousness
Forgiveness is possible where we fail.
I know it's true that faith without works is dead, but it gets so messed up :'(
PS If my sharing what I've been taught will hurt someone in their faith, then I won't share those things.
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Let me give a short set up to what I hope to post later in an attempt to give more detail in a second posting. As Roy pointed out in another forum there are so many variations in in the various camps, of which I will name the following. There are variations in beliefs of those who seek to follow the law and what that means. There are variations between those who profess that it is not about law keeping, variations between those who believe eternal security, and variations between those who believe you can lose your salvation. We also know that in these camps we will find those who love Jesus, and of course we all think we are right, for no one will willingly follow a false doctrine if they knew it were false ... at least not if one loves Jesus. Thus, to answer your question with specificity regarding what someone taught or what someone else believes is a bit difficult, because inevitably you will miss something along the way.
This is not a cop-out on my part, but even in the things you have listed it will vary depending on who you ask.
Finally, with that said I will give an opinion and state my view accordingly shortly.
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The main thing I need to get settled is-- Is it a right teaching then that we can gain righteousness that saves us by doing? I understand the part of righteousness by faith, but must we have that righteousness as well as the righteousness that comes by doing acts of righteousness and are both together needed in order to be saved? This is different than to have positional righteousness that is lived out in good works which are done because we are saved. Am I making sense?
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We are not saved by doing, but because we are saved our lives will be changed and there should be signs of living for Him.
Thus, let's look at this:
The teaching is this.
There are two types of righteousness mentioned in the Bible:
Believing in God and His Words
By doing acts of righteousnessActually there are at least four kinds of righteousness. These four are unrighteous, self-righteous, positional and experiential righteousness. Two are apart from Christ (though Christians can fall into these at times), one is in Christ and the last is enabled by Christ once we are in Him.
We cannot get away from two truths that coexist. We are saved by grace through faith, this not of works. We also are called to good works (holy living). If the one does not lead to a life that at least begins to demonstrate the other one would have to question their salvation. Again, I believe that Ephesians 2:8-10 is word perfect and in a specific order on purpose. Grace is followed by faith that leads to salvation and salvation leads to good works (holy living). One great problem we face today in the church is two opposite edges of the same sword. One edge is legalism that requires perfection which is unattainable in the flesh. The other edge is easy believism that requires nothing of the person once they are saved. The Word of God tells us that we are to be holy as He is holy. Yes, their is positional holiness in Christ, but we are called to holy living. James is not a contradiction to what Paul states in Ephesians, but rather an emphasis that our faith must be demonstrated by what we do. I cannot be at peace to say I have faith, but am satisfied living as the world. There must be a holy discontent regarding all things that are unrighteous.
I will wrap with this. For me the question is not whether we are called to holy living as I believe the Bible is clear that we are called to holy living. The question is what is holy living? Most would give you a list of things to do and things not to do. The problem with the list is not the list as we can find a number of things that please God and displease God. The problem is the view of the list, for too often the list takes the place of Jesus in ones life and this cannot be, for if that happens then the list itself becomes our god and becomes sin to us. Thus, I go back to an earlier comment of mine. Do we seek to appease or do we seek to please. If I am seeking to appease the list becomes a burden, but if I seek to please the list becomes a joy to me.
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Yet, it doesn't sound like you are saying experiential righteousness is something we must work hard at and achieve. It sounds like you teach it as a work of God in us, and we aren't passive, we walk it out, but not to make sure we are doing enough works to enter heaven or to walk before God blameless, because Jesus is the only reason we are blameless before God. It doesn't sound like you're saying I'll only go to heaven when I have fully achieved both types of righteousness, and if I only achieve a little experiential righteousness, then it means I wasn't saved to begin with. It sounds like you're saying if I'm truly born again, I am holy and I'll be holy, too (live holy) but what is enough? What if I die still on the milk of the word and still depressed and anxious?
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If the list is my pleasure because I seek to please Him then it is enough. If the list is my burden I fear that I must accomplish or I will be lost then I have missed the mark regardless of my maturity level and nothing will ever be enough.
Regarding the "the milk of the word" I believe we all are far more immature than we realize. For our example is not my neighbor but my Lord, and compared to Him I am but an infant, but an infant in the hands of the God I love.
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What of those who just view the list as what is required? They also believe God has given them everything they need to meet those requirements. They believe they are meeting them. They don't see it as appeasing God but as the way to glorify God as well as the way to enter heaven? What are the right things regarding Jesus that we must believe in order to have belief in the right Jesus? Does it really even matter what we believe about our works, whether works save us or keep us saved? I mean really? As long as we believe in God and are doing good works, then our doctrine can be all messed up but does it matter?
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