The New Covenant
After a hiatus caused by my recent work schedule (yes, I am working again), I want to return to the covenant and trace Jeremiah’s development of covenantal theology particularly in the way Jeremiah’s inspired writing was used by the New Testament writer to the Hebrews.
For example, compare this passage from Jeremiah 31:31ff
“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, 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. But 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. 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.”
with this passage from Heb. 8:7ff
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
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.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
This is the longest quotation by a New Testament author of an Old Testament passage. It’s clear that the writer to the Hebrews (sometimes speculated to be the famous Apollos mentioned by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians) felt a great kinship with the “prophet of doom.” But it was not his doom-saying that he picked up on, but the silver lining in Jeremiah’s prophecy: the new covenant.
Even this silver lining has some tarnish on it, however, not due to any action by God, but by His chosen people. The author to Hebrews points out that there was “fault” to the first covenant: the people didn’t keep its terms. Jeremiah says “they broke my covenant.” Hebrews says “they didn’t continue in my covenant.” There is a subtle difference here. To Jeremiah observing the society around him, the brokenness of the covenant was most apparent. These people not only didn’t bother to keep the covenant, they offered their innocent children as sacrifices to Molech. Detestable! Despicable! How could they?
On the other hand the Hebrews writer is softer. Perhaps he was looking at the big picture of the history of the Jewish people up to his day. Maybe he was recalling the great faithfulness and courage of Joshua with his armies who conquered the land of Canaan. Or the exploits and faithfulness of David—a man after God’s own heart. Or even some of the few good kings of Judah and Israel: Josiah and Hezekiah to name a few of the few. Some Jews did continue in the covenant. But by Jeremiah’s day, these had dwindled to a very small percentage indeed. Perhaps only Jeremiah and faithful Baruch the secretary of the prophet.
Yet despite this unspeakable falling away of God’s people, both writers proclaim, “behold the days are coming….” These new days are the ones in which the LORD will establish His new covenant with His people. The question is, when is the new day? Was it in Jeremiah’s time, perhaps at the return of the people after the exile? Or was it during the days when the book of Hebrews was written? Or is it a day still to come?
Before answering that question we would do well to look at what that new day will entail. Here are some bullet points:
· Not like the old covenant
· God’s laws written on the minds of the covenantal people
· God’s laws written on the hearts of the covenantal people
· The Lord will be their God
· They will be the LORD’s people
· They won’t teach each other “know the LORD”
· Because: they will all know the LORD
· From the least to the greatest will know the LORD
· The LORD will be merciful to their iniquities
· He will remember their sins no more
Looking at this list of new covenant attributes some questions come immediately to mind. What’s the relation of the new covenant to the “Kingdom of God” or the “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus taught? What’s the relation of the new covenant to “the church” ?
I am in the process of analyzing the 30 occasions of the use of the word “covenant” in the New Testament in order to address these questions. I’m sure this has been done before by many scholars somewhere sometime, but I have found that the best discoveries are self discoveries (like those old “labs” connected with science classes back in college). So I invite you to follow along with me as I plow through all 30 references to try to make heads or tails of them in future blogs. (And by the way, if you have seen that analysis somewhere please drop me an email at john@dishmans.net. Thanks!)