What’s so New about the New Covenant?

Intro

Cars have changed significantly over time, yet their basic features remain unchanged - they need power, steering, and control. Similarly, the Old Testament tells a story of God's relationship with His people, a covenant, which changes but maintains its core essence. Despite Israel's failures, God separates, allowing them to learn and return to a stronger relationship, referred to as the 'New Covenant'. The question arises: what's new about it?

Much like a new car has the same basic features but with added improvements, the New Covenant too has its continuity and new elements. However, is the difference akin to two different models of a car or as distinct as a car and a plane? To understand this, we delve into Hebrews chapter eight and Jeremiah 31, which explore the nature of the new covenant.

The aim is to understand the 'new' in the New Covenant to answer the question: Who are the members of this new covenant? If the old and new covenants are like different car models, we expect similar membership. But if they're as different as a car and a plane, the membership could vary. By the end, we hope to show more continuity between the old and new covenants than commonly perceived.

What is the same?

As we delve into the specifics of the new covenant that God establishes with Israel, let's begin by identifying what remains unchanged. Let's examine verses 8 through 12 to pinpoint the elements that are consistent with the old covenant. Verse 8 tells us that God will "establish a new covenant," suggesting the existence of a previous one. A covenant is a solemn agreement promising blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Despite the novelty of this agreement, it continues to be a covenant relationship, which is a commonality with the old.

Verse 9 introduces an aspect that will be 'new', so we'll revisit this verse later. In verse 10, God outlines more 'new' elements of this covenant relationship. However, upon closer examination, we realize that these features were present in the old covenant as well. "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them upon their hearts" (10). This verse highlights the importance of God's law. Instead of replacing or discarding the law of God, it remains central in this covenant relationship, just as it was in the Old Covenant.

God does not imply that this would be a different law from the one given in the old covenant. Even the internalization of the law is not new, as it was always commanded (and demonstrated by the most devoted saints) in the Old Covenant. As the Psalmist stated, "I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart" (Ps. 40:8). And as Paul effectively illustrates in Romans 2, when Gentiles do what the law requires, they "show that the work of the law is written on their hearts" (Rom 2:15). So the importance of the law and its role within the covenant is not necessarily new, and even in the old, they were at least encouraged to internalize it. What else remains the same?

The next refrain in verse 10 does not introduce anything new either, as it encapsulates the essence of the covenant relationship. God assured Abraham, "I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you" (Gen 17:7). He repeats this promise in Exodus 6:7, "I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God." This promise extends not just to the individual, but also to future generations. The essence of the covenant is God's relationship with His people, which is not a new concept in the New Covenant.

Verse 11 seems to introduce something new. In the new covenant, there appears to be no need for teachers, i.e., those encouraging others to "know the Lord" as everyone will know Him. This is the central feature that we might consider 'new' in the new covenant. We'll revisit this later. But even in this 'new' aspect, there is a feature that was typical of the old covenant as well—the knowledge of God. Referring back to Ex. 6:7: "I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God." (Ex 6:7). An intimate knowledge of the Lord was always promised to those in Covenant with Him. So knowledge of God per se is not new either.

Continuing in verse 12, God promises to be merciful to His people and not remember their sin. But was this not the case in the Old Covenant? Was God not merciful to His people? Did He not promise to forget their sins? Indeed, He was and He did. As He stated through the prophet Isaiah, "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (Is. 43:25). As a "God merciful and gracious..." (Ex. 34:6-7), mercy and forgiveness are inherent to His character. All of God's covenants with men in scripture are between a holy God and sinful men. How could we ever hope to be in a relationship with God if He were not merciful and forgiving? So that’s not new either.

Upon examining the New Covenant, we've identified many similarities. It remains a covenant relationship between God and His people. The law continues to be central, and it still involves the intimacy of 'knowing the Lord.' God's attitude towards His people remains characterized by grace and mercy. So, the New Covenant shares much with the Old Covenant. This should provide a framework for understanding what is 'new' about the New Covenant.

This principle of continuity is not new but is found throughout the scriptures. When considering the biblical covenants such as those with Noah, Abraham, Israel through Moses, and David, there is no replacement. Instead, we find development. Each one builds on the previous covenant, assuming its content and expanding it with new elements. The principle is one of continuity. There is change, indeed, and addition, but it is continuous. Paul uses this to defend the inclusion of Gentiles, showing that the Mosaic covenant did not nullify the covenant of promise given to Abraham 430 years earlier, which would make the promise void (Gal. 3:17).

This is what I meant when I said earlier that the Old Testament is a story that is going somewhere. Each covenant builds on what came before. It examines, assumes, and expands upon, but it doesn’t replace it. But doesn’t the Author of Hebrews seem to suggest the new covenant replaces the old? He uses language like ‘better’ and ‘new’ to distinguish between ‘old’ and ‘obsolete’ and ‘vanish away’. Doesn’t that mean we should see the new replacing the old? No! That would be like saying chapter one is replaced by chapter two. Or claiming the Ford Model 'A' is obsolete because we now have planes. The Model 'A' is obsolete because we now have F150s, which are better suited to today's traffic conditions. To understand the point of comparison the Author of Hebrews makes, we need to consider what is 'new' about the new covenant.

Exploring the 'New' in the New Covenant

In our exploration of God's proclamation of the new covenant, we identified three elements that make this covenant 'new': its unbreakability, its internalization, and its universality. Let's delve into each of these aspects.

Unbreakability

I'll be brief here, as the unbreakability of the new covenant is rooted in its other two unique aspects. The need for a new covenant arose from the breaking of the old one. If Israel had been successful in upholding the old covenant, would there have been a need for a new one? Yet, looking back, it's clear that Israel's failure to keep the covenant was anticipated in the law's very creation.

The new covenant's unbreakability hinges on God's commitment to preserve the relationship in ways not present in the old covenant. In the old covenant, God upheld His end of the agreement, but Israel failed to uphold theirs. In the new covenant, God provides what Israel lacked in the old one, making it unbreakable. This is achieved through the other two 'new' aspects of the new covenant - the universal internalization of God's law.

Internalization

As we discussed earlier, the concept of the law being written on the heart isn't new. This internalization means obedience to God's law from the heart, not a forced adherence to the letter of the law. True obedience flows from love for and gratitude to God.

After the fall into sin, man's nature became corrupt. The law remained written on the heart, but man lost the ability to obey it. God later externalized the moral law in the Ten Commandments given to Israel on Mount Sinai. This externalization made the law explicit and impossible to suppress. However, keeping God's external law requires internalization, a work of the Holy Spirit.

Grace restores nature, meaning it restores the ability to obey God's law. This restoration is called regeneration. When the Spirit effectively calls a sinner to salvation, he restores their ability to obey God. In other words, the Spirit places the law within you, and writes it on your heart. The internalization of the law is a result of regeneration.

In the old covenant, those who were righteous kept the law from the heart, meaning the law was written on their heart by the Spirit. However, this was only ever a minority. In the new covenant, God promises that this internalization will be widespread, even universal.

Universality

In Hebrews 8:11, we see the universal scope of the internalization of God's law's. No longer will a faithful minority need to encourage others to “‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest.” Every member of the new covenant will be regenerate and love God from the heart.

In the old covenant, the priest taught the law, parents instructed their children, and the king embodied the law. The prophet encouraged faithfulness. In the new covenant, all this becomes obsolete, as everyone will have intimate knowledge of God. This promise of widespread righteousness, stemming from the universal internalization of God's law, is based on His complete and free forgiveness of their sins.

In all scriptural covenant relationships, the initiative always lies with God. He initiates the relationship, and we respond. He is merciful, forgiving our sins and giving us His Spirit so we can keep the law from the heart. In contrast to the old covenant, where not all Israel kept the covenant with God, in the new covenant, all will.

Now, we’ve considered the aspects of the new covenant that are the same as the old, and we’ve looked at what is new in the new covenant, the question now is, where does that leave children?

Where does that leave children?

The author of Hebrews is in the middle of a lengthy argument against those within the church who are tempted to return to Judaism, mainly to avoid persecution. He uses God's promise of a new covenant to highlight the pointlessness of reverting to the old covenant, particularly its ceremonial aspects. The core of his argument is that it's impossible to go back because the purpose of those elements has been fulfilled in the new covenant mediated by Christ.

He demonstrates that we are now living in the new covenant era, and its promises are superior because it is the fulfillment of all previous covenants. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, has inaugurated it by dying. His death was the “true form of these realities” (Heb. 10:1), unlike the sacrifices of the first covenant which had to be repeated continuously. The author argues that it would be foolish to revert to the sacrificial system of the first covenant, as Christ has come and fulfilled what they symbolized.

The new covenant is not an airplane, but a car with modern features. Once the features are there, you can't go back to the features of the Model 'A.' It won't work. The key question then becomes, who are the members of this new covenant? Is it a better car or has it transformed into a plane?

Members of the old covenant were Abraham and his family, and everyone in their households was included in the covenant, symbolized by circumcision. This continued with Israel when God made them a nation. However, it was possible to be part of the covenant people of God, with all the benefits that entailed, yet not have the law internalized. Being outwardly circumcised did not mean that your heart was circumcised. It did not mean that you loved God from the heart. So, membership in the old covenant was a mixed bag.

Fast forward to the new covenant, God used Israel as a model of what a covenant relationship with God should look like, albeit imperfectly. His plan was to gather His people from all nations into the church, a new Israel, the new covenant people of God. Membership would still be by election, but it would include people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Instead of circumcision, the sign that those who trusted in Christ belonged to this new covenant people would be baptism.

However, Baptists argue that the hallmark of the new covenant is a universal internalization of the law so that every member would know God. This implies that everyone in the new covenant community must be regenerate. But how do you know who is regenerate? This is a much harder question to answer than it may seem, but most Baptists will confidently say we know someone is regenerate by a credible profession of faith. Therefore, only those who make a credible profession of faith can be members of the church, and only they can receive baptism. Since infants can't make credible professions of faith, infants cannot be baptized.

But is this what scripture teaches? There are a few assumptions that the Baptist must make to support this argument. First, you must assume that membership in the new covenant is now for those who can outwardly testify that they are regenerate. Second, you must assume that infants can't be regenerate because they can't make a credible profession of faith. Finally, you must assume that the description of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 should map onto the church now.

These assumptions ignore the continuity between the covenants and the principle of "inaugurated eschatology." Jesus began the new covenant in his death and resurrection, but will not bring about all the promises which were articulated by the prophets until he returns. The church will be a mixed multitude made up of regenerate and unregenerate, believers and unbelievers, and it would only be clear which were which when Jesus returned and sorted them out.

So, what do we do about children? A credible profession of faith is needed for those who can make one. Those who come to the church, believe in Christ, trusting in Him alone for their salvation are eligible to be marked in the waters of baptism, a sign that they are members of new covenant people of God because they belong to Christ.

But what about their children? Does the new covenant, which is better in every way, and much more expansive than the old, now prohibit the children of believers from being given the sign that they also belong to the new covenant in baptism? Absent clear teaching from the new testament that children are now excluded from membership in the new covenant, how could we exclude them? Instead, the new testament treats children as members and assumes that they are part of the new covenant.

We get baptism wrong just as often as Baptists who wait until later to give their children the sign of membership, only to see them walk away from the faith. When we get it wrong, we exercise church discipline, not because we are trying to get as close as we can to having a regenerate-only church. But because we love people too much to let them carry on in unrepentant sin, including unbelief. And discipline is the tool God uses to bring people back to Him.

Conclusion

Look, the new covenant is a car. It’s a really nice car. In fact, as far as carness goes, it surpasses all that came before and it’s guaranteed that there will never be a better one after it. Because this car never breaks down, will never need to be tinkered with by additions, and will arrive at its destination not a minute too late, and everybody on board will be safe forever. OK, I’ve pushed the metaphor to its limits, but you get the point. It’s not a plane. The old covenant is a story that is going somewhere, that somewhere is Christ. He is seed of the woman that will crush the serpents head; he is the ark of safety who saves his people from the floods of Gods wrath; he is Abraham promised offspring, who fulfills the laws demands; and he is David’s son who has an inherited a much better kingdom, for he rules over all the nations. Jesus is what’s new about the new covenant, and when he brings that story which was begun in the old covenant to its conclusion, every one of the new covenant promises will be fulfilled. Because it’s as good as done already, hidden with Christ in heaven. But he’s patient, waiting to return until every last one of His people has been called out of the darkness and given the Spirit’s guarantee that all God’s promises are yes and amen in Him.

Until then we call the nations to trust in Christ, when they do we baptize them and their children and teach them to nurture them in the faith, praying that God would join the sign with the thing signified, so that we aren’t just washing bodies, but souls in the cleansing blood of Christ. Amen.