Originally posted by pastorway:
Study the New Covenant! NEW. Compare the Old and New covenants in 2 Cor 3, and everywhere else we find mention of it in the Scriptures. In doing so we find that for starters everyone in the NC:
knows God (a synonym for salvation - John 17:3)
has their sins forgiven (Heb 8-9)
has had Christ's blood shed for them (1 Cor 11:25; Luke 22:20)
It's a
NNNNNNNNEEEEEEWWWWWW Covenant!!!
First of all, I hope you are not arguing that true, spiritual members of the Old Covenant did not have forgiveness of sins and that they did not know God. Admittedly, they did not know God in the way we can through the New Covenant in Christ's blood, wherein we know God through Christ in a personal, relational way (and no longer through priests and sacrifices and shadows of Christ), but nonetheless, they knew God in a primitive, pre-incarnate way. The Jer. 31/Heb. 8 passage is not a laundry list of brand new realities never-before-had by God's people, but shows that, in comparison to the Old Covenant, all of these realities are enjoyed in a more glorious and sure way, through Christ.
The Hebrew word for "new" in Jeremiah 31 is
KDSH, rightly translated "fresh" or "renew" in English. The covenant of promise is made fresh and renewed in the New Covenant; it is not a
brand new covenant.
Paul makes it clear that we are not a NEW tree, but grafted into the same tree as before (Rom 11). He also makes it clear that we have been brought into the same ol' covenant of promise, not a BRAND NEW covenant of promise (Eph 2). If it is the same tree and the same covenant of promise, where is the blatantly CLEAR passages explaining the repeal of previous covenant membership understanding for the thousands of previously Jewish converts to Christ?
Peter made a grievous error at Pentecost, with all of the Jewish men and families present (many of whom were likely holding their children in their arms, wondering if this promise was to them also as before) by saying the promise was to "you and to your children and to all who are far off (the Gentiles)."
Where is the clear, Holy Spirit-inspired explanation of a radical change in the
same covenant of promise for an all-Jewish Church to understand without confusion?
The NEWNESS of the New Covenant, according to Hebrews, is related to the glory of its outward administration and the blessings enjoyed by the covenant members in spiritual union with God through Christ; that is, no longer being through a cold, rigid relationship of sacrifices, rituals and offerings. Most people stop reading at Hebrews 8 and conclude that what has been said in Jer. 31 is the "new stuff," when in reality the members of the CoG have all along had those things in some form, just not in as glorious of a form (2 Cor 3).
However, at the end of Hebrews 8 when we read that "what is getting old is ready to pass away," we must keep reading and find that the author of Hebrews then tells us precisely
what is getting old and is ready to pass away in the phrase "Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness." A good exegete will realize that this next section of Hebrews is a clarification of what is "getting old and ready to pass away" in Ch. 8. Sometimes we have to not let the chapter boundaries get in the way of our interpretation of a text.
Yes, Christ's blood was shed for all of the members of the New Covenant, but you can be legally obligated within a covenant and not receive the benefits of that covenant. The children of believers are, by birth, legally brought into the covenant community, obligated to produce saving faith in order to enjoy the spiritual communion of life with God through Christ and in his blood.
Despite not all being elect and in a spiritual communion of life with God (through Christ's blood which is symbolized through animal blood until his coming), Moses still shows the blood of the covenant covering all of Israel (Exo 24:7-8).
By its very nature, a covenant is within a legal sphere of understanding. Legally speaking, one can be in the covenant and bound by its obligations/stipulations without knowledge of it (cg. unbelievers referred to as "covenant breakers" in Rom 1:31; I doubt we would argue your average pagan realizes they are in covenant with God). This does not guarantee you will ever receive the benefits promised in the covenant, yet the promise is still given to you, legally speaking. An infant born of a believer is made legally bound to the stipulations of the covenant (saving faith in Christ), but only when such faith is produced (a gift of God) are they brought into a spiritual communion with God through Christ and receive the spiritual benefits of the covenant in full.
[Edited on 3-29-2005 by WrittenFromUtopia]
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