[Vision2020] New Covenant vs Old Covenant

[Taro Tanaka]

Paul Rumelhart godshatter at yahoo.com asks:

[[ Could you or someone else explain to me about the new vs the old
covenants in the bible?  I thought I understood that the old covenant,
which includes the proscriptions against homosexuality as well as the
dietary laws and such, was replaced by the new covenant.  Is it still a
sin to wear a shirt made from two or more fibers, or not to rotate your
crops?  Does the new covenant say anything about homosexuality?  I've
never really understood this.  I've noticed from other debates here and
elsewhere that the homosexual parts of the old covenant seem to be used
commonly, but the other parts aren't.

I thought the idea was that the laws of the Old Testament were specific
to the peoples of that time, and that Jesus' sacrifice brought into play
a new covenant that replaces the old one.

I'm not a biblical expert, and not a christian.  I'm not bashing here,
just trying to understand it. ]]

Paul, that is a very good question. The key points to keep in mind with 
regard to the covenants are:

1. The three Persons of the Trinity are in an eternal covenantal 
relationship.
2. God's creative works reflect His character much as an artist's creations 
reveal the artist.
3. The covenantal God relates to his creation covenantally -- When we look 
at the original creation, He commands it into existence and it obediently 
responds by coming into existence just as commanded. He judges it to be good 
and blesses it. He upholds and prospes it over time.
4. All of the creation reveals God, but man is especially created in God's 
image. Thus the covenant is especially important to the life of man. Man as 
the image of God is inescapably a covenantal creature. Human beings were 
created to relate to one another in a manner that reflects the way the 
persons of the Trinity relate to one another.
5. Man was created into a covenantal relationship with God. God blessed us 
from the very beginning. We did not have to pass some kind of special test 
in order to merit life and love from God; rather, we were given these things 
from the start.
6. The first covenantal head of mankind, Adam, fell into sin, and we all 
with him, when Adam listened to the lies of Satan and submitted to Satan in 
rebelling against God. Our first covenantal head rebelled against the 
covenant of life and instead entered into a covenant with death. Through 
Adam's rebellion, man was effectively cut off from God.
7. God was not content to allow the entire human race to perish in this way, 
so he promised a Messiah who would fulfill the requirements of God's 
justice, paying the penalty of death so that it would no longer rule over 
us.
8. The entire Jewish sacrificial system that we see in the Bible is a 
temporary holding action, so to speak, looking forward to the ultimate 
fulfillment of everything in the promised Messiah. God dwells in the 
Tabernacle and later in the Temple, but access to Him is extremely limited 
-- only the high priest can enter the holy of holies, and that only once per 
year, and he has a rope tied around his ankle so that he can be pulled out 
in the event that God strikes him dead while he is inside. God's dwelling in 
the midst of Israel is a blessing, but the relationship is not exactly what 
one woudl call free and uninhibited. The constant sacrificing of animals is 
necessary serves to remind the people that the fulfillment of the promise of 
salvation in the Messiah is still future.
9. In the fullness of time, the second Person of the Trinity is incarnated 
to finally succeed where Adam failed and furthermore to fulfill the 
requirements of God's justice by making full restitution with His own 
infinitely precious life. After laying down His own life, He picked it up 
again, being resurrected on the third day, after having proclaimed the 
gospel and His victory in Sheol. From that point forward, Sheol has been 
emptied of the saints, who are in Heaven reunited with God.
10. The term "old covenant" refers to the failed covenant in Adam; failed 
but not without a promise of salvation. Thus after the fall the entire "old 
covenant" period is looking forward in anticipation of the coming of the 
Messiah.
11. The term "new covenant" refers to the new covenant which has Jesus as 
its covenantal head, in which all the promises of salvation are finally 
fulfilled.
12. Since the sacrifices were all fulfilled in Jesus' cross, the Jewish 
temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, having become unnecessary.
13. God's standards of right and wrong are unchanging under both the old 
covenant and the new. God's standards of right and wrong are a reflection of 
His etenerally perfect character. Thus proscriptions against sexual sin 
remain consistent under both covenants. Dietary laws, laws relating to 
dress, etc., were designed to preserve the distinctiveness of the nation of 
Israel -- separated as holy unto the Lord. The priniciple of being separated 
as holy unto the Lord still applies, but since the entire world has been 
cleansed by the blood of the Messiah, it is no longer necessary or 
appropriate to distinguish between one food and another, or one type of 
fabric and another, or one ethnos and another, etc. It does remain 
appropriate and necessary to distinguish between right and wrong.

I hope this helps!

-- Princess Sushitushi

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