The Origin of Grace

Foundation Of The New Covenant?

I suspect many of us would struggle to understand the Biblical foundation of the New Covenant. Due to general confusion on this question, I believe our Christian experience is negatively impacted in ways we don’t imagine. If the Old Testament is the foundation for the New Testament and if the new fulfills the old, should we not expect to find the “Origins of Grace” somewhere in the Torah?

I suspect most of us have not given that question much thought. If pressed for an answer we might say something like, “the Jews in the Old Testament were unable to keep the law, so now God has written his law (Ten Commandments) on our hearts and given us the power of the Holy Spirit, so now we have the desire and power to keep the law. So the New Covenant is the same covenant as that given at Mt. Sinai, just better, because it’s written on the human heart and we have the Spirit to help us obey. It might sound convincing until we examine it closer. Before we begin, my “ask” of you dear reader is to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the argument I present below.

Not Like the Covenant of Sinai

Let’s begin with Jer. 31:31-34, I would love you to read chapters 30 through 31, but we will only address a portion of it in this post.

“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. For 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.”

This is the classic New Covenant passage prophesied by Jeremiah in the Old Testament. When I first read this passage four decades ago, I was bothered that it didn’t say Gentiles (new covenant with the Gentiles). The text actually says it was to be a new covenant with Israel and Judah. I have since realized that the way to understand this is found in Paul’s teaching that Gentiles are grafted into God’s special olive tree. Study Romans chapters 9-11 to understand his teaching.

The second thing to notice in Jeremiah’s passage above is the New Covenant is not going to be like the Mosaic Covenant given that was given to Israel after leading them out of Egyptian slavery. So, if the New Covenant will not be after the pattern of Moses and Sinai, what pattern will it follow?

At this point in our investigation, we have some good information. The New Covenant will be with the house of Israel, but it will not follow the pattern of the covenant established by Moses at Sinai. That leaves us with three other covenants in the Old Testament from which to choose; the choices could be the covenant with Noah, Abraham, or David. These three plus the Mosaic covenant we ruled out are the major covenants we read about in the Old Testament.

How Do You Introduce Someone?

In the very first sentence of the New Testament, notice how God chooses to introduce his son to the Nation of Israel. He highlights two characters from the Old Testament-David and Abraham. Jesus, God’s Messiah will follow the patterns of these two giants from Israels history.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers…  Mat 1:1-2 (ESV)

The phrase “son of” means to share the character, likeness, and representation of the father from whom one is called. If the New Covenant were to be patterned after Moses, we should expect him to be called, Jesus, son of Moses. Instead, he is referred to as Son of David and Son of Abraham indicating that Christ will follow in the covenantal patterns of these patriarchs.

This eliminates the Covenant with Noah as being one of the contenders for the New Covenant pattern.  It must be either the Abrahamic Covenant or the Covenant God made with David.

Testimony of Zechariah the Priest

Zechariah was a priest in first century Israel and the time of service at the temple had come up.  Notice how the text describes he and his wife Elizabeth.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Luk 1:7 (ESV)

This is exactly how the Bible describes Abraham and his wife Sarah-no child, barren, and advanced in years. The scriptures are asking us to keep the Abrahamic story in mind as we read about Zechariah.  While serving as priest the angel Gabriel appeared to him promising a son through his wife Elizabeth. Does this not seem similar to the events with Abraham when the angel of God made the same promise (Gen. 17:15-19).

Let’s move on in the Zechariah story. After their son John was born and his parents were naming him Zechariah gave a tremendous prophecy recorded in Luke 1 beginning at verse 67. I’d like to point out a few sections of it.

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, …

to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham… Luk 1:67-69, 72-73 (ESV)

Confirming the very word God spoke in Mathew 1:1, a son of David and Abraham, and linking the Messiah directly to the covenantal oath sworn by God to Abraham in Genesis 15.

Let’s move on to Hebrews

I hope you don’t mind to much; I’d like to ask you to read another long passage. Afterwards I will pull out a few relevant nuggets to help explain. I only ask you to read because I want you to discover these truths for yourself and not rely on my opinion. Here’s the passage to read – Hebrews 6:13-20.

Things to notice in this passage:

In speaking of Abraham, God says, “surely I will bless you and multiply you”

It also states that God swore by himself with an oath, since there was no one greater by whom he could swear, he swore by himself. When did this happen?

The swearing by himself was the smoking firepot and blazing torch passing between the animal halves. God the Father and God the Son together swore and oath that they would fulfill the terms of the covenant being made on behalf of Abraham and his descendants. That section of scripture is punctuated by invoking Jesus as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 

None of these attributes, I will bless you and multiply you, God swearing by himself, or invoking the order of Melchizedek, none of these could apply to the Mosaic covenant; they all took place during the Abrahamic story.

In Hebrews 7 the author compares Melchizedek to Jesus. Recall that Melchizedek was priest for Abraham not with Moses or the covenant of Sinai. In this section we find three arguments that will help us understand why the New Covenant cannot be based on Moses. Let’s look at them one at a time.

1. The Mosaic Covenant and the law cannot produce perfection in human beings.
2. There was a change in the priesthood (Jesus follows the order of Melchizedek). Since the law is based on the priesthood, by necessity the law must also be changed to reflect a different priesthood.
3. Jesus was ineligible (as a priest) to serve under the Mosaic system because he was from the wrong tribe. Priests serving under the Sinai covenant had to belong to the tribe of Levi, Jesus descended from Judah.
4. Finally, we’ve already spoken about the oath which God made with himself.

“The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’” Heb 7:21 ESV

Under what priesthood did this occur…Melchizedek, not Levi

• The Levitical priests were mortal men, they died. Jesus is eternal, so his priesthood continues forever.
• Finally, the Mosaic Covenant that was made between God and people. The Abrahamic covenant was a covenant between God the Son and God the Father on behalf of the people.

Paul’s Closing Arguments – From Galatians

To further establish that the New Covenant is based on Abraham and not Moses, we would remiss not to include Paul’s argument in Galatians. Paul wrote Galatians to prove that we are indeed justified before God by faith and not by following the Mosaic law. Let’s begin.

…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified…. Gal. 2:16

Normally in Paul’s writing his sentences are lengthy and complex but with this topic, long and drawn-out explanations are not required. Beginning with chapter 2 verse 21 he gives his arguments in rapid fire succession.

• I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Gal. 2:21
• Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Gal. 3:2
• Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal. 3:3
• Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith… Gal. 3:5
• Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Gal. 3:7

If those who walk in faith are called the “sons of Abraham,” what should we call those who walk according to the law?

• For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. Gal. 3:10
• Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Gal. 3:11
• Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us… Gal. 3:13

Then Paul, as if stopping to catch his breath, absolutely nails it with this comment.

This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Gal. 3:17-18

The Abrahamic covenant was ratified by the Godhead (Father and Son). The law established 430 years later at Sinai does not annul the eternal Abrahamic covenant.

Conclusion

In our quest to discover the Biblical foundations of the New Covenant, we have considered the testimonies of Jeremiah, Mathew, Zechariah, and Paul as we sought to unravel the origin of grace in the New Testament. The more I study this question the more compelling the case becomes. At this point you may be wondering, why is this question relevant?

For me, it answers the question, is the gospel rooted in doing or being, in faith and trust or in performance, in keeping the law or in how the law points to something beyond itself. So, I will do my best to walk obedience because of faith and trust, not to manufacture it.

In the next article, we will consider the question, what then is the purpose of the Mosaic Covenant and the law for believers in Jesus? We should then have a clear picture of how both Moses and Abraham help us in our spiritual journeys.

~~Be Blessed!