Old Covenant

Occurrences in Scripture

The expression "old covenant" appears in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 3:14, Paul says that a veil lies over the hearts of the Jews "in the reading of the old testament." The New Korean Revised Version renders the phrase guyak ("Old Testament"), but the original wording means "old covenant." In the same chapter Paul calls himself one of the "ministers of the new testament" and contrasts the ministry of the letter of the law engraved on tablets of stone with the ministry of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:3-6).

The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to the same covenant as the "first covenant." After quoting the New Covenant prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34, it explains, "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old" (Hebrews 8:6-13). Chapter 9 compares the tabernacle and the sacrificial ordinances of the first covenant, including the high priest's annual entry into the Most Holy Place, with Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. Galatians 4:24-25 presents Hagar and Sarah as an allegory of the two covenants, associating Hagar with the covenant of Mount Sinai.

Background and Terminology

The Old Covenant refers to the Sinai Covenant, made at Mount Sinai after the Exodus (Exodus 19–24). God took Israel as his people and gave them the Ten Commandments and various laws. The people responded that they would keep them, and Moses ratified the covenant by sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices (Exodus 24:8). The tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrifices were all given within this covenant.

"Covenant" translates the Hebrew berit and the Greek diathēkē. In Latin translation, "old covenant" was rendered vetus testamentum, which gave rise to the name "Old Testament."

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The Old Covenant is so called because there is a New Covenant. Jeremiah promised a new covenant "not according to the covenant" God had made with the fathers, and declared that God would write his law on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The New Testament understands Jesus' words at the Last Supper, "This cup is the new testament in my blood," as the fulfillment of this promise (Luke 22:20). Hebrews regards the sacrifices and sanctuary of the Old Covenant as "a shadow of good things to come" (Hebrews 10:1).

Interpretations and Issues

The relationship between the Old and New Covenants is explained differently across traditions.

• Reformed and Presbyterian: Following covenant theology, this tradition views the two covenants as different administrations of one covenant of grace. Chapter 7 of the Westminster Confession of Faith states that the covenant of grace was administered differently "in the time of the law" and "in the time of the gospel," yet these are not two covenants differing in substance. The law is understood as divided into moral, ceremonial, and civil law; the ceremonial law is held to be abrogated, while the moral law remains binding (Chapter 19 of the same Confession).
• Dispensationalism: Dispensationalism regards the Sinai Covenant as given to the nation of Israel and tends to distinguish between Israel and the church.
• Lutheran: This tradition has a strong tendency to read the Old Covenant through the distinction between law and gospel.
• Baptist and others: How one views the continuity between circumcision and baptism bears on the infant baptism debate. Those who place greater emphasis on the newness of the New Covenant take it as grounds for baptizing only those who have professed faith.
• The Sabbath question: The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds that because the Ten Commandments remain binding, the Saturday Sabbath must be kept. Most Protestants observe the Lord's Day (Sabbath and Lord's Day).

Views also differ on whether the New Covenant replaces Israel, the people of the Old Covenant. Some interpreters, citing Romans 11:28-29, hold that God's calling of Israel still stands.

A common oversimplification holds that "the Old Covenant shows a God of wrath and the New Covenant a God of love," but the biblical text does not say this. The early church rejected Marcionism, which regarded the God of the Old Testament as a different god. Moreover, "the Old Testament as a whole" and "the Old Covenant" are not synonymous. The Old Testament also contains the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the promise of the New Covenant.

In the Korean Church

The very names of the two parts of the Bible, guyak (Old Testament) and sinyak (New Testament), derive from the distinction between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In celebrations of the Lord's Supper, the New Covenant text is usually read as the words of institution. The Old Covenant is frequently mentioned in preaching by way of contrast with this text.