The Old Covenant, with the Law of Moses as its core, was revealed to the nation of Israel, promising earthly blessings for obedience, and threatening curses for disobedience. The purpose of the Old Covenant was never to offer eternal life, but rather to govern the life and worship of the Old Testament nation of Israel, to reveal the extent of man’s depravity, and to foreshadow Christ and the New Covenant. The New Covenant, established through the person and redemptive work of Christ, provides eternal blessings which are acquired by grace through faith.
The Old Covenant was fulfilled in Christ, thus becoming obsolete. God’s final words of revelation, given through Christ and His New Testament apostles and prophets, have become the authority concerning Christian conduct, and the interpretive lens through which the Old Testament must be understood and applied. Calling His people into covenant relationship is the essential means by which God reveals His eternal love for His chosen people, blesses His people and fulfills His glorious promises to His people forever. God’s character is unchanging and consistent throughout the whole of redemptive history. All believers, both before and after the coming of Christ, were saved by faith alone. New Covenant believers are saved by looking to Christ as revealed in the gospel, and Old Covenant believers were saved by putting their faith in God’s promises that would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ.
(Deuteronomy 7:6-16, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Luke 22:20, Hebrews 8:6-13, 2 Corinthians 1:20, 3:1-18, John 1:16-17, Romans 4:2-3)