Are we still under the New Covenant? Much of Christendom seems to think so but is that what Bible rightly divided (2 Tim. 2:15) actually teaches? I suggest not. Rather, it is my conviction, based on scripture, that neither the Old nor the New Covenant is part of God’s present purpose of saving men and women by grace.

The rest of this article will seek to explain why. But, for starters it is a salient fact that nowhere in Paul’s last seven epistles are the words covenant or testament used. Surely, if the New Covenant is still in force during the current “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:1-4) as a vital means of salvation he should have said so when he wrote these “prison” epistles  But he did not.

Fact is the covenants both old and new were made “with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer. 31; 31-32), Heb. 8:8), not members of the “church which is body the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1: 22-23)

The apostle’s message is clear: believers now are saved by grace through faith, not of works lest any man should boast and that faith is not of us but is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). And, undeniably, both Old and New Covenants require works by human beings aside from what God provides.

For example, the Old Covenant demanded participants observe both the 10 Commandments and the rest of Moses’ law. The New Covenant also insisted on compliance with the law but provided that through repentance and water baptism the gift of the Spirit God would enable Israelites and later believing Gentiles who joined the chosen nation to obey it.

Bible scholar John Piper explains: “What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27)”. Thus both covenants are conditioned upon obedience to law.

However, the truth is that now both New and Old Covenants have been superseded by the grace announced through the Apostle Paul (Eph. 3:1-4). In this “dispensation of the grace of God” those “dead in trespasses and sins” are QUICKENED, that is made alive unto God without either repentance or law obedience as a requirement.

Today then, according to scripture, neither repentance nor water baptism are required as preconditions for full salvation. As Paul puts it:

And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him (Christ), having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col. 2:13-14).

Yet organised Christianity at large still insists on human efforts to achieve salvation. The “to do” list includes turning ourselves toward God (when only God can turn us), outward repentance which doesn’t necessarily change the heart, water baptism and rituals such as communion, confirmation and ordination, none of which are stipulated as necessary by Paul in his “mystery” (a secret now revealed) “prison” epistles.

Obviously in scripture there is a huge difference between “now” and “back then” but very few churches recognise that in bringing in the dispensation of grace and the mystery God did a new thing. Fact is He moved on and left behind the things associated with Israel and the New Covenant. Conversely, many believe the stipulations of the New Covenant still hold force today.

But do they? Not if we accept the truth Acts 28:27-28 teaches, to wit that the Lord finally concluded the nation Israel hopelessly deaf, blind and hard of heart (Isaiah 6:9 and Matt. 13:14) and sent “the salvation of God” away from them to Gentiles who would hear it. It is a historical fact that since the close of the apostolic age no Hebrew apostle or world-shaking evangelist has emerged. Those that have made a difference, like Martin Luther, the Wesley brothers, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney and Billy Graham were all Gentiles.

If proof was needed that Israel and its covenants were set aside by God after Acts 28:28 it is found in the devastation the Roman Prince Titus dealt to Jerusalem in AD 70. The city was torn down stone by stone, the temple destroyed and at least a third of the Jewish people slain with most of the rest sold into slavery. A pagan city was built in Jerusalem’s place.

Jesus had warned the Israelites this would befall them, saying not one stone of the temple would be left upon another and that “the kingdom of God” would be taken from them and given to a nation “producing the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43).

On the positive side following the Acts 28 dismissal the Lord brought in a new dispensation which offered immediate, free, full and workless salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) to all men. In this new arrangement “quickening” replaced repentance and spiritual baptism by God Himself superseded water baptism (Col. 2:12),

It is significant that nowhere in the Bible until you reach Eph. 2: 1 and 5 does God tell believers told they have already been quickened (past tense) with Christ. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible until Colossians are believers told that already they have been:

                Made meet to be to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (1:12).

                Delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son (1:13).

                 Having obtained redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (1:14).

And there’s more: The Apostle writes:

For in Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in Him (Col. 2: 9-10).

All this is achieved through what God alone does and can do, quickening we who were dead out of sin by Himself, baptising us Himself into the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. No wonder then that Paul writes in Eph. 2:4-5:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved).

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

For more biblical truth visit the website “Day of Christ Ministries” online.