WHAT THE NEW COVENANT DOES
G. F. Storing of Minnesota calls for the setting forth of the principles of the new covenant as contrasted with the old covenant. That is indeed strange reasoning that assumes that the Sabbath of the old covenant “pertained to the natural, physical, carnal man, the mind of the flesh.” How the spiritual demands of God in any covenant can apply to the “physical” in this lower sense it is hard to see. It is to be feared that our questioner in his anxiety to do away with the binding obligations of the divine law allows himself to be led into the realm of the bizarre and the fantastic. Assuredly, the Spirit of God writes, under the new covenant relation, the law in our hearts. However, this does not mean that because the Spirit does this, this new covenant “did not contain the letter of any law.” How could the Spirit write the law without the letter of its provisions; and how could the new covenant contain the “spirit of the law” without provisions in the letter upon which this spirit could be based? We speak of the spirit of American laws, but there must be provisions in the letter in these laws out of which this spirit of Americanism arises, and without which provisions in the letter there could be no spirit. Going a step further, how can we be good Americans filled with this good spirit of American institutionalism unless we observe the written provisions of these laws. To get the spirit of Americanism we must obey the laws of America. So it is with the new covenant and its divine law. How can we speak of having the “Spirit of Christ” without having the obedience to divine law and Sabbath observance that He had? The trouble was not over the Ten Commandments in the old covenant, but over the way the people attempted to keep the commandments. They lost out because they endeavored to keep the law in their own strength. “All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do.” Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7. The old covenant stands for righteousness by human works. On the contrary the new covenant stands for keeping the Ten Commandments, not in human strength, which none of us can do, but through the indwelling of Christ in the heart. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33. The new covenant stands for righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ and the keeping of the Ten Commandments through His power. Understood in its right light, there is no more beautiful chapter in the Bible than 2 Corinthians 3. In a striking way, Paul presents in it the contrast between the old covenant of works, which spelled failure, and the new covenant of faith, which means success to the believer. If the reader will keep this contrast between the two covenants in mind, he will have no trouble understanding this chapter, which unnecessarily perplexes so many. The key to unlock its meaning is given in the sixth verse: “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” In other words, if we endeavor to keep the Ten Commandments, which are the basis of the covenant, in our own strength and by our own endeavor, we shall fail; for our naturally sinful natures make commandment keeping impossible. See Deuteronomy 4:13; Romans 3:19, 20. This is to put ourselves under the old covenant, to get merely the “letter” of the law; and, as Paul says, “the letter killeth.” It is to be under the “ministration of death,” which, while it deals with the law as “engraven on stones,” and was given to God’s people with “glory,” did not bring the life of victory over sin. The purpose of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is to make it possible for us to keep the Ten Commandments through faith in our Saviour, through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Romans 8:1-4). Contrary to the serious misconception that the gospel of Christ releases us from the obligation to keep the law of God, the gospel was given to do the opposite thing, make its obedience devolve upon us. Instead of making the law’s claims less binding upon us, the gospel of Christ makes the keeping of the Ten Commandments more binding upon us. That is why Paul writes: “Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31. See also Jeremiah 31:31-33. It is plain to be seen why this is so. Sin is the violation of the Ten Commandments. “Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4. See also Romans 3:20. Since the gospel is God’s plan to triumph over sin, which is the violation of the law, it must provide a way for us to keep the Ten Commandments. Unable to keep the law of ourselves, the gospel enables us to do so through faith in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance [margin: requirement] of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4. This keeping the law in Christ, in the Spirit, is the new covenant relationship. “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, 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 a husband unto them, saith Jehovah. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:31-33. Jehovah keeps the law in us, through Christ, because we cannot keep it of ourselves. What the old covenant could not do in its human endeavor, the new covenant can do through its divine endeavor. Turning again to 2 Corinthians 3, we can now understand why Paul speaks of the new covenant as that of the “Spirit,” as that which “giveth life,” as that which has “the ministration of righteousness,” as that which “remaineth” while the old covenant “passeeth away.” There is a fine spiritual truth brought out in the latter part of the chapter, drawn from Paul’s use of the veil upon Moses’ face. This veil, which Moses put on his face to hide the passing of the glory, typifies the unbelief, the lack of faith, caused by sin, which prevented their grasping the Saviour as the only way to soul victory. When this is removed, with “unveiled face,” we may deal with our blessed Lord face to face through faith, catching the inspiration of His enduring glory that transforms us more and more into His divine image. May that be our overcoming experience. “The law of commandments contained in ordinances,” which Paul states was nailed “to the cross,” represents the ceremonial system spoken of in various parts of the Pentateuch, especially in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. This had to do with the sanctuary, its sacrifices, and priesthood; with purifyings, special feasts, Sabbaths, and other rites and exercises that were a type, a “shadow of the good things to come,”—the antitypical realities of our Lord, His passion, and His gospel. See Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14-17; Hebrews 10:1-4. These typical, ceremonial laws have nothing to do with the eternal, immutable law of Ten Commandments, the Decalogue. See James 2:8-12; Matthew 5:17-19.