eKNT: Supplementary Lesson 3: Benefits of the New Covenant: Introduction

Supplementary Lesson 3: Benefits of the New Covenant

Introduction

Sometimes we fail to appreciate the benefits of being on this side of the cross, of being under the new covenant. While the overall plan of salvation is the same, we have many privileges that believers did not experience before Christ.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 7, paragraph VI) says:

Under the Gospel when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.

In other words, there is only one basic "covenant of grace," but there are different "dispensations," or different applications of that covenant. And there are many advantages of the New Testament application, many special benefits of the new covenant:

1. Christ has already been "exhibited."
2. There is a greater "fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy."
3. It includes all nations.

QUESTION: Which phrase best expresses the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, in covenant terms, according to the Westminster Confession of Faith?

They are the same basic covenant of grace, but different applications.

They are two distinct covenants, two different means of salvation.

They are the same covenant, with no important changes. The only difference is that the New Testament explains how Christ fulfilled it.