New Covenant
God establishes a new covenant through Christ.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
The New Covenant is established with believers. Unlike the Old Covenant which included a mixed community, the New Covenant community consists only of the regenerate.
The New Covenant is established in Christ's blood and made present in every Mass. The Church is the community of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant brings the gospel in its fullness. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). Every celebration of the Lord's Supper participates in it.
The Divine Liturgy is the celebration of the New Covenant. Every Eucharist participates in the eschatological banquet of the Kingdom.
The New Covenant is the final administration of the one covenant of grace. Christ's blood seals what was promised to Abraham and prophesied in Jeremiah 31.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1Cor 11:25 — After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
- 2Cor 3:6 — Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
- Acts 2:38 — Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Ezek 36:26 — A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
- Gal 4:24 — Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
- Heb 10:16 — This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
- Heb 12:24 — And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
- Heb 8:13 — 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 8:6 — But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
- Heb 8:8 — For 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:
- Heb 9:15 — And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
- Jer 31:31 — 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:
- Jer 31:33 — 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.
- Luke 22:20 — Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
- Matt 26:28 — For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
- Rom 11:27 — For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 7.6 — Of God's Covenant with Man
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 7.3 — Of God's Covenant with Man
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 7.3 — Of God's Covenant
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 7.2 — Of God's Covenant
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 25 — Of the Sacraments
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On Baptism · Canon 14 — On Baptism
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
All things therefore are of one and the same substance, that is, from one and the same God; as also the Lord says to the disciples "Therefore every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." He did not teach that he who…
For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord says, "Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your ancestors in Mount Horeb." He made a new covenant with us. For what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that…
For, as the carnal circumcision, which was temporary, was in wrought for "a sign" in a contumacious people, so the spiritual has been given for salvation to an obedient people; while the prophet Jeremiah says, "Make a renewal for you, and sow not in thorns; be circumcised to God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart: " and in…
For even in the Gospels, it is "the letter" that "kills." Not only in the Old Testament is "the letter that kills" found; there is also in the New Testament "the letter that kills"—that one who does not spiritually perceive what is said. For, if you follow according to the letter that which is said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink…
For whereas in the Gospels, and in the epistles of the apostles, the name of Christ is alleged for the remission of sins; it is not in such a way as that the Son alone, without the Father, or against the Father, can be of advantage to anybody; but that it might be shown to the Jews, who boasted as to their having the Father, that the…
Set me free from the yoke of condemnation, and place me under the yoke of justification. Deliver me from the yoke of the curse, and of the letter that killeth;