UNDERSTANDING THE TESTAMENTS- BY PASTOR GREG ELKAN

_In that He says, “A new covenant”, He has made the first old._ – Heb 8:13.

The term “New Testament” as a label for the last 27 books of our Bible must not be conflated with the term “New Testament” as used in the Bible itself. 

When the Bible talks about the “New Testament,” it’s not referring to a set of books (which were not even in existence by then), but to the covenant of righteousness by faith that God made with mankind through the death of Jesus on the cross (Mk 14:24; 2Co 3:6; Heb 9:15). Similarly, the term “Old Testament” in the Bible (used only once, in 2Co 3:14) is not a reference to the 39 books of the Hebrew scriptures, but to the Law of Moses.

Furthermore, this “New Testament” didn’t start with the inauguration of the Church in Acts, but has been in operation right from the creation of Man. The Bible authors only used the term “new” for it to distinguish it from the Law of Moses which the Jews held as _the_ covenant. 

What then are these “testaments”? As stated earlier, the “New Testament” is the covenant of righteousness by faith that God has with humanity. From the very beginning, God made it known that sin cannot be atoned by acts of penance or works of piety. Attempting to “pay” for your sin is the natural impulse of fallen Man. But God insists that whosoever comes to Him must come in faith that He alone can take of our sin problem (Heb 11:6).

Abraham is a stellar example of an ancient Patriarch that understood and lived by this principle; but as Hebrews 11 shows, he was not by any means the first or only “Old Testament” person to be made righteous by faith.

In a matter of no small irony, the covenant of the Law of Moses, (which scriptures later had to refer to as “old”), was instituted to _illustrate_ and _teach_ this “New Testament” paradigm to the Jewish people, (Gal 3:24-25; 4:2-3; Mat 5:17-18). Nevertheless, after Moses’ death, unbelief and carnality set in, and the rites and rituals of his Law: the sacrifices of bulls and goats, the temples and festivals, etc. came to be instituted as _THE_ way to attain righteousness with God. (See Ps 40:6; 50:8-9; 51:16; Is 1:11; Jer 7:21-23; Hos 6:6; etc.).

But God’s kind of righteousness has been revealed for  all of humanity to know, _as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”_ (Rom 1:17; Hab 2:4; Gal 3:11)

AMEN...

PASTOR GREG ELKAN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name