THE COVENANT OF LAW
The terms "old testament" and "old covenant" are used interchangeably in the sacred Scriptures. The "old covenant" was written upon two tablets of stone. On the basis of that covenant the chosen people had been called out of slavery to constitute a nation. Nothing that had been said prior to the giving of the two stone tablets was a part of the covenant. Nothing that was written subsequently was a part of it. Certainly all that God had said before and all He said afterward sustained a relationship to the covenant, but the covenant itself was a distinct instrument. Of this, Moses is our first and best witness, for he received the original draft of the constitution.
Thirty-eight years later, in the plains of Moab, Moses rehearsed in the ears of the surviving children of the original covenantees, a summary of the things that transpired: "And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone" (Deuteronomy 4:11-13; KJV).
More explicit yet is the account in Deuteronomy 5: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day" (vv. 2, 3). Certainly, then, the first sixty-nine chapters of the Bible are not a part of "the first covenant" mentioned in Hebrews 8:7, for they deal with the fathers previous to the encounter at Sinai, and the Lord did not make the covenant with the fathers.
Just as Moses eliminates from the covenant the sacred writings dealing with prior history, he also eliminates all future writings from it. He repeats the Ten Commandments as the covenant, then concludes: "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me" (v. 22). Although God "added no more," men have added some thirty-seven books of history, chronicles, poetry, songs, wise sayings, prophecies, and apocalyptic writings to the covenant made at Horeb. When they speak of "the old testament," they include all of these in their concept.
Even worse than this, they carry that same concept over to "the new covenant." They make our very relationship to God and one another dependent upon their idea, denying that anyone who disagrees with their theological slant can be in covenant with God. This defeats the very purpose of God and negates the reconciliation effected by the cross. If God deals with us as a covenant-making God, and men confuse the covenant with writings addressed to the covenant people, our relationship is not conditioned upon faith but upon our intellectual apprehension of abstract matters.
We respectfully submit that a consideration of the following points will help all of us to realize that "the first testament" did not include all of the Scriptures now called the Old Testament.
1. The two tables of stone are distinctly said to be the tables of the covenant (Deuteronomy 9:11). They are called the "tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant" (v. 9).
2. The sacred chest, or coffer, containing the tablets of stone was called "the ark of the covenant" (Numbers 10:33; Deuteronomy 10:8). When Solomon erected the temple, he said, "In it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, that he made with the children of Israel" (2 Chronicles 6:11). The ark had disappeared before many of the books of prophecy were even written. Not one of the books of prophecy was ever in the ark, because not one was a part of the covenant.
3. The covenant was distinctly said to have been made and given in Horeb (Deuteronomy 5:2). The apostle Paul identified this as Mount Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 4:24, 25). But most of the rest of the Old Covenant Scriptures were written in Palestine, Babylon, or Persia.
4. The covenant was said to have been made when God "took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt" (Jeremiah 31:32). The Scriptures were written much later and in many other places.
5. Certainly the prophecy of Jeremiah was no part of the "first testament," for by the time Jeremiah wrote, the people had already broken the covenant of God. The prophet predicted that a new covenant would be made (Jeremiah 31:31).
The words of "the old testament" which God made with Israel were first announced orally by the voice of God. These words embraced the Ten Commandments and the preamble that identified God. The finger of God then wrote the words upon two stone tablets (Deuteronomy 9:10). The covenant was limited to the content of the oral message that was subsequently engraved upon the two tablets, for the Lord added no more.
When the people had heard the words of God, they were so frightened that the heads of the tribes approached Moses and besought him, "Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it" (Deuteronomy 5:27; KJV). The Lord agreed to this arrangement. He instructed Moses to go and tell the people to return to their tents. However, He told Moses, "Stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them" (v. 31). There was a difference between the covenant and the various statutes, commands, and ordinances. The covenant established the nation's relationship as the elect of God, and the other commands regulated the people within that relationship. The apostle Paul recognized this distinction when he wrote, "They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises" (Romans 9:4; RSV).
The covenant made at Sinai, through which national theocratic status was conferred upon Israel, was of such a nature as to require a definite written code to accomplish its design. The law is personified as a "child-conductor" or "custodian" (Galatians 3:24; RSV). It was a guardian or trustee (Galatians 4:2; RSV). Those who were under its jurisdiction were regarded as children, or minors, thus possessing no more freedom than slaves (Galatians 4:1). Now, just as no one would entrust a child to the care of another who was immature, so the nation at its inception required a law that was complete. A foundation is not constructed gradually, after a structure has been erected. A nation founded upon law must have the law to produce the nation. Accordingly, the Lord revealed to the original mediator the law in its fullness.
The first covenant was a legalistic arrangement. It was designed to keep its subjects in confinement and under restraint, and so the covenant itself was legalistic. It consisted of law. The covenant given through Moses was law, but not all the laws given through Moses were part of the covenant. This will explain such statements as that of Paul, "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Romans 7:7; KJV). This statement is a part of the covenant. It is one of the Ten Commandments. But the covenant was the groundwork of a legal system. Because of this, other portions of the Scriptures which grew out of this legal covenant are referred to as "law." They are parts of a legal system.
It is important that we understand the nature of a system of law as opposed to a system of faith for justification before God. If we fail to do so, we may simply substitute one law for another, and this would be a fatal error. Any person who seeks to be justified by law must keep that law to perfection. If one proposes to establish a relationship based upon deeds of law, he must maintain a meticulous and unvarying obedience to every command, regardless of how minute it may seem. His very life will depend upon such obedience, for he is trading his deeds for life. "The law does not rest on faith, for 'He who does them shall live by them'" (Galatians 3:12; RSV). To put that in reverse, it simply teaches that a man can live under the law only if he does absolutely everything the law requires. The slightest deviation brings condemnation and death.
One cannot set up in his heart a system of justification by law, and then expect God's grace to rescue him in his failures. Grace operates through faith and not by law. If we are now under any kind of a written code, seeking for justification, our only hope (if hope it may be called) is to live in constant fear and dread, and keep every provision of that written code without fail.
This being true, the question naturally arises, "Why then the law?" Why did God institute a covenant consisting of a written code? The question is not new. It was first propounded by an avid student of the law in Galatians 3:19. The inspired answer is found at the same place: "It was added because of transgressions, till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made" (RSV). The "offspring" is identified in the context as Jesus Christ. The law was added to the promise made to Abraham, and was intended to act as a custodian to guard and guide the people in their immaturity until they could be brought to Christ.
But justification did not come by the law, "for if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Galatians 2:21; RSV). It is plainly said, "by works of the law shall no one be justified" (2:16; RSV). Again, "It is evident that no man is justified before God by the law" (3:11). No written code can ever produce life. The law in its ultimate could produce only death. Since justification by law demands absolute conformity to the minutest degree, and since no man could fulfill the law's demand to this extent, "The very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me" (Romans 7:10; RSV); "For if a law had been given which could make alive then righteousness would indeed be by the law" (Galatians 3:21).