THE COVENANTS AND THE SABBATH.
By W. L. Iles
It is claimed by many that the Ten Commandments, embracing the Sabbath command, have passed away, because the “first,” or “old” covenant has ceased. The object in considering the covenants is to determine what relation the Sabbath and the law sustain to them. We are now living during the existence of the “new covenant,” and the main question, and the one of greatest importance, is, What is the relation of the law to this covenant? In order to determine their relation, we must know what the “new covenant” is. “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Heb. 8:13. There are two covenants referred to in the above text. One is called “first,” and is said to be “old.” The other is called the “new covenant,” and is properly called the “second.” First Proposition.—The new covenant is an arrangement that brings sinners into harmony with God. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:31–34. Those who fully enjoy the blessings of the new covenant must have: (1) Jehovah as their God; (2) the law in their inward parts, and in their hearts; (3) they are his people; (4) they know the Lord; (5) their iniquity is forgiven; (6) God will remember their sins no more. Such persons are certainly in harmony with God. The new covenant provides for man’s full salvation, bringing him into perfect harmony with the divine will. As Christ is perfect, the “fullness of God,” when we have Christ dwelling within, we are in harmony with God, for we are “complete in him.” Col. 2:10, 11. All the provisions of the new covenant are fulfilled to us in Christ. God puts his law in our hearts by putting Christ there. We become the sons of God by accepting of Christ, and he is our God, and we are his people. We “know” God, when we know Christ, and dwell in him. Our iniquities are forgiven through Christ, and our sins remembered against us no more. “It [the new covenant] had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which [the new covenant] was simply an arrangement for bringing men again into harmony with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God’s law.” What is it that brings men in harmony with the divine will?—It is the “Gospel,” or “plan of redemption.” The “new covenant” is the Gospel of salvation, or plan of redemption. Second Proposition.—As the “Gospel,” or “plan of redemption,” is in Christ, he is called “the covenant.” Christ commissioned his apostles to go and preach the Gospel, and in fulfilment of this commission, Philip preached Jesus. Acts 8:35. Paul determined to preach Christ and him crucified. 1 Cor. 2:2. The “Gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16), and Christ is the “power of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). Therefore Christ is the Gospel. If the “new covenant” is the Gospel of salvation, and Christ is the Gospel, then he is the “covenant,” it vests in him. “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee [Christ] for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” Isa. 42:6. It is impossible for man to attain unto righteousness and holiness by his own efforts, and so God, in his love and mercy, gave Christ “for a covenant of the people.” When we have Christ we have all spiritual blessings, for he is all and in all. “This is my blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matt. 26:28. The “blood of Christ” is the “blood of the new covenant.” Therefore Christ himself must be the covenant. “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Heb. 10:29. To tread “underfoot the Son of God” is to “count the blood of the covenant [blood of Christ] an unholy thing.” If the “blood of Christ” is the “blood of the covenant,” then Christ must be the covenant. To be a “minister of the new testament” is to be a minister of Christ. Third Proposition.—The new covenant existed by the promise of God from the fall of man, and was presented to Adam for his acceptance by faith; confirmed to Abraham, both by the promise and oath of God; and ratified by the death of Christ. There is no salvation out of Christ, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” All who are saved, must be saved through Christ, or the new covenant. In the old dispensation they looked forward to Christ, and in the new, we look backward. The new covenant was presented to Adam and Eve in this word: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15. The “seed” of the woman was Christ. God said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Gen. 22:18. Paul tells us the seed is Christ. Gal. 3:16. “When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.” Heb. 6:13. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Gal. 3:16, 17. Note in these texts the following facts:— 1. God made certain promises to Abraham concerning Christ.5 2. The fulfilment of these promises rested upon the promise and oath of God. 3. This is called the confirmation of the covenant. 4. It was confirmed 430 years before Israel received the law at Sinai. In harmony with these facts are the words of another writer upon this subject: “That the new covenant was valid in the days of Abraham is evident from the fact it was then confirmed both by the promise and oath of God, the two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie.” In the promise, “In thee shall all nations be blessed,” the Gospel was preached to Abraham. “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Gal. 3:8. The confirmation of the promise was in the promise and oath of God, that a “seed” should come, which is Christ. This is also said to be the preaching of the Gospel, therefore the covenant and the Gospel are the same. “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Tho it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” Gal. 3:15. This statement is made in view of the confirmation of the new covenant to Abraham, as will be clearly seen by a comparison of verses 15 and 17. Christ is a perfect Saviour. The new covenant was confirmed “in him.” Anything outside of Christ can be no part of the new covenant. The new covenant was therefore as full and complete in its provisions for man’s salvation in the days of Abraham as it is now. From these facts, presented above, Paul argues that we are saved as Abraham was, namely, by faith in Christ, and not by “works of the law.” Abraham did not keep the law in order to become righteous, but he became righteous by faith (Rom. 4:3), in order that he might be able to keep the law (Rom. 8:7; Gen. 26:5). It is claimed by some that after the resurrection of Christ the Sunday institution became a part of the Gospel, or new covenant. This would be adding to the covenant after it was confirmed. The new covenant provides for man’s salvation by writing the law in the heart. Sunday-keeping can be no part of that law, for there is no law in the Bible for Sunday-keeping. It is no part of the law or the Gospel. It rests wholly upon human law and tradition. The law written on the heart under the new covenant must be coeval with the covenant. “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” Heb. 9:16, 17. As soon as Christ died upon the cross the new covenant was sealed and ratified. It had before existed by the promise and oath of God; now it is a reality. Had Christ failed, the promise and oath of God would not have been fulfilled. The new covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ. It is now “made,” or completed. It is the “second” or “new” covenant, because the “first” was made, ratified, and had become “old” before the new was completed and ratified by the blood of Christ.
W. L. ILES.
Phoenix, Arizona.