Expert: Rev. Stuart Woodward - 8/20/2009

Question
Hi,

I have had a Jewish person tell me that the New Covenant cannot replace the Old Covenant because the Mosaic Covenant was supposed to be eternal. He sited the following Biblical quotes to prove his argument. What do you say? How can the New Covenant of grace and of Jesus Christ replace the Old Covenant, when the Old Covenant was supposed to be eternal. Please look at the Bible quotes I have listed below, which someone else has pointed out to me.

GENESIS 17:9-10 - "God said to abraham, 'and as for you, you shall keep my covenant-you and your offsrping after you THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS"
 
EXODUS 31:16 - "the children of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to make the sabbath an ETERNAL covenant for their generations"

DEUTERONOMY 11:1 - "you shall love H-shem, your G-d, and you shall safeguard his charge, his decrees, his ordinances, and his commandment, ALL THE DAYS"

DEUTERONOMY 28:46 - "they (the commandments) will be a sign and a wonder, in you and in your offsrping, FOREVER"

DEUTERONOMY 29:28 - "the hidden (sins) are for H-shem, our G-D, but the revealed (sins) are for us and our children FOREVER, to carry out all the words of this torah"

PSALM 111:7-9 - "his handiwork is truth and justice, faithful are all his orders, they are steadfast FOREVER, for ETERNITY, accomplished in truth and fairness. he sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant for eternity"

2 KINGS 17:37 - "and the decrees and the laws, and the torah and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall OBSERVE TO DO ALL THE DAYS; and you shall not fear the gods of others""

Thanks: Alex  

Answer
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your question. Your Jewish friend is quite right in suggesting that the Old Covenant cannot be set aside easily. God keeps His promises. However, Jesus Himself said that He had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The whole of the Old Covenant has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He has met for all time all its requirements.
That is why the New Covenant of grace is superior, as the writer to the Hebrews would put it. In Romans Paul tells us that the law and therefore the covenant of the law are like the taskmaster or schoolmaster that leads us to Christ. We are unable, because of our sinfulness, to fulfill the old covenant but Christ has met all the righteous requirements of the law. Therefore we are free in Him. because He has done all that is required. Thus the New Covenant which centres in our Identification with Christ (part of the significance of baptism) both utterly fulfills and surpasses the old covenant.
I hope these comments are of some help to you.
May God bless you.
Stuart Woodward