The Gospel (Page 3)
(as stated in the Scriptures)

The Terms of the New Covenant, of the Gospel of Christ.

Heb.8:7-13

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8 But showing its fault, God says to them,

       “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
      9 ​​​​​​​“It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.
     10 ​​​​​​​“For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.
     11 ​​​​​​​“And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.
     12 ​​​​​​​“For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”
 13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.

 

First, please note that the New Covenant is clearly contrasted with the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai.  If you perceive the New Covenant as being a two sided covenant, where “God does His part, if we do our part”, well then you have completely missed what has been said here.  This New Covenant is like the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen.15), where God makes the promises to Abraham and keeps Abraham from making any reciprocal vows or requirements.  This is why the Abrahamic Covenant is brought up in Chapter Six of Hebrews.   Again, if you view the New Covenant, and perceive it to be just a modification of the Old Covenant, where new rules have replaced the old rules, or some of the harsher rules have been mellowed out, you do not understand the New Covenant at all, nor the Old Covernant.

This covenant applies to specific class of people which God calls, “the house of Israel and the house of Judah”.  If you are not part of this group, you are not in the New Covenant.  So how does one become a member of this group?  By faith in the God who grants divine elective grace to those whom He predestined for Himself as vessels of honor (Rom.8&9).  Notice, that God says, “I will put my laws in their minds”, “I will inscribe them on their hearts”, “I will be their God, they will be my people”.  God also makes them know Himself, and will be merciful to their sins and evil deeds.  He deliberately chooses not to remember their sins and lawless deeds anymore.  This is the New Covenant, and the terms of this covenant applies to all believers in Christ.

It is clear from the above passages that monergism (one party working—God) is employed in the Gospel of salvation by God and the work of regeneration, as opposed to synergism (two parties working—God and man) which would mean that would God need man’s effort and/or will to obtain the goal of reconciliation, salvation, and eternal life.  As the prophet Jonah said, ”Salvation is of the Lord”.