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WAS THE NEW COVENANT IN EFFECT DURING THE ACTS PERIOD?

Many Bible believing Christians believe that the New Covenant was in “partial effect” during the Acts period. I disagree with that belief and offer this paper in an effort to state my reasons for that disagreement.

I believe that at the center of this misconception is the belief that the New Covenant will save Israel when God puts His law into their hearts and minds. I believe that once we see that the New Covenant has nothing to do with salvation unto resurrection life, it will become more evident that the New Covenant was not in effect during the Acts period.

The most complete explanation of the New Covenant and the character of the times of the New Covenant is given in Jeremiah 31:31-37. “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 broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them’, declares the Lord. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time’, declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”.

WILL THE NEW COVENANT SAVE ISRAEL?

In order to understand the New Covenant we must understand who will be blessed by it and who will not. For that understanding we will turn to one New Testament passage and three Old Testament scriptures that deal with the millennial reign of Christ, which is when the New Covenant will be put into effect.

A word of clarification may be in order before we get to the passages that relate directly to the New Covenant. In my paper on the kingdom of Heaven I give the Scriptural reasons for believing that during the 1,000 years of Christ’s rule on earth, only those in the land of Israel will enjoy the many blessings of that reign. The lamb lying down with the wolf, for example, is a prophecy that will be in effect only in the land of Israel. Outside the land, Christ will rule the nations, but with an iron scepter. They will not enjoy the peace and prosperity of the believers in the land. Let us consider this suggetion from Scripture.

Matthew 13:37-43 explains the parable of the weeds and the prophecy which completes it. Verse 38b, “the weeds are the sons of the evil one”. Verse 39b, “The harvest is at the end of the age”. Verse 41, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil”. What will happen to those being weeded out? Verse 42, They will be thrown into the fiery furnace…”. Before we go on we should consider what this “fiery furnace” is.

To begin, I think it is obvious that the phrase “fiery furnace” cannot be taken literally. That is to say, I don’t think anyone thinks there is going to be a literal huge furnace somewhere. If the furnace is figurative so also is the fire.

Secondly, Matt. 13:42 tells us not only of this “furnace of fire” but the next phrase reads, “there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth”. If there is going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth these people who will be cast into this figurative furnace must be alive because dead people don’t wail and gnash their teeth. Of course, that too can be a figure of speech. But figures of speech are used to enhance a truth. The truth being enhanced by the phrases “furnace of fire” and “wailing and gnashing of teeth” is that there will be great suffering. But again, one must be alive in order to suffer. But let us not assume that this suffering is physical. What is this suffering?

In order to answer that question let us consider another of the parables of Matt. 13. The parable of the net is recorded in Matt. 13:47-48. “….the kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught many fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in the baskets, but threw the bad away. The explanation of the parable is recorded in verses 49-50, “this is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. It reveals the same secret as does the parable of the weeds; that even though all Israel will be gathered, not all will be allowed into the kingdom of Heaven, for the kingdom of Heaven will have no unrighteousness in it.

Both these parables combine the same two figures of speech, i.e. “furnace of fire” and “wailing and gnashing of teeth”. I suggest we look at the first occurrence of the phrase “wailing and gnashing of teeth” .

There are several things about this parable that we should also keep in mind as we continue our study. “The good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom” (13:38). Who are the “sons of the kingdom”? That question is answered in Matt. 8:5-13. A centurion came to our Lord and asked Him to heal his servant. When Christ said that He would go and heal him, the centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed’. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

In this passage the faith of the centurion is contrasted with those of Israel. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are all present at the feast at the kingdom of Heaven, are the fathers of the nation of Israel. The children of kingdom then, are Israelites. This is why Matthew, who presents Christ as the King of Israel, is the only Gospel writer to use the phrase “kingdom of Heaven”. Obviously not all of Israel will be allowed into the kingdom, but only the faithful of Israel. The unfaithful of Israel will be “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

Another thing to keep in mind about this parable is that the “field is the world”. Israelites as the “sons of the kingdom” are gathered from the world. The gathering of Israel is what our Lord was speaking of when He said, “many will come from the east and the west”. There are many passages in the Old Testament concerning the gathering of Israel. Isaiah 11:12 reads, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will assemble the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth”. Is. 43:5, “I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west”. Jer. 23:3 reads, “I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number”.

What we have learned so far is that faithful Israelites will be gathered from the four corners of the earth to be part of the kingdom of Heaven. Unfaithful Israel will be gathered only to be thrown out of the kingdom”.

Why are they thrown out? So that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”.

The “weeding out” of this parable is what Ezekiel refers to in 20:35-38. “I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will take note of you as you pass under my staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel….”. The covenant referred to in the phrase “I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” is obviously the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31.

When Israel is gathered for the millennial reign and “purged”, the New Covenant will be put into effect. Consider also Ezek. 11:12-21, “Therefore say: ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says; I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols, I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord”. It is clear that this passage refers to the New Covenant, even though it is not mentioned as such. Note the key phrases “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them”. Also, “I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”.

The point is this: there will be some of Israel who will not be allowed entrance into the land for the millennial reign of Christ. Who are those people? They are the seed of “the evil one”. They will be thrown into the “fiery furnace” so that the “righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”, (Matt. 13:42-42). They are described by Ezekiel as those who “rebel and revolt against Me” in Ezek. 20; and those who are “devoted to their vile images and their detestable idols” in Ezek.11. If they are cast out of the kingdom so the righteous will shine like the sun, may we not conclude that they were not righteous? In short, I believe that these are the unbelievers of Israel.

We are now ready to answer our question as to what the suffering is that will be endured by those who are cast out of the kingdom of Heaven. Because the righteous will be in the kingdom, they will not die, they will have put on immortality. But those outside the Land will be unrighteous and therefore they will die. Not only that, they will not enjoy the blessings of the millennium. Let us consider just two verses that will give us an idea as to the blessings that will be enjoyed in the land, but not outside it.

Is. 60:2, “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you”. This verse tells us that outside the land will be thick darkness, but not in the land.

Is. 33:24, “No one living in Zion will say, ‘I am ill’; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven”. This verse tells us that outside the land there will be illness, but not inside the land. (Please see the above mentioned paper on the kingdom of Heaven for more examples of the difference in the life of those outside the land from those inside.)

Add these things to the fact that those in the land will not die, but those outside the land will die, I believe that describes the suffering of those outside the land of Israel during the millennial reign.

“But”, one might object, “the New Covenant will save all Israel”. But if that were true, why would some of these saved by the New Covenant, some of these who were, according to some, made righteous by the New Covenant, not be allowed entrance into the land of Israel for the millennial blessings? Let us continue in our study.

WHO WILL COME UNDER THE “BOND” OF THE NEW COVENANT?

In order to understand whether Israel will be saved by the New Covenant, we must understand who will come under the bond of the New Covenant, that is, who will be blessed by it. Let us reconsider Ezek. 20 and compare it with Ezek. 36 in our efforts to answer that question. Verse 34 of Ezek. 20 tells us of the gathering of Israel for the millennium. “I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered…”. (The millennium is not mentioned specifically in this passage, but a comparison of all the scriptures which speak of the gathering of Israel will show that the gathering of Israel will be for the millennial reign.)

Ezek. 36 also speaks of the gathering of Israel and of the New Covenant. Ezek. 36:24-27, “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; …..I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. …..and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws, You will live in the land I gave your forefathers, you will be my people and I will be your God”.

To whom are the promises of Ezek. 36 given? They are not given to unbelieving Israel, they are given to believing Israel. How do we know that? Because we read in Ezek. 36 that they will be brought back to their land. “I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land”. And, “You will live in the land I gave your forefathers”. Unbelievers are brought out from where they had been scattered, but they are not allowed entrance into the land.

We may conclude therefore, that the promises of Ezek. 36 are given to believing Israel. What are those promises that are given only to the believers of Israel? They will be brought back to their land (verse 24). They will be sprinkled with clean water and will be made clean (verse 25). They will be given a new heart and a new spirit (verse 26). They will be given a spirit from God so that they will be careful to follow His laws (verse 27). They will be God’s people (verse 28). They will be blessed with great prosperity (verse 30). It is clear that verses 26 and 27 explain the New Covenant (compare Jer. 31:33). Because the promise of the New Covenant is not given to the unbelievers of Israel, we know that those unbelievers will not be saved by the New Covenant.

Returning once again to Ezekiel 20, we read in verses 37-38, “I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel….”. (Note the contrast of “you” with “them” and “they”.) Israel will be purged of those “who revolt”, of “rebels”, of “sons of the evil one”, etc..

It is purged Israel that will be allowed entrance into the land to enjoy the blessings of the millennium, and it is purged Israel that will be brought into the bond of the New Covenant. Again, the New Covenant is for Israel, purged of unbelievers. Therefore, the New Covenant is not God’s promise to save unbelieving Israel, it is the blessing by which He will allow believing Israel to keep His law from the heart. So, the New Covenant has nothing to do with salvation.

Ezekiel writes in 20:35-38. “I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will take note of you as you pass under my staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel….”. The covenant referred to in the phrase “I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” is obviously the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31.

When Israel is gathered for the millennial reign and “purged”, the New Covenant will be put into effect. Consider also Ezek. 11:12-21, “Therefore say: ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says; I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols, I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord”.It is clear that this passage refers to the New Covenant, even though it is not mentioned as such. Note the key phrases “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them”. Also, “I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”.

Before we go on to the next section, I believe that a word of clarification of Ezek. 20:40 is in order, lest some be led astray. The NIV has, “…..the entire house of Israel will serve me there”. That would suggest that all Israel, including unbelievers will be allowed into the land. But the Hebrew-English Interlinear has, “The entire house of Israel, all of them in the land will serve me there”. This is consistent with all the other scriptures that concern the gathering of Israel for the millennial blessings, i.e. only believers are allowed into the land and therefore, only believers will serve Him there.

Let us first turn our attention to Jer. 31:37 where we read, “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”. How are we to understand the statement in Jer. 31 which reads, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”? Let us consider the word “for” in this phrase. The same Hebrew word is used in the previous phrase and is translated “because”. That passage reads, “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord’ because they will all know me”. So let us re-consider this passage translating the Hebrew word with a greater consistency. “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. ‘Because I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”. In other words, the Lord will forgive their sins because they will know Him, i.e. because they are all believers.

SOME CONCLUSIONS

Let me try to bring this together. God will gather all Israel out of the lands to which they had been scattered. But some will not be allowed into the land of Israel. Those that will be allowed entrance into the land of Israel for the millennial reign will come under the bond of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is God putting His law into the hearts and minds of believing Israel for the millennial reign, it is not God saving unbelieving Israel. Therefore, we must conclude that the New Covenant has nothing to do with salvation. May I remind the reader that “they are not all Israel that are of Israel” (Romans 9:6), but we will read more of that in the section on Rom. 11:26.

ROMANS 11:26

As mentioned above, a large part of the reason that some think that the New Covenant was in effect (they say “partial effect”) is that they attribute to the New Covenant the act of salvation. That error comes, in part, from the misinterpretation of Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel will be saved”. The reasoning goes that when God puts the law into the hearts and minds of all Israel, that they will all be saved. Let us examine this passage.

Romans 11:26 reads, “And so all Israel will be saved as it is written, ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.” This verse leads to the question; to whom does the phrase, “all Israel” refer?

Verse 23 is absolutely crucial in understanding this entire portion of Romans. “And if they (Israelites) do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again”. Unbelieving Israelites were cut off from their nation because of their unbelief. “Cut off” can mean to be killed, but it also means to be cast away from one’s nation. Consider, for example, Numbers 19:13. “That person must be cut off from Israel”. In the next sentence we are told that his “uncleanness remains on him”. Obviously, he must remain alive if his uncleanness remains on him. There are numerous occurrence of this phrase in which it means to be cut off from Israel. See, for example, Lev. 17:14, Numbers 15:31 and Zech.14:2.

In Romans 11, Paul is saying that some Israelites were cut off from their own nation because of their unbelief, but if they do not persist in their unbelief, they may be returned to their nation. By being cut off they will not be able to participate in the blessings God has promised His chosen people; but if they do not continue in their unbelief they may be “grafted in again” to the nation and thereby partake in Her blessings. At the time of Paul’s writing of this letter believers were looking for the immediate return of Christ to set up His millennial reign. Being cut off from Israel would mean not being allowed to participate in all the millennial blessings prophesied in the Old Testament.

Verse 23 concerns Israelites. In verses 24 and 25 Paul reminds the Gentiles that they are grafted in to Israel, “contrary to nature”. His remarks in these two verses are addressed to and concern Gentile believers, so verses 24-25 are parenthetical in nature. Then in verse 26 where Paul writes, “And so all Israel will be saved….”, his focus is returning to Israel. The phrase “and so” tells us that the statement of this verse did not come out of thin air. It came as a natural progression of what was written in the context. If we, for the moment, leave out Paul’s parenthetical comments to the Gentiles in verses 24-25 we read, “And if they (Israel) do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again…..And so all Israel will be saved…”. Paul is saying here that unbelievers are not included in Israel, they were cut off. They were cut off because of their unbelief; therefore, they are not part of the nation of Israel.

It is clear that because unbelieving Israel has been cut off from their nation and the national blessings promised Her, that it is believing Israel only that is included in the phrase “all Israel will be saved”. This is consistent with Matthew 13, and Ezekiel 11, 20 and 36. Also consider that “they are not all Israel that are of Israel”.

But the reader may be thinking, “but we already know that only believers are saved from death unto resurrection life, what is the meaning of this verse?” What is meant in this context by the word “saved”? That is to say, from what will believing Israel be saved? There are two things that will help answer this question. 1) The context and 2) an examination of the Old Testament prophesy from which Romans 11:26b was quoted.

First let us look at the context. It is clear that Paul was not writing primarily about salvation from death in Romans 11. Consider for example, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either” (Rom. 11:20b-21). If we believe that Paul is writing about salvation from death then we are led to the extremely erroneous conclusion that he was writing that some could lose their salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth as Rom. 8:37-39 proves. What he was saying is that if Israelites, because of their unbelief could be cut off from the nation and therefore not partake of the blessings for which they were looking, so could the Gentiles be cut off.

Next let us look at the original prophecy to see if we can learn what this salvation was to which Paul was referring. The prophecy comes from Isaiah 59:20, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins“. Note that the Redeemer does not come to all of Israel, He comes to those “who repent of their sins”. I think we can say that in New Testament language, that means believers in Christ. This fact helps to substantiate the point that “all Israel” in Rom. 11:26 refers to all believing Israel.

But there is more to learn from Is. 59. We learn that this quote refers to end time events. Note for example verse 19, “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun”.This is obviously a reference to the millennial reign in the end times. And for the answer to what these believers will be saved from please not verse 18, “According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies…”. When will God repay His adversaries and His enemies? In the day of God’s wrath. But believers will be saved from that wrath by the rapture at Christ’s coming.

Therefore, I believe that when Paul writes that “all Israel will be saved” he is saying that all believing Israelites will be saved from the day of God’s wrath in the end times by the rapture.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE NEW COVENANT WILL SHOW THAT IT WAS NOT IN EFFECT DURING THE ACTS PERIOD

Now that we have determined that the New Covenant will not save unbelieving Israel, we are ready to examine just what the New Covenant is and whether it was in “partial effect” in the Acts period. What is the New Covenant? God will put the law into the hearts and minds of believing Israel. The following passages from the book of Acts will show that even though believing Israel was zealous of the law, God had not put the law in their hearts and minds.

Acts 15:5-7 is an example of believers not agreeing on the law. “Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the Law of Moses”. Again, they did not understand the spirit of the law, which shows that God had not written the law in their hearts and minds. The matter was resolved when all agreed “that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God”. But, once again, the disagreement at first, shows that the law was not written in the hearts and minds of believing Israel.

Acts18:24-26 is another example of a believer not understanding the law. We read in this passage of a Jew named Apollos. “He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately”. Here was a believing Jew who did not know as much about Jesus as did others. It is clear that God had not put the law in his mind, or he would have known all about Jesus. Furthermore, the fact that Apollos needed further teaching directly contradicts one of the elements of the New Covenant. We read in Jer. 31:34, “And they shall no more teach every man his neighbor…..for they shall all know Me…”.

Acts 20:29-30 gives an account, in part, of Paul’s farewell statement to the believers in Ephesus. “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them”. The fact that these men will come from “your own number” shows that they were believers and it is painfully obvious that these “wolves” of whom Paul warns, did not have the law in their hearts and minds. We may conclude then, that even believing Israel did not have the law written on their hearts and minds, therefore the New Covenant was not in effect in the Acts period.

Where will the New Covenant be put into effect? In the land of Israel. Ezek.11:17b-20, “….and I will give you back the land of Israel again. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them: I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws..”. God did not, during the Acts period, gather Israel to the land He had promised them. Far from it, they were more scattered at the end of the Acts period then they were at the beginning. (See Acts 11:19.) Obviously, this part of the New Covenant was not in effect in the Acts period.

When will the New Covenant be put into effect? Ezek.11:17-20, ..This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again. ….I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”. Because we are told in Scripture exactly when the New Covenant will come into effect, i.e. when Israel is gathered to the land God had promised Her, we may not, in my opinion, change this point without a great deal of Scriptural evidence, and there is none.

I must admit, that other than the misconception that all Israel will be saved by the New Covenant, and a few isolated verses which are discussed below, I don’t know of any other argument for believing that the New Covenant was in partial effect in the Acts period. Furthermore, the “what”, “when” and “where” of the New Covenant shows that it was not in partial effect in the Acts period. In fact, I believe that as we consider a few verses in Hebrews, it will become even more clear that the New Covenant was not in partial effect in the Acts period.

THE NEW COVENANT AS PRESENTED IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

Hebrews 8:10-12 is a quote from Jer. 31 where we read of the New Covenant. This passage in Hebrews does not tell us when the New Covenant will be put into effect, but we have a few clues in other verses from the letter to the Hebrews. Consider, for example, Heb. 8:13, “By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear”. The writer is telling us that the Old Covenant will soon disappear. Obviously, if it will disappear soon, it had not disappeared at the time of the writing of Hebrews, i.e. during the Acts period. Therefore, during the Acts period the Old Covenant had not yet disappeared so the New Covenant had not yet been put into effect.

Note also Hebrews 9:10, “They (gifts and sacrifices of verse 9) are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings- external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” Here the writer is speaking of the Old Covenant saying that it applies “until the time of the new order”. I believe that the term “new order” must apply to the time of the New Covenant, i.e. the millennium. It is clear that the writer does not see that time as having arrived for he writes that the earthly regulations apply “until the time of the new order”.

Let us also consider Heb. 8:6, “…..He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises”. The question is: was the new covenant in effect at the time that it was established?

In order to answer that question we must understand that the shedding of blood was a requirement for the establishing of the old covenant How do we know that? We read in Heb. 9:18-20, “Whereupon neither the first testament (covenant) was dedicated without blood. for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry”.

As we examine the Abrahamic covenant we will see that it too required the shedding of blood. We read in Gen. 15:7 of God’s promise to Abram that his seed would inherit the promised land. And then in verse 8 we read, “and he said, ‘Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?'”. The answer to his question is found in verse 9, “And He said unto him, ‘Take Me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old…..’ and he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst….”. Then in Gen. 15:18 we read, “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land…..”.

So we have learned that God made a covenant with Abram that his seed would inherit the promised land and that that covenant required a blood sacrifice, which was offered.

But it is clear that that covenant has not yet been put into effect. That is to say, the required blood was spilled and the covenant was “established” by it, and yet the covenant is not yet put into effect. The point is that the establishment of a covenant does not automatically mean that the covenant was put into effect at the time of its establishment.

So too the New Covenant. It required a blood sacrifice. In this case it was the blood of Jesus Christ. And that blood “established” the covenant. But we are told that it will be put into effect in the millennial reign of Christ. Therefore, it will not be in effect until then.

PASSAGES THAT SEEM TO SUGGEST THAT THE NEW COVENANT WAS IN EFFECT DURING THE ACTS PERIOD

MATTHEW 26:28-29

Matt. 26:28, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” That the New Covenant was in partial effect in the Acts period is one of those misconceptions that stem, as so many do, from not laying the proper groundwork from the Old Testament. That is to say, when we understand the New Covenant from the Old Testament then we are not led astray by those passages in the New Testament that refer to it. If, on the other hand, we read of the New Covenant in New Testament passages first, and then attach what we think we have learned to Old Testament passages, we come away with misconceptions.

We have seen from the Old Testament scriptures that speak of the New Covenant that the New Covenant had nothing to do with salvation of unbelieving Israel. We need to keep that in mind as we read New Testament scriptures that refer to the New Covenant. As we have seen in the sections above, the New Covenant is for those of Israel who are believers, i.e. already saved, and therefore can not be for the purpose of saving unbelievers of Israel. Therefore, I believe that the forgiveness of sins mentioned in Matthew is the forgiveness of sins of believers. In the section above (“Who Will Come Under The Bond”) the meaning of the Hebrew translated “for” was discussed. We saw that it means “because”. That is to say, God forgave believing Israel their sins because they were believers. This is consistent with the teaching of the entire Bible concerning the forgiveness of sins, i.e. it is for believers.

I CORINTHIANS 11:25

I Cor. 11:25, “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying ‘This cup is of the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me”. It is very true that a covenant requires blood, and that it was Christ’s blood that was the blood of the New Covenant. However, this does not prove that the New Covenant was put into effect at the same time as the shedding of His blood. As we have seen in the section above, “The New Covenant As Presented In The Epistle To The Hebrews”, the Abrahamic covenant was not put into effect at the time it was established by the spilling of blood. So too, the New Covenant was not established at the time of the shed blood of Christ on the cross. It will be established, according to Scripture, in the millennial reign of Christ.

II CORINTHIANS 3:6

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”. The only way that we may understand the true meaning of this passage is to put it in context and discover what was Paul’s point in this passage. In verses 7-11 Paul draws the contrast between the Old Covenant and the New. Note verse 12 where we read the important word “therefore”. “Therefore” tells us that we are reaching the point of the previous verses. “Therefore, since we have such a hope we are very bold. We are not like Moses who would put a veil over his face…”. Now we are ready to ask ourselves this question: “Is Paul’s point in this passage that the New Covenant was in partial effect”? I don’t believe it was. I believe that his point was that the New Covenant was superior to the Old Covenant. In saying that he was a minister of the new covenant he was saying that he was a minister of the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law. Does that mean that the New Covenant was in effect?

The very fact that Paul was the “minister of the new covenant” is proof that it was not in effect. Why? Because we are told in Jeremiah 31 that the New Covenant will be put into effect by God. God would not need Paul, or anyone else to be its minister. May I remind the reader exactly what the New Covenant is. It is an unconditional promise of God to believing Israel that He will put His law in their hearts and minds.

The very fact that Paul was the “minister of the new covenant” also proves that the New Covenant was not in effect because Paul’s Acts period epistles were written to believers, and most of those epistles included teachings for believing Israelites. But, as mentioned above, part of the New Covenant is that there will be no teaching once the New Covenant is put into effect because they will all know Him.

Only if one puts aside the following facts can one assume from this passage that the New Covenant was in effect during the Acts period. 1) The New Covenant was God acting unilaterally and did not need a “minister”. 2) As we read in Hebrews 8:13 and 9:10, the Old Covenant had not yet been put aside, therefore the New Covenant could not have been in effect during the Acts period. 3) We are clearly told when the New Covenant would be put into effect, i.e. at the gathering of Israel for the millennial reign of Christ on earth. Israel was not being gathered during the Acts period. 4) One of the conditions of New Covenant times was that each man would know God. That was certainly not true in the Acts period. 5) Another condition was that God would always be the God of His people Israel. That was certainly not the case at the end of the Acts period when Israel was set aside. 6) Even though believing Israel was zealous of the law in the Acts period, I do not believe that we can say that they had the law in their hearts and minds. If that were the case, they would not have had the disagreements etc. as mentioned above. 7) Paul’s point in II Cor. 3 is not that the New Covenant was in effect, only that the New Covenant was superior to the Old Covenant. As minister of the New Covenant he was preaching the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law.

The New Covenant had nothing to do with salvation, and we can not say that believing Israel had the law in their hearts and minds. It is not, in my opinion, sound Bible study to try to prove that the New Covenant was in effect from a passage that does not concern that particular question. This is especially true when the Scriptures prove that it was not in effect.

CONCLUSION

There are two main points that have been discussed in this paper that, in my opinion, prove that the New Covenant was not in “partial effect” in the Acts period. 1) The New Covenant is not God’s promise to save all Israel from death. It is God’s promise to believing Israel that He will put into their hearts and minds the willingness to keep His law with true sincerity. It is also His promise to cleanse them, and to never again forsake them as His chosen people. 2) We are told quite specifically when the New Covenant will be put into effect, i.e. at the gathering of Israel for the millennial reign of Christ. As honest students of God’s written word we can not change that prophecy without a great deal of scriptural evidence. Because there is no such evidence, we must conclude that the New Covenant will indeed be put into effect at the time of the gathering of Israel for the millennial reign of Christ.

This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please E-mail me at: [email protected]

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