Today's Devotional

November 14,  2005

 

Subject:  New Testament Or New Covenant?

Hebrews 9:16 - For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator."

I was watching a funny video entitled, "Evangelism Linebacker," where a football player was physically attacking people who didn't willingly share the message of the gospel.  It was really funny, and in one clip after he forcefully knocked one youngster to the ground because the youngster was telling a friend he didn't have time to go witnessing, he yelled "pride goes before the fall, that's old testament!"  The clip was funny, but I thought about how it could be an educational tool for understanding the time perspective of the bible.  

Many people talk about the "old testament" and "new testament" at times to define what was happening then or what should be happening now.  In many of those cases, a mistake is made because most people think new testament and new covenant cover the same periods of time or that the words can be used interchangeably.  This may seem like a small matter, but proper delimiting of the times for each period are essential to a correct interpretation of the bible.

The verse above identifies a requirement for the initiation of a "new testament," or if you prefer, a "new covenant."  It requires the death of the testator or as we understand it, the death of the person who has written the will.  Therefore, the period before the death of Christ is part of the old covenant.  The new covenant was brought in with the death of Christ.  Those periods are not to be confused with the old and new testaments, which is the way the books of the bible are broken down.  Christ Himself, lived under the "old covenant," although His life is chronicled in the new testament portion of our bible.  

Today, we see more clearly what was probably pretty difficult for people who always lived under the law of the old covenant.  We see that Christ was ushering in a period of grace while living under the law.  To make this distinction will aid you much in your biblical interpretation.

Carlen