There is one Redeemer and one saving promise unfolding throughout different covenantal administrations. All who have ever been saved—before or after Christ’s coming—are saved by Christ’s redemptive work alone, and through faith they truly share in his saving benefits. Under the old covenant administration, the focus was national and typological. The Messiah, Christ Jesus, came through Israel, ministered within Israel, and fulfilled Israel’s calling. Under the new covenant administration, the blessings secured by Christ flow outward to every nation and ethnicity.

If we are going to understand God’s overarching redemptive plan from Genesis to Revelation, it is essential to understand the difference between the old (Mosaic) covenant and the new covenant. Misunderstandings of this difference have led to much confusion in the church over the centuries, causing people not only to attempt to apply certain old covenant stipulations, blessings, and curses to the new covenant era but also to believe that God has one plan of salvation for the Jews and another for the Gentiles.

Looking at two key events in the New Testament will help us understand the cataclysmic nature of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which brought the old covenant to an end and ushered in the new covenant. These two events are John’s baptism (Matt. 3:1-11; Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:1-17) and Jesus’ interaction with the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30).

John’s Baptism Is a Prophetic Call to Israel at the Close of the Old Covenant Era

As we begin to read the New Testament, the Messiah has arrived and the kingdom is at hand. Yet, the opening chapters of the Gospels unfold under the old covenant administration. John the Baptist appears as the final great prophet of the old age, a voice crying out in the wilderness in fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise (Isa. 40:3). In the Gospel of Mark, we read that John proclaimed “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4) to Israel, God’s covenant people:

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. (Mark 1:5)

John summons the people of Israel—those who possess the law, the temple, and the promises—to prepare for their Messiah. His warning is urgent:

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matt. 3:10)

Judgment is near for the nation of Israel, and God’s kingdom is at hand. John’s baptism belongs to the closing phase of the Mosaic administration; it is preparatory and transitional, pointing forward to Jesus Christ, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Of Jesus’ impending arrival, John declares:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matt. 3:11)

John’s baptism doesn’t rest upon the finished work of Christ or the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. The apostle Paul confirms this distinction in Acts 19:

And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:4-6)

Those who had received only John’s baptism needed to be instructed in the completed work of Christ and to be “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Jesus Is Born Under the Law and Ministers Within the Structures of the Old (Mosaic) Covenant

Paul states plainly in Galatians 4:4 that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, “born of woman, born under the law.” We know from Scripture that Jesus fully participated in Israel’s covenant life: He was circumcised, kept the feasts, worshiped at the temple, and obeyed the Mosaic law in every respect. He was born under the law to fulfill it on behalf of all who would trust in him alone for salvation.

This covenantal setting shapes Jesus’ earthly mission. When he sends out the twelve, he instructs them not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans but instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:5–6).

We see this boundary again when the Syrophoenician woman pleads with Jesus for her daughter:

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:22-24)

Jesus’ words to the woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24) are indicative of his mission, not his lack of care for her daughter. God’s “covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” in the Old Testament were entrusted to Israel (Rom. 9:4–5). The Messiah came through Israel and first to Israel, and God’s promise that through Abraham all the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:3) would be fulfilled in God’s perfect timing.

In Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, though, the coming expansion is already visible. Our Lord grants her request and commends her faith:

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matt. 15:25-28)

The Cross and Resurrection Fulfill the Old Covenant and Inaugurate the New Covenant

In his death on the cross, Christ bears the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). He accomplishes what Israel failed to accomplish.

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