RE: Lost in Transmission: A parable for better understanding God's Covenants and redemptive agenda
There's a new covenant. Jesus is part of that covenant. So there's no reason to pick and choose which parts of the old one to follow.
(Hebrews 8:6-13 NIV) 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. {10} This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. {11} No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. {12} For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." {13} By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
Are you able to put into words what the new covenant specifically is and how it differs from the old?
Another way to read this is a RENEWED covenant, one that encompasses the same promises but founded on a stronger basis - a covenant written directly on our hearts instead of some outside source.
However, one of the things I never used to think about when I considered "new" covenant was that it was totally different in every way. Not that the method of forming it and keeping it was different but the essence of the promise was the same.
It's like a marriage where the spouses can no longer be attracted to anyone else or commit adultery because their hearts have the wandering impulse completely removed. Marriage is still marriage and "till death do us part" is the vow, but the way it's kept is much stronger because it's based on stronger beings, ones who can no longer stray.
You are right...there is a new covenant but how does the Bible define what that is? Verse 10 says that God will put His laws in our hearts and mind. This is being quoted from Jeremiah 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." This covenant is for the House of Israel and the House of Judah. If we are not apart of one of those houses then this new covenant is not for us. Lucky we have been grafted in..see Romans 11.
Revelation 12:17 "Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus."
Revelation 14:12 "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus."
For more on Hebrews I would suggest you watch the below. It might shine a little more light on Hebrews.