The New Testament is Not the New Covenant

Words Have Power

First Fruits of Zion delivered an excellent study by Tim Hegg entitled "What's So New About the New Covenant".  Mr. Hegg began his presentation with the statement, "Words have power."  His point was that once we invest a word with a particular meaning, we rarely challenge that meaning afterward to ensure that we are all referring to the same thing in our conversations.

One example is the word "gentleman".  In the 1800s, the word gentleman had a specific meaning:

Every man above the rank of yeomen, comprehending noblemen.  In a more limited sense, a man, who without a title, bears a coat of arms, or whose ancestors have been freemen.  In this sense, gentlemen hold a middle rank between the nobility and yeomanry.¹

Today, the word has a substantially different meaning:

A man whose conduct conforms to a high standard of propriety or correct behavior.²

We (individuals living in the twenty-first century) have invested a different meaning in a word than those who used it during an earlier time.

Suppose we were to read a book or newspaper from the early 1800s.  In that case,  we might think that someone described as a "gentleman" meant that he was well-mannered.  The author's intent, however, was to indicate that the man was of noble birth and had a coat of arms (even though his conduct might have been improper).  We have invested a different meaning in the word than those who used it previously.

The same can be said of several words or phrases in our modern English translations of Scripture, including the term "New Testament".

The word "new" is simple enough: it describes something not old.  What about the word "testament"?  That is slightly more complex.

Testament

The English word "testament" comes from the Latin "testamentum":

c.1290, "last will disposing of property," from L. testamentum "a will, publication of a will," from testari "make a will, be witness to," from testis "witness," from PIE *tris- "three," on the notion of "third person, disinterested witness." Use in reference to the two divisions of the Bible (c.1300) is from L.L. vetus testamentum and novum testamentum, loan-translations of Gk. palaia diatheke and kaine diatheke. L.L. testamentum in this case was a mistranslation of Gk.  diatheke, which meant both "covenant, dispensation" and "will, testament," and was used in the former sense in the account of the Last Supper (see testimony) but subsequently was interpreted as Christ's "last will." ³

Using this definition, we might suspect that "Old Testament" means "old will" (as in an estate that is settled when someone dies) and "New Testament" means "new will".  However, when we read Scripture, that is not the case, so such an interpretation is in error.

Pushing past that misinterpretation, we might say that "Old Testament" means "old covenant" and "New Testament" means "new covenant".  However, when we examine both sections of Scripture that are labeled that way, we find neither is a covenant.  The books of Scripture labeled as "Old Testament" contain several covenants but are not themselves covenants.  It also has many historical accounts (Creation, the Fall, the Flood, etc.), songs (Psalms), and wise sayings (Proverbs)... but it is not merely a covenant.  Therefore, instead of referring to a portion of Scripture as the "Old Testament", I refer to the Hebrew Scriptures by their Hebrew name: the Tanakh.  Tanakh is a word formed from an acronym (T.N.K) in Hebrew that refers to the three sections of the Hebrew scriptures: Torah (the first five books of the Bible), Nevi'im (the prophets), and Ketuvim (the writings).

Similarly, let's examine the "New Testament".  We do not find any of the common elements of a covenant: a declaration of participants, defined duration, responsibilities of each party, penalties for failure to comply with their duties, conditions for the perpetuation of the covenant, etc.

The "New Testament" is not a covenant... new or otherwise.

Since the "New Testament" is not the "New Covenant", I challenge the default use of the label "New Testament" used for the Scriptures written in the first century.  Instead, I refer to the portion of Scripture between Matthew and Revelation as "the Apostolic Writings."

To better understand the actual "old covenant" and the "new covenant", I have studied the covenants described in Scripture and written a series of articles.  The series begins with covenants in general and then considers every use of the Hebrew and Greek words of the earliest manuscripts to identify the covenants given in Scripture and examine each in as much detail as history and the Scriptures themselves provide.  That series on covenants begins here.

I hope you will enjoy them.

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