New Covenant

Concept

The new covenant is the eschatological covenant God promised through Jeremiah to supersede the Mosaic covenant, characterized by the law written on the heart, universal knowledge of God, and complete forgiveness of sin (Jer. 31:31–34). Ezekiel develops related promises: a new heart, a new spirit, and God's own Spirit enabling obedience (Ezek. 36:25–27). Jesus inaugurates the new covenant at the Last Supper: "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25), fulfilling these prophetic promises through his death. The writer of Hebrews provides the most extensive NT exposition, citing Jeremiah 31 in full (Heb. 8:8–12) and arguing that Christ is the mediator of a better covenant enacted on better promises (Heb. 8:6), whose blood establishes it definitively (Heb. 9:15; 12:24). The new covenant brings: the Spirit's indwelling (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16), adoption as children of God (Gal. 4:4–7), complete forgiveness of sins (Col. 2:13–14), and direct access to God (Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19–22). Covenant theology and dispensationalism debate how completely the new covenant supersedes the old and its relationship to the church and national Israel.