Q. What is the New Covenant, and where does it speak of it in the bible? And also are we supposed to change everything we were taught because of the New Covenant? And did God think we were not going to make it as today's Christians so He gave us the New Covenant?

A. The New Covenant is first spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31. Here Yahweh explains that the Torah (Law) which was given through Moses would cease to be externally imposed but would be naturally written on human hearts:

"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim (God), and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer 31:31-34, NKJV)

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews takes up this same theme in Hebrews 8:8ff, informing us that the old Mosaic Covenant has now been replaced by the New Covenant in Christ (v.13). Whereas Moses mediated the Old Covenant, Christ Himself mediates the New (Heb.9:15), which He does on the basis of His own blood shed at Calvary (Heb.12:24).

This New Covenant is symbolically remembered by believers in partaking of the Lord's Supper, and especially in the drinking of wine (Mt.26:28; Mk.14:24; Lk.22:20; 1 Cor.11:25).

Every true born-again believer is an administrator of the New Covenant (2 Cor.3:6) which is the power of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to write Yahweh's laws inwardly upon our hearts.

The evidence that we are in the New Covenant is that we have the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus) and are obedient to His commandments:

"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring-- those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus)." (Rev 12:17, NIV)

It is for this reason that we have been given God's Word, the Bible, so that we may know what His commandments are.

If we have been taught anything that does not agree with the Bible, then we must discard it and be obedient to God's Word. We are not to obey the commandments and doctrines of men (Col.2:22). We are warned that in the last day many false teachers will come, and to be aware:

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Tim 4:3-4, NKJV).

This means we have a responsibility to our own souls to find out what Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, has taught us, and to do what He says. This is the New Covenant.

This page was created on 9 March 2003 Last updated on 9 March 2003

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