Since fallen sinners have the sin which they inherited by birth and the sins which they committed themselves, they have fallen under God’s judgment and condemnation and have become persons who should die and perish. Originally man was created in the image of God to express Him and to represent Him. However, man sinned and fell so that he was unable to express God; on the contrary, he expresses sin and Satan. Hence, man comes short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and offends God’s righteous law (Rom. 3:20). Therefore, man is under God’s condemnation and wrath (Rom. 5:18; John 3:36), deserving death and perdition.
It is with such a man, who is a descendant of fallen Adam, who sins and does evil after Satan, and who is under God’s condemnation to die and perish, that God made the new covenant, the last covenant that He made with man.
This covenant is the new covenant (Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8-13). The word new in Greek is kainos, denoting new in nature, in quality, and in form. Before the enactment of the new covenant, God made an old covenant, the covenant of the law. Because the old covenant was faulty, weak, and unprofitable, it was annulled (Heb. 7:18; 8:7). Hence, through the Lord Jesus, God made another covenant, the new covenant, with all sinners. This covenant is eternal (Heb. 13:20), and it is eternally effective.
This covenant is also a better covenant (Heb. 7:22; 8:6). This better covenant was not only enacted upon better promises of a better law, the inner law of life (Heb. 8:10-12), but also was consummated with Christ’s better sacrifices (Heb. 9:23), which have accomplished for us an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), and with the better blood of Christ, which purifies our conscience (Heb. 9:14). Not only so, the High Priest of this better covenant, the eternal Son of the living God, ministers also with a more excellent ministry (Heb. 8:6) and in the greater and more perfect tabernacle (Heb. 9:11). Moreover, unlike the old covenant, which was lifeless, the new covenant is constituted with the indestructible life. Hence, everything in the new covenant is much better than the things in the old covenant. Therefore, the new covenant is a better covenant.
The new covenant has been enacted upon better promises. These promises are given in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and are quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12 and in 10:16-17. The contents of the new covenant include the following four items:
The first item of the new covenant is that God will forgive the sins of all those who believe in Christ and will not remember their iniquities anymore. Hebrews 8:12 says, “I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I will by no means remember anymore.” To be propitious is to make propitiation for our sins. Christ made propitiation for our sins (Heb. 2:17) to appease God’s righteousness, to reconcile us by satisfying the demand of God’s righteousness. Based upon this propitiation, God forgives the sins of all those who believe in Christ, and He does not remember their iniquities anymore. This also indicates that God’s forgiving is His forgetting of the sins of the forgiven ones. Once He forgives men of their sins, He forgets their sins and does not remember them anymore. This is the first item of the contents of the new covenant.
The second item of the contents of the new covenant is that God will impart His laws into the minds of those who believe in Christ, and on their hearts He will inscribe them. Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them.” In Jeremiah 31:33 the word law is singular, but in Hebrews 8:10 it is plural. This proves that one law will spread into a number of laws within man. This is the law of life in Romans 8. Every life has a law. The higher the life, the higher is its law. The divine life is the highest; therefore, it has the highest law. When we believe in Christ, God immediately imparts His eternal life into us, and by so doing He puts this highest law into our spirit, from whence it spreads into our inward parts, such as our mind, emotion, and will, and becomes several laws. This is the meaning of God’s imparting His laws into the minds of those who believe in Christ and inscribing them on their hearts, which is the second item of the contents of the new covenant.