Skip to content

Course 7 · Lesson 8.2

Law and covenant across the Testaments

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 7 outline

Module 1: The World of the New Testament

  1. Second Temple Judaism in the time of Jesus
  2. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and other movements
  3. Rome, the Herods and the province of Judea
  4. Hopes, protest and revolt in Jewish political life

Module 2: Jesus in History

  1. Sources for Jesus: Christian, Jewish and Roman
  2. The quests for the historical Jesus and their methods
  3. Criteria of authenticity and their limits
  4. Historical results and Christian confession

Module 3: The Gospels as Books

  1. The gospels and ancient biography
  2. Traditions of authorship and the arguments about them
  3. The synoptic problem: the evidence of agreement and difference
  4. Solutions: Markan priority, Q, Matthean priority and others
  5. Four portraits of Jesus: the distinct emphasis of each gospel

Module 4: Acts and the Spread of the Church

  1. Pentecost and the Jerusalem church
  2. The mission to the Gentiles and the council at Jerusalem
  3. Paul in Acts and in his own letters
  4. Acts as history and as theology

Module 5: Pauline Theology

  1. Paul and his letters: occasion, authorship and order
  2. Gospel, faith and righteousness in Romans and Galatians
  3. Christ, the Spirit and the body of Christ
  4. Reading Paul: traditional, new perspective and other approaches

Module 6: Johannine Theology

  1. The Gospel, the three letters and Revelation: authorship questions
  2. Word, light, life and love in the Gospel of John
  3. The signs and the I am sayings
  4. The Spirit, the community and the Johannine letters

Module 7: Hope, Authority and Church Order

  1. The kingdom of God and last things in Jesus and the apostles
  2. Ways of reading New Testament eschatology
  3. What an apostle was and how apostolic authority worked
  4. Offices and order in the first churches
  5. How Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches read the evidence

Module 8: The Testaments Together

  1. Fulfilment and continuity: how the New Testament uses the Old
  2. Law and covenant across the Testaments
  3. Comparing Paul and John: a method
  4. Shared convictions and meaningful differences

All courses

Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 8.2

What you will learn

  • Describe the main covenants of the Old Testament and the promise of a new covenant in Jeremiah 31.
  • Summarize what Jesus, Paul and Hebrews say about the law and the new covenant.
  • Explain the traditional division of the law into moral, civil and ceremonial parts, and the objections to it.
  • Compare how Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed and Jewish readers understand the law’s continuing place.

The big idea

The Bible tells of a series of covenants, in which God binds himself to a people: with Noah, Abraham, Israel at Sinai and David. The prophets promise a new covenant, with the law written on the heart. The New Testament says that this new covenant has come in Jesus, and it speaks of the law in several ways: Jesus fulfils it, Paul says it is holy but cannot give life and that believers are not under it, and Hebrews says the old covenant is obsolete. Christians have worked out what this means for the commandments in different ways, and Jews hold that the Torah remains God’s gift to Israel.

Key terms

Covenant
A solemn, binding relationship between God and a people, with promises and obligations. The Hebrew word is berit.
Torah
The Hebrew word for instruction. It names the first five books and the whole body of God’s law and teaching to Israel.
New covenant
The covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31 to 34, in which God would write his law on the heart and forgive sins. The New Testament sees it begun in Christ.
Moral, civil and ceremonial law
A threefold division used by Thomas Aquinas, Calvin and others. Moral law concerns right and wrong, civil law governed ancient Israel as a nation, and ceremonial law concerned worship, sacrifice and purity.
Antinomianism
From Greek words meaning against law. The view that Christians are free from any obligation to obey moral law. Most churches reject it.
Third use of the law
A Reformed phrase for the law as a guide for the Christian life, along with its uses to restrain evil and to show sin.
Marcionism
The teaching of Marcion (about 144 AD) that the God of the Old Testament and its law was different from the God of Jesus. The church rejected it.

Background

Covenant is the framework of the Old Testament. God promised Noah never again to flood the earth, promised Abraham land and descendants and a blessing for the nations (Genesis 12 and 15), gave Israel the law at Sinai (Exodus 19 to 24), and promised David an enduring house (2 Samuel 7). The law was understood as the response of a people already rescued from Egypt, not as a way to earn rescue.

The prophets saw that Israel broke the covenant, and promised a renewal. Jeremiah 31:31 to 34 speaks of a new covenant, not like the one at Sinai, in which God will put his law within them and write it on their hearts, and forgive their sin. Ezekiel 36:26 to 27 speaks of a new heart and God’s Spirit within. The New Testament builds on these hopes. At the Last Supper Jesus speaks of ‘the new testament in my blood’ (Luke 22:20), which is the same Greek word for covenant.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Jesus and the law

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil’ (Matthew 5:17). He goes on to say that not one letter will pass from the law until all is fulfilled, and then gives a series of teachings, ‘Ye have heard that it was said... but I say unto you,’ that deepen the commandments toward the heart. He summarizes the law and the prophets in love of God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37 to 40).

Jesus also appears to set aside some customs. He heals on the Sabbath and says it was made for humans (Mark 2:27). In Mark 7:19 the narrator remarks that by saying what goes into a person does not defile, Jesus declared all foods clean, though some scholars question that reading, since the early church debated food laws long afterwards. Interpreters differ on whether Jesus kept the law strictly while interpreting it freely, or went beyond it.

Step 2: Paul on the law

Paul’s statements can seem to pull in different directions. He says that the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12) and that it establishes faith (Romans 3:31). He also says that no one is justified by works of the law (Galatians 2:16), that the law brought knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20), that it was a guardian until Christ came (Galatians 3:24), and that ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth’ (Romans 10:4). The Greek word for end, telos, can mean both goal and termination.

Paul urges believers to fulfil the law through love (Romans 13:8 to 10, Galatians 5:14), to walk in the Spirit, and to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). Scholars debate whether Paul thought Jewish believers should still keep the law as a matter of custom. Acts shows him doing so (Acts 21:26), and 1 Corinthians 9:20 to 21 says he became as under the law to those under the law. He insisted that Gentiles need not.

Step 3: Hebrews and the new covenant

The letter to the Hebrews argues at length that Christ is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6). It quotes Jeremiah 31 in full and says that in speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first old, and ‘that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away’ (Hebrews 8:13). The sacrifices of the law could not make perfect, and Christ’s one offering does (Hebrews 10:1 to 14).

Many readers take this to mean that the Mosaic covenant has been superseded. Other Christian interpreters say that Hebrews addresses the sacrificial system and priesthood, which ended with the Temple’s fall, and that it does not speak of God’s continuing love for Israel. Churches have grappled with how to maintain both the newness of Christ and the permanence of God’s promises to Israel, as Romans 9 to 11 insists.

Step 4: Later Christian approaches

Thomas Aquinas, Calvin and the Westminster Confession (chapter 19) divide the law into moral, civil and ceremonial parts. The ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ, the civil law lapsed with the ancient state of Israel, and the moral law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, still binds. Catholic teaching treats the Decalogue as binding on all, and the Catechism explains it at length. Critics note that the New Testament does not make this division explicit, and that Jewish readers see the Torah as a unity.

Luther spoke of the law’s uses as showing sin and restraining evil, and preached that the gospel frees from the law’s condemnation. Calvin and the Reformed added the law as a guide for believers. Dispensationalists distinguish the age of law from the age of grace. The Orthodox emphasize life in the Spirit within the church and the commandments of Christ. Jewish tradition holds that the covenant with Israel stands and that the commandments remain obligatory for Jews, while Gentiles are bound by the Noahide laws. Messianic Jewish believers hold that Jewish followers of Jesus may keep the Torah.

  1. How does Jeremiah’s promise of a law written on the heart differ from the law written on stone?
  2. What do you make of Matthew 5:17 to 20 and Jesus’ own handling of the Sabbath?
  3. How can Paul say that the law is holy and also that Christ is the end of the law?
  4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of dividing the law into moral, civil and ceremonial parts?
  5. How does Hebrews relate the Old and New covenants, and what is left unsaid?
  6. What does Romans 11 add to the discussion?

Examples

The Ten Commandments in teaching

Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed catechisms teach the Ten Commandments as part of the instruction in Christian life, though with different numbering and emphasis. Luther’s Small Catechism begins with them. They show that most Christian traditions treat the moral heart of the Old Testament law as continuing.

The Sabbath question

Christians differ on the Sabbath. Most keep Sunday as the Lord’s Day, and see the Sabbath principle fulfilled in rest in Christ. Seventh-day Adventists and some others keep Saturday. Paul says that no one should judge another in regard to a Sabbath day (Colossians 2:16), which fuels the debate.

Food and fellowship

In Acts 10, Peter’s vision of unclean animals teaches him not to call any person unclean. The story shows a change in the application of food laws that opens table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles.

Different perspectives

Catholic view

The Catholic Church teaches that the Old Law is holy and a preparation for the Gospel, that the New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and that the moral precepts of the Old Law, summed up in the Decalogue, remain binding. The ceremonial precepts are fulfilled. The Church teaches that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has never been revoked.

Orthodox view

The Orthodox Church reads the Old Testament as preparation for Christ, and the law as a tutor leading to him. The commandments of Christ and life in the Spirit are central. The church keeps fasts and feasts, some derived from the Old Testament pattern, as free expressions of the new life.

Lutheran and Reformed view

Lutherans emphasize the distinction of law and gospel, with the law accusing and the gospel giving life. Reformed churches speak of one covenant of grace in several administrations, with the moral law as a rule of gratitude. Both hold that believers are not justified by the law, and that they delight in it as God’s will.

Jewish and Messianic Jewish views

Jewish tradition holds that the Torah is a permanent gift to Israel, and that Christians misread it. Many Jewish writers see Christianity as the religion of Gentiles who are bound to a covenant with Noah. Messianic Jews hold that Jesus is the Messiah while Jewish believers keep the Torah as a sign of covenant faithfulness.

Why it matters

The question of law and covenant touches ethics, worship, the Sabbath and relations between Christians and Jews. Careful reading prevents the opposite errors of discarding the Old Testament’s moral teaching and of imposing its regulations without regard for the work of Christ.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The Old Testament is about law and the New Testament is about grace.

Correction: The Old Testament speaks of God’s rescue before the law is given, and of mercy throughout. The New Testament contains many commands. Both testaments hold grace and obligation together.

Misunderstanding: Christians are free to ignore the Old Testament law altogether.

Correction: Most churches teach that its moral teaching remains, and the New Testament repeats many of its commandments. They differ over which parts apply and how.

Misunderstanding: The new covenant means God has abandoned Israel.

Correction: Jeremiah’s new covenant is made with the house of Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31). Romans 11 says God has not cast away his people. Many churches hold that God’s covenant with the Jewish people continues.

Misunderstanding: Paul abolished the law.

Correction: Paul says that he upholds the law (Romans 3:31) and also that believers are not under it as a way to righteousness. How to hold the two together is the question the traditions answer differently.

Knowledge check

Name four covenants of the Old Testament.

With Noah after the flood, with Abraham promising land, descendants and blessing, with Israel at Sinai giving the law, and with David promising an enduring house. The prophets also promise a new covenant, as in Jeremiah 31.

What does Jeremiah 31:31 to 34 promise?

A new covenant in which God writes his law on the hearts of the people, all know him from the least to the greatest, and he forgives their sins and remembers them no more. The New Testament sees this fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit.

What does Jesus say about the law in Matthew 5:17?

That he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil them, and that not a letter will pass away until all is accomplished. He then deepens the commandments, and summarizes the law in love of God and neighbor.

How does Paul speak of the law?

He calls it holy, just and good, and says it reveals sin and served as a guardian until Christ. He denies that anyone is justified by works of the law and says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to believers, while urging that love fulfils it.

What is the threefold division of the law and its limit?

Moral, civil and ceremonial parts, with only the moral still binding in Reformed and Catholic teaching. The New Testament does not make the division explicit, and Jewish readers see the Torah as a unity, so it is a later tool of interpretation.

Think it through

  1. How do you hold together the goodness of the law and its limits?
  2. Which commandments of the Old Testament seem to you plainly still binding, and why?
  3. What does it mean to have the law written on the heart?
  4. How can Christians speak about the law in a way that honors Jewish tradition?

Independent assignment

Law across the Testaments

In your own notebook, write 350 to 500 words. Read Jeremiah 31:31 to 34, Matthew 5:17 to 20, Romans 7:7 to 12 and Hebrews 8:6 to 13. For each passage, summarize in one or two sentences what it says about law and covenant. Then write a paragraph on how you would combine them. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study