if god is perfect, why did jesus have to create a new covenant?

Question

seems to me if god is perfect the old testament should be perfect as well. what was right in the old testament as far as punishment goes should be right today. but it isn't. why not?

Answer 1

Well God isn't perfect. he had to destroy his creation because it was screwed up. If he's not perfect, he's not a God...

Answer 2

This is explained in the pages of the Bible. It was not the covenant that was flawed, but the people with whom it was made:

Hebrews 8:7-9 -- For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because FINDING FAULT WITH THEM, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 9 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 DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

And notice that the content of the New Covenant is not going to be any different from the Old:

Verse 10 -- For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

It will be the SAME laws as the Old Covenant, but the people will be different.

Answer 3

God is perfect. Always has been and always will be. Man (Adam & Eve) was the cause of sin which bore a curse. The new covenant was needed to save man and breaak he curse. God is ever so clever! The old testament was during a time of certain customs and traditions and region. Does that explain why. COULD it be that a lot of non believers ask so many questions about God, because they're really afraid they could be wrong. Otherwise why even ask if you're so confident in what you believe? Now that's a better question.

Answer 4

Hmmmm ... seems to me that when God made His covenant with the Jews, the contract was perfect, but the people weren't. That screwy "free will" always gets in the way, and the old testament shows repeatedly how the Israelites were a pretty cowardly and whinny bunch. But God loved them anyway, so he made a New Covenant with them, kind of a second chance to let his people get it right.

Answer 5

the lie of the modern church- Jesus did not create a "new" covenant- the correct word would be 'renewed' Jesus only confirmed the covenant God already made - the covenant was made with Adam when God promised him a savior, a Messiah, the covenant was confirmed and clarified all throughout the OT so that when the Messiah came, He would be recognized, unfortunately many are still blinded or walking in innocent ignorance. Jesus did not bring a "new" covenenant nor did he bring "new" commandments- he only fulfilled - strengthened - clarified - confirmed the covenant and commandments already given by God.

Answer 6

Your answer is in the Bible that you are writing about:

Hebrews 8
6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

It's us who are at fault. The Old Covenant was strict, and it could not save anyone. It was put there to show us that we are not perfect, and could not live by the 613 laws in it. The New Covenant places trust on the one who could live by it. And that one is Jesus Christ.

So the New Covenant did away with the old one, and through Jesus Christ who fulfilled that old law became the one we must put our trust in in order to be saved.

And so this is our future:

Hebrews 9
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Answer 7

Interesting question. I must preface my comments by saying that I don't believe it is possible for us to understand the mind of God. Any interpretation is nothing more than speculation.

To speculate about why Jesus offered a new covenant, you have to accept the premise that God is perfect (that pesky faith thing...but if you don't accept this premise any examination of the evidence is pointless...how could the purported word of God be pefect if he isn't...and if he's a liar, what does any of it matter?). This assumption is like the assumption of innocence in a court of law.

With that premise in place, I can accept that God knew exactly what he was doing and I can speculate about how the old testament AND the new testament are perfect despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary.

God created us in his image...to accomplish his vision for his creation, he knew that we would need to have a choice and he knew we would use that choice to walk away from him. When we create something, we often follow a cycle beginning with a simplistic creation that becomes increasingly complex until a breakthrough we envisioned happens making everything simple again!

Parenting is a creative process...we start simple...we want our baby to trust us for everything. From that point on, parenting is involves a delicate juggling act between wanting the child to continue trusting us and wanting the child to learn to make his or her own choices. As our children get older, the rules become more complex, the issues become more complex ("don't pull the cat's tail" becomes "don't do drugs"), and even the consequences (and punishments) become more complex. When the child becomes an adult, we let them go hoping that they will choose to live by the values we instilled in them leaving us with the simple goal we had when they were born...that they trust us in everything!

God's original covenant was simple...walk with me and trust me for everything and you can live with me in paradise. When man broke this covenant, God offered a new one...a little more complex than the first. When man broke this covenant, he offered another one...again, a little more complex. By the time he got to the covenant with Moses, he was dealing with a child that knows how to find loopholes in the rules, a child that thinks he or she is old enough to handle problems without a parent's help, in short, a child struggling for independence. This part of the growing plan involved giving the child that independence...allowing the full complexity of the consequences to rest in the hands of man...this covenant made man responsible for judging others and imposing penalties. When God knew that people were ready to accept that we aren't capable of consistently and accurately dealing with these issues because we aren't all knowing), he offered a new covenant through Jesus.

This new covenant incorporates everything in the earlier covenants but returns to God the right to judge (and punish) sin. More importantly, it restores the original covenant God made with his creation...trust me and follow my instructions and you can live with me in paradise.

The law of Moses is comprehensive and collective. To put it in the hands of man, God had to specify a complete set of instructions (rules) to cover every way a person might go against God's plan causing harm to themselves or others. The covenant of Jesus is comprehensive and individual. God knows what is good and what is not good for each of us. I have no doubt that every "rule" in the old testament represents an instruction that applied to someone then AND to someone now. The difference is that under Jesus, those rules become the living word of God that he uses to tell us what is and is not good for us...as an individual. Even better, through Jesus we can accept that God doesn't expect us to be perfect (yet!)...he's willing to waive the death penalty for anyone that pleads "guilty" and shows a willingness to learn how to avoid future "criminal" activity.

Answer 8

The Old Testament contains the laws man must follow if he is to return to his proper relationship with God. Not a single person who ever lived could live a perfect life except Jesus. If anyone could have succeeded then salvation would have been his as he earned it. But man is not able to earn it. Adam ate from the forbidden fruit and made of himself a god, setting himself about the task of proving his own ability to be one. He failed. The only way for man to return to God is by God's intervention. That perfect intervention is Christ.
Law was given to show to man his own inabilities. In a covenant with Abraham, God promised to stay with His chosen people if they would just follow His laws of righteousness. After failure by man God intervened through the sacrifice of His Son and entered into a new covenant. That covenant would be with all nations and based upon the perfection of Christ, not on man's ability.
This is the failure of Islam. It is based upon finding favor with God by man's own worthiness, while there is no worthiness to man. It is a teaching of living by the law and eliminates the grace of God.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."

Edit:
The writer of the Gospel According to Luke also wrote Acts of the Apostles around 60-70ad. This would be 37 years after the resurrection. Events recorded there would have had to take place prior to that writing. The work Paul performed is included in that book. There is no reason for any reasonable man to assume that Paul subverted the teachings of Peter and the other Apostles, for they are recorded in the same book pursuing the same goals as the author. The claims of scripture having been violated are false. This means the teachings of Paul are valid.

Answer 9

hi your question is wrong. jesus never created a new covenant.god said over and over again in the holy scriptures that his covenant with the jews is forever.in jeremiah god renews his covenant with the jews.insofar as jesus being the one that spilled his blood so that we may be freed from sin.that is an incorrect statement. in the holy scriptures it states very clearly that human sacrifice is not allowed.

Answer 10

What are you talking about? A covenant is an agreement. It was made with Bro Abraham and his g_d, and by the way he had more than one g_d, but that one specifically was going to be the one he honored above all the others. And so the story goes.

Answer 11

since God is perfect, why did he make a covenant with noah, abraham, and david as well. jesus is not the only one God made a covenant with. it has nothing to do with the fact that God is perfect.