Introduction
In this article I’m going to be defending the position that the body of Christ is not (and never will be) “under the new covenant.” Much of the content of this study has appeared in other articles I’ve posted on this blog, but hopefully the importance of (and, perhaps, the interest that others may have in) this subject will justify the repetition, and keep it from sliding into redundancy!
To keep this article from being more repetitive than it needs to be, I’m going to be assuming that the reader already understands the difference between the expectation/allotment that belongs to Israel and that which belongs to the body of Christ. That is, I’m going to be assuming that the reader already understands that the saints among God’s covenant people will, after Christ’s return, be enjoying their life eonian in the kingdom of God on the earth (which is the kingdom that’s going to be restored to Israel), while the saints in the body of Christ will be enjoying their allotment in the heavens (which is the realm in which the kingdom of God will be manifested after Satan has been cast out of it; see Rev. 12:9-10 and 2 Tim. 4:18).
Anyone who isn’t already familiar with this doctrinal position concerning Israel and the body of Christ (or who may not understand the reasons for believing it) is strongly encouraged to read the following articles concerning the prophesied future destiny of Israel and the nations during the eons to come:
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-defense-of-israels-expectation-part.html
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-defense-of-israels-expectation-part_17.html
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-status-of-israel-and-nations-on.html
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2021/07/did-paul-teach-that-body-of-christ-will.html
The identity of God’s covenant people
In an article defending what is the most commonly-held view among Christians concerning the relationship that the “Christian church” has to the old and new covenants, Tomas Schreiner wrote the following:
The Mosaic or Sinai covenant was enacted with Israel, not with us. Yahweh inaugurated the covenant with Israel when he freed them from Egypt. Israel’s covenant with the Lord contained both religious and political elements, and thus Israel as a nation, as a distinct people, received specific commandments for both its religious and political life. The laws given to Israel were its charter as a nation, as God’s special people in the ancient world. But the laws and stipulations aren’t the requirements for the church of Jesus Christ, which is under a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:26-27; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8-13). https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/old-covenant-response-andy-stanley/
I’m in full agreement with Schreiner that the old covenant – which he referred to as the “Mosaic or Sinai covenant” – was “enacted with Israel, not with us” (and I’m assuming that, by Schreiner’s use of the pronoun “us,” he was referring to people who, generally speaking, could be categorized as “gentiles,” or “those of the nations”). However, I completely disagree with Schreiner’s claim that “the church of Jesus Christ” is “under” the new covenant that we find prophesied in Jer. 31:31-34.
Schreiner is, of course, far from alone in believing that the gentile-dominated “church” to which most Christians belong is “under” the new covenant. Most Christians in the world today hold to this view, and believe that they constitute God’s “new covenant people.” Not only is this the most commonly-held view among Christians today, but this belief has been the doctrinal position of the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and most mainstream Protestant denominations for as long as these Christian institutions have existed.
In order to see why this view is mistaken – and why the “new covenant” is no more directly applicable to Christians today than is the covenant that Schreiner correctly states was “enacted with Israel, not with us” – let’s first consider Paul’s words in Romans 9:3-4. In these verses, Paul identified the people of Israel as those to whom belong “the sonship and the glory and the covenants and the legislation and the divine service and the promises.” Among “the covenants” that belong to Israel is the covenant that we find referred to in Hebrews 8:6-13. Here’s how these verses read in the CLNT:
Yet now He has happened upon a more excellent ministry, in as much as He is the Mediator, also, of a better covenant, which has been instituted on better promises. For if that first one were unblamable, no place would have been sought for a second. For, blaming them, He is saying,
“Lo! the days are coming,” the Lord is saying, “And I shall be concluding with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant,
Not in accord with the covenant which I make with their fathers In the day of My taking hold of their hand To be leading them out of the land of Egypt, Seeing that they do not remain in My covenant, And I neglect them,” the Lord is saying,
“For this is the covenant which I shall be covenanting with the house of Israel after those days,” the Lord is saying:
“Imparting My laws to their comprehension, On their hearts, also, shall I be inscribing them, And I shall be to them for a God, And they shall be to Me for a people.
And by no means should each be teaching his fellow citizen, And each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord!’ For all shall be acquainted with Me, From their little to their great,
For I shall be propitious to their injustices, And of their sins and their lawlessnesses should I under no circumstances still be reminded.”
In saying “new,” He has made the former old. Now that which is growing old and decrepit is near its disappearance.
Some think that the new covenant of which we read in this passage is merely a figurative covenant. Those who think the new covenant can’t be a literal covenant seem to hold to this position because they define a “covenant” as being something that essentially involves two parties that each have certain responsibilities/duties that must be fulfilled in order for the covenant to exist or remain in effect. But this definition of “covenant” is too narrow. A covenant is essentially a legally binding arrangement between parties as to a course of action. Although a covenant does essentially involve at least two parties, it does not essentially involve each party having to do certain things in fulfillment of some covenantal obligation. With regards to stipulations, a covenant can be either bilateral or unilateral in nature.
In fact, the very first covenant referred to in Scripture – the so-called “Noahic covenant” (the sign of which is the rainbow) – was/is clearly unilateral in nature, depending solely on God for its continuance (see Genesis 9:8-17). This one-sided covenant applies to all humanity (as well as to all other living creatures on earth), and involves no stipulations for those with whom God established it. And in this regard, the “new covenant” that God promised to establish with Israel is like the Noahic covenant. Unlike the “old covenant,” it is unilateral in nature.
Now, based on what we read in the passage quoted above, the new covenant has not yet been concluded with those with whom God promised to conclude it. The coming “days” that are being prophesied in the passage (“Lo! the days are coming,” the Lord is saying) have not yet arrived. In fact, it’s clear that the old (or “former”) covenant hasn’t even disappeared yet. Rather, we’re told that the old covenant is “growing old and decrepit” and is “near its disappearance.” To say that something is “growing old and decrepit” and “near its disappearance” is not the same as saying that it has, in fact, ended or disappeared. And since that which the author wrote was true at the time when he wrote his letter (which was likely more than 30 years after the death and resurrection of Christ), it would mean that Christ’s death and resurrection did not bring an end to the old covenant, or bring about the conditions that will be present when the new covenant goes into effect.
But in what sense was the disappearance of the old covenant “near” when this letter was written (and in what sense is it still “near” today)? Answer: The nearness of the disappearance of the old covenant (and the implementation of the new covenant) is inseparably connected to the return of Christ at the end of the eon. In Hebrews 1:2 the author referred to the era in which he wrote as “these last days” (or “the last of these days”; cf. Acts 2:16-18; 1 Pet. 1:20), and in Heb. 10:25 he referred to the future day of the Lord as “drawing near” (cf. verses 26-31). Similarly, James wrote that the “presence of the Lord is near” and that “the Judge stands before the doors” (James 5:7-9). Peter wrote in his first letter, “Now the consummation of all is near” (1 Pet. 4:7), and that they were in “the era for the judgment to begin from the house of God” (v. 17).
Insofar as Christ’s return was near when the author of Hebrews wrote, the disappearance of the old covenant could be said to have been “near” as well, since it’s at the consummation referred to by Peter (when the “Chief Shepherd is manifested”) that the old covenant will disappear, and the new covenant will go into effect. Although Christ become “Mediator of a new covenant” by his death on the cross (Heb. 9:13-15) – and has thus already done what he needed to do to ensure that the new covenant be concluded with Israel at a future time – the conclusion of the new covenant with Israel won’t actually occur until “He who is coming will be arriving and not delaying” (Heb. 10:38), and Christ is thus “seen a second time” (Heb. 9:28). Only then will the enemies of God’s covenant people be “placed as a footstool for [Christ’s] feet” (Heb. 10:11-13), and the beneficiaries of the new covenant will be “obtaining the promise of the eonian enjoyment of the allotment” (Heb. 9:15; cf. Heb. 10:35-39).
Now, keeping in mind the futurity of the new covenant, let’s now consider the identity of the beneficiaries of this covenant. According to the prophecy from Jeremiah that the author of the letter to the Hebrews was quoting (i.e., Jeremiah 31:31-34), we find God clearly specifying who these beneficiaries will be: those whose ancestors were brought out of Egypt by God – i.e., those who belong to the twelve-tribed people collectively referred to as “the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (and who are the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob). We know that gentiles aren’t included among those who comprised “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” in the past (e.g., when God declared that “the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers”; see Jer. 11:10). But we have just as much reason to believe that gentiles won’t be included among those with whom God will be concluding the new covenant (who are also referred to as “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah”).
It’s also clear from the immediate context in which the new covenant is first referred to (see Jeremiah 31:1-28 and 35-37) that those with whom God will be making this covenant will be Israelites. Thus, based on what we read in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (as well as the immediate context), we can conclude the following: just like the old covenant, the new covenant is, by definition, a covenant between God and Israel. Just as we have no reason to think that the nations (i.e., “gentiles”) were included among those with whom God made the old covenant, so we have no reason to think that the nations are included among those with whom God will be concluding a new covenant. Instead, the only people who we have reason to believe will be the direct beneficiaries of the promised blessings that constitute the new covenant (and who will thus be “under a new covenant” and God’s “new covenant people”) are Israelites.
Of course, for most Christians, the view that the new covenant is, by definition, a covenant made with Israel (and not with gentiles) is highly problematic. For this view is completely contrary to the commonly-held Christian view that the letter to the Hebrews was written to believers who, although Jewish in their ethnicity, belong to the same predominantly gentile “church” to which all Christians see themselves as belonging. However, as I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere (https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2022/08/why-letter-to-hebrews-was-not-written.html), the company of saints to which the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews belonged was not the same company of believers who comprised what Paul referred to as “all the ecclesias of the nations” (Romans 16:4), and “the body of Christ” (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:15-19; 10:16-17; 12:12-27). Instead, they belonged to a company of saints that was a continuation of the Jewish “church” or ecclesia that was being formed during Christ’s earthly ministry (i.e., the “little flock” [Luke 12:32]). This company of saints not only pre-dated the formation of the body of Christ, but it will be on the earth after the body of Christ is no longer here; see, for example, the following articles on this subject:
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2023/01/who-are-chosen-of-matthew-24.html
https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-connection-between-chosen-of.html
That the direct beneficiaries of the new covenant will be Jews (and not gentiles) is further confirmed by the fact that everyone with whom God promised to make this covenant will have God’s law written on their heart (and will thus be empowered to carry out God’s law). But to whom did God give the law that he will be writing on the heart of those with whom he’s going to be making a new covenant? Answer: He gave the law to the twelve-tribed people of Israel – i.e., the same people with whom he made a covenant after he brought them out of the land of Egypt (Deut. 4:1-14, 44-45; Lev. 26:46; etc.), and who are distinguished from “the nations” (for a refutation of the commonly-held Christian view that Paul considered believing gentiles to be “spiritual Jews,” see the following article: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2023/12/why-romans-228-29-and-96-8-doesnt.html).
We can thus conclude that the people referred to throughout Jer. 31 as “all the families of Israel,” “[Yahweh’s] people,” “the house of Israel” (etc.) are descendants of the same ethnically/covenantally-distinct people whom Yahweh brought out of Egypt, and who comprised (and will comprise, in the future) a single nation existing in a certain geographical territory on the earth. And since the events associated with the enacting of the new covenant prophesied in Jer. 31 are still future, the implication of what we find prophesied in this chapter concerning “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” is that the distinction between human beings that God began to make when he began to form the nation of Israel is not a distinction that is restricted to the past. Rather, the distinction that God makes between his covenant people, Israel, and the rest of humanity (i.e., those who are of the nations) is a distinction that is going to continue into the future as well.
Moreover, the very next verses make it clear that the new covenant essentially includes geopolitical blessings as well (i.e., blessings that involve the people of Israel being restored to the land that God promised them, and their capital city, Jerusalem, not only being rebuilt but expanded). In verses 38-40 we go on to read the following:
Lo, days [are coming], an affirmation of Yahweh, And the city has been built to Yahweh, From the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner. And gone out again has the measuring line Over-against it, unto the height of Gareb, And it has compassed to Goah. And all the valley of the carcases and of the ashes, And all the fields unto the brook Kidron, Unto the corner of the horse-gate eastward, [Are] holy to Yahweh, it is not plucked up, Nor is it thrown down any more to the eon!"
Compare the above verses from Jeremiah with Ezekiel 36:10-11 and 37:25-26, where God declares the following to the land in which Israel will be dwelling when the new covenant goes into effect:
”I will increase humanity on you, all the house of Israel, all of it, And the cities will be indwelt, And the deserted places shall be rebuilt. I will increase on you human and beast, And they will be abundant and fruitful; I will make you indwelt as you were formerly, And I will bring more good than in your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. I will lead humanity, My people Israel, onto you, And they will tenant you, And you will become their allotment, And you will never again make them bereaved…Thus they will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt; they will dwell on it, they and their sons and their sons’ sons throughout the eon, and David My servant will be their prince for the eon. I will contract with them a covenant of peace; it shall come to be an eonian covenant with them; I will establish them and increase them…”
Although the spiritual blessings promised by God in Jer. 31:33-34 are an important part of the new covenant, this covenant cannot be separated from the geopolitical blessings referred to in these and other verses (which shouldn’t be surprising, given the fact that the new covenant is a covenant that God promised to make with a people who constitute a nation). In accord with this fact is what’s prophesied in Ezekiel 36:24-31:
“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.”
From this passage it’s clear that, when the new covenant with Israel has been concluded, God’s covenant people will be caused to keep the statutes and ordinances that he gave to them. God will ensure that Israel will never again become guilty of breaking his law, and Israel will never again become deserving of the curses that are threatened under the old covenant. It’s also evident from these verses that, when the new covenant goes into effect, Israel will be gathered by God into the land that God promised to the fathers.
Thus, as is the case with Jeremiah 31, it’s clear from what we read in Ezekiel that the people with whom God is going to be concluding the new covenant belong to the same ethnically/covenantally-distinct people whom God brought out of Egypt, and who comprised (and who will comprise, in the future) a single nation existing in a certain geographical territory on the earth. We can therefore conclude that, in the eons to come, God will still be making a distinction between his covenant people, Israel (who will continue to exist as a people whose identity is based on their particular ethnicity/lineage and covenantal relationship with God), and the nations/gentiles.
In accord with this fact is what Paul wrote in Romans 11:25-28 as follows:
“Callousness, in part, on Israel has come, until the complement of the nations may be entering. And thus all Israel shall be saved, according as it is written,
“Arriving out of Zion shall be the Rescuer.
He will be turning away irreverence from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
Whenever I should be eliminating their sins.
“As to the evangel, indeed, they are enemies because of you, yet, as to choice, they are beloved because of the fathers.”
From these verses it’s evident that Paul understood the implementation of the new covenant to be a future event (for it will not take place until “the complement of the nations” has entered, and “callousness, in part” has been removed from Israel). It’s further evident that, when the new covenant is implemented in the future, it will be with Israel – i.e., the ethnically distinct people who are in covenant with God (the majority of whom were, “as to the evangel…enemies because of [the nations]”) – and not with “the nations” to whom Paul referred in v. 25.
Moreover, when Paul wrote, “according as it is written,” he had in mind the words of Isaiah 59:20-21. Here is the full quotation of the second part quoted by Paul, from Isaiah 59:21:
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Yahweh: My spirit which is on you And My words which I place in your mouth, They shall not be removed from your mouth, Or from the mouth of your seed, Or from the mouth of your seed’s seed, says Yahweh, Henceforth and for the eon.”
Whereas in Jeremiah 31 God promised to put his laws in the minds and write them on the hearts of his covenant people, here he promises that the “words” which he will place in their mouth will never be removed from their mouth. That the fulfillment of this promise will take place when Jerusalem becomes the greatest city in the world is evident from what we read in the chapter that immediately follows (see also Isaiah 2:1-4).
This is also in accord with the fact that, according to what we read in Jer. 31:27-28, the time when “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” will begin to enjoy all of the blessings associated with the promised new covenant (i.e., the time that is referred to as the “days” that are “coming”) will involve God reversing the effects of all prior judgments that he brought upon Israel because of her sins. Rather than afflicting his covenant people for their disobedience as he did in the past, God will bless them to a degree that he has never done before. He will plant Israel back in their land and multiply people and animals there, and demonstrate his faithfulness to and love for his people by turning their mourning to joy and satisfying them with his goodness.
Moreover, since everyone with whom God is going to be concluding the new covenant will be enjoying this expectation, it follows that the saints in the body of Christ (whose expectation is, and always has been, distinct from Israel’s) are not – and never will be – “under the new covenant.” But if only Israelites will be the direct beneficiaries of the promised blessings that constitute the new covenant, does this mean that there won’t be people from among the nations on the earth who will be blessed at the future time when “all Israel shall be saved”? No. But any non-Israelites who will be blessed during this future time will not, themselves, be the people with whom God will be making a new covenant. They will, instead, be indirect beneficiaries of the new covenant between God and his people, Israel. All of the blessings that gentiles will be enjoying on the earth during this future time will be enjoyed because of (or as a result of) Israel’s special covenant status and relationship with God. So with regard to the new covenant, there will be two classes of people on the earth during the eon to come who will benefit from it in some way:
1. Those with whom God will be concluding the new covenant (i.e., God’s covenant people, Israel) and
2. Those from among the nations who will be living in the land of Israel (who will be blessed through Israel, and only because Israel will be blessed).[i]
The first group (Israel) will be the direct beneficiaries of the new covenant, while the second group (the nations) will be indirect beneficiaries of the new covenant.
Part two: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2024/11/is-body-of-christ-under-new-covenant_12.html
[i] One could also argue that the nations living outside of
the land will benefit as well, but any new covenant-based blessings that
they’ll enjoy will come to them even less directly than the blessings received
by the nations living within the land during this time.
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