Originally Posted by
Shimri
Okay, but what exactly is the New Covenant? Jeremiah coins the phrase. Hebrews quotes Jeremiah. Ezekiel and Isaiah describe its effect, as does Moses. You say a solid understanding of what the New Covenant is is necessary, yet you have not told us what it is. Do you understand what the New Covenant is?
If I asked what you feel has changed, we might be able to discuss the list of verses you gave. But your bunch of verses do not answer the question of what the New Covenant is.
Do you wish to try again?
The New Covenant is the Covenant in which this happens:
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
The New Covenant is God providing rest for us through the Work of Christ. The commandments of God after the Cross?
1 John 3:19-24
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
That is the Law of the New Covenant: Believe on the One He has sent (also in John 6:28-29 from the mouth of Christ Himself) and love one another.
Elsewhere in the New Covenant Scriptures we are told that love fulfills God's Law:
Romans 13:8-10
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Galatians 5:14
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
A commenter at JGIG’s facebook page asked this excellent question out of frustration:
Andrea wrote,
“But I can’t love because it is a command – Because I am under grace. Do see how you guys make absolutely NO SENSE?!”
Andrea was referring to the quoting of the 1 John 3:19-24 passage posted above.
It’s a great question! If we’re not under Law, but after the Cross God commands us to love – sometimes referred to as the Law of Christ - what’s up with that?!
Here’s the really cool thing: Love is a Fruit of the Spirit as well as a command.
Though love is a command, if you don’t do it, (which would be sin), you’re already forgiven. If you are in Christ, you are not under law, and where there is no law, there is no sin (Romans 4:15, 5:13).
God makes clear to us that sin and the Law are dealt with from two angles: the sins of the world were forgiven at the Cross (John 1:29, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 1 John 2:2), and we who are in Christ are dead to the Law (Romans 7:1-4, Galatians 2:19).
Furthermore, as if that weren’t enough (!), God gives the Righteousness of Christ to us as a gift (Romans 5:15-21). These are the Truths of the Gospel that establish the position of the believer in the Reality of Christ and in the sight of God!
That said – If you are in Christ and are led by His Spirit, love will be a fruit produced in you.
Do fruit-producing plants strive to produce fruit? No . . . they produce fruit because they are attached to the vine/tree/plant which nourishes them.
Fruit is the by-product of LIFE.
If you are alive in Christ and abiding in Him, allowing His Holy Spirit to live through you, love is an unavoidable by-product and fulfills the law!
Commanding the one in Christ to love is like commanding a person who has life in them to breathe because it’s a law. If a person has life in them, they automatically breathe – it’s something that we just DO.
If we are in Christ, loving others is something that we just DO.
To command those in Christ to love is a ridiculously-unfair-in-our-favor-win-win-deal!
By resting in Christ and letting Him live His Life through us, God’s command to love is obeyed (John 15:12, 1 John 3:23) and the Law is fulfilled (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14).
That is Grace.
Believing in the One He has sent and loving one another is the New Covenant.
\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
Grace and Peace,
-JGIG
