Many religious groups profess to take their stand on the New Tes tament, but none more so than the churches of Christ. We have learned that a prophet predicted that God would "make a new covenant with the house of Israel...not according to the (old) covenant he made with their fathers in the day he brought them out of Egypt" (Read all of Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Hebrews 8:6-13.) The Scripture also teaches us that Jesus Christ is the mediator of this New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15). It also says that the Old Covenant "is done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14). We should believe that Jesus Christ "took away the first" covenant, "nailing it to the cross," "that he might establish the second, by which will we are sanctified" (Read Colossians 2:11-14, and Hebrews 10:1-10.) The New Covenant, or Testament, replaces the Old.

We must also understand that since the New Covenant has been put in force, we cannot practice any part of the Old Covenant without obligating ourselves to practice ALL of it, and being separated from Christ in the same instant (Read Galatians 3:10-14, 5:1-4).

We should therefore believe in being only New Testament Christians in a New Testament church, "discharged" from the authority and religious practices of the Old Testament (Romans 7:6). This truth governs what we should practice on the subjects of music in worship, priesthood, giving, and many other things. We do not say that the Old Testament is of no use to us, because the Apostle Paul said, "The things written aforetime were written for our learning" (Romans 15:4). We only say that the Old Testament has no force as a law of God for people living in this New Testament age. This strict distinction between the force of the Old Testament, and that of the New, is important to those who want to be pure New Testament Christians, and distinguishes them from all other religious groups in existence today. By following this principle, they will be free from the intrusions of the laws, practices and doctrines of the Old Testament still found in so many modern churches (altars, candles, incense, instruments of music). We must therefore respect the New Testament as the sole authority in the Christian Age, if we are to be free from the obsolete covenant of old.

1. Was the New Covenant that was predicted by Jeremiah to be like the Old?

2. In what ways would it be different, according to Jeremiah 31:33-34?

3.According to Hebrews 9:15, what did Jesus do for the "redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant?"
4. According to 2 Corinthians 3:12-14, who did not understand that the Old Covenant was "done away in Christ?"

5.According to Colossians 2:14, how did Christ "blot out the handwriting of ordinances (the Old Covenant)?"

6. According to Hebrews 10:1-10:

a. Why were the sacrifices of the Old Testament made "year by year continually?"

b. What could not be accomplished by the "blood of bulls and goats?"

c.For whom did God prepare a body to be used as a sacrifice?

d. By "which will" are we "sanctified." the first or the second?

7. What is the Old Testament "curse" Paul quotes in Galatians 3:10?

8.If people today practice the Old Testament law of circumcision, as a religious obligation, what else will they have to do, according to Galatians 5:3?

9.What were the Galatian Christians doing that would cause them to "fall from grace," according to Galatians 5:4?

10.Why are Christians "discharged" from the Old Law, according to Romans 7:6?

11.Can you name some Old Testament practices that can be found in use in modern churches?