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In Hebrews 8 the author of that epistle cites Jeremiah 31 regarding the New Covenant. There God spoke through the OT prophet and said, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Heb. 8:8b).

But wouldn’t that mean that we, the Church of Jesus Christ, have no membership in this covenant and can’t benefit from its blessings? After all, most of us are Gentiles and have not descended physically from Israel or Judah. No, it means no such thing! Continue reading . . .

In Hebrews 8 the author of that epistle cites Jeremiah 31 regarding the New Covenant. There God spoke through the OT prophet and said, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Heb. 8:8b).

But wouldn’t that mean that we, the Church of Jesus Christ, have no membership in this covenant and can’t benefit from its blessings? After all, most of us are Gentiles and have not descended physically from Israel or Judah. No, it means no such thing!

This is a huge theological question that I can only address briefly. So let me say just a couple of things.

First, when the apostle Paul quotes the words of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 11 and tells the Church about its responsibility to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, he explicitly mentions that this is the celebration of the New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31. That makes no sense unless Jeremiah’s prophecy is applicable to the entire Body of Christ, the entire Church, which is comprised of both believing Jews and believing Gentiles.

Second, in 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul explicitly says that we are the recipients of and ministers of the New Covenant.

Third, the blessings of the prophesied New Covenant, those described in Hebrews 8 and throughout the rest of the NT, are identical with the blessings that Christians in the Church receive and enjoy: forgiveness of sins, the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge of God inscribed on our hearts.

Fourth, the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written are members of the Church! His point in this epistle is, “You now have and are participants in the new and better covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 and established by Jesus through his death and resurrection; so why would you ever want to go back under the old covenant and its inferior ways?” If the members of the church in Rome, to which this letter was addressed, are not also members of the New Covenant, nothing in this entire book makes any sense at all.

Fifth, according to Hebrews 8:6 the new covenant “is” better (present tense) and “has been enacted” (perfect tense) on better promises. And those better promises are precisely what he describes in Hebrews 8:10-12 that apply to us, the Church.

Sixth, in Hebrews 10:15 our author says that the Holy Spirit bears witness to “us”, the Church, that God has made this new covenant with us!

Seventh, you should keep in mind a couple of things about the reference to the “house of Israel” and the “house of Judah” in Hebrews 8:8.

For one thing, who was present in the upper room when Jesus inaugurated the new covenant and established the Lord’s Supper as the ordinance by which we celebrate it? Jews! The only people present were the disciples and their close friends, all members of either the house of Israel or Judah. Furthermore, according to Galatians 3:16 and 3:28-29 (and numerous other texts) anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is now the “seed” of Abraham and thus an heir according to the promise. In other words, the Church of Jesus Christ is the true Israel of God.

That doesn’t mean believing Jews are excluded or replaced as heirs of the promise made to Abraham. All ethnic Jews who believe in Jesus are members of the New Covenant. But so too are ethnic Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

The blood in your veins no longer matters for anything. The only thing that matters is the faith in your heart: if you trust in Jesus, whether you are male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile, you are the seed of Abraham, the true Israel of God, and thus members of the New Covenant.

3 Comments

How could it be anti-Semitic to affirm that all believing Jews will inherit all the promises made to them in the Abrahamic and New Covenants? For more on this, I suggest you take a look at my book, Kingdom Come, especially the chapters on Who are the People of God.

How do we refute the charge of anti-semitism that this position inevitably brings? There are those that assert that God still has promises to Israel he must keep if he is going to be true to his word.

Amen brother! I agree with you 100 per cent. "And He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." (Acts 15:9)

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