THE BETTER COVENANT
The Key To the New Covenant is Understanding Its Change From the Old.
The New Covenant
is the complete fulfillment of the types and shadows under the Old Covenant;
yet it is much more. Hebrews 8:6 tells us, "But now
hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the
mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises." How is the
New Covenant related to the Old and how is it better? The word, better, in
the original New Testament Greek, was kreittonos, which literally
means, "hold more." (Concordant Keyword Index) Here
is our first clue: somehow the New Covenant holds more than the Old Covenant
could. There is an expansion indicated! Additionally, the implementation
of the New Covenant and Christian faith involved some kind of change.
This was the charge leveled by witnesses against the first Christian
martyr, Stephen: "For we have heard him say, that this Yahshua
of Nazareth shall change the customs which Moses delivered
us." (Acts 6:14) Biblical scholar, Dr. Dale Patrick,
in his book, "Old Testament Law," commented that, "The
New Covenant remedies the defects in the Old but retains its basic
structure." (p.243) It is a change for the
better, yet has important structural similarities, as we shall see.
How new is the New Covenant? Obviously, it supercedes the Old Covenant. "But," declared
Arthur W. Pink, well-regarded evangelical theologian, "let
it be clearly understood that it is called 'New' not because its contents
differ from the Old, for it is simply a fulfillment and confirmation
of all that went before." (The Divine Covenants,
p.277) In
fact, there are four different Greek words translated 'new' in the King
James translation of the New Testament, each with a different meaning.
The Greek word "prosphatos" means "lately made,"
or what we might call, "brand new." The Concordant Literal Version translates
it as "recently." Interestingly, this word is never used in Scripture
in relation to the New Covenant. The two Greek words that are used for
the New Covenant are "neos," meaning "regenerate,"
and "kainos," meaning
"freshness." The word usage in the original Greek text of the New Testament
would therefore seem to indicate that the New Covenant is a revised or
regenerated and freshened version of the Old Covenant it replaced.
Integral to the Old Covenant was the law of Yah, and this underwent change,
too, under the New Covenant. Hebrews 7:12 states, "For the priesthood
being changed [from Old Covenant to New Covenant],
there is made of necessity a change also of the law." The
word change here is an English rendering of an interesting Greek
compound word, metathesis: "meta" means above,
over, beyond, further, addition to, or magnified. It therefore speaks
of augmentation; a concept related to the word, better, as already
shown. A "thesis" is popularly known as a writing or composition; the
Greek literally means, "to stand upon; a basis." Put together, we find
that the word metathesis or change speaks of an augmentation
or expansion of the original thesis, the Old Covenant. Therefore, the
New Covenant is a change and expansion to the Old Covenant and its laws.
This is perhaps intimated in Messiah's enigmatic statement, "Except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt
5:20)
What Has Been Abolished ?
As an interesting sidelight, a Greek word related to metathesis that has come into English usage is metamorphosis. This is the change
that occurs when a lowly caterpillar, through a miraculous change in
nature, turns into a beautiful butterfly. Not only is it much more wonderful
to behold, but it has many more capabilities. The caterpillar has not
died or ceased to exist, but its former structure has been incorporated
into the new creature along with a significant improvement, a change
for the better.
So it is with the law of God. It has not been abolished or destroyed;
in fact, the law is integral to the New Covenant according to Hebrews
8:8-11. The Concordant Literal translation of Hebrews 7:12 reads, "there
is coming to be a transference of law also" from
the Old Covenant to the New. A transfer or
change -- not an end -- takes place in the law under the New Covenant.
It is commonly taught today that the law of Yah ended with Messiah's
sacrifice and has been replaced by faith in the Son of Yah. But the Apostle
Paul clearly stated the opposite: "Do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Rom.
3:31) The
word, establish, used here literally means "to hold upright
or sustain." Our Christian faith leads us to uphold and sustain Yah's
law. Similarly, it is curious to know how anyone can actually believe
that the law was overthrown by the Messiah who said, "The
scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, that observe and do." (Matt
23:2-3)
Yet one author used the word "abolish" in reference to Yah's law at least
two or three dozen times in his book on the New Covenant. He quoted Ephesians
2:15, which reads, "Having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances." The
original Greek word here translated, abolished, is katargeo, and
is the same word translated "make void" in Romans
3:31 (quoted above) where the Apostle Paul says that the law was not made
void or abolished. The Apostle Paul would not have told us in Romans
that our faith did not abolish or make void the law, and then
say in Ephesians that it did! Clearly, the "ordinances" under
discussion and declared abolished in Ephesians chapter two were not the
laws of God. The word, ordinances, is an inexact translation of the Greek
word, dogma, which
means, "opinion." It is defined
variously as "that
which is held as an opinion, a doctrine laid down by a church [i.e.,
not on the level of Divinely-given Scripture -Ed.], or a
doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary
dictum."(Websters Dictionary) We are also
told that at the time of Messiah, "the term was applied
to the teaching of various philosophical schools or to some practical
decree coming from those in authority." (Westminster
Dictionary of Christian Theology, p.162) The term, dogma, is
twice used in the original Greek New Testament to refer to the decrees of
the Roman Caesars (Lk 2:1; Acts 17:7), but it is never used
for any part of Yah's Law. The New Testament does not teach that the
law of Yah is invalidated or abandoned, but that man's traditions (human
opinions, decrees, and dogma) invalidate it, and that is wrong. (Mt.
15:6; Mk 7:8-9, 13; Col. 2:8)
A Focus On The Heart
The moral principles of the Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew chapter five are usually considered central to what
has been called "the law of Messiah." Six times our Savior used the
formula, "You have
heard that it was said, but now I say unto you." Some
assume from this that He replaced Old Covenant law with a new law of
His own. Dr. E.P. Sanders answers, "New Testament scholars,
with surprising unanimity and inaccuracy, say that here Jesus clearly
contravenes the law. But it is perfectly apparent that He does no such
thing. He prohibited what Moses permitted, He did not permit what Moses
prohibited. It is as if a driver chooses to drive 5 m.p.h. below the
posted speed limit, thus heeding a higher law. [This is] what Jesus
meant by here going beyond the law of Moses. He laid down a requirement
that goes beyond the law." (Religion & Law:
Biblical-Judaic & Islamic Perspectives, p.147) This "going
beyond" ties in with the concept of the expansion or augmentation of
the law under the New Covenant. But Sanders further comments, "Prohibiting
something explicitly permitted, however, (as Jesus does with regard to
divorce), does imply that Moses was not strict enough, and thus potentially
that his law is not adequate." (ibid., p. 148)
Dr. Sanders clearly is on to something here, but we disagree that Messiah
was trying to be more strict than Moses. A closer look will show instead
that He was extending the laws beyond mere external commands, to moral
principles and a heart attitude as Yah had intended from the beginning.
Under the New Covenant, the law drives down to the source of our motivations
in the heart. Yah was always concerned with our heart attitudes, but
under the Old Covenant the Israel people did not comprehend this. It
is an often quoted misstatement that "Judaism requires good works, Christianity
good motives." The truth is that Yah requires both, with an emphasis
on the heart. As Hebrew scholar Dr. Montefiore stated, "The
true fulfillment of the law included and implied an inward and enlarged
interpretation of the leading moral enactments." (Sermon
On The Mount, p.499)
As an example, consider Messiah's statements concerning violation of
the marriage union. Matthew 5:27-28 reads, "Ye have heard that
it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But
I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart." A common
interpretation is that Messiah overturned the Mosaic law, in this case
the Ten Commandments, in favor of His own new law. But such is not the
case. Messiah is NOT saying that the seventh and tenth commandments (Deut.
5:18,21) forbidding
adultery and lust are now abolished. What He is really saying is that
under the New Covenant the focus of the law is now upon our heart attitude. Hastings
Dictionary Of The Bible expounds on this by saying that Messiah "insists
not only upon abstention from the act, but upon the repression of all
wrong thought and desire, in this going much deeper than even the Tenth
Commandment [and] forbids impure thoughts and desires on the part of
any one." (v:26) Our physical actions do
not exist in a vacuum, but out-flow from the desires of our heart. If
a person does not commit adultery in their heart, they will not commit
the physical act, either. So Messiah focused on the Spiritual principles
in the law, the most important dimension which controls our physical
actions. There is also an augmentation of the Mosaic law under the New
Covenant, but it is not really an increase in strictness, nor is it harder
to obey. Under the New Covenant, we have the help of the Holy Spirit
writing Yah's law upon our heart (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-11), giving
us added strength to keep it. This makes the law easier to obey, not
harder. Messiah Himself said, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light." (Matt.
11:30) With Yah's Help, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is
not as difficult (for those with regenerated hearts) to keep the moral
principles of Yah's law under the New Covenant as it was under the Old.
The Function Of Covenants
What is the relationship of law to covenant?
A testament and covenant are the same, and both are correct translations
of the Greek word, diatheke.
In Scripture, covenanting is synonymous with swearing or taking an oath. (Dt.
29:12, 14; 1 Chron 16:15-16; 2 Chron. 15:12, 14, 15) William Blackstone,
the eminent English jurist, stated, "After warrants,
usually follow covenants, or conventions, which are clauses of agreement
contained in a deed, whereby either party may stipulate for the truth
of certain facts, or may bind himself to perform, or give something to
the other." (Commentary
on the Laws of England, ii:20) A contract or covenant is a vehicle
to oversee the implementation of a person, place, or thing. Law and covenant
are therefore two distinct ideas. While the law continues under the New
Covenant, the Old Testament [Old Covenant] "is
done away" (2 Cor. 3:14, King James Version) or "abrogated." (ibid.,
NEB) The replacing (really an upgrading or augmentation) of the
old contract or covenant by the new did not end the law.
As an example, suppose you decide to write a last will and testament,
a final covenant, leaving the oil well in your backyard to your cousin
Homer. But poor Homer dies before you do, requiring you to prepare a
new covenant. The old covenant has become obsolete and been replaced,
but the oil well is still there and figures prominently under both the
old and new covenants. In the same way, the Mosaic law (which reflects
the mind of Yah concerning our welfare) is not abolished but continues
under the New Covenant, and is in fact the focus or goal of both of these
covenants. (Heb. 8:8-11) Returning to our example, a local oil
company agrees that after your death they are willing to operate your
oil well themselves and send monthly income by a check in the mail to
your heirs. No longer will the owners, your heirs, have to do backbreaking
labor as you did manually operating that hand crank on the old oil well;
it will now all be done electronically. It is truly a better arrangement,
more efficient, a better covenant. So, too, is the New Covenant more
effective from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to aid, strengthen,
and guide us, writing His Laws directly on our hearts independent of
our own ability to keep them.
It is important to recognize that a covenant is a transfer
vehicle and is separate in the eyes of the law from the
thing it transfers even while being associated with it. The Mosaic law
did not end with the Old Covenant any more than did Homer's death end
the existence of the oil well. In a similar way, the Old and New Covenants
are transfer vehicles, methods of imparting Yah's law to our lives. Under
the Old Covenant this was done externally, with the children of Israel
listening to the law read to them once every seven years at the feast
of Tabernacles. (Deut. 31:10-11) Under the New Covenant it is
done internally, by the Holy Spirit writing these laws directly to our
hearts, which is a much more effective and efficient method.
In summary, the transcending of the Mosaic Law by Yahshua and the Holy
Spirit should not be misconstrued as its dissolution. The New Covenant
is truly a "better" covenant because Yah is involved in a more
active, effective, and expanded way, helping us to implement the moral
principles of His Laws in our own lives.