The new covenant

A law written on the heart

Israel broke the covenant of Sinai again and again. But beyond judgment God gave a new promise:

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34

Four things are promised: the law written on the heart; God and his people belonging to each other; knowledge of God for all, from least to greatest; and full forgiveness. Ezekiel gives the same promise: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:26), and "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27). Matthew Henry notes that God does not promise a new law, "but the law shall be written in their hearts by the finger of the Spirit, as formerly written in the tables of stone." Matthew Henry

A covenant in Christ's blood

At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20); in Matthew, it is poured out "for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Hebrews quotes Jeremiah at length, calls Christ the mediator of a covenant that "is better and is founded on better promises" (Hebrews 8:6), and says, "By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13). Paul calls himself a minister "of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). So in the Lord's Supper the church receives the cup of this covenant and proclaims the Lord's death.

The new covenant does not discard the old promises; it fulfils them. Wesley comments on Jeremiah 31:33: "All under the time of the law that came to salvation, were saved by this new covenant; but this was not evidently exhibited" Wesley.

Where the traditions differ

Evangelicals explain differently how far the new covenant continues the old. Presbyterian and Reformed churches see it as the fullest administration of the one covenant of grace, so that believers' children also belong to the covenant community. Many Baptists, and those who hold new covenant theology, point to the promise that "they will all know Me" (Jeremiah 31:34): the people of the new covenant are all born again and know the Lord, and so baptism is for those who profess faith. Dispensationalism notes that the promise was made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Jeremiah 31:31); many dispensationalists hold that the church enjoys its spiritual blessings now and that it will be fully realized for national Israel in the future.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches confess the Eucharist as the sacrament of the new covenant. The Catholic Church teaches that the Mass is not a new sacrifice: in it the one sacrifice of the cross is offered in an unbloody manner Council of Trent, Decree on the Sacrifice of the Mass. The Reformation churches confess that the new covenant rests on "the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10), and they do not call the Supper a sacrifice for sin: in it the church gives thanks for that one sacrifice and receives its benefits. All agree that Christ's blood brings forgiveness and the Spirit renews the heart (see covenant). See the lesson Law and covenant and What are baptism and the Lord's Supper?