The new covenant is the same law written on the heart
The Ten Commandments were the stipulations of the Sinai covenant, made with Israel at Horeb (Deuteronomy 5:2-3 ); the new covenant in Christ’s blood subsumes the ten into two (Matthew 22:37-40 ), moves the medium from stone to the heart, and raises the standard from behavior to posture. Jesus established that covenant on the same suzerain-vassal treaty structure as Sinai. The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 31:31 and the Greek behind Hebrews 8:8 both describe a covenant renewed in quality.
Cutting a covenant
The Hebrew word for covenant is berith (בְּרִית , “covenant, pact”), and the verb is karath (כָּרַת , “to cut”). You cut a covenant.
In Genesis 15:9-10 , God instructs Abram to cut a heifer (a young cow), a she goat, and a ram in half and lay the pieces opposite each other. God’s presence passes between them as a smoking furnace and burning lamp (Genesis 15:17 ). Abram is asleep (Genesis 15:12 ).
The one who walks between the pieces takes the self-maledictory oath: may what happened to these animals happen to me if I break this covenant. Jeremiah 34:18 :
I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.
The suzerain bore the curse alone. The vassal received the covenant.
The Sinai treaty
Deuteronomy 5:2-3 specifies the parties: “The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us.” The Ten Commandments follow the suzerain-vassal treaty format from Exodus 20:2 to Deuteronomy 28 . Gentile believers enter through the new covenant in Christ’s blood (Luke 22:20 ).
What “new” means
The Hebrew word in Jeremiah 31:31 is chadashah (חֲדָשָׁה , “new, renewed”), from the root ch-d-sh. The verb form chadash means to renew, restore, or repair:
- 2 Chronicles 15:8 : Asa “renewed” (chadash) the altar of the LORD
- Psalm 51:10 : “renew” (chadesh) a right spirit within me
- Psalm 104:30 : “thou renewest” (techadesh) the face of the earth
The moon is called chodesh (חֹדֶשׁ , “new moon, month”) from the same root. Same moon, new phase. The Hebrew name of the new covenant is brit chadashah (בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה , “renewed covenant”).
The Greek in Hebrews 8:8 is kainos (καινός ). The traditional gloss, “new in quality” against neos (νέος , “new in time”), is the older lexical tradition (Trench); modern lexicons treat the two words as largely overlapping in Koine usage, and Hebrews itself calls the same covenant neas at 12:24 . Both Hebrews 8:8 and Hebrews 9:15 use kainos. The renewal argument stands on the Hebrew.
The new covenant as treaty
The NT word for covenant is diatheke (διαθήκη , “covenant, testament”). The LXX translators chose diatheke over syntheke (συνθήκη , “bilateral agreement”) to render berith. Syntheke is a negotiated contract between equals. Diatheke comes from diatithemi (διατίθημι , “to arrange, dispose”) and in classical Greek means a last will and testament. One party sets the terms. The other receives them.
In Hebrews 9:16-17 , the author uses both meanings deliberately: a diatheke activates on the death of the one who made it, which is how the death of Christ activated the new covenant.
Preamble
Sinai: “I am the LORD thy God” (Exodus 20:2). New covenant:
Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58 )
The Greek ego eimi (ἐγὼ εἰμί , “I am”) echoes the divine name revealed in Exodus 3:14 : ehyeh asher ehyeh (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה , “I AM THAT I AM”).
The exclusivity clause follows in John 14:6 :
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Historical prologue
Sinai: “which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” God freed Israel from physical slavery under Pharaoh. The act established the suzerain’s authority to impose terms.
The new covenant parallel is freedom from sin and death. Paul in Romans 8:2 :
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
And Romans 6:18 : “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Egypt held the body. Sin and death held the old man (Romans 6:6 ). The deliverance is the same in structure, greater in scope.
Jesus describes the terms of this freedom in Matthew 11:28-30 :
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The yoke is a treaty term. Vassals bore the yoke of their suzerain. The Sinai yoke carried 613 commandments and a curse for failure (Deuteronomy 28). The new yoke carries two commandments and a suzerain who already absorbed the curse.
Stipulations
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)
Ten words become two. John 13:34 adds:
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
The qualifier “as I have loved you” sets the measure.
Deposit
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. (Hebrews 8:10 , quoting Jeremiah 31:33 )
The old treaty was inscribed on stone and stored in the Ark of the Covenant. The new treaty is inscribed on the heart. The Ark becomes the believer. The remedy changed with the medium: metanoia (μετάνοια , “change of mind and direction”) requires the heart by definition.
Witnesses
The old treaty called heaven and earth as witnesses (Deuteronomy 30:19 ). The parallel at the tomb is this article’s own observation, not a label the evangelists use: the women find two angels:
Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. (Luke 24:5-6 )
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James as human witnesses. Two angels as divine witnesses. The role extends to all believers:
Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8 )
The Spirit joins them as co-witness (John 15:26-27 ).
Blessings and curses
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12 ) and the corresponding woes (Luke 6:24-26 ). In the Sinai treaty, the curse falls on the vassal (Deuteronomy 28). In the new covenant, the suzerain absorbed the curse himself:
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13 )
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.
The rich young ruler as diagnostic (Matthew 19:16-22)
A man asks Jesus what to do to have eternal life. Jesus responds with a list:
Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 19:18-19 )
These are all from the second table, the interpersonal commandments a man can honestly check off. The young man answers honestly: “All these things have I kept from my youth up” (Matthew 19:20). He had every reason to believe it.
Jesus omitted the God-ward first table: no other gods, no image, the name, the sabbath. He also omitted the one interpersonal commandment no neighbor can observe: “Thou shalt not covet.”
Then the test:
If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21)
This targets the first commandment. What is your god? The young man went away sorrowful, “for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22). He had kept the whole second table while violating the foundational commandment his entire life.