Married to Christ

The NEW COVENANT.

Some say it co-exists with the Old Covenant.

Others say it's really only a renewal of the Old.

But really it replaces the Old.

Have you ever witnessed a wedding-vows renewal ceremony?

It looks like a wedding, but it's not a real wedding contract. It can't be - a couple can't have two marriage contracts! They can only ever have one.

You hear them repeat their wedding vows, but it doesn't quite feel like a wedding - because a mere renewal of vows isn't really a contract at all. It's nowhere near as important as the wedding contract. Not even close!

It feels kinda cute of course - it's touching to see their love for each other - but legally it's not necessary. It has no legal import. 

In fact sometimes you could even think that renewing wedding vows somehow implies the couple might have been drifting apart! Nice - but it's just not the same on many levels.

Have you ever witnessed a second wedding? Say a person had tragically lost their spouse, and now God has wonderfully brought someone into her life again. 

That feels quite special! And it's a real contract! It's no less real than the woman's first marriage - because her first marriage legally ended. Tragically - but it ended. 

Her new marriage is a legal contract, and feels special - only because the first marriage was legally over. She can't have two marriage contracts at the same time.

To say the New Covenant is merely a renewal of the Old, is to make the New Covenant not a real Covenant at all.

Saying it's merely a renewal weakens its legal value, making it less potent than the Old which had been a real legal instrument. 

Really, that denigrates the work of Christ. Christ's own blood was merely a renewal, while the blood of bulls and goats was the real contract? Please! 

No, Christ didn't come just to renew an old Covenant - he brought a real, legal, NEW contract. 

Like a marriage, only ONE contract can exist at a time. If a spouse has died, a woman can  marry again. Paul said you have become dead to the Law, so you could become married to another - even Christ. The New Covenant is a legal contract because the first contract is over - otherwise it's not really a covenant at all.

Christ died for us - we also died with Him. He was crucified on the advice of the High Priest - but it was for us, for we had the sentence of death against us because of the Law of sin and death. 

In Christ we became dead to the Law so we could be married to another - JESUS. 

That's the New Covenant - it's of far more potency than a mere renewing of old vows. It's a legal contract - because the Old Covenant was brought to a legal end through death.

The Old Covenant - the Law - ended in death (for by the Law is the knowledge of sin) - and Christ was our substitute - and us in Him - but the New Covenant brought LIFE - eternal life - in JESUS! 

It's not a mere renewal. It doesn't co-exist with the Old. It's a whole NEW Covenant.

Praise God!