13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
Replacement is the new restoration. Just like the present heavens and earth will someday become obsolete (Heb 1:11), so too, the old covenant, the one instituted by Moses has become obsolete. God has a way of not just restoring, or even making something new. Rather, the obsolete makes way for the perfect. Not a restoration to what was before, but a replacement with something new and different and complete.
The Mosaic covenant of the Law was never intended to be the final statement of God, the complete arrangement of relationship between the divine and the human. The terminology of Jeremiah makes this clear, “ ‘Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah’ ” (Jer 31:31 quoted in Hebrews 8:8). In other words, the writer of Hebrews is not bringing new revelation, but is unpacking the implications of the Old Testament scripture. Clearly he is writing to a Jewish audience, or at least those familiar with Old Testament teachings.
Christian teaching does not contradict the Jewish Scripture, but builds on and draws out the implications of it. And by the Jewish Scripture’s own teaching, the new covenant (which is fully explained in the New Testament) replaces the old covenant, namely the Law of Moses. It is as though the old has written its own obituary. And the replacement is stark, though it is not violent. The old does not go down kicking and screaming, but the old rejoices, as it were, in the coming of the new—because the old’s purpose was to anticipate and prepare God’s people for the new. This gives life to the idea that John the Baptist, representing the old way, prepared the people of God for the coming Messiah.
Jesus taught this replacement when He spoke of using new wineskins in place of the old (Matt 9:17). It is true that He affirmed the Law when He proclaimed, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:18). But now the Law has been accomplished, and has been replaced by the new covenant which is permanent. Jesus went on to say, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matt 24:35). The message of Christ is enduring. The new covenant will last for eternity. Peter recognized this when he confessed, “You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Lord, Your words give me life for eternity. Because of this I can live that life now, redeemed and replaced. I was once dead, but now I’m alive!
Does the use of the word “replacement” here open the thinking to “replacement theology”, I.e. The church replacing Israel in the whole prophetic picture?
Jim, thanks for your thoughtful reading of the blog. No, I don’t believe the church has replaced Israel, but there is a future for Israel based on the promises to Abraham and the Palestinian covenant (for possessing the land). However, the law of Moses has been shown to be inadequate (a big theme in the book of Hebrews). I do understand concern though because the word “replacement” has been associated with the theological concept of the church replacing Israel, which I do not agree with. At the same time, I don’t want to let such theological categories prevent us from using an otherwise good word to convey that the old covenant has given way to the new. So, no, I do not subscribe to the resurgence of “Covenant Theology.”