Expert: Brad Varvil - 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
Dear, Alex,

This is a good question, and one often asked between faithful Christians and Jews.  Without going into the long history of how this question has been addressed over the centuries, I'll offer a few observations which kinda sum up the dialogue from a Lutheran perspective (which is, by the way, the old Catholic perspective, and reflects the majority opinion of world-wide Christianity.)

The crux lies in the idea of "replacing."  From a Christian perspective, the New Covenant in Christ does not replace the old Covenant of Moses (or Abraham, or Noah, or many of the others with whom God made covenants in the Hebrew Scriptures) but fulfills it.  The people of God gathered at Mt. Sinai who received the Covenant through Moses are the same people of God who, centuries later, receive the fulfillment of that covenant in the One Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Or, in Christ's words, He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  The Church becomes the New Israel, inheriting the promises of life and salvation which are fulfilled in Christ's life, death, and ressurection.  Everything in the OT points forward to Christ, the Messiah, who comes to save the people and establish the everlasting covenant of grace... which is a large part of the focus of the Prophets (especially Isaiah.)

No faithful Jew would argue that Isaiah was not a faithful prophet-- faithful within the context of the People of God who lived according to the covenant mediated through Abraham and Moses.  But the prophets were given visions of the ultimate fulfilment of that old covenant in the Messiah who would come to do for all humanity what the sacrifices of bulls and goats could only symbolize.  While the sacrifices and law of the OT were shadows of things to come, even the prophets knew that they were not the ultimate fulfilment of God's plan of salvation for mankind.  They knew, by divine revelation, that the fulfilment of God's saving work was to come with the Messiah, who's Kingdom would never end.

I hope that helps.  Please feel free to ask follow-ups, if there's a specific aspect of the continuity of the OT to the NT which seems confusing, and how the Church became and continues to be what the Apostles call the True Israel of God.

Peace be with you,
Rev. Brad