It is no small error to confuse Israel’s New Covenant with the spiritual reality of the church. This confusion is not academic—it strikes at the very heart of Christian assurance, inheritance, and the nature of our walk. The distinction is not optional; it is salvific. If you collapse these two, you will inevitably backload works, undermine justification, and set yourself up for legalism or despair. Let’s be clear: God made the New Covenant with Israel, not with the church. The church is not under its terms, nor are we the parties to its promises. Our relationship to Christ is of a different order entirely.
The New Covenant: God’s Future Work in Israel
The New Covenant is God’s irrevocable promise to the house of Israel. Its terms are explicit: “I will write my laws in their hearts and in their minds. I will give them a new heart, take away the heart of stone, put my Spirit in them, cleanse them from idols and backslidings, and cause them to walk in my ways.” This is not mere poetry—this is a supernatural transformation, a positive and powerful tool by which God will ensure Israel’s faithfulness as a nation of priests in the millennium. They will remain in their land, enjoy their inheritance, and fulfill their role as a light to the Gentiles. This is not the church’s experience. This is not our covenant.
James refers to this in Acts 15, citing the restoration of the tabernacle of David. In that day, the Gentiles will come to Israel to learn God’s law, for the law will go forth from Zion. Israel will teach, not as a scattered, backsliding people, but as a nation supernaturally kept by God Himself. They will not struggle with sin as we do; God will cause them to walk in His ways. This is a positive, glorious outcome—God’s faithfulness displayed in Israel’s future.
The Everlasting Covenant: The Church’s Foundation and Inheritance
Do not miss this: The church stands on the Everlasting Covenant, not the New Covenant. Christ, by His blood, fulfilled the terms of the Everlasting Covenant, becoming the Shepherd of the sheep and securing an inheritance for all who believe—Jew and Gentile alike. His blood is the means, the tool, by which forgiveness is secured for both Israel and the church. But the outcomes are distinct.
For Israel, the blood of Christ will one day bring national reconciliation, cleansing, healing, and enablement to walk in God’s ways. For the church, the blood has already secured our forgiveness and placed us into Christ Himself. We are not under law, nor under any legal obligation. We have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. This is a spiritual reality utterly distinct from Israel’s New Covenant. We are not waiting for God to write laws on our hearts so we can keep them—we are living as those who have died and risen with Christ, with His life as our life.
The New Testament Ministry: Stewardship, Not Law
Paul is emphatic: the church is not under the New Covenant, but under the New Testament ministry—a stewardship of glory, not a contract of obligation. The apostles are stewards, distributing the inheritance secured by Christ. This ministry is not God writing laws on stone or even directly on hearts to force obedience. No, it is the Spirit writing Christ Himself into us as a weight of glory through the ministry of the Word.
This is not theoretical. The apostles were brought through suffering, their outer man consumed, so that resurrection life would be manifested in them. As they ministered, the comfort and life they received became ours. The writing is twofold: the Spirit writes Christ into the minister and into those who receive the ministry. This is not the robotic obedience of the New Covenant for Israel; this is the organic, participatory gaining of Christ as our inheritance.
“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men… the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (2 Cor 3:2-3)
This is the true New Testament ministry—a ministry that dispenses Christ Himself as glory, making us heirs. The inheritance is not a set of laws or a land, but Christ Himself wrought into our being. As we behold Him, as we receive the ministry, we are transformed from glory to glory. This is the only way to gain Christ. If you bypass the apostles’ ministry, you forfeit the very means by which Christ is wrought into you.
What Is Lost If You Confuse the Covenants?
If you insist the church is under the New Covenant, you set yourself up for disaster. You will expect sinless perfection, and when you fail, you will either spiral into legalism or question your salvation. You will not understand why Christians still struggle with sin, why there are instructions, warnings, and exhortations in the epistles. You will lose the freedom of grace and the assurance of sonship, replacing it with a treadmill of introspection and self-effort. You will rob yourself of the joy of inheritance, and you will undermine the finished work of Christ.
Legalism and false expectations are not minor errors—they are the inevitable result of this confusion. The New Covenant for Israel removes the possibility of failure; the church, however, retains the possibility of carnality. Our position is secure by grace, but our condition fluctuates as we walk according to the flesh or the Spirit. The instructions of the epistles are necessary precisely because we are not under the New Covenant. We are called to set our minds on the Spirit, to be renewed, to put on Christ daily—not because our salvation is in question, but because our enjoyment of the inheritance depends on it.
The Spirit: Distinct Operations, Distinct Results
The Spirit’s work under the New Covenant for Israel will be like the Spirit coming upon the prophets—transformative, permanent, and irresistible. They will be made holy, incapable of backsliding, fulfilling the Sermon on the Mount in reality. We have not seen this yet. For the church, the Spirit regenerates our spirit, making it life because of righteousness. Our soul—mind, will, emotions—must be renewed as we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, revealed through the apostolic ministry. As we do, the Spirit bears witness that we are sons and heirs, producing life and peace.
This is not automatic. We can set our minds on the flesh and experience death, or on the Spirit and experience life. Our walk is one of continual renewal, daily entering into rest, daily laying hold of our inheritance. This is the liberty of the sons of God, not the robotic obedience of the New Covenant.
The Glory to Be Revealed
Whatever measure of Christ we gain in this age will be revealed as glory in the next. There are different weights of glory, different degrees of shining, but all is grace. The church’s glory as the bride of Christ surpasses even the glory of millennial Israel. Christ in us is the hope of glory—this is our inheritance, our destiny, our boast.
Do Not Surrender Your Inheritance
If you trade the Everlasting Covenant for the New Covenant, you surrender your inheritance for a false promise. You lose the stewardship of glory, the ministry of the Spirit, and the liberty of sonship. You exchange the finished work for an unfinished process, grace for law, assurance for anxiety. This is not a secondary issue. It is the difference between walking as a son and laboring as a servant.
The New Testament spirituality is not about striving to keep laws written on your heart. It is about gaining Christ, being transformed by the Spirit through the ministry of the Word, and inheriting glory as a free gift. Do not let anyone rob you of this by confusing the covenants. Stand in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and pursue the riches of your inheritance with boldness and joy.
