Ben Chomp
Puritan Board Freshman
As I study the sacraments, I am pleased to discover that the Westminster Standards appears to distinguish between the new covenant and the new testament.
Here are how I would wish to understand three important terms:
New Covenant - The gracious salvation of Christ spoken about in Jeremiah 31 which includes the regeneration of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins.
Covenant of Grace - The one covenant spanning both OT and NT of which Christ is the mediator. The CoG, for me, is synonymous with the New Covenant that Jeremiah speaks of.
New Testament - The new dispensation of the CoG inaugurated by Christ wherein the shadows are stripped away and only the substance remains.
The Westminster Standards acknowledge that there are both OT and NT sacraments. OT sacraments would have included Passover and circumcision (at least). But in the shorter catechism's pithy definition of a sacrament it says this:
"A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers."
OT sacraments presumably also fit this definition since this is a broad definition of sacraments in general. The catechism itself implies this, as the very next question focuses more specifically on NT sacraments: "Which are the sacraments of the New Testament?"
This means that circumcision (even since the time of Abraham) represented, sealed, and applied Christ and the benefits of Jeremiah's "New Covenant" to Abraham and his descendants. So we see that the standards acknowledge that the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 is not time specific. The "New Covenant" is really the oldest covenant of all and is the very same Covenant of Grace of whom Christ is the mediator.
Here are how I would wish to understand three important terms:
New Covenant - The gracious salvation of Christ spoken about in Jeremiah 31 which includes the regeneration of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins.
Covenant of Grace - The one covenant spanning both OT and NT of which Christ is the mediator. The CoG, for me, is synonymous with the New Covenant that Jeremiah speaks of.
New Testament - The new dispensation of the CoG inaugurated by Christ wherein the shadows are stripped away and only the substance remains.
The Westminster Standards acknowledge that there are both OT and NT sacraments. OT sacraments would have included Passover and circumcision (at least). But in the shorter catechism's pithy definition of a sacrament it says this:
"A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers."
OT sacraments presumably also fit this definition since this is a broad definition of sacraments in general. The catechism itself implies this, as the very next question focuses more specifically on NT sacraments: "Which are the sacraments of the New Testament?"
This means that circumcision (even since the time of Abraham) represented, sealed, and applied Christ and the benefits of Jeremiah's "New Covenant" to Abraham and his descendants. So we see that the standards acknowledge that the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 is not time specific. The "New Covenant" is really the oldest covenant of all and is the very same Covenant of Grace of whom Christ is the mediator.