[Vision2020] New Covenant vs Old Covenant

[Paul Rumelhart]

Thank you for a well thought out post.  Based on what I know of the 
bible, that all makes sense to me.  I don't believe it personally, but I 
can understand the logic.  Thank you for taking the time to explain it 
to me.

Paul

Taro Tanaka wrote:

>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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