What’s New?
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
As noted last week, Theology 101 will be focusing on things the Bible labels as “new” as we begin this new year. If we open our Bibles and ask ourselves, “What’s new?” we might come up with “a new covenant” as a beginning topic. Simply picking up a Bible reveals immediately that it is in two major divisions, an Old Testament and a New Testament. The term that translates into English as “testament” also is the term that comes into English as “covenant.” Hence we would not be in error to think of the two major sections of the Bible as the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
As for the Old Testament or Old Covenant, several observations are helpful. Under the Old Covenant, God took the initiative to establish His relationship with Israel, which called for His chosen people to be faithful to Him. In the Old Testament under the Old Covenant, imperfect people came before a perfect God with animal sacrifices. By contrast, the New Covenant’s way of coming to God is based on the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ — a sacrifice which God Himself supplied through the incarnation of His Son.
In a similar way, the Old Covenant animal sacrifices had to be offered repeatedly, while the New Covenant sacrifice was a one-time, perfect sacrifice. People of faith under the Old Covenant understood the blood of animals to effect an atonement or covering for their sins, a covering that had to be regularly repeated.
People of faith under the New Covenant understand that Christ’s blood does not merely cover sin but as John 1:29 states, His blood “takes away the sin of the world.” Things that are covered remain, needing to be covered repeatedly over time, but taken away is a completed transaction that needs no repetition. Thus, the new covenant has at its foundation one perfect and final offering for sin.
The basic terms of the Old Covenant were inscribed on tables of stone, which we commonly refer to as the Ten Commandments. God has chosen to inscribe the New Covenant on the hearts of those who trust the God-provided sacrifice of His only begotten Son.
In addition, the administration of the Old Covenant was entrusted to human priests who officiated at the altar of sacrifice in an earthly temple. The New Covenant’s administration has been entrusted to a perfect High Priest.
In summary, we might say the New Covenant introduced a better priesthood with a better temple and a better altar on which a better sacrifice was offered that effected better results.
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