During the nearly 2,000 years of the dispensation of the grace of God, there has not been a single Christian that has operated under Israel’s New Covenant. The New Covenant pertains to the prophecy program and is separate from the mystery program of Christ. The following are 20 arguments that make that case:
- Israel’s New Covenant will be fulfilled in the future. Romans 11:25-27 states that the covenant between God and Israel for forgiveness of sins (the New Covenant) will be fulfilled after this present dispensation. The New Covenant is presently incomplete. It will come to completion at Christ’s return. In contrast, the Christian’s present position in Christ is complete (Col 2:10).
- Those under the New Covenant wait for a future salvation (1 Pet 1:9). Peter taught that salvation would come from the Lord Jesus at His return (Acts 3:19). The believing remnant of Israel needed to endure to the end to be saved (Mk 13:13). Christians have a present possession of salvation (Rom 5:11). Christians have what Israel hopes for, but this does not place us under their covenant.
- When the New Covenant is fulfilled, all shall know the Lord (Jer 31:34). The fact that so few understand the gospel of the grace of God stands as evidence that the New Covenant promises are not being fulfilled today. The New Covenant promises will be fulfilled at Christ’s return to Earth with the remnant of Israel.
- Gentiles were strangers of the covenants of promise (Eph 2:12). According to the New Covenant, Jesus was a mediator for Israel of a better covenant based upon better promises (Heb 8:6). Gentiles were strangers from these covenants of promise. Jesus mediates for us by His grace.
- The Old Testament included a Law. The New Covenant, as stated in Jeremiah 31:33, also includes a Law, but Hebrews 7:12 indicates that it will be a changed Law. The mystery of Christ teaches that we are not under the Law and that we are dead to the Law (Rom 6:14, Rom 7:4).
- The fellowship of the mystery is not the subject of either the Old or the New Testaments. The fellowship of the mystery is not the subject of prophecy. The mystery of Christ is the central focus of what God has been doing for nearly the last two thousand years.
- Those under the New Covenant wait for future grace and forgiveness (1 Pet 1:13). Christians today have forgiveness appropriated to them now (Col 1:14, Eph 4:32). Being crucified with Christ, the body of the sins of the flesh are cut off from us (Col 2:11). The New Covenant will one day take away the sins of Israel in the future (Rom 11:27).
- Those who are Christians received the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Gal 3:2). They did not receive the Spirit through a promised covenant, but by faith alone. The Christian’s faith is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit seals the Christian’s position in Christ, without any special signs or wonders that can be seen. Under the New Covenant, the Spirit’s powerful signs followed those operating under it (Acts 10:46).
- Scripture tells us that New Covenant Israel will one day be gathered out of all countries (Eze 36:24). The Church today does not have a country to be gathered into.
- The Old Testament was not made with the body of Christ. The Church of this present dispensation has never operated under the Old Testament. The Old Testament was given to Israel. The Church does not need a New Testament (Covenant), one that replaces an Old Testament, as we are under grace provided freely.
- The body of Christ did not exist during Jesus’ earthly ministry to Israel. When Jesus spoke of the New Testament blood at the Passover meal, the mystery had not yet been revealed (Mt 26:28). The New Testament blood is not the same blood of Christ taught by the apostle Paul.
- The New Covenant included the Holy Spirit causing Israel to walk in God’s statutes (Eze 36:27). With the Law written in their hearts, the supernatural empowerment by the Holy Spirit would cause Israel to keep the judgments of God. This is not the Holy Spirit’s ministry during this dispensation, as we are instructed to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18).
- The New Covenant promised the forgiveness of Israel’s sins only. The New Covenant never promised the forgiveness of the sins of all men (Mt 20:28, Mt 26:28). A gospel to “all men” was part of the mystery purpose of Christ, preached by the apostle Paul (1 Tim 2:6).
- Jesus’ blood was not limited to the New Covenant. Jesus’ blood instituted the New Covenant with Israel, however, His blood would also be preached to all men through the mystery of Christ. The same blood shed at one cross performed two purposes. There is no need to place the mystery saints under the New Covenant.
- The New Covenant included an “unction” whereby no one needed to be taught. Jeremiah and Hebrews explain that “they shall teach no more every man” (Jer 31:34). This anointing, described in the early chapters to the book of Acts, was begun by the kingdom remnant addressed in 1 John 2:20 and 1 John 2:27, but is not in operation today. The Church today is in desperate need of teachers who can rightly divide the word of truth and teach it accurately, without apology.
- The New Covenant resulted in Israel dwelling in the land, as promised in Ezekiel 36:28. The Church, the body of Christ today is not promised nor do they receive by grace any land on Earth. The New Covenant was oriented around Israel’s earthly promises. Christians are not under the New Covenant and instead have all blessings in heavenly places (Eph 1:3).
- Those under the New Covenant are waiting for a city to come (Heb 13:14). The Church today has no city that it is waiting for to come to Earth (Rev 21:2-3). Those who are members of the body of Christ are seated in heavenly places in Christ.
- The body of Christ is under the headship of Christ and not under the New Covenant. In Ephesians 1:10, the apostle Paul explains that the two purposes of God, in heaven and in earth, will be gathered together in one, in and under Christ. We who are part of His heavenly purpose are not placed under the New Covenant earthly purpose.
- God has changed his mode of operation. Since the fall of Israel and the revelation of the mystery, God has been offering grace and salvation freely to all men (Titus 2:11). This is not an expansion of the New Covenant, it is a separate program. If we were under the New Covenant now, then God would still be operating with the nation Israel. Since God is not fulfilling the covenant with Israel during this dispensation, we cannot be under it.
- The New Covenant was not a mystery. The New Covenant was clearly documented by the prophets. Descriptions of the New Covenant are found in the Law, the prophets, and the Psalms. The prophetic nature of Israel’s New Covenant contrasts the hidden nature of the fellowship of the mystery (Eph 3:9). The subject of the mystery cannot be the subject of the prophesied New Covenant.
No one today in the dispensation of the grace of God is a partaker of the covenants which are made between God and Israel. These covenants were made for their future redemption, as spoken of by the prophets, since the world began. Gentiles in time past as well as those in the body of Christ today are not a part of the covenants.
During the dispensation of the grace of God, believers receive the benefits of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross outside of any covenant relationship. It is purely by God’s grace that we receive eternal life and the blessings associated with salvation; otherwise grace would not be grace (Rom 11:6). Instead of a covenant providing the necessary terms of redemption, believers today are of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel of the grace of God (Eph 3:6, Titus 1:2-3). We receive the mercy and the grace of God apart from our adherence to any covenant given in time past. We receive it by faith (Rom 5:1, 8-10). Placing Christians under any of Israel’s covenants robs them of the riches of grace that they have in Christ alone and usurps the promises made to Israel.