The New Covenant

Carol said:
I'm not the topic.
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Hi Carol,

True, but trying to have a discussion with someone who rejects Scripture based on the nonsense that one's personal name isn't embedded in it makes for a impossible row to hoe.

Don't ask questions of a Book which you don't believe applies to you. It's an exercise in futility.

God bless!
 
Icyspark said:
Hi Carol,

True, but trying to have a discussion with someone who rejects Scripture based on the nonsense that one's personal name isn't embedded in it makes for a impossible row to hoe.

Don't ask questions of a Book which you don't believe applies to you. It's an exercise in futility.

God bless!
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I wasn't asking a book. I asked you.
 
Icyspark said:
For you to claim that not taking the Lord's name in vain, et al was not part of our old carnal nature, but now it is part of the born again nature is fine. However, if you can claim that then it is just a hop, skip and a jump to include the fourth commandment as well :rolleyes:
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The sign of the Old Covenant does not pass on to the New Covenant when the New Covenant has its own sign. However, there were those who did not see everyday alike trusting God daily by the Spirit, but kept the old letter Sabbath, in Romans 14. We each must worship God as our own conscience dictates. So until you can see Jesus as the fulfillment of all of Leviticus 23, then I would prefer you kept the letter of the Old Covenant and just added belief in Jesus and loving your neighbor as yourself. God will honor you for it.

I love the SDA diet, but I now have the knowledge of what the unclean meat represented, and why God cleansed the unclean to clean. It represented Gentiles, and the Jews were to separate themselves unto God, so were to only eat meat that God accepted as offerings to Himself. Leviticus 20:25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

But to Noah, "everything that moved" was food for both animal and humans. And it is that way again in 1 Tim. 4. Only the interim of the Jews and the Old Covenant that was meant to be a tutor were things by the letter, and the spiritual meaning was a mystery until revealed by the New Covenant. You have yet to have the spiritual meaning revealed to you. Study Galatians 4:22-31.

Now to understand where I am coming from, read it out of the Living Bible. The Ten Commandments is the first covenant. Exodus 34:28. The author of the paraphrase can help you understand why I believe in the commandments of the New Covenant, and keep the sign of the New Covenant, not the old. And no Sunday is not part of the commandments. No particular day is, because everyday is "Today." But because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, and He sent His Holy Spirit to fill those in the Church on Sunday, it is tradition to celebrate these things every week on Sunday. But it should not be called the Sabbath by the ignorant, nor is it a commandment.

Galatians 4:22-31 Living Bible (TLB)​

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave-wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 There was nothing unusual about the birth of the slave-wife’s baby. But the baby of the freeborn wife was born only after God had especially promised he would come.

24-25 Now this true story is an illustration of God’s two ways of helping people. One way was by giving them his laws to obey. He did this on Mount Sinai, when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Mount Sinai, by the way, is called “Mount Hagar” by the Arabs—and in my illustration, Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar represents Jerusalem, the mother-city of the Jews, the center of that system of trying to please God by trying to obey the Commandments; and the Jews, who try to follow that system, are her slave children. 26 But our mother-city is the heavenly Jerusalem, and she is not a slave to Jewish laws.

27 That is what Isaiah meant when he prophesied, “Now you can rejoice, O childless woman; you can shout with joy though you never before had a child. For I am going to give you many children—more children than the slave-wife has.”

28 You and I, dear brothers, are the children that God promised, just as Isaac was. 29 And so we who are born of the Holy Spirit are persecuted now by those who want us to keep the Jewish laws, just as Isaac, the child of promise, was persecuted by Ishmael, the slave-wife’s son.

30 But the Scriptures say that God told Abraham to send away the slave-wife and her son, for the slave-wife’s son could not inherit Abraham’s home and lands along with the free woman’s son. 31 Dear brothers, we are not slave children, obligated to the Jewish laws, but children of the free woman, acceptable to God because of our faith.
 
Icyspark said:
When you say you began "partaking of the divine nature," what do you mean by this? Based on your screen name I'm surmising you're using this a euphemism for speaking in tongues?

When you reference 1 John 3:9, are you saying you're sinless and have no need to ask for forgiveness (see 1 John 1:8, 9)?

1 John 3:9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
If you were living by the Spirit would you not be doing those things pleasing to Him? If you are compelling others to forget what He said to remember then I would suggest that you need to test the spirit within you to see whether it is from God (1 John 4:1). Look at that! Another 1 John reference. I'm beginning to see a trend here. ;)

The new nature does not go contrary to what God has plainly revealed. When John advocates for testing the spirit within you he is not leaving you dangling with no hope of ascertaining the truth other than what the Mormons call a "burning in the bosom." The testing is against what is revealed in Scripture, otherwise a spirit can guide you into false doctrines and ultimately ruin.
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I do NOT use it as a euphemism for speaking in tongues. The evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is being dead to sin, and becoming born again. Jesus was sinless, and His Spirit inside us causes us to also be sinless. The old nature has no more hold on us, and we are partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:2-11. It was life changing. But on top of that I received many higher gifts of the Spirit (all but two) and because ever since then I can hear God's voice clearly, I rarely use my prayer language for prayer. I never pray for my needs. God knows what I need and He tells me WHAT to pray, and only then do I repeat His words and the prayer is answered immediately. He has involved me in many miracles and has given me many visions. (For the first 30 years of my life, 23 in SDA, I never received even one answer to prayer, and was a slave to sin.) I've been Holy Spirit-Filled/Charismatic for the past 43 years.

If you want a test, test yourself. 1 John 3:21-22. Are all your prayers answered? If not, are you really keeping God's commandments and are being pleasing in His sight? I receive 100% of what I pray for because of the rhemas God gives me. An evil spirit would not produce the kind of love I have for God, nor the strictest obedience to Him and His righteousness.

So it seems you do not believe 1 John 3:9, but rather relate better to 1 John 1:8. 1 John 1:9 is how to become a Christian. We are cleansed of all unrighteousness in our nature. We don't keep sinning. Thus 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18. So no need to sin, repent, sin, repent, sin, repent, sin, repent as the false teachers claim. You MUST be born again. 1 John 1:6, 8 and 10 are all verses about the unsaved in darkness. Verses 5-10 are the Jewish style of writing called contrasts. Each light verse is followed by a verse of darkness. Thus 5, 7 and 9 are Light; and 6, 8 and 10 are Darkness. Haven't you ever wondered why verse 10 follows verse 9 and is not together with verse 8, and both are followed by 9? Don't they need to confess too? The writing style is why.

What about Romans 7:14-23. Do you believe like you do for 1 John 1:8 that Paul is talking about the Christian struggle over sin? Or those under the Law (10 Commandments) trying to keep the law with their carnal nature?
 
Icyspark said:
You sound like you're old enough to remember a time in the not too distant past in which Sunday was still called "Sabbath" and was treated much the same. However, with the challenges of the Seventh-day Adventist church Sunday churches discovered there was no Bible reason for them to continue calling the first day of the week the Sabbath. Thus they coopted the phrase, "the Lord's day" and attempted to apply that title to Sunday in an attempt to legitimize a day which had no biblical endorsement.

I find it so strange when people appeal to Hebrews 4 as some sort of validation for ridding themselves of Sabbath observance. Have you ever read the chapter and considered that it was actually affirming the seventh day Sabbath? I'll quote the relevant portion below and highlight the words which spell this out:

Hebrews 4:1-11Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spokenlater about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
So, what is the context here? We're talking about God resting from His works after "the creation of the world." Then the author goes on to double down on the obvious and point out that this rest took place "On the seventh day. . ." Not once does he affirm the seventh day, but twice. Then, he goes on to indicate that Christians who want to enter "God's rest also rest from their works, just as God did from His." There is only one place where God rested from His works and that is where He instituted the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3). With that in mind, we are to rest from our works in the same way God rested from His. This is not speaking of a nebulous rest. Or a spiritual rest. It is a physical rest. Just as God physically stopped His work of creation.

Set aside your "spirit" guide for a moment and don't let it dictate to you something which you know the text is not saying. Read the text in its normative sense and then test your spirit to see if it agrees with what the Bible clearly teaches. If it doesn't then you can know that it is not from God.

I pray this helps.
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I believe I've already answered this section of your post, so no need to repeat myself. But there is a great need for your understanding to be enlarged by the Spirit. Ask for that and He will give you understanding. James 1:5-6
 
Icyspark said:
Hi CharismaticLady,

When former Adventists speak of "the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath," they tend to mean something nebulous like "resting in Jesus." So, I have a question for you. Since you no longer require the physical rest which Jesus asks you to take every seventh day as a memorial of His creation of the world, do you also no longer require physical food or physical water?

John 6:35​
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.​

Consistency demands that you should no longer be physically hungry or thirsty. If your body cannot affirm this premise, then why would you assume to dictate that your body no longer requires the physical rest which Jesus provides us in resting from our work, just as He did from His?

If the Spirit is within you then He will affirm what is plainly taught in His Word.

I pray this helps.
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This is what is meant: Romans 8:9

Also 1 John 3:24.

If you need to still be in Kindergarten, then by all means keep the day. You will never know what this means. The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. In fact, there is a great deal you need to learn, and not mock, like abiding in Jesus/resting in Jesus. Don't you know that Jesus is more important than a day, and it was only in the law UNTIL Jesus came to fulfill our spiritual rest and graduate?

2 Corinthians 3:6-11
 
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Carol said:
I've read the text. It doesn't say "ten commandments ".
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Carol said:
I wasn't asking a book. I asked you.
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Hi Carol,

I'm pretty sure you're just trolling ?

The Ten Commandments are part of a book you don't accept since it isn't addressed to you. That book is commonly known as the Bible.

Bible, the English form of the Greek name _Biblia_, meaning "books."​
 
Spark wrote:
The promise of a new covenant is made in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Before the author of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah, he first details why there was a need for a new covenant in the first place (see vs 6-8):

Hebrews 8:6-13
6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
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The Sinai covenant promised the Israelites the land of Canaan. That was a great promise for a group of people that all they knew was slavery. The new and better covenant with better promises Jesus ratified at Calvary with His own blood promises all mankind eternal life in Heaven. Both covenants had/have conditions. The Sinai covenant's 613 laws were the condition Israel had to live by in order to keep the covenant from being broken. Keeping the covenant could not save the Israelites. They were saved the same way Abraham was saved. Jesus new covenant has laws too and John in 1Jn 3: 19-24 tell us just what Jesus expects of us. 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

The ten commandments WERE part of the laws of the Sinai covenant. When the covenant ended at Calvary and replaced with the new covenant so did the laws of the old covenant. 2Cor 3:6-11
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Hi spark, in the above statement it is evident that the ministration of the Spirit is more glorious than the ministration of the engravened stones. The stones revealed to Israel some of what is right and wrong. They were Israel's guide. Jesus at Pentecost gave to mankind what He had promised, the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit has become mankind's guide replacing the engravened stones given to only Israel. Paul even writes that the previous glorious engravened stones have been DONE AWAY.

You keep telling us we are under the ten commandments, that they are our guide, but the Bible tells us we are under the new covenant where the Holy Spirit is our guide and the laws of the covenant given only to Israel have ended. You pose quite a conundrum Brother.
 
Icyspark said:
Hi Carol,

I'm pretty sure you're just trolling ?

The Ten Commandments are part of a book you don't accept since it isn't addressed to you. That book is commonly known as the Bible.

Bible, the English form of the Greek name _Biblia_, meaning "books."​
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I accept the fact that the ten commandments were written on stone and given to one nation, Israel. There are no records that God ever gave the ten to any other nation. Nine of those ten deal with morality and laws dealing with morality are forever. Those nine commands are imbedded in all of the commands dealing with morality and for new covenant believers it is loving others as Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us so much He gave His life that we might also have life, life eternal. We don't gain eternal life by keeping rituals given only to one nation that ended with the coming of the new covenant at Calvary.

You SDAs tell us the ten commandments are the character of God. That is so belittling. I believe God is a God of love portrayed by Jesus on this Earth, yet there is not one word in the ten about love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance and faith. There is not one word in the new covenant about having to observe the ritual days given only to Israel at Mt Sinai. SDAs have made a day so important that they truly believe the remainder of us will be going to burn in the fires of Hell for not keeping it. Christianity is not about the keeping of days, it is all about believing in Him and loving to our fellow man. We know we are of the truth if we believe and do His will by loving others as He loves us, 1Jn3: 19-24.
 
Prologue:
AV Mt 5:27-32 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell. 31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Some could say that first/sun day is adultery(a sin) to GOD for another day(a day GOD selected).

AV Mt 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

AV Re 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

Would the wife go to Church with her "the bridegroom" ???

How many(between OT to NT) are "the bride" in relationship to "the bridegroom" ???
ontheBeam said:
I accept the fact that the ten commandments were written on stone and given to one nation, Israel. There are no records that God ever gave the ten to any other nation. Nine of those ten deal with morality and laws dealing with morality are forever. Those nine commands are imbedded in all of the commands dealing with morality and for new covenant believers it is loving others as Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us so much He gave His life that we might also have life, life eternal. We don't gain eternal life by keeping rituals given only to one nation that ended with the coming of the new covenant at Calvary.
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I personally have a few issues with these words. I will post more later on the other details.

A sinless GOD chose "my holy day", it's still sinless, whether we acknowledge it or not, as moral.

Did Jesus keep the Letter of the Law or the Spirit of the Law, just one ???

Did Jesus keep the Spirit of the Law, and thus fulfilled the Letter of the Law ???

Yours in Christ, Michael
 
CharismaticLady said:
The sign of the Old Covenant does not pass on to the New Covenant when the New Covenant has its own sign. However, there were those who did not see everyday alike trusting God daily by the Spirit, but kept the old letter Sabbath, in Romans 14. We each must worship God as our own conscience dictates. So until you can see Jesus as the fulfillment of all of Leviticus 23, then I would prefer you kept the letter of the Old Covenant and just added belief in Jesus and loving your neighbor as yourself. God will honor you for it.
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Hi CharismaticLady,

Your own conscience does not get to overrule what is plainly revealed in Scripture. Jesus is our Example and He never told anyone that His holy day was coming to an end. In fact, He said the opposite.

God will not honor anyone for intentionally trampling on His holy day.

James 4:17​
Therefore, to him who knows to do GOOD and does not do it, to him it is sin.​
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Romans 7:7-12​
What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law IS holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and GOOD. ​

Above, James provides one of the three biblical definitions of sin. While one may think his definition is open to a nebulous interpretation of what is "good," the Bible doesn't allow for that. Paul still refers to the Ten Commandments in the present tense saying, "The law IS holy." He doesn't say, "was holy." And it's still "righteous and GOOD." If you know that the Ten Commandments are "GOOD," and you tenaciously cling to the idea that they are not such that you continue to wantonly transgress them, then by definition you are sinning. John says you need to confess your sins so Jesus will forgive you.


CharismaticLady said:
I love the SDA diet, but I now have the knowledge of what the unclean meat represented, and why God cleansed the unclean to clean. It represented Gentiles, and the Jews were to separate themselves unto God, so were to only eat meat that God accepted as offerings to Himself. Leviticus 20:25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
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God never "cleansed the unclean to clean." You are alluding to Bible texts and then making huge leaps in logic. Clean and unclean designations for animals goes all the way back to the flood account. The Edenic diet--fruits, nuts, grains, etc.--is the one originally intended for humans and that will be our diet on the new Earth.


CharismaticLady said:
But to Noah, "everything that moved" was food for both animal and humans. And it is that way again in 1 Tim. 4. Only the interim of the Jews and the Old Covenant that was meant to be a tutor were things by the letter, and the spiritual meaning was a mystery until revealed by the New Covenant. You have yet to have the spiritual meaning revealed to you. Study Galatians 4:22-31.
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You might want to consider how quick you are to assume your current understanding of the text is legit. If your position were taken to it's logical conclusion, immediately whole species of animals would've immediately gone extinct. After all, only two of every unclean animal got onto the ark. You only had to eat one and then that species was done. :oops:

I have read Galatians 4:22-31 innumerable times. What is it you'd like me to take away from that passage in the context of this conversation?


CharismaticLady said:
Now to understand where I am coming from, read it out of the Living Bible. The Ten Commandments is the first covenant. Exodus 34:28. The author of the paraphrase can help you understand why I believe in the commandments of the New Covenant, and keep the sign of the New Covenant, not the old. And no Sunday is not part of the commandments. No particular day is, because everyday is "Today." But because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, and He sent His Holy Spirit to fill those in the Church on Sunday, it is tradition to celebrate these things every week on Sunday. But it should not be called the Sabbath by the ignorant, nor is it a commandment. [Neither is there anything special about the first day of the week. Sunday's title in the Bible is merely a reference number which builds to the crescendo of the only day of the week with a venerated title--the Sabbath. That title was never stripped by Jesus or any of His biblical authors.]

Galatians 4:22-31 Living Bible (TLB)​

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave-wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 There was nothing unusual about the birth of the slave-wife’s baby. But the baby of the freeborn wife was born only after God had especially promised he would come.

24-25 Now this true story is an illustration of God’s two ways of helping people. One way was by giving them his laws to obey. He did this on Mount Sinai, when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Mount Sinai, by the way, is called “Mount Hagar” by the Arabs—and in my illustration, Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar represents Jerusalem, the mother-city of the Jews, the center of that system of trying to please God by trying to obey the Commandments; and the Jews, who try to follow that system, are her slave children. 26 But our mother-city is the heavenly Jerusalem, and she is not a slave to Jewish laws.

27 That is what Isaiah meant when he prophesied, “Now you can rejoice, O childless woman; you can shout with joy though you never before had a child. For I am going to give you many children—more children than the slave-wife has.”

28 You and I, dear brothers, are the children that God promised, just as Isaac was. 29 And so we who are born of the Holy Spirit are persecuted now by those who want us to keep the Jewish laws, just as Isaac, the child of promise, was persecuted by Ishmael, the slave-wife’s son.

30 But the Scriptures say that God told Abraham to send away the slave-wife and her son, for the slave-wife’s son could not inherit Abraham’s home and lands along with the free woman’s son. 31 Dear brothers, we are not slave children, obligated to the Jewish laws, but children of the free woman, acceptable to God because of our faith.
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I would suggest that you be careful how much emphasis you place on one man's paraphrase of an actual translation. But go ahead and tell me what it is you specifically wish for me to take away from this passage?

I'd also suggest that you refer to the opening post for my understanding of the new covenant as I don't believe you've addressed any of what I've written there.

God bless.
 
Icyspark said:
Let's take a look at the new covenant.

The promise of a new covenant is made in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Before the author of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah, he first details why there was a need for a new covenant in the first place (see vs 6-8):
​
Hebrews 8:6-13​
6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.​
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7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:​
“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.​
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9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.​
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10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.​
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11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.​
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12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”​
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13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.In the above passage I've highlighted (and color coded) some of the aspects of this prophecy which are relevant to drawing a correct conclusion about the new covenant. Let's go through the prophecy one verse at a time.​
Verse 6
The author notes that the new covenant is superior to the old one. Why does he tell us this? Because he says that this new covenant is "established on better promises."

Ok, stop. Now, ask yourself a couple things. Does the God of the Bible ever make anything less than perfect promises? Can a perfect God make anything less than a perfect promise?

Verse 7
This verse also notes the fact that there was something "wrong with that first covenant," such that there was a need to establish a new one.

Verse 8
After taking into account what verse 6 said about "better promises," it is pretty easy to understand what verse 8 is saying. It tells us where the imperfect promises came from: "God found fault with the people."

What do you suppose these faulty promises were?
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Exodus 19:8​
The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.​
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Exodus 24:3​
When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”​

You may be wondering, "Are the people's promises to obey really the faulty promises to which the author of Hebrews was speaking? Let's just bypass the rest of verse 8 for a moment and look at verse 9. The LORD says the people "did not remain faithful to my covenant." Basically, the LORD provided a perfect set of laws for His chosen people. The people responded together, saying, "We will do everything the LORD has said. And later, in Exodus 24, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." But they didn't do what they promised to do. Thus, God found fault with them.

Please note, the LORD did not find fault with His perfect laws which were the foundation of the agreement between Himself and the people. The text is clear: "God found fault with the people."

Let's look at another aspect of what verse 8 tells us. It records the LORD as stating who the new covenant is for. "I will make a new covenant with the people of ISRAEL and with the people of JUDAH." This new covenant is ONLY with Israel and Judah. Gentiles are not mentioned as part of this covenant.

Verse 9 says this covenant will be different from the one the LORD made with those He lead out of Egypt. Why? Again, "because they did not remain faithful to my covenant."

Verse 10
This verse echoes verse 8 in saying that the new covenant will be "with the people of Israel." No Gentiles mentioned here either. But then we come to an interesting point about this new covenant. The LORD says He is going to put His laws in the minds of His people and write them on their hearts. Consider again that the LORD is perfect and the laws He gave to the Israelites were likewise perfect. So why would you suppose that His perfect laws could get any more perfect than what they were to begin with? Why would the LORD need to compose a new set of laws to write on the hearts of His people?

The new covenant, I believe, is merely taking the faulty promises of the people out of the equation. It is no longer having laws written on stone tablets and having the people promise to keep them. Instead the LORD promises to write His laws on the fleshy tablets of human hearts. It is no longer "we will do." Now it is allowing the Spirit to live within us to do the law which He has written on our hearts. The law is internalized for those who truly love the LORD.

Romans 8:13​
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.​

I pray this helps.

But for the grace of God go I,cyspark
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You said I didn't respond to the OP, but I have in parts.

What do you believe is written on our hearts? Exodus 20,
or Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 13:3; 30:6; Matt. 22:36-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk. 10:27
 
Icyspark said:
Your own conscience does not get to overrule what is plainly revealed in Scripture. Jesus is our Example and He never told anyone that His holy day was coming to an end. In fact, He said the opposite.
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What makes you believe my conscience would overrule what is plainly revealed in Scripture. The difference between us is I am obeying the New Covenant commandments, and you are obeying the Old Covenant commandments. If you knew what the Spirit of the Law means, you would understand what is written on our hearts. You are obeying your conscience even though you are overruling what the Bible says in the New Covenant. But BECAUSE you are obeying your conscience, God will honor you. So until you receive enlightenment on your conscience, keep obeying it.
 
CharismaticLady said:
You said I didn't respond to the OP, but I have in parts.

What do you believe is written on our hearts? Exodus 20,
or Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 13:3; 30:6; Matt. 22:36-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk. 10:27
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Hi CharismaticLady,

I'd like to see you engage with what is written in the OP instead of responding to it "in parts" which are not in direct relation to what is written. This is a frequent tactic of critics, to respond without actually responding.

God bless!
 
CharismaticLady said:
What makes you believe my conscience would overrule what is plainly revealed in Scripture. The difference between us is I am obeying the New Covenant commandments, and you are obeying the Old Covenant commandments. If you knew what the Spirit of the Law means, you would understand what is written on our hearts. You are obeying your conscience even though you are overruling what the Bible says in the New Covenant. But BECAUSE you are obeying your conscience, God will honor you. So until you receive enlightenment on your conscience, keep obeying it.
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Hi CharismaticLady,

Unless one grapples with and understands what was wrong with the old covenant, then one will not correctly comprehend the new covenant.

A covenant is merely an agreement. The first agreement is what was ended, not what was agreed upon. Hebrews 8:8 tells us why: "God found fault with the people." Verse nine illuminates verse eight: "because they did not remain faithful to my covenant." They broke their part of the agreement, which was to obey the law of God. The law was not the problem. The problem was the people.

The only reason icy for people to insist on abolishing the law is to forget the one commandment in which God said to "remember." Obeying your conscience to forget something which God said should be remembered is going exactly contrary to the Spirit's leading. God cannot honor you when you are in direct violation of love.

I pray this helps.
 
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