The new covenant is God's one-way promise to write His law in our hearts, and to give us everlasting salvation as a free gift "in Christ." The old covenant is the vain promise of the people to obey, and "gives birth to bondage." The spiritual failures of many sincere people are the result of being taught old covenant ideas, especially in childhood and youth. The new covenant truth was an essential element of the 1888 message, and even today lifts a load of doubt and despair from many heavy hearts.
The Bible Teaching
(a) The old covenant "gendereth to bondage" (Galatians 4:24, KJV, "slavery," NEB).(b) It is the spiritual experience of being "under the law," under a fear motivation (4:21).
(c) The old covenant was formed at Mt. Sinai when Israel vainly promised, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). God did not ask them to make that promise. They broke it soon afterwards.
(d) Peter's promise never to deny the Lord was an old covenant promise (Mark 14:29-31).
(e) God made seven great promises to Abraham, but did not ask him to make any promise in return (Genesis 12:1-3). God repeated and enlarged them later, still exacted no promise from him (13:14-17; 15:4, 5). Chapter 15:9-17 shows that the covenant is a one-way promise.
(f) God never asks us to make promises to Him; He asks us to believe His promises to us (15:6).
(g) Abraham is "the father of all those who believe." Thus he is the example of genuine righteousness by faith (Romans 4:1, 11-13, 16-18). The law, given 430 years later, became "our tutor" ("schoolmaster," KVJ) to lead us on a long detour back to the experience of Abraham, to be "justified by faith" (Galatians 3:23-26).
Waggoner Caught the Bible Idea
"The covenant and promise of God are one and the same. … God's covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them. …"After the Flood God made a 'covenant' with every beast of the earth, and with every fowl; but the beasts and the birds did not promise anything in return (Genesis 9:9-16). They simply received the favor at the hand of God. This is all we can do-receive. God promises us everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift. We give Him ourselves, that is nothing. And He gives us Himself, that is, everything. That which makes all the trouble is that even when men are willing to recognize the Lord at all they want to make bargains with Him. They want it to be an equal, 'mutual' affair-a transaction in which they can consider themselves on a par with God" (The Glad Tidings, p. 71).
"The gospel was as full and complete in the days of Abraham as it has ever been or ever will be. No addition to it or change in its provisions or conditions could possibly be made after God's oath to Abraham. Nothing can be taken away from it as it thus existed, and not one thing can ever be required from any man more than what was required of Abraham" (ibid., p. 73).
"These two convenants exist today. The two covenants are not matters of time, but of condition. Let no one flatter himself that he cannot be bound under the old covenant, thinking that its time has passed. The time for that is passed only in the sense that 'the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries' (1 Peter 4:3, KJV)" (ibid., p. 100).
"God's precepts are promises; they must necessarily be such, because He knows that we have no power. All that God requires is what he gives. When He says, 'Thou shalt not,' we may take it as His assurance that if we but believe Him He will preserve us from the sin against which He warns us" (ibid., p. 77).
Jones was in Full Harmony
"It is not you who are to do that, which he [the Lord] pleases; but, 'it shall accomplish that which I please.' You are not to read or hear the word of God and say, I must do that, I will do that. You are to open the heart to that word, that it may accomplish the will of God in you. … The word of God itself is to do it, and you are to let it. 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you'" (Review and Herald, October 20, 1896).Ellen White Proclaimed This Same Good News
"You are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you [this is what Paul means when he says that the old covenant 'gives birth to bondage']. … What you need to understand is the true force of the will. … Everything depends on the right action of the will. … You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. … Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him" (Steps to Christ, p. 47)."The ten commandments, Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, are ten promises, assured to us if we render obedience to the law governing the universe" (Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1105).
"There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It is DO and live" (idem).
"The terms of the 'old covenant' were, obey and live. … The 'new covenant' was established upon 'better promises'-the promise of forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with the principles of God's law" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 372).