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Course 6 · Lesson 7.4

The promise of a new covenant

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 6 outline

Module 1: Israel in the Ancient Near East

  1. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Canaan: the world of the Old Testament
  2. What archaeology and ancient texts can and cannot show
  3. Genesis 1 to 3 beside other ancient creation accounts
  4. Ancient cosmology and how Christians and Jews read Genesis

Module 2: Covenant: Abraham and Moses

  1. What a covenant is, and covenant forms in the ancient world
  2. The covenants with Noah and Abraham
  3. The exodus and the covenant at Sinai
  4. The Torah: law, worship and the tabernacle
  5. Covenant in Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Reformed thought

Module 3: Kingship in Israel

  1. From the judges to the first kings
  2. David, Jerusalem and the promise of a lasting house
  3. Solomon, the temple and the divided kingdom
  4. How Samuel and Kings tell the story: sources and purpose

Module 4: The Prophets, Exile and Restoration

  1. What a prophet was in Israel and in the ancient world
  2. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah: justice, loyalty and judgment
  3. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the fall of Jerusalem
  4. The return, Ezra, Nehemiah and the rebuilt temple
  5. How the prophetic books were formed: the debate over Isaiah and others

Module 5: Wisdom and Apocalyptic Writing

  1. Proverbs and the way of the wise
  2. Job and Ecclesiastes: wisdom that questions
  3. What apocalyptic writing is: Daniel and its setting
  4. Reading apocalyptic images responsibly

Module 6: Second Temple Judaism and the Development of Jewish Thought

  1. Persian, Greek and Maccabean periods
  2. Temple, synagogue and the main groups in Jewish life
  3. Development in Jewish thought: angels, resurrection, wisdom and law
  4. Sources: the Dead Sea Scrolls, the deuterocanonical books and Josephus

Module 7: Messianic Expectation and the Shape of the Covenants

  1. Anointed ones in the Old Testament: king, priest, prophet
  2. Messianic texts in the prophets and psalms
  3. How Jews and Christians read the messianic texts
  4. The promise of a new covenant
  5. Mapping the development of covenant across the Old Testament

All courses

Program / Course 6: Old Testament Theology and History / Lesson 7.4

What you will learn

  • Read Jeremiah 31:31 to 34 closely and state its main promises.
  • Connect it to similar promises in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Hosea and Deuteronomy.
  • Explain what is new in the new covenant and what is continuous with the old.
  • Describe how Jews and Christians, and Christians among themselves, read the promise.

The big idea

In Jeremiah 31, in the shadow of Jerusalem’s fall, God promises a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant made at Sinai, which the people broke. God will write his law on their hearts, all will know him, and their sin will be forgiven. Ezekiel promises a new heart and a new spirit. The promise is rooted in the old covenant and answers its failure. Jews and Christians read it differently, and the question of what it renews or replaces is central to their disagreement.

Key terms

New covenant
The covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31 to 34. The Hebrew phrase is berit hadashah.
Heart
In Hebrew thought, the center of will, understanding and desire, not only of emotion.
Everlasting covenant
A phrase used of the covenants with Noah, Abraham and David and of the promised renewal in Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 37:26.
Circumcision of the heart
An image in Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6 for inner devotion to God, beyond the outward sign.
Renewal
The restoring of a relationship or covenant that has been damaged, in contrast to replacing it.
Obsolete
A word used in Hebrews 8:13 of the first covenant, whose meaning is debated among interpreters.
Last Supper
The final meal of Jesus with his disciples, at which, according to Luke and Paul, he spoke of the new covenant in his blood.

Background

Jeremiah spent his life warning that Judah had broken the covenant. The covenant curses fell: the city was destroyed and the people were scattered. Yet in the midst of the disaster, in the passage called the Book of Consolation (Jeremiah 30 to 33), he spoke of a coming time of restoration. The promise of a new covenant stands at its center.

It was not an isolated promise. Ezekiel, who was among the exiles, spoke in similar terms of a new heart and spirit. Isaiah 55:3 speaks of an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David. The idea that God would deal with the root of Israel’s failure, which was a failure of the heart, ran through prophets of the exile and after.

The New Testament quotes Jeremiah 31 more fully than any other Old Testament passage, in Hebrews 8 and 10, and Jesus is reported to speak of the new covenant at the last supper. For this reason the promise is a main point of contact, and also of disagreement, between Jewish and Christian readers.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Reading Jeremiah 31:31 to 34

The passage says that the days come when the Lord will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant he made with their fathers when he took them out of Egypt, which they broke although he was a husband to them. This is the new covenant: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will each teach his neighbor to know the Lord, for all shall know him, from the least to the greatest. And the Lord will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

Three features stand out. The law is internal: the same law, now written within. The knowledge of God is universal in the community: all know him. And forgiveness is the ground: the new relationship begins from a pardon. The promise is addressed to both houses, the divided kingdoms, so it also promises reunion.

Step 2: Related promises

Ezekiel 36:25 to 27 says: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. Ezekiel 37:26 speaks of a covenant of peace. Deuteronomy 30:6 promises that the Lord will circumcise your heart, so that you love him. Hosea 2 speaks of a betrothal of Israel to the Lord forever.

In Isaiah 42:6 and 49:8, the servant is given as a covenant to the people. Joel 2:28 promises that the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. Taken together, the promises describe a renewal of the covenant in which God deals with the human heart through his Spirit and forgives sin.

Step 3: What is new

Interpreters have asked how new the covenant is. Some stress continuity. The word hadashah can mean renewed, as in the renewal of a moon, and the law that is written on the heart is still the Torah. The promise does not say that the commandments will change but that the people will be enabled to keep them. On this reading, the covenant is not a different relationship but a renewal of the same relationship under better conditions.

Others stress newness. They note that the passage contrasts the new covenant with the one made at the exodus, and say that a covenant that includes forgiveness and the knowledge of God for all must differ from one whose people broke it. Christians who read the passage in the light of Hebrews 8 take it to announce a new arrangement inaugurated by Christ. The difference between renewal and replacement is the heart of the debate.

Step 4: The promise in Jewish and Christian use

A community at Qumran called itself the new covenant (in the Damascus Document), claiming to be the people of the renewed covenant, though it kept the Torah strictly. Jewish tradition otherwise has not centered on the phrase but has the same hope in other terms: God will remove the evil impulse, the Torah will be known by all and the people will be faithful. Jewish readers hold that the promise is not yet fulfilled, since not all know the Lord.

In the New Testament, Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 report Jesus saying: This cup is the new testament in my blood. Paul speaks of ministers of a new covenant in 2 Corinthians 3, and Hebrews 8 to 10 quotes Jeremiah 31 at length to argue that Christ’s sacrifice establishes it. Christians differ on the extent of newness. Catholic and Orthodox teaching connects the new covenant with the Eucharist and baptism. Reformed teaching sees a new administration of the one covenant of grace. Some dispensationalists hold that Jeremiah’s promise is made to Israel and finds partial application in the church now and full application to Israel later.

  1. What is the failure of the old covenant according to Jeremiah 31?
  2. What does it mean to write the law on the heart?
  3. What is the significance of the forgiveness of sins in the promise?
  4. How does Ezekiel’s promise of a new heart add to Jeremiah’s?
  5. What is the difference between a renewed and a replaced covenant?
  6. Why does Hebrews quote Jeremiah 31 at length?

Examples

From stone to flesh

At Sinai the tablets were stone. Ezekiel speaks of removing a stony heart and giving a heart of flesh. The images contrast an outward and hard law with an inward and living obedience. They suggest that what is new is the capacity to obey.

The Damascus Document

One Qumran writing speaks of those who entered the new covenant in the land of Damascus. The group saw itself as the faithful remnant of a renewed covenant while keeping the law with strict care. It shows that the language of new covenant could be used within Judaism.

The cup at the supper

In Luke 22, Jesus takes the cup after the meal and speaks of the new covenant in his blood. The words recall Exodus 24, where Moses sprinkles blood and speaks of the blood of the covenant, and Jeremiah 31. Christians read the supper as the sign of the new covenant, and repeat it in worship.

Different perspectives

Jewish readers

Jewish readers take the promise as a renewal of God’s covenant with Israel, in which the Torah will be kept faithfully. They hold that it has not been fulfilled in a world where not all know the Lord. They reject the idea that it replaces Sinai, pointing to the statement that it will be made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Catholic readers

The Catholic Church teaches that the new covenant is established in Christ and that the Old Covenant was never revoked. The two statements are held together in what the Church calls a single plan of salvation. The Eucharist is the sign of the new covenant in the blood of Christ.

Orthodox readers

The Orthodox read the new covenant as the gift of the Spirit and the life of the church, and sing Jeremiah’s promise in the services. They stress the continuity of the Old Testament and the church.

Reformed Protestant readers

Reformed writers hold that the new covenant is the covenant of grace in its fuller administration. The Old Testament believers shared in the same promise by faith. They stress that internal change by the Spirit is promised and given.

Other Protestant readers

Baptists and others stress the newness, holding that the new covenant includes only the regenerate. Dispensationalists hold that the promise is for Israel and that the church shares in some blessings. Lutherans emphasize forgiveness as the heart of the promise.

Why it matters

The promise of a new covenant is one of the pivots of the Bible. It shows that the prophets saw the problem of Israel as one of the heart, and it names the solution as God’s own act of forgiveness and renewal. Understanding the original promise helps Christians read Hebrews and the supper accurately, and helps Jews and Christians speak honestly about where they agree and where they do not.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The new covenant is a Christian invention.

Correction: The phrase comes from Jeremiah. Christians claim that it is fulfilled in Christ.

Misunderstanding: The new covenant means the law has been abolished.

Correction: Jeremiah says the law will be written on the heart. Christian traditions differ on how this applies, and none treat the moral teaching as irrelevant.

Misunderstanding: All Christians agree that the old covenant is obsolete.

Correction: Hebrews 8:13 uses a strong word, but Catholic teaching says the Old Covenant has not been revoked, and Christian interpreters debate what the word means.

Misunderstanding: Jewish tradition has no hope of a renewed covenant.

Correction: Jewish tradition has a strong hope for renewal, in which Israel will be faithful and the nations will know the Lord.

Knowledge check

What are the main promises of Jeremiah 31:31 to 34?

God will make a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah, unlike the one they broke after the exodus. He will put his law within them and write it on their hearts. He will be their God and they his people, all will know him, and he will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

How does Ezekiel 36 add to Jeremiah’s promise?

Ezekiel promises that God will cleanse the people, give them a new heart and a new spirit, and remove the heart of stone. He will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his statutes. The addition is the role of the Spirit as the power by which the law is kept from within.

What are two ways of understanding the newness of the new covenant?

One stresses continuity: the covenant is renewed, the law is the same, and what is new is the inward capacity to obey and the forgiveness given. The other stresses newness: the covenant differs from Sinai and, for Christians, is established in Christ and replaces or fulfills the old arrangement. Traditions weigh these differently.

How does the New Testament use Jeremiah 31?

At the supper, Jesus speaks of the cup of the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25). Paul calls himself a minister of a new covenant (2 Corinthians 3). Hebrews 8 and 10 quote Jeremiah 31 at length to argue that Christ’s sacrifice fulfills the promise and brings forgiveness. Christians interpret the extent of the newness in different ways.

Think it through

  1. Why do you think the prophets located Israel’s problem in the heart?
  2. What is the difference between knowing the law and being able to keep it?
  3. Can a covenant be both renewed and new? What would that mean?
  4. How should a Christian speak about Jeremiah 31 in the presence of a Jewish friend?

Independent assignment

Reading across the promises

In your own notebook, copy Jeremiah 31:31 to 34 from the King James Version. Beside it, list the matching promises in Ezekiel 36:24 to 28, Deuteronomy 30:6 and Joel 2:28. Write 250 to 350 words on what these texts share and how a Jewish reader and a Christian reader would each explain what is new. Keep it for yourself.

Further study