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Answer
The term “testament” is synonymous with “covenant,” so one might ask, “What sets apart the Old Testament from the New Testament?” While the titles Old Testament and New Testament are commonly used to refer to the two sections of the Bible, a more precise description would be the books of the Old Testament and the books of the New Testament. Referring to them as the books of the Old Covenant and the books of the New Covenant would be even more accurate. The Old Testament comprises 39 individual documents that outline the details of the Old Covenant, while the New Testament consists of 27 individual documents that elaborate on the New Covenant.
The Old Covenant represents the covenant that God established with Israel, a unique relationship that distinguished them from all other peoples. God selected a few patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and multiplied their descendants into a great nation, providing them with a land (Canaan) and His laws to govern their lives (refer to Exodus 20 and subsequent chapters). The Israelites were expected to remain faithful to God, obey His commands, and worship Him exclusively. In return for their obedience, God promised to bless them, but disobedience would result in chastisement (see Deuteronomy 27–28). God instituted a sacrificial system for temporary cleansing of sins, although these sacrifices had to be repeated regularly. He appointed priests to intercede for the people because direct access to God was not permitted. Despite these provisions, the nation as a whole proved unfaithful and eventually faced God’s judgment.
Jeremiah prophesied about the impending judgment on Israel, but he also conveyed a message of hope:
“‘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. 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 broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 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,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more’” (Jeremiah 31: 31–34).
In this new covenant, God said, Israel will be restored, sins will be finally forgiven, people will know God directly, and they will have His law written on their hearts so that they will want to obey Him. The law under the Old Covenant was never a means to salvation; rather, it led to condemnation as people repeatedly broke the law and violated the covenant. Paul, citing many passages from the books of the Old Covenant, explains: “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.’
‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:10-20).
The book of Hebrews is an extended discourse on the differences between the Old and New Covenants. Here is one passage dealing with the subject:
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming— not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
“But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. . . . Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says: ‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’ Then he adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary” (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11-18).
TheNew Covenant sacrifice of Jesus on behalf of His people means that sins can be forgiven once and for all.
Under the Old Covenant, only the priests could enter the Holy Place, and only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place once per year.
The author of Hebrews explains: “But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
“For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:11-15).
Because of Christ, the high priest of the New Covenant, we can come into God’s presence: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” «Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.», (Hebrews 4:16).
Another aspect of the New Covenant is that Gentiles can be “grafted into the tree of Israel” by faith in Jesus, the King and Messiah of Israel.(see Romans 11:11-24). As James explained at the Jerusalem Council, “Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for His name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
“‘After this, I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear My name, says the Lord, who does these things’” (Acts 15:14-18).
In summary, the Old Covenant was governed by a law that prescribed correct behavior, which the people continually broke. It contained a sacrificial system that only temporarily removed sins. The sacrifices were administered by priests who represented the people of Israel to God, but the people could not enter God’s presence themselves.
The New Covenant is governed by a law that is internalized by the people of God and energized by His Spirit. The sins of the people are forgiven and removed once and for all by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the people of God have direct, intimate access to Him. Finally, Gentiles who believe are included in the New Covenant.
