Have you ever looked at a Bible and noticed that it was divided into two parts—an Old Testament and a New Testament? And after you saw that it was two parts you wondered
“What is a testament?”
“Why is there an OLD one and a NEW one?”
The word testament used to divide the Bible into two parts is an archaic word describing an agreement between God and the ancient Jews. Sometimes covenant is used to describe this agreement. The old agreement between God and the ancient Jews is documented in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. This group of books together are often referred to as the Torah or The Law among the Jews.
There are more than 600 commands listed in these five books. These commands in the Old Testament are the written requirements (terms) of the old agreement. According to ancient Jewish Law humans (the Jews) are responsible for observing all the commands. Maybe you have heard of the Ten Commandments. But really, these ten commands are just a portion of the over 600 commandments that comprise The Law.
The penalties for disobedience to the old agreement was called “The Curse of The Law”. It is a long list of horrible things listed in Deuteronomy 28. The benefits (called Blessings) of obedience to the old agreement are also listed there in the same chapter.
By being obedient to all the listed commands it was possible to earn the covenant favor of God himself. This ancient Hebrew word was called “chesed”. It is a very rich word and does not fit easily into any single word translation in English. This is the special favor associated with a covenant.
Today we don’t talk about covenants or favor. Although we express things similarly in business. For instance, you may shop on the Amazon website. You get free guaranteed delivery in two days (and many other privileges) if you sign up to be an Amazon Prime member. You get a special status with special privileges if you pay the price to be in any special group with a business. It was a similar deal with the ancient Jews. Keep all the commands of the covenant and win God’s special favor.
It seems pretty straightforward. Obey all the commands and get blessed. Disobey the commands and you receive curses. Cause and effect. You do the right things. Then God blesses you. Do the wrong things and God curses you. No surprises. And note that this contract or agreement was between God and his chosen people, the Jews—those who were Jews by birth. It was not offered to the non Jews (referred to in the Bible as Gentiles). The only way a Gentile could apply the old agreement of God with the Jews was to become a proselyte (convert) of Judaism.
Now I bet you are asking yourself why this Old Testament is included at all in the Bible that Christians use. And maybe you’re even wondering then what *is* a Christian? Maybe you think it is heresy to even ask such questions. But I ask you this: What do you really believe? Why do you believe it? And how is your life different?
Why is there a New Testament?
There were three major parts to an ancient covenant. Two parties and an agreed upon contract. In this case the two parties are God and the ancient Jews, and the agreed upon contract was The Law. If any one of these parts were faulty, then the covenant won’t work. God was flawless on His part. (Psalm 145:17) And The Law and its commandments were perfect. (Romans 7:12) So what is left? The humans. They were at fault. The humans could not uphold their end of the deal. Individual human failures—disobedience to the commands—was labeled as sin. And sins qualify you for The Curse and permanent separation from God in the end. These faults created the necessity for a new covenant agreement. (Hebrews 8:7-13)
Did you notice that this new covenant was still only to the Jews (to Israel and to Judah)? And that it would not be like the old covenant? And God was going to “forgive their wickedness” and “remember their sins no more”? But where are the written requirements? In their hearts and minds? What does that mean? And we still don’t have how any of this got to the non Jews.
When looking at the New Testament, one will notice that the first four books (often referred to as The Gospels) document the life of Jesus. Then there is the book of Acts which documents the first few years of the early Christian Church. The remaining books are just letters to groups of believers (called churches) or to individuals.
The word “Christian” is found very few times in the Bible. Christians were really just followers of Jesus. And “churches” were not buildings, but groups of people who were followers of Jesus. But how did non Jews (Gentiles) ever get included in all of this? In fact, how did they ever become associated with this God of the Jews?
The prophet Isaiah prophesied (in the Old Testament) that the Messiah would be made a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles (non Jews). (Isaiah 42:6)
From this verse it looks like the man, Jesus, the Christ/Messiah (Christ is the ancient Greek transliteration for the Hebrew word, Messiah) will actually BE THE COVENANT for both the Jew and the non Jew. In other words, the new covenant will be for everyone. And since humans were the fault of the old covenant, then only Jesus, the Son of God, who became a human, could possibly fulfill the terms of the old covenant and provide for everyone this new covenant.
After the last supper before his crucifixion Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20) Um. Ok. What does that mean? Where are the rules I’m supposed to follow? Where are the commandments? What are the terms of this agreement? And how does this tie in with the old covenant? Did Jesus just do away with the old agreement? What happened?
Let’s look at what Jesus himself said about The Law.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. —Matthew 5:17
Remember the fault of the old agreement was with the weakness of the humans. Paul agrees with the writer of Hebrews that humans are at fault. In the letter to the early Roman church Paul writes that all men have fallen short of God’s standards, both Jews and non Jews (Gentiles). (Romans 3:23) He is careful to include people without the old agreement in chapter 1 and those with the old agreement in chapter 2. He ties them altogether in chapter 3 saying all are under the power of sin. (Romans 3:9)
But if Jesus *is* the new covenant, then what commands do I have to follow to get in on this new covenant? We don’t have a covenant to fulfill. We don’t have the old covenant. We don’t have the new covenant. We are humans. We fail at rules. We fail at commands. We fail at obedience. So what do we have as a Jew or non Jew? Jesus fulfilled the old covenant. And he became the new covenant. Sure. We don’t have any rules now. But that leaves us outside the covenant, right? What really happened?
The too-good-to-be-true News
Remember the penalty of The Law? It was all those horrific curses listed in Deuteronomy 28. But we found out from Paul in his letter to the Roman church that everyone has messed up and fallen short of keeping to God’s standards. And now, here is the good part: Jesus became a curse for all of us when he was crucified. (Galatians 3:13) So that means that *NONE* of the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28 apply to us. (Did you notice that includes freedom from all sicknesses, anxiety, and despair? Wow!) He paid the penalty of sin, once and only once, for all time, never to be repeated again. (Hebrews 9:26)
Now what about that whole fulfilling the old agreement? Remember that from a few paragraphs ago? All the requirements of the old agreement were fulfilled for us, since we couldn’t do it ourselves. So we get all of the blessings and none of the curses? Yep. That is stunning! It sounds too good to be true. But how does this become *ours*? And that, my friend, is a very good question.
In his letter to the Roman church, Paul goes to great lengths in contrasting faith versus the works of The Law. (Romans chapter 4) The works of The Law is an obvious reference to the obedience to the terms of the old agreement. But this is contrasted against faith. Why would he make this comparison? How are they at odds with one another? The works of the Law are tied to the old covenant agreement. The faith is tied to—a promise. What? Yes, a promise. (Romans 4:16)
How do you receive a promise? You simply give your consent. You agree. You can be like Mary, the mother of Jesus. When the angel, Gabriel, came to visit her and tell her that she would become pregnant and give birth to Jesus. What she got was a promise. And here is how she accepted it:
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. —Luke 1:38 (KJV)
I also love what the New Living Translation says here “May everything you have said about me come true”. In the same way we accept this too-good-to-be-true promise from God. “Lord, may everything you have said about me and done on my behalf come true in my life.” There is something very rich about repeating this kind of affirmation out loud. Even if you are alone.
Earlier I said there are no terms to get the benefits of a promise. And the reason we have a promise and not a covenant is that we could never keep the obligations any covenant that God would draw up for us. But, as you can see, this rich promise of God includes all of the blessings and none of the curses of the covenant. And the special covenant favor of God I mentioned before? Yes, that comes with this too-good-to-be-true promise of God. Under the new covenant which was Jesus, he gave us the best promise ever offered. We have all of the favor one could ever hope to get from living a perfect life. And it’s all on account of Jesus.
And this, my friend, is real grace. You cannot do anything to earn a promise that you didn’t make. And you cannot break a promise you did not make. It is ironclad. God, who cannot lie, gave us this promise through Jesus, the Christ.
The great thing is this. I used to try harder and harder to live sin free. I tried living holy by myself. And I spent an inordinate amount of time confessing my sins. I always botched up. I never felt free. I was bent over with the weight of guilt and shame. And I did all this as a Christian. But I did it because I did not know any better. I did not know what all Jesus had done for me. I didn’t know I live my Christian life just like I got saved—by just trusting God.
But since I have come to know better what Jesus has accomplished, I feel the guilt and shame unraveling. And the heavy load of trying to live sin free is gone. Oh sure. I still mess things up now and then. But it is far less frequent. I no longer feel powerless against sin. And I no longer kick myself so hard when I mess up.
It is not how much I love Jesus or how much I do that is important. It is realizing how much he loves me that counts. The whole focus of my thoughts have changed. The victorious life is not behavior modification as a focus. The victorious life is a change that happens on the inside so that your desires, dreams, imagination, plans, and emotions change first. And the outward change is merely a result of a dramatic inner turnaround. (true repentance)
Thank you Jesus that you became a curse for me so that none of the curses listed would happen to me. Thank you that you rose again to give me new life. Thank you for fulfilling the Law so that those blessings will happen to me just the way you promised. Thank you Lord that your eye of favor is always on me. Your grace follows me, hunts me down, and overtakes me every day for as long as I shall live. Thank you Jesus for my blessed life!
Duct Tape Rx 