Jeremiah 31:30-33—The New Covenant

paper-1157916_1280

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will form a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, a new covenant. Not like the covenant that I formed with their forefathers on the day I took them by the hand to take them out of the land of Egypt, that they broke My covenant, although I was a Lord over them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will place My law in their midst and I will inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be My people. And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or [shall] one [teach] his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.”

Claim: The new Covenant described here is a direct reference to the New Testament that replaced the Old Testament which was repeatedly broken. The description of Prophet Jeremiah in verse 32 that G=d “will inscribe it upon their hearts” reflects the basic Christian article of faith[i] that belief in Jesus substitutes the action that was once required for the Mosaic Law.

Response: There are two main shortcomings to this claim.

(1) As brought earlier in chapter “Are the Mitzvos Eternal?”, it is clear from the Pentateuch that the Mitzvos are everlasting bindings. Thus it cannot be that Prophet Jeremiah has come to abolish that which was set to remain forever. (2) Verse 33 states that “no man will need to tell his brother more that there’s a God, for all shall know Me from small to big.” This was clearly yet to be fulfilled as there are millions of atheists and agnostics worldwide. This is rather a prophecy yet to be completed; so how could Jesus already have fulfilled it?

A more convincing interpretation lies within the Jewish commentaries. A brit (covenant) is not a Torah or Testament, but a binding. For example, God made a binding with Abraham and with Pinchas (called brit).[ii] With the arrival of the Messianic Age, God will make an even stronger binding and connection with the Jewish Nation—more than the connection formed at Mt. Sinai.

“And on their hearts I shall write it” parallels a similar statement in Deuteronomy 30:6 “and God will circumcise your heart… to love Him… and do all of His commandments….” Evidently, completeness of the heart is actually a means with which to do the action of the commandments (in their physical sense) with perfection, without transgressing. The same thing as Deuteronomy 30 is seen in Ezekiel 36:26-27.

 


 

[i] Galatians 5:2-6.

[ii] Genesis 9:13, 15:18, Numbers 25:13 and more sources.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *