{"id":9854,"date":"2016-12-01T07:06:18","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T15:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=9854"},"modified":"2016-12-01T07:06:18","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T15:06:18","slug":"new-covenant-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/01\/new-covenant-really\/","title":{"rendered":"New Covenant? Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew 26:28, New testament.<\/i> <\/b>(Also see notes at Heb 8:8.) Where did the terms New Testament <\/i>or New Covenant <\/i>came from? You will find these phrases in your English versions of the Testimony of Yeshua in exactly nine places (Matt 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; 2 Cor 3:6; Heb 8:8, 13; 9:15; 12:24), but does the English translation do justice to the Hebrew and Greek words behind them?<\/p>\n

The confusion arises from the fact that English has one word for new<\/i>, while Greek and Hebrew have more than one word. While English speakers are limited to one word, they nuance the meaning of new <\/i>by adding qualifiers to the word new<\/i> (e.g., brand new<\/i> as opposed to used but it\u2019s new to me<\/i>) to differentiate between brand new<\/i> versus new to me<\/i>, or refurbished<\/i> or repaired new.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

In the Testimony of Yeshua, there are two Greek for new<\/i>: neos <\/i>and kainos<\/i> and each has a different connotation. Neos<\/i> more often than not carries the idea of \u201cbrand new or numerically new,\u201d while kainos <\/i>means \u201crenewed, refreshed or repaired or qualitatively new.\u201d When you see the term New Covenant<\/i> or New Testament <\/i>used, in eight of nine time the authors use kainos<\/i>. Only in Hebrews 12:24 is neos<\/i> used in reference to the new covenant.<\/i><\/p>\n

The usage of the word renewed<\/i> over the use of the word new<\/i> is exactly consistent with the author of Hebrew\u2019s usage of the word in Hebrews 8:8,\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the YHVH, when I will make a new [or renewed, kainos<\/i>] covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author is here quoting directly from Jeremiah 31:31,<\/p>\n

\u201cBehold, the days come, saith YHVH, that I will make a new [Heb. chadash<\/i>] covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to The<\/em>\u00a0TWOT<\/i>, the Hebrew word chadash<\/i> means \u201cto repair, rebuild or renew.\u201d Interestingly, the Jewish translators of the Septuagint (LXX) when translating Jeremiah 31:31 into Greek found the word kainos <\/i>to be a match for the Hebrew chadash.<\/i><\/p>\n

Based on this linguistic evidence it seems that the terms new testament <\/i>or new covenant <\/i>should be more accurately translated as renewed covenant <\/i>instead of new <\/i>(as in brand new<\/i>) covenant.<\/p>\n

Although David Stern in his Complete Jewish Bible<\/i> still uses the term new testament and new covenant instead of renewed covenant, he does discuss the word kainos<\/i> in his Jewish New Testament Commentary<\/i> in his comments on Hebrews 8:8 (p. 690). There he gives the reasons why he translates kainos<\/i> as new, but also explains why it means \u201crenewed\u201d in that \u201cthe New Covenant renews the Old Covenant\u201d (his exact words). He then goes on to prove his point how the New Covenant is a renewed version of the Old Covenant (Ibid.).<\/p>\n

Stern isn\u2019t the only New Testament scholar to affirm the validity of \u201crenewed\u201d as an acceptable translation of Greek word kainos<\/i>. So does Craig Keener in his The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament<\/i> (p. 665) where he comments on Hebrews 8:8. He says of both Jeremiah 31:31 and Hebrews 8:8 (that quotes the former), \u201cThe phrase generally rendered \u2018new\u2019 covenant in Jeremiah 31:31 could also be translated \u2018renewed\u2019 covenant.\u201d This likely explains why the LXX translators chose to use kainos<\/i> in Jeremiah 31:31 instead of neos<\/i>, and why the apostolic writers use kainos<\/i> in all but one reference to the \u201cnew\u201d covenant. Interestingly, the writer of Hebrews uses neos<\/i> once (in Heb 12:24) in reference to the new covenant, which would seem to suggest that both terms \u201cRenewed\/Refreshed\u201d and \u201cNew\u201d Covenant were acceptable to the apostolic writers.<\/p>\n

So what is the bottom line here? In reality, Yeshua the Messiah is not going to make a brand new<\/i> covenant with his people when he returns to marry his spiritual wife, which is the spiritual body of believers of whom he is the head. Instead, he will repair or renew the former covenants (plural, see Eph. 2:12) that ancient Israel broke and that many are still breaking even today by not keeping his Torah-commandments. And what was wrong with the former covenants (the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants) you may ask? Was it the terms of the covenant, YHVH\u2019s Torah-commandments which were evil and had to pass away or was it something else? Let\u2019s let Scripture answer this question:<\/p>\n

For if that first [covenant] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, [YHVH found fault with the people, not with the Torah-law] he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a [renewed] covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith YHVH. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith YHVH; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a Elohim, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHVH: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (Heb 8:7\u201311)<\/p>\n

This renewed covenant, the same one that Jeremiah talked about in Jer 31, verses 31 and 33, will still have the Torah-law as the terms of the agreement, but this time, YHVH will pour out his Set-Apart Spirit onto his people to soften their hard hearts of rebellion and disobedience against his laws. With Yeshua, the Messiah, the Living Torah-word of Elohim living in their hearts via the power of the Elohim\u2019s Spirit, this time they will be an obedient wife to YHVH instead of a rebellious one when they broke the terms of their marriage covenant which they made when they said, \u201cI do\u201d to him at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:8; 24:3, 7). This bride, who will be made up of both Jewish and non-Jewish believers in Yeshua the Messiah, which Scriptures refers to as \u201cthe one new man\u201d (Eph 2:15) or as \u201cthe Israel of Elohim\u201d (Gal 6:16).<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t
 <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 26:28, New testament. (Also see notes at Heb 8:8.) Where did the terms New Testament or New Covenant came from? 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