The Bible is one long gospel message which points to Christ.
Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27 (NLT)
God’s relationship with Israel and mankind over the centuries has been based on covenants that were fulfilled or replaced by what is called the New Covenant, which is the last and most extraordinary one.
Each covenant built upon or stood in contrast to the others. To properly understand and appreciate the New Covenant, it is important that we grasp the meaning and purpose of the other covenants.
Understanding the covenants will greatly increase our appreciation of Jesus and his finished work on our behalf and can give us new insights into the gospel.
Covenants are built upon promises to be faithful to a relationship and an agreement between individuals or groups.
God has always chosen to relate to his creation through covenants.
This should not be surprising because God, by nature, is a promise keeper. He is always faithful and true to his word because that is the essence of his character. Covenants are serious business because God is serious about being faithful to keep promises.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? Numbers 23:19 (NET1)
Some of the covenants have great significance for humanity in general and others specifically relate only to God’s chosen people, the offspring of Abraham either by natural birth or the new birth. Covenants can be unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral. In a unilateral covenant, the covenant maker takes sole responsibility for keeping the conditions of the covenant. These are unconditional covenants, meaning that the one to whom the promise is made does not have meet any conditions to gain what is promised. Bilateral and multilateral covenants are conditional in nature. In a bilateral covenant, two parties each take responsibility to keep their end of the agreement. A multilateral agreement affects more than two parties.
An example of a unilateral covenant is the one God made with Noah following the flood. God promised that he would never again destroy all life by means of a great flood. He gave Noah the sign of the rainbow as a reminder that He would forever keep his promise. Noah was not required to do anything to keep God bound to his promise. Marriage is an example of a bilateral covenant. The husband and wife both bind themselves to share life and be exclusively faithful to each other until death. The ring is given as a token of the covenant. An example of a multilateral covenant is the one between God and Israel called the Mosaic covenant. If the Israelites would obey God’s Law and serve him only, God would pour out blessings upon them. Otherwise, they should expect judgments. Circumcision was the sign of this covenant.
Unconditional unilateral covenants are also called covenants of grace.
This means that the benefits of the covenants come to us as gifts from God. Conditional covenants are also called covenants of works. The benefits of these covenants depend upon the involved parties’ ability to keep the conditions of the covenant.
The Covenant of Creation or Edenic Covenant
But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (NLT)
The Edenic Covenant was a multilateral conditional covenant of works. God sovereignly set the terms of this covenant.
Obedience to a simple commandment would result in life; whereas, disobedience would end in death.
Adam and Eve failed to keep their end of the covenant, which ceded authority to Satan and brought death and curses upon the entire human race. At a deeper level, this covenant tested humanity’s willingness to draw life from God in humble dependence. Instead, our first parents chose to abandon God’s commands and strike out alone in independence from and opposition to God, which cut them off from the life they had with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. This is why professing that Jesus is Lord is so essential to the gospel message. Reestablishing God’s place as Lord in our lives undoes the treachery of Adam’s sin.
The Adamic Covenant
God made the first gospel promise in the garden after their epic failure.
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:14-15 (NLT)
This unilateral promise or covenant was announced to the serpent who authored the deception that led to Adam’s and Eve’s sinful rejection of God’s authority. Although its full meaning most likely was not understood by those who heard it, we now know that here God promised to send the Messiah who would be a descendant of these fallen ones and would defeat the serpent (Satan). No conditions were attached to Adam and Eve to bind God to this promise.
God bound himself to redeem mankind by giving his word, which is inviolable.
So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. Hebrews 6:18 (NLT)
The Noahic Covenant
Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” 12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.” Genesis 9:8-17 (NLT)
As in the case of the Adamic covenant, the Noahic Covenant was a unilateral unconditional covenant of grace that followed God’s horrific judgment against sin called the great flood.
Grace often is most appreciated against the backdrop of human failure and God’s judgment.
When man’s best is not enough, and it never is, the grace of God comes to the rescue.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. Romans 5:20 (NLT)
God promised, despite what climate alarmists tell us, that the earth will continue to enjoy its seasons as long as it exists. God also established capital punishment under this covenant and gave permission for us to eat meat.
The Abrahamic Covenant
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
God appeared to Abraham several times to give him “installments” of the wonderful covenant he made with him. The good news or gospel contained in this covenant promise is that all the families of the earth would be eventually blessed through Abraham in the person of a descendant named Jesus.
Abraham is called the “father” of our faith because through him God raised up a nation by which would come the written Word of God and the Messiah.
In another installment in Genesis 15, we see God making a unilateral unconditional covenant of grace with Abraham. God appeared in what is called a theophany (an appearance of God in symbolic form).
In the Old Testament covenants were literally “cut,” making them blood covenants.
Animals were sacrificed as part of the covenant cutting ceremony. God told Abraham to divide several animals and put their separate pieces side by side with a path between them. In a bilateral or multilateral covenant, both parties would walk between the pieces showing that they bound themselves to faithfully keep the conditions of the covenant upon pain of death. They were saying, in effect, may it be done to me as has been done to these animals if I violate the covenant.
And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” 17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: Genesis 15:3–18 (NASB95)
In the passage above, it is important to see that God alone passed between the animals, taking upon himself full responsibility for keeping the promise he made to Abraham.
The Abrahamic covenant guaranteed that God would give to Abraham innumerable descendants, both natural and spiritual through the new birth, and the land of Canaan, and that through him the entire earth would be blessed.
Later God reiterated this covenant promise in Genesis Chapter 22.
…indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Genesis 22:17-18 (NASB)
Verse 18 is an integral part of the gospel message. It is part of the backdrop against which we understand who Jesus is and what he came to do. This promise was fulfilled when Jesus came as the Messiah.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NASB)
The Mosaic Covenant
And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (ESV) But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Deuteronomy 28:15 (ESV)
The covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai is also called the Law or the Old Covenant. It was a multilateral conditional covenant of works. Essentially, God promised to be Israel’s God, protector, and provider if they would keep the requirements of the Law. These requirements were broken down into three main categories – ceremonial, moral, and dietary laws. The feasts and sacrifices were part of the ceremonial aspect of the law, which our Lord Jesus later fulfilled. If Israel obeyed God, they would be blessed, but, if they disobeyed, they would suffer the “curses” (judgments) attached to violating the covenant.
The history of Israel is the story of repeated covenant violations on the part of the Jewish people. The Old Covenant failed to bring the blessings it promised because the people were unable to keep its provisions because sin had hopelessly corrupted human nature. The Mosaic Covenant underscored the sinfulness of all human beings and pointed to our need for a savior.
This covenant is part of the gospel in the sense that it illustrates our utter helplessness to save ourselves and acts as a guide to lead us to Christ.
But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:22–26 (NASB95)
The Davidic Covenant
Furthermore, the LORD declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 12 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever. 2 Samuel 7:11-16 (NLT)
The covenant God made with David was unilateral, unconditional, and based on grace. This covenant was partially fulfilled through David’s natural offspring, but that dynasty eventually came to an end, as did the political nation of Israel.
This promise is part of the gospel. Through it God announced beforehand the coming of the great Messianic King, a descendant of David, who would redeem Israel and become a blessing to the entire earth.
Jesus rose again as that promised king, the Lord of lords, and will eventually judge the living and the dead. He now reigns in heaven. His reign is recognized by those who profess that he is Lord. One day all people will acknowledge his rule.
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Luke 1:29-33 (NIV)
The New Covenant
“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the LORD. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NLT)
The Old Covenant was not able to guarantee blessings to God’s people but only revealed how sinful we are. It had no hope of success because we are fundamentally and tragically flawed by sin.
But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. Hebrews 8:8 (NLT)
The New Covenant had been God’s plan all along. It does not depend upon sinful human beings for its success.
Whereas the blessings of the Law of Moses, under the Old Covenant, were conditioned upon individuals and nations keeping God’s laws in perfect obedience, the New Covenant depends upon the perfect obedience of the only begotten Son of God.
The New Covenant, therefore, is a bilateral covenant between God the Father and his Son, Jesus, our Messiah and Savior, in which we participate and benefit by faith.
I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7 (ESV)
Through the spiritual mystery of identification and the new birth, we become one with God in the spirit and joined to all the blessings found in God’s perfect Son.
But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 (NLT)
Through the miracle of the new birth we become children of God. There have always been two lines of people – the children of promise and miraculous birth and those born the natural way.
Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. Romans 9:7–8 (NLT)
Is this not why God has always used miracle births to propel his line of promise forward? Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah, etc. Was not Jesus’ conception the prototype for our new birth? He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, just as we must be through the new birth. Therefore, the most important question that will be asked of those at heaven’s gates is “Who’s your Daddy?”
If a person was never born again, they are Satan’s seed.
For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! John 8:44–45 (NLT)
But those born of the Spirit are children of the Father, sons of God, children of promise.
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. John 1:12–13 (NLT)
Through our identification with Christ, we are baptized into (become one with) the death and resurrection of our Lord. His death was the punishment we deserved for breaking the terms of the Old Covenant. Although he perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father and did not deserve to die, he willingly laid down his life on our behalf as our substitute. When he died, we died; and, when he rose again in victory and life, we rose with him. As a result, the power of sin has been defeated on our behalf. We now participate in the life of God, thanks to the Holy Spirit, who lives inside every born-again believer. Truly, we are being saved from the inside out. God’s life begins as a seed, grows inside us, and will permeate every area of our lives.
You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23 (NET1)
Jesus is the living Word of God, the eternal logos. When we are born again, he comes inside of us, via the Holy Spirit, as a seed which will continue to grow. Jesus also compared this process to leaven being put into a lump of dough. Over time the leaven spreads throughout the entire lump. So, the kingdom of God grows unseen in individuals and the body of Christ at large until God’s kingdom will fill the earth.
The New Covenant was always in God’s mind from the very beginning. (Ephesians 1:3-6)
And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made. Revelation 13:8 (NLT)
Since God lives outside of the constraints or limitations of time, he sees the end from the beginning. It is nothing for him to consider something that will be accomplished at a future date as already accomplished, for to him all time is the same.
Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:10 (NLT)
The new covenant is actually an eternal covenant made between the Father and the Son before the world was created. This is revealed in those verses that describe God’s choices being made before he ever created the world.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:4–5 (NLT)
God the Father knows that his Son is the only source of life and blessings. It has been that way from the beginning. Therefore, the New Covenant draws its life from Jesus because it could never depend on sinful man.
Rather than expecting people to conform to external regulations of behavior, it promised to save people from the inside out. God provided us with a substitute to die for us, reveal himself to us, forgive our sins, and change our hearts. He gives us a new heart, compliments of the indwelling Holy Spirit!
The New Covenant depends upon the Holy Spirit opening our spiritual eyes, ears, and hearts to know and believe in Jesus as savior and lord.
It is only by “beholding” Jesus as he really is that a person can be changed. Seeing Jesus as the Son of God and Lord of Lords inspires our hearts to believe, and, through trusting in Christ and his finished work, we are saved. God’s power is released in us that transforms us when the Spirit of God opens our eyes to know Jesus by revelation.
For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. John 6:40 (NASB)
The new covenant depends on God from start to finish. The Holy Spirit must draw us to Christ and open our blind eyes to see and understand the gospel and believe in Jesus. Then the Spirit works inside each believer to transform us into Christ’s image on a daily basis. Finally, one day in the future, Jesus will personally raise each of his followers from the grave. We could not come to Jesus initially by ourselves. We cannot change ourselves, and we certainly are not able to raise ourselves from the dead. Our great salvation is a work of grace from start to finish!
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8–10 (NLT)
The New Covenant Completes or Fulfills the Other Covenants
The New Covenant relates to all the other covenants in one way or another. The tree of life mentioned in the Edenic Covenant typifies Christ, the author and sustainer of all life.
God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. John 1:3–4 (NLT)
Adam and Eve were meant to draw their life from him as the branches of a vine draw their life from the root.
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 (NLT)
Jesus fulfilled God’s messianic promise given after Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience. He is the seed of the woman who crushed Satan’s head through his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection.
The Noahic Covenant prefigured what is yet to come when God shall once more judge the entire earth at Christ’s Second Coming.
Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. 8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 2 Peter 3:3–8 (NLT)
Even as God restarted humanity, in a sense, through Noah, he inaugurated a brand-new generation of believers through the gospel.
Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. 1 Corinthians 15:47–49 (NLT)
Only this generation will survive eternally and enjoy the new heaven and earth.
The Abrahamic Covenant was also fulfilled in Christ. God’s promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed has come true in Christ.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NASB95)
Through the preaching of the gospel, God is gathering persons from every culture, ethnic group, and nation in the earth and providing them with every spiritual blessing in his Son.
The Davidic Covenant’s promise that a descendant of that great king would sit upon his throne has come true in Christ, the King of Kings.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Luke 1:30–33 (NASB95)
The Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled and replaced. Only one person could keep its requirements – the Son of God. After our Lord fulfilled its covenant conditions and obtained the corresponding blessings, which have been passed on to all believers, the New Covenant has superseded it and made it fade away.
When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. Hebrews 8:13 (NLT)
The Law now pertains to those who have not pledged allegiance to the Lord Jesus.
For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. 10 The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching 11 that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. 1 Timothy 1:9–11 (NLT)
Those who have faith are released from its power to condemn.
For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:19–21 (NLT)
We live in the power of the indwelling Spirit who motivates and empowers us to live in a way that pleases God.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Our Response to New Covenant Grace
Under the New Covenant, Christians live by grace (God’s ability and blessings which come via his indwelling Holy Spirit) and not through self-effort and the merits of their own performance.
As beneficiaries of the New Covenant and God’s gift of righteousness, we must now refuse to submit to external regulations and rules as a means of gaining or maintaining a right standing with him. (Colossians 2:10-17) Instead, our rule of life now is to love God, love people, and teach others to do the same. This is called the Royal Law.
Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” James 2:8 (NLT)
Jesus imposed this law upon his disciples, which encompasses the entire moral law.
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34–35 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:22–25 (NLT)
The moral aspects of the Old Covenant Law of Moses are still in effect because they reflect the law of love. Christians are not permitted to murder, commit acts of immorality, lie, or steal because these sins violate the royal law of love.
Since we are being changed on the inside, our desires are also being changed. Rather than needing to be constrained by external laws, God constrains us inwardly through love and serve him to bring him glory.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 (NASB95)
The Greek word translated “controls” is suneko, which means to hold fast, constrain, urge, or impel.
The death and resurrection freed us from the law’s power to condemn us, but it did not remove from us the responsibility to live in such a way that honors God through loving him and people.
When we were under the Law, we sought to obey him to obtain and maintain a right standing with God. Under the New Covenant, having already been given a right standing with God, we obey him as an act of gratitude and surrender to the One who loves us so greatly and who deserves to be glorified and properly feared. Our desire is to bring glory to him in every aspect of our lives.
We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:2–5 (NLT)
God created us to draw our life from him. We were never intended to be independent operators.
When Adam and Eve pursued their desire to live without restraint and be self-governing and authenticating “like God,” it brought untold sorrow and destruction to humanity. Even in their pristine state of having been newly created, Adam and Eve quickly walked away from intimacy with and dependence upon God.
Jesus, through the New Covenant, restored us to God’s original purpose.
Through our faith in Christ and the life of the indwelling Spirit, we have been once again united to the One who gave and sustains life.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 (NASB95)
Satan tried to destroy us by enlisting us in his revolt against God. His desire to achieve “god” status was doomed from the start. Amazingly God conferred a semblance of that upon those who put their faith and allegiance in Christ. Through the new birth, the inner transformation of the Spirit, and eventually through the resurrection of the body, we were, are, and will be remade into Christ’s image, becoming truly “like God” as we draw our life from him, the source of all life and blessings! May all glory and honor be to him forever and ever! Truly, he is the kindest person we will ever know!
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:5–8 (NLT)
