The Two Covenants by C. J. Buhalts

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1916

The Two Covenants

By C. J. Buhalts

C. J. BUHALTS

Do we understand the old covenant to be the old law, and the new covenant to be the new law?—No; the law is the basis upon which the covenants were made. The law existed first, and the covenant is an agreement to keep the law. The law was spoken, and the people said, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” Ex. 20: 2-17; 24: 7. Then the agreement, contract, or covenant, was written, and was sealed with blood. Ex. 24: 7, 8. In Hebrews we read: “Finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” Chap. 8: 8, 9.

The new covenant is a new agreement, based upon better promises to keep the law,—on God’s promises, instead of man’s. It is not a new law, but a new covenant to keep the law. It is the same law, for God said it was to stand fast forever. God, instead of breaking the law or altering it, writes it in the heart. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” Heb. 8: 10, 11. So the difference between the old and the new covenant in relation to the law, is that the old covenant rested upon the people’s promise to keep the

law, which of themselves they were unable to do; whereas the new covenant is based upon better promises, in that God writes his law in the heart of the Christian so that he can keep it. It is not written on tables of stone, but in the heart. “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Cor. 3: 3. This is far from abolishing the law. It is made surer than before. To accept Christ by faith does not make the law void. Rom. 3:31. Paul says the law is holy, just, good, and spiritual. Rom. 7:12, 14. The difficulty is not with the law, but with the unconverted, carnal heart. When one accepts Christ, and allows the law to be written in his heart, he is then a doer of the law, and “the doers of the law shall be justified.” Rom. 2:13.

Abelene, Tex.