by Roland Wrinkle [Preface: I realize that this can be confusing stuff. I have done my best to set it all out in a way that can be understood (This is really important stuff!). I have tried to reduce the esoterics and academics to the least amount possible. Libraries of books have been written on this subject over thousands of years. Reducing it to a couple of pages ain’t easy. You will undoubtably need to read it several times and perhaps underline and make notes.]
Fred is adamant that the “old” covenant (promise, treaty, contract) and “old” commandments (laws, rules, regulations) are “obsolete,” “useless,” “set aside,” and “weak” and have been replaced by a “new” covenant and a “new” regulation, law, commandment which is “better” and “superior.” In chapters 7 and 8, he puts it this like this[1]:
The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God…. Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant…. the law appoints as high priests’ men in all their weakness; but the oath [conferring eternal priesthood on Jesus], which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever…. the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to [that of the priests appointed by the law] as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises….[God promised:] “The days are coming…when I will make a new covenant….It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord….I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts….By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
So…the old COVENANT is obsolete, inferior and will disappear; while the old COMMANDMENTS are weak, useless, and unnecessary. Paul says precisely the same thing but in greater detail. Now, on to what are the old and new covenants and the old and new laws?
What are “Covenants’? Biblical covenants are promises, contracts, treaties, agreements and are of two types:1) Unconditional and Unilateral: Only one party is bound and nothing the other party does or fails to do will negate the promises and obligations of the bound party. While Fred is not talking about this covenant, the fundamental unconditional and unilateral covenant that drives all of the scriptural narrative is the Abrahamic Covenant, i.e., the Promise to Abraham found in Genesis 12.3 and repeated reaffirmed no less than 14 more times in both the OT and the NT. God
promised Abraham unconditionally to “bless all the nations” through Israel, i.e., to restore all of fallen creation with “the renewal of all things” (Matt 19.28). God never said “IF you or Israel do everything, or most of the things, I require, I will bless all the nations.” Nothing was required of Abraham (or Israel for that matter) in order for God to keep his promise. That is why, in Genesis 15, only God passed through the split animals (and not Abraham) which, in those days, the person or persons making the covenant would do to seal their promise(s). Again, Fred is not talking about the Abrahamic Covenant.
2) Conditional and Bilateral: Two parties agree to bind themselves to mutual promises but only if the other party keeps their end of the bargain. The prime example of this is the Mosaic or Sinaitic Covenant which is precisely what Fred was talking about being obsolete and replaced. This is the covenant God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19: “IF you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. …The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.” (Moses had the people reconfirm their part of the covenant with blood and sacrifices in Exodus 24.) Both parties made conditional promises. IF Israel obeys, they get blessings; if they disobey, they get curses. (This, of course, frames the entire biblical history of Israel). The Mosaic covenant is what Fred and Paul say has been replaced by the New Covenant.
3)The New Covenant: This is what communion is all about, i.e., “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Fred says, it is “the covenant of which [Jesus] is mediator [and] is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” The prophet Jeremiah also predicted the New Covenant. “‘The day will come,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. . . . But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people’” (Jer 31:31, 33). (And this is exactly what happens in Revelation 21). The New Covenant is also mentioned in Ezekiel 36:26–27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”
What Are Biblical Commandments? Fred talks about regulations, laws and the law. Elsewhere, biblical authors refer to Torah, ordinances, the Law, the Ten Commandments, statutes and the 613 Mitzvot laws or the Halakah (shrimp, mixed fabrics, menstruating women and the like). Just like you can tell a conditional covenant by looking for an “IF,” you can tell a commandment by looking for “you shall…” or “you shall not….”
What is the New Commandment? Fred declares all of these commandments “obsolete,” “useless,” “set aside,” and “weak.” What replaced them? Answer: The Law of Christ. In Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that the old commandments have been superseded by more rigorous standards, e.g., “You have heard it said [from the old Law]……; but I tell you……” In John 13, Jesus is rather explicit about it: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Paul calls this, the “Law of Christ.” “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6.2). “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.” (1 Cor 9.22). “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.” (Rom 3.27)
The Bottom Line: The Mosaic Covenant is out; the New Covenant is in. The OT laws are out; the Law of Chris is in.
What this all means is that we need to stop looking to the OT for our Christian ethics and look forward to the final culmination of the unconditional, unilateral Abrahamic Covenant in the Kingdom of God in its eternal form, i.e., New Creation…and start living today as resurrection and new creation people by following the Law of Christ. This is where God was headed from day one.
[P.S. Again, I fully appreciate the complexities of these issues. It will take several readings and a lot of thinking to understand the concepts, in order for you to accept, reject or modify them for yourselves. Paul was fond of distinguishing between what he got from the Lord and what were his own observations. These are, of course, my observations. Nonetheless, I do believe that an appreciation of the difference between the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants and the old and new commandments will open up entirely new vistas that will put everything else in the bible into new perspectives]
[1] The bold is a reference to commandment, the italics refers to covenant, and the underlining refers to what happens to the covenant or commandment.