The great point of the “faith chapter” is that the believers who lived in the typological periods of redemptive history did have, by faith, the benefits promised in the covenant of grace. They had an immutable covenant. God would be their God and their children’s God. The universality of the covenant of grace throughout redemptive history is evident in the way the writer to the Hebrews moves seamlessly from one epoch of redemption to another.

In the first three parts of this series we’ve looked at the use of the expression “new covenant” in Jeremiah 31 and in related expressions in the NT in 2 Corinthians 3, Hebrews chapters 7-10, and at Paul’s account of the relations between the old, i.e., the Mosaic, covenant and the Abrahamic covenant. Scripture consistently identifies the “old covenant” as the Mosaic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant, however, is the outstanding pattern of the covenant of grace, to which the NT scriptures appeal as the paradigm for the new covenant.

The Benefits of the New Covenant Are the Benefits of the Covenant of Grace
In Jeremiah 31 the prophet anticipates five great blessings of the new covenant:
· An immutable Covenant
· An Interior Piety
· An Immediate Knowledge
· An Iniquity Forgiven

There are some who understand these promises to be realized entirely in the future.

There are reasons, however, why this is not the best way to understand Jeremiah 31.

First, as we have already seen, each of these benefits was already promised under the covenant of grace to Abraham. The Lord himself characterized his covenant with Abraham as featuring just these benefits. Further, the NT interprets Jeremiah 31 and the Abrahamic covenant (which we surveyed in parts 1-3) as having these qualities.

The second great reason the futurist reading of Jeremiah 31 is unlikely is that it would mean, in effect, that the believers to whom these promises were given were not in present possession of them. It seems impossible to say that believers, who lived under the Mosaic covenant from 1500 BC to the first advent of our Lord, possessed none of these benefits in any way. The witness in the Hebrew and Aramaic Scriptures is that believers possessed these benefits. Certainly the witness of the NT is that believers in Jeremiah’s day possessed them.

This chapter is often described as the “faith chapter” but faith is often misconstrued. The great list of exemplars is too often taken to say, “These people had faith, you should have as much faith as they did.” Though there may be some truth to that characterization of Hebrews 11 it largely misses the point of the chapter.

Remember the original context of Hebrews. The writer is trying to persuade his readers that they should not apostatize by going back to Judaism. In 10:1 he argues that the Torah (the 613 commandments of the Mosaic covenant) were only a “shadow” of the new covenant realities. The entire sacrificial system (vv.1–14) was, in redemptive-historical terms, an illustration, a pointer to Christ and to the new covenant. In this context he quotes and interprets Jeremiah 31 on the new covenant (vv. 15–17).

The reality of the things promised has come in Jesus Christ. This is why we are the priesthood, why we enter the holy places with confidence (v.19) because the entire tabernacle-temple system was nothing more than a pointer to Christ who is our high priest, sacrifice, and temple. He has entered the holy of holies and we have entered it with him.

These new covenant believers are being tempted to “throw away” their “confidence” by going back to the types and shadows (10:36). The “faith” theme actually begins in 10:37–38. The writer quotes Habakkuk 2:4. The righteous shall live by faith. In v. 39, it is those who believe who “preserve their souls.” Only then does he characterize faith as looking forward to what cannot be seen. The point in 11:1 is that even though the Jewish Christians are suffering for their faith, largely at the hands of other Jews, they should continue to trust Jesus to save them even as their believing forefathers trusted Jesus. This is the intent behind citing Abel (v. 4), Enoch, Noah (v.7), Abraham (v.8), and Sarah (v.11).

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar….

From this Hebrews concludes that they were looking for a better, heavenly country (v.16).

He returns to Abraham, “who had received the promises,” (v.17), who believed in the resurrection (v. 19) and who, “figuratively speaking” (v. 19) received Isaac back from the dead. Moses was looking forward to the new covenant realities by faith (vv.23–28). The people went through the Red Sea on dry ground by faith.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

What was it that they did not receive? If we read Jeremiah 31 absolutely, the way some would have us read it, then we should have to say that none of these received the forgiveness of sins! Of course the analogy of Scripture makes it impossible to say that. Our Lord himself says that “Abraham saw my day and rejoiced” (John 8:56) and Paul says that Abraham was “justified” (Rom 4) and the writer to the Hebrews says that all believers are justified by faith, as we saw above.

What they did not receive was the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in the new covenant. They had the realities by faith but they did not have the realities by sight. We have what was promised to them. We have the new covenant. We have semi-eschatological blessings. Heaven has broken into history and we, in Christ, have been taken up to heaven. The types and shadows have been fulfilled. What they only saw typologically, we see in reality. We are not yet bodily in glory, however, and thus we must persevere in faith. This is why we must “lay aside also every weight” (12:1).

The great point of the “faith chapter” is that the believers who lived in the typological periods of redemptive history did have, by faith, the benefits promised in the covenant of grace. They had an immutable covenant. God would be their God and their children’s God. The universality of the covenant of grace throughout redemptive history is evident in the way the writer to the Hebrews moves seamlessly from one epoch of redemption to another. From the pre-Noahic, to the Abrahamic, to the Mosaic. They all had the same faith because they were all members of and beneficiaries of the covenant of grace by faith alone, in Christ alone.

According to Hebrews their lives give evidence that they had a hearty faith (interior piety), that they trusted Jesus, that they expected him to come. They had no need of anyone to say “know the Lord” because, by the sovereign grace of the Holy Spirit who operates through the preaching of the gospel, even the typological preaching of the gospel, they had an immediate knowledge of the Lord. They had the forgiveness of sins.

The evidence is that the new covenant is substantially identical with the covenant of grace.

(to be Continued in Part 5)

R. Scott Clark is Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary in California (see his full bio here). This article first appeared at Scott’s Heidleblog

and is used with permission.