What is the difference between the old and new covenant?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#1
Hebrews 9:9-10 explains it like this: "This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order. "

The new covenant is given to us in Jerimiah 31;31-33. "
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people."
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,927
1,273
113
#2
one big difference is the New Covenant is operative.

it's good to see you posting, ma'am.
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,895
1,084
113
Oregon
#3
~
When I was a young guy coming of age, it occurred to me that it would be
the cat's meow if I were as naturally pleasing to God as His son Jesus always
is, because then it would be very easy to attain to Heaven and to stay in
Heaven without fear of being kicked out:

"He that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do
always those things that please Him." (John 8:29)

I was very surprised, and excited, upon discovering that something very
similar to the thing I wished for is contained in a promise that God made to
Moses' people.

Ezek 36:24-27 . . I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you
home again to your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship
idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will
put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a
new, obedient heart. And I will put My spirit in you so you will obey My laws
and do whatever I command. (cf. Jer 31:31-33)

That benefit was originally intended for Moses' people but anon became
available to Gentiles.

Isa 49:5-6 . . And now The Lord says-- He who formed me in the womb to
be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself; for I
am honored in the eyes of The Lord, and my God has been my strength --He
says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of
Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light
for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
(cf. Eph 2:11-19)
_
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
20,080
6,883
113
62
#4
Hebrews 9:9-10 explains it like this: "This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order. "

The new covenant is given to us in Jerimiah 31;31-33. "
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people."
One is eternal. The other temporal.
 

Aaron56

Well-known member
Jul 12, 2021
3,044
1,799
113
#5
One was established in the earth and remained in the earth until it was finished.
The other was established before time existed and will remain in effect for endless ages.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
20,080
6,883
113
62
#6
One was established in the earth and remained in the earth until it was finished.
The other was established before time existed and will remain in effect for endless ages.
I knew you would find a fancy way to repeat what I posted.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#10
One is eternal. The other temporal.
I feel certain each covenant is eternal. We are told in the gospel of John that in the beginning was the word. The sacrificial system was symbolic of that word, it was God offering forgiveness through the symbolic Christ.

God commanded the sacrifice of animals, yet told us in the first chapter of Isaiah that he hated the killing of animals. It was the symbolic Christ that God commanded for those hundreds of years until the reality of Christ.

God offered salvation and eternal life through Christ as the first reaction to the death that sin brought to man. God is eternal, God never changes but is the same over all time.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
20,080
6,883
113
62
#11
I feel certain each covenant is eternal. We are told in the gospel of John that in the beginning was the word. The sacrificial system was symbolic of that word, it was God offering forgiveness through the symbolic Christ.

God commanded the sacrifice of animals, yet told us in the first chapter of Isaiah that he hated the killing of animals. It was the symbolic Christ that God commanded for those hundreds of years until the reality of Christ.

God offered salvation and eternal life through Christ as the first reaction to the death that sin brought to man. God is eternal, God never changes but is the same over all time.
If the old covenant is eternal, why aren't animal sacrifices still being made? Why isn't circumcision still required?
A careful read through the book of Hebrews should convince you that the old covenant has ceased. If not, I'll be happy to go through it with you.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#12
If the old covenant is eternal, why aren't animal sacrifices still being made? Why isn't circumcision still required?
A careful read through the book of Hebrews should convince you that the old covenant has ceased. If not, I'll be happy to go through it with you.
If there was no forgiveness, no grace, no salvation for the hundred's of years of the old testament, the old covenant, then God would not be ternal, but Christ would be a new God, a new creation.

Deuteronomy 7:7-9: “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love him.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#13
If the old covenant is eternal, why aren't animal sacrifices still being made? Why isn't circumcision still required?
A careful read through the book of Hebrews should convince you that the old covenant has ceased. If not, I'll be happy to go through it with you.
The animal sacrifices are not to be made any longer, they were symbolic of Christ but Christ has come so the reality is not the symbols, but the reality is Christ. If we use animals instead of the reality, we are denying Christ.

When God made a covenant with us, God made a promise. God never, ever, goes back on any promise he makes. God changed the symbol to the reality, but that is not cancelling the promise.
 

Bob-Carabbio

Well-known member
Jun 24, 2020
1,618
810
113
#14
What is the difference between the old and new covenant?
In brief, the OLD Covenant MADE NOBODY RIGHTEOUS, and only temporarily HID their sin, but was incapable of removing it. They looked FORWARD to the time when God would provide the solution for their SIN problem. NOBODY wen to Heaven, but were held in the place of the dead (Abraham's bosom) until such time as their salvation was complete through Jesus' SIN OFFERING for them.

The NEW Covenant by means of the perfect SIN OFFERING (Isa 53:10) by Jesus on the Cross, CLEANSES, and REMOVES SIN completely.

This renders the one placing their God-gifted FAITH in Jesus' SIN OFFERING, completely CLEAN and perfect before God. (Eph 2:8,9)
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
20,080
6,883
113
62
#15
If there was no forgiveness, no grace, no salvation for the hundred's of years of the old testament, the old covenant, then God would not be ternal, but Christ would be a new God, a new creation.

Deuteronomy 7:7-9: “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love him.
There was all those things. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. By faith Abraham believed God. Those things are eternal.
Covenants are agreements. Some are eternal and some are not. The new covenant is spiritual and eternal. The old covenant was only designed for a period of time. It is also a failed covenant in that sinful man was never able to attain peace with God through it.
The scripture that speaks to the passing of the covenant directly is Hebrews 8:13...A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
 

Cameron143

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2022
20,080
6,883
113
62
#16
The animal sacrifices are not to be made any longer, they were symbolic of Christ but Christ has come so the reality is not the symbols, but the reality is Christ. If we use animals instead of the reality, we are denying Christ.

When God made a covenant with us, God made a promise. God never, ever, goes back on any promise he makes. God changed the symbol to the reality, but that is not cancelling the promise.
True. But the animal sacrifices were a part of the old covenant. If the covenant is still in effect, they would still be required.
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,895
1,084
113
Oregon
#17
~
FAQ: Isn't Judaism equally as useful as Christianity for sinners seeking God's
forgiveness? Isn't that the whole purpose of Yom Kippur, a.k.a. the Day of
Atonement?

REPLY: Pinning one's hopes on the Day Of Atonement is futile. For one
thing: there's no one to perform the ritual seeing as how there is neither a
Temple nor a fully functioning Aaronic high priest on duty in Jerusalem at
this time. In point of fact, neither of those two essential elements of the Day
of Atonement have been in Jerusalem since 70 AD. But that's not the worst
of it.

The very moment the ritual ends, people begin accumulating new sins
towards the next Yom Kippur, viz: Yom Kippurs are endless; one is never
enough because the ritual is always for the past, never for the future. In
other words; Yom Kippur is always catching up with the people's sins instead
of getting out ahead of them.
_
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#18
~
FAQ: Isn't Judaism equally as useful as Christianity for sinners seeking God's
forgiveness? Isn't that the whole purpose of Yom Kippur, a.k.a. the Day of
Atonement?


REPLY: Pinning one's hopes on the Day Of Atonement is futile. For one
thing: there's no one to perform the ritual seeing as how there is neither a
Temple nor a fully functioning Aaronic high priest on duty in Jerusalem at
this time. In point of fact, neither of those two essential elements of the Day
of Atonement have been in Jerusalem since 70 AD. But that's not the worst
of it.


The very moment the ritual ends, people begin accumulating new sins
towards the next Yom Kippur, viz: Yom Kippurs are endless; one is never
enough because the ritual is always for the past, never for the future. In
other words; Yom Kippur is always catching up with the people's sins instead
of getting out ahead of them.
_
This is so true, yet it is also true that scripture tells us God will never forsake Israel.

Jeremaiah 55:5 "For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel."
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,895
1,084
113
Oregon
#19
~
Re: What is the difference between the old and new covenant?

I myself have not yet met someone able to duplicate Christ's sinless
perfection, but some folks in the Bible have been very commendable. For
example: Josiah (2Kgs 23:25) Zacharias & Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-6) and Paul
the apostle. (Phil 3:6)

However: their level of success has been possible only because Moses' law
provides them with a safety net in the form of a reconciliation system. It
appears to me from Ps 40:6, Jer 7:22-23, & Hos 6:6 that God would rather
the quality of His people's conduct be such that they can get by without
having to constantly resort over and over again to a reconciliation system,
i.e. a quality that is just as flawless as His son's

"I always do what pleases Him." (John 8:29)

Moses' covenant contains no provisions for reconstructing the core of one's
being whereas the new covenant per Jer 31:31-34 & Ezekiel 36:24-27
promises that very thing by replacing human nature with a heavenly nature
so that we too may always and forever do what pleases Him.

2Pet 1:3-4 . . His divine power has given us everything we need for life and
piety through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious
promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and
escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
_
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,895
1,084
113
Oregon
#20
~
scripture tells us God will never forsake Israel.

The new covenant is essential so God's people can stay put in the land of
Israel instead of being kicked out of it and/or dominated by foreign powers
again and again.

Messiah's reign would be jeopardized too without a new covenant. He might
be an okay guy himself whose methods please God alright; but his
countrymen's typically half-baked compliance with God's instructions would
most likely ruin things for him in short order. But according to Dan 7:13-14
Messiah's kingdom is predicted to be an everlasting kingdom and the one
which will never pass away. So his constituents absolutely have got to be
made 100% God-fearing to protect Messiah's best interests.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a stake in that land too, so it's important
that it be permanently stabilized before they return to live there.

I think history has proven well enough that God's people cannot be trusted
to be faithful to the original covenant. But the new covenant doesn't rely
upon their inconsistent human will power. God's spirit will take charge and
reform the people in spite of themselves; and done in such a permanent way
that they will never lose the benefits that the Old Testament associates with
Messiah's reign. The new covenant is a very good deal.

Isa 60:21 . .Then will all your people be righteous, and they will possess
the land forever.

Jer 31:38-40 . . See, a time is coming-- declares the Lord --when the city
shall be rebuilt for The Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate;
and the measuring line shall go straight out to the Gareb Hill, and then turn
toward Goah. And the entire Valley of the Corpses and Ashes, and all the
fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, and the corner of the Horse Gate on the
east, shall be holy to The Lord. They shall never again be uprooted or
overthrown.
_