Law and the Covenants
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bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they
were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.
The terms of the “old covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man
do, he shall even live in them” (
Ezekiel 20:11
;
Leviticus 18:5
); but
“cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.”
Deuteronomy 27:26
. The “new covenant” was established upon “better
promises”—the promise of forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God
to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with the principles of
God’s law. “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts.... I will forgive their iniquity,
and will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33, 34
.
The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written
by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about
to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of
Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us.
Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits
of the Spirit.” Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience
to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ,
we shall walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared of
Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within
My heart.”
Psalm 40:8
. And when among men He said, “The Father
hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.”
John 8:29
.
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The apostle Paul clearly presents the relation between faith and
the law under the new covenant. He says: “Being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Do we then
make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the
law.” “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh”—it could not justify man, because in his sinful nature he could
not keep the law—“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit.”
Romans 5:1
;
3:31
;
8:3, 4
.
God’s work is the same in all time, although there are different
degrees of development and different manifestations of His power, to
meet the wants of men in the different ages. Beginning with the first
gospel promise, and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish