Which Covenant - New or Old (Mosaic)? For WHO? And WHEN?

There was very little confusion about these questions in the early Church. The Apostles worked out the issues surrounding these questions. You may be familiar with their conclusions - they are contained WITHIN the New Testament.

The church that followed the Apostles had a UNIFORM opinion and a UNIVERSAL answer to these questions. 

There was no confusion until the 1800s when a NEW TEACHING emerged that began to question these issues. So, for literally 1800 years there was a single position amongst those who followed Jesus Christ and then a 'novel doctrine' emerged.

What was the UNIFORM/UNIVERSAL opinion of the Apostles themselves and the Earliest Christians?

It is summed up in this quote by the early Christian leader/theologian named Tertullian in AD207:

“The epistle that we also allow to be the most decisive against Judaism, is that in which the Apostle [Paul] instructs the Galatians. For we fully admit the abolition of the ancient Law [of Moses]. We hold that it actually proceeds from the dispensation of the Creator. ...Christ marks the period of the separation when He says, “The [Mosaic] Law and the Prophets were until John [the Baptist].” [Lk. 16:16] He thus made the Baptist the boundary between the two dispensations of the old things that were then terminating and the new things that were then beginning.”  

One Covenant ENDED in the 1st Century and another one BEGAN. The Old Covenant [Mosaic Law/Sinai Covenant] came to an END - it was in effect "until John [the Baptist]" who was the LAST of the Old Testament prophets according to Jesus. 

Tertullian concurs and states that "Christ marks the period of separation" between the Old and New Covenants. And the final nail in the coffin so to speak happened in AD70 when the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed which ENDED the Old Testament priesthood and a functioning Jewish Temple in order to carry out the requirements of the Mosaic Law.

Judaism after this time had to re-invent itself and the Rabbis (descendents of the Pharisees) came up with a Jewish faith that was radically different than the one prescribed in the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures/Old Testament). They 'invented' the concept of the "Oral Torah" (as distinguished from the "Written Torah" which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament). And eventually in late 4th/early 5th century they codified what is known as the Talmud which was the commentary on the Oral Torah.

WHO were these Covenants made with? Clearly, the Mosaic Covenant was made with Israel as a nation through Moses at Mt. Sinai (thus sometimes referred to as the Sinai Covenant). 

The New Covenant we learn from Jeremiah's prophecy that "the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah" (which means with all of the 12 Jewish Tribes) - Jer. 31:31

The New Covenant would be made with the descendants of the 12 Tribes. And all the first followers of Jesus were from the Jewish tribes. All of the people present on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, where Jewish from the 12 tribes. For the next 10 years after Pentecost, the Apostles preached exclusively to Jews all over the Roman Empire and ultimately beyond. 

The Apostle show us in their writings that this was in fact the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a "new covenant". This was all happening between roughly AD30 and AD45. Some have Jesus' ministry as early as AD27, but basically we are looking at the period of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant during this time period. 

The Book of Hebrews written shortly after this time confirms this when the Apostle writes:

Hebrews 8:6-13 - ⁶ But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. ⁸ For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ⁹ not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹¹ And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹² For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” ¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The first Covenant (Old/Mosaic) was being made "obsolete" and it was "ready to vanish away". Why? Because shortly after Hebrews was written the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed and that marked the ultimate end of the Old Covenant.

The Jewish followers of Jesus didn't realize, even though He taught them and the Old Testament prophets had many prophecies regarding the Gentiles, that there would be in Christ a "grafting in" of Gentiles into the covenantal promises given to Abraham as the people of God. Beyond the physical circumcision, there would be a 'spiritual circumcision' for Gentiles that put their faith in Christ. Such Gentile believers are therefore brought into the covenantal blessings of Abraham AND also brought into the New Covenant and its blessings.

Like I mentioned, it literally took the Apostles 10 years after Pentecost (which was 13 years after they had begun sitting under the teaching of their Jewish Rabbi, Jesus), until they understood that God had a plan to include everyone, Jew and Gentile, in His redemptive plan. The Apostle Paul explains this in Romans 11. 

What I have just written regarding the Old and New Covenants was/is the faith the Apostles taught and the faith RECEIVED by their descendents. Taught faithfully throughout the history of the Church until other ideas began in the 1800s.

The "sign" of the Old Covenant was the SABBATH (some would include circumcision but that was actually the "sign" of the Abrahamic Covenant). The "sign" of the New Covenant was/is BAPTISM.

So guess what we don't find Christ followers doing after the New Covenant begins? We don't find them requiring circumcision any longer and we don't find them observing the sabbath. 

Look what we find in the year AD105 (right after the death of the Apostle John by one of John's personal disciples named Ignatius:

We are "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day [Sunday]."  Ignatius (AD 105)

Could anyone believe that John who died in the 90s was so bad in his discipleship that one of his most well-known disciples had abandoned the keeping of the Sabbath? 

We find another early Christian apologist in his famous Dialogue with Trypho (a Jew) echoing Ignatius when he writes, "Is there any other matter, my [Jewish] friends, in which we Christians are blamed, than this: that we do not live after the Law [of Moses]...and do not observe Sabbaths as you do?"  Justin Martyr (AD 160)

I could supply many other quotations from the leaders of the 2nd century Church - the church was not following the dietary laws of the Law of Moses and not keeping the Jewish feasts commanded in the Law of Moses. Why? Because that Covenant had ENDED. 

What LAW were Christians following? THE LAW OF CHRIST (Galatians 6:2). They were following the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. Jesus said, "if you love me you will keep MY COMMANDMENTS" (John 14:15). Surely the Apostle John had taught that to his disciple Ignatius who in AD105 was NOT keeping the Law of Moses (i.e. Sabbath observance, Mosaic dietary laws) but was keeping the Law of Christ.

What you have just read was/is the Apostolic faith and understanding of the Old and New Covenants. This was the universal understanding of the entire Christian Church (ALL branches) for 1800 years. 

And the only ones you find that had a different understanding of these issues were groups called heretics (i.e. the Ebionites of the late 2nd Century that Irenaeus describes in his famous work Against Heresies who were still keeping the Mosaic Law, practicing circumcision, accepted ONLY the Gospel of Matthew and rejected the writings of the Apostle Paul).

Tragically, since the 1800s the confusion on the aforementioned matters has spread broadly and in recent years (especially since COVID) an explosion of false teaching on these issues has spread through 'internet teachers'. 

May this short blog post help you "contend for the [Apostolic] faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).

For such a time as this...