What is the New Covenant?
The Statutes Of The New Covenant
A covenant of the heart/conscience and no longer of the written word
Jer 31:33-34 This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: I will be your God, and you will be My people
• Eze 36:26 I will give you a new heart with new and right desires
• Eze 36:26 I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart
• Eze 11:19 I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of your God]
• Jer 31:33-34 I will put My law within you, and on your heart will I write it. They will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for you will all know Me [recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me], from the least of you to the greatest
• Eze 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away.
• Eze 36:29 I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior.
• Jer 31:34 I will forgive your iniquity, and I will [seriously] remember your sin no more
• Eze 36:26-27 I will put a new spirit in you. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.
The difference between legalism versus life by the Spirit (works versus faith) can be summed up as the difference between seeking salvation by obeying God through following the written word, opposed to obeying the Living Word in your heart through your conscience. One is following the Old Covenant, the latter is following the New Covenant.
Supporting Scriptures that Help us Understand the Statutes of the New Covenant
1Co 15:56 . . . . the power of sin is the law.
Ro 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Ro 3:20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [ not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].
Ro 7:8 But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing].
Heb 8:6-9 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said : “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
Heb 8:13 When God speaks of a new [covenant or agreement], He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use and annulled because of age) is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.
Ro 6:14 Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace.
Jn 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Ro 7:6 But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].
Ro 14:23 . . . . For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful].
Jas 4:17 So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.