What we call the “Old” and “New” Testaments are in the Bible, called “Old Covenant” and “New Covenant.”

A covenant is a binding agreement between two individuals or between God and man. Many covenants are recorded throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament alone, God made seven binding Covenants with members of the human race. We will list them in order as follows:

1. The Edenic Covenant --- Genesis 2:16,17
2. The Adamic Covenant --- Genesis 3:15-19
3. The Noahic Covenant --- Genesis 9:9-16
4. The Abrahamic Covenant ---Genesis 12:1-3
5. Mosaic Covenant --- Exodus 19:3-6
6. The Palestinian Covenant--- Deuteronomy 30:1-3
7. The Davidic Covenant --- 2 Samuel 7:8,9,12,13

“In Israel all crimes were crimes against God (1 Sam. 12:9-10). Consequently, He expected all His people to love and serve Him (Amos 5:21-24). As the final judge, He disciplined those who violated His law (Ex. 22:21-24; Deut. 10:1-8; 19:17). The nation or community was responsible for upholding the law and insuring that justice was done (Deut. 13:6-10; 17:7; Num. 15:32-36).

“God’s law, unlike those of other nations of the ancient world, also viewed all human life as especially valuable, because man is created in God’s image. Thus, biblical law was more humane. . . . The “eye for eye” requirement of the Mosaic Law was not a harsh statement that required cruel punishment. Instead, it was a mandate for equality before the law (Ex. 21:24). Each criminal had to pay for his own crime (Num. 35:31). . . . God’s law especially protected the defenseless orphan, widow, slave, and stranger from injustice (Ex. 21:2, 20-01: 22:21-23).

“The Book of Deuteronomy is sometimes called the Deuteronomic Code. This book contains the command to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and might (Deut. 6:5) as well as a second record of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5).

“Biblical law is more than a record of human law. It is an expression of what God requires of man. It rests on the eternal moral principles that are consistent with the very nature of God Himself. Therefore, biblical law (the Ten Commandments) is the summary of moral law. ‘ “

-----The Liberty Illustrated Bible Dictionary pages 632-633 (Abridged).

1. The spoken law Adam to Moses. (Genesis 2:16).
2. The written law Moses to Pentecost (Acts 2).
3. God writes His law on our hearts.

--- Pentecost to the Rapture (Jer. 31:32,33; Hebrews 8:10)

This is the law of grace. The law of the “Old Covenant” is still in effect. God is still Holy and it is only natural that He should want His people to live holy lives. The problem is not with the law, but with man himself. We are all born sinners and could not keep the law if we tried (Acts 15:7-11).

There was nothing wrong with the old Covenant except that all human beings are sinful and therefore unable to keep a holy law. The law is beneficial in many ways, but so far as salvation is concerned, all the law does is to show us our guilt and our personal need of justification by faith (Romans 3:19,20).

Because Christ was sinless, He could die in our place on the Cross of Calvary. Because He was Resurrected, He could blot out our past sin and justify the sinner through divine grace (Romans 4:23-25).

Divine Grace enables the believer to fulfill the law of Christ through love in action (Galatians 6:2).

“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah---not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”