The New Covenant with Israel and the New Testament Inheritance for the Church
Orientation
A common confusion conflates the New Covenant made with Israel and the New Testament inheritance for the Church, blurring God's distinct purposes.
- The New Covenant is explicitly for Israel's national restoration.
- The Church receives its inheritance through the New Testament, a will enacted by Christ's death.
- Mixing these categories can undermine the assurance and finality of our inheritance in Christ.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: (Jeremiah 31:31)
— Jeremiah 31:31
Clarification
The Church is not a party to the New Covenant, but receives all blessings as co-heirs with Christ through the New Testament.
- Gentile believers had no covenantal claim to Abraham's promises apart from union with Christ.
- Christ's blood is both the blood of the New Covenant for Israel and the blood of the New Testament for the Church.
- Our inheritance is not conditional like a covenant, but secure like a will, having been enacted by the Testator's death.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. (Hebrews 9:16-17)
— Hebrews 9:16-17
Structure
God's unified plan involves distinct administrations: an earthly kingdom for Israel under the New Covenant and a heavenly inheritance for the Church through the New Testament.
- The New Covenant fulfills God's promise to restore Israel, forgive her sins, and write His law on her heart.
- The Church, the Body of Christ, is a new creation where ethnic distinctions are abolished.
- All promises are inherited by Christ, the true Seed, and we share this inheritance solely by being in Him.
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
— Ephesians 1:10
Weight-Bearing Prose
The theological structure rests on clear Pauline distinctions. The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36) is God’s unilateral promise to nationally restore Israel, replacing the failed Mosaic Covenant. Its blessings—forgiveness, a new heart, the Spirit, dwelling in the land—are for the house of Israel. The Church’s relationship to God is categorically different. Gentiles were ‘strangers from the covenants of promise’ (Ephesians 2:12). Our standing comes solely through union with Christ, the Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). We are beneficiaries of the New Testament, a will enacted by Christ’s death (Hebrews 9:16-17). This is not a bilateral covenant but an inherited portion. Christ’s blood is thus the blood of the New Covenant for Israel and simultaneously the blood of the New Testament for the Church. The Mosaic Law was a temporary, conditional covenant added 430 years after the unconditional promise to Abraham’s seed and cannot annul it (Galatians 3:17). Justification by faith is constant, but the group identity formed differs: presently, the heavenly Body of Christ; futurely, the restored nation of Israel. Both groups find their unity in Christ, who inherits all things.
Integration
Your assurance and inheritance are anchored in Christ, not in correctly parsing covenants. You are an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ because you are in Him. This is the settled reality of the New Testament. The distinct destinies of Israel and the Church are part of God’s wise plan to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth. There is no pressure to advance into this truth, only the rest of receiving it. Christ is your qualification, your portion, and your secure inheritance. The work is finished, the Testator has died, and the will is in full effect for you.