The Ethic of the New

Covenant:
A Fresher View to Matthew 5

By Angel Guzman
 Introduction

The publication of the book New Covenant

Theology in 2002 by Tom Wells and Fred Zapel
revived the centenary discussion about the
significance, identity, meaning, scope, and
provenance of the concept New Covenant in the
Bible. In their work, they challenged most of the
theological and philosophical presuppositions of
the traditional approaches of the theme.
Tom Wells and Fred Zapel, The New Covenant Theology (Frederick, Maryland: New Covenant
Media,2002).
 Introduction

They questioned the hermeneutic and conclusions

of those who see that the law, precepts, and
commandments of the Mosaic Covenant have been
abolished in the new legislation of the New
Covenant. On the other hand, they also have
criticized the exegesis of those who see absolute
continuity in the characteristics of the Mosaic and
New Covenants.
 Introduction

Their arguments reopened theological dialogues in

different levels about the relationship between the Old
Testament and New Testament, the law and the gospel, the
old covenant and the new covenant. As result of this, the
centrality of the covenantal theology has been taken back
among the scholars circles and the New Covenant motif
has become one of the most difficult problems in the
biblical theology.

For more information about this discussion see Fred Zapel, The New Covenant and the
New Covenant Theology (Frederick, Maryland: New Covenant Media, 211) 27-32.
 The Concept

New Covenant Theology

NCT
 Theological Characteristics of
NCT
The first distinctive element of the New Covenant Theology
is that the Bible should be interpreted in the light of the
eschatological fulfillment of the work, life, and death of
Jesus. Moreover, like the dispensationalists, they believe in
abolition of the Law of Moses. Their view of the covenant
however, is fully progressive. In other words, God did not
reveal completely His covenant neither to Adam, the
patriarchs nor Moses, but they received gradually the
revelation of the plans of God with human beings. The New
Covenant therefore, is the higher expression of God’s
salvific revelation.
 Theological Characteristics of
NCT
From the concept of New Covenant is derived
therefore their conception of the Law. They state
that there is no relationship among the different
covenants between God and human beings. Each
covenant has its own characteristics, models, and
laws. In the specific case of the New covenant the
only valid legal precept is the Law of Jesus.
 The Response to the NCT

The New Covenant Theology has been strongly criticized by

Richard C. Barcellos, a reformer Baptist pastor and theologian,
in his book In Defense of the Decalogue: A critique of New
Covenant Theology. Barcellos has based his discrepancy with this
approach on exegetical and theological arguments. He stated that
is not possible to see a change in the covenantal structure of the
Bible. The covenant that was revealed to Adam in the moment of
the fall (Cf. Genesis 3:12-17) is the same that was promised to
Abraham, Moses, David, and Jeremiah.

Richard C. Barcellos, In Defense of the Decalogue: A of New Covenant Theology (Enumclaw,

Washington: Wine Press Publishing, 2001)
 The Response to the NCT

The perpetuity of the Decalogue is

the only warranty of the biblical
and Christian ethic.
 The Response to the NCT

If you put aside the Ten Commandments,

which will be the foundation of the Christian
ethic?

1. The concept of Law of Christ is very

ambiguous according to NCT
2. There should be a biblical foundation, just like
in the Old Covenant, for the legal prescriptions
of the New Covenant
 George R. Law

 He tried to give a logic answer to most of the challenges

of the NCT.
 He suggested that it is possible to find all the
stipulations of the New Covenant, what he identified as
the Law of Christ, in the writings of the New Testament.
 Based on the work of Carl B. Hoch Jr, G. R. Law affirmed
that that the “New Covenant would be a suzerainty-type
covenant with elements similar to those found in the Old
Covenant.”
George R. Law, "The form of the new covenant in Matthew." American Theological
Inquiry (Online) 5, no. 2 (July 15, 2012).
Carl B. Hoch Jr., All Things New (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995), 93. Also see Carl B.
Hoch Jr., “The New Covenant: Its Problems, Certainties and Some Proposals,”
Reformation and Revival 6 (Summer 1997): 65.
 George R. Law

“The New Covenant is recorded in the

Gospel of Matthew and can be identified
because, like the Old Covenant, the New
Covenant exhibits covenant elements and
a form similar to other ancient covenants.”
 George R. Law

Matthew 5-7 structured the New Covenant elements

I. Preamble: (5:1-2)
II. Prologue: [Beatitudes] –benefits of the law-code
(5:3-16)
III. Covenant Stipulations (5:17-7:12)
A. General –Christ’s Ten Commandments (5:17-6:34)
B. Specific (7:1-7:12)
IV. Covenant Sanctions (7:13-23)
V. Epilogue: Personal Ratification (7:24-27).
 Critic to G.R. Law’s Position

 Matthew 5-7 is not related to establishment of the

New Covenant, but it is a description of the ethical
implications of the people of the New Covenant.
 The New Covenant was conformed by a different
structure to the Old Covenant.
 The New Covenant is not a set of new ethical
stipulations, but an appeal to a new spiritual
attitude to the existing ones.
 Hermeneutical Approaches to the
Ethical Implications of Matthew 5

The absolute or literal approach

It states that the recommendations of Jesus in the
Sermon of the Mount should be applied literally
and applied “universally and absolutely.”
Augustine, Francis of Assisi, and the Russian
novel-man Leon Tolstoy are best examples of the
interpretation of this position.

Guy Greenfield, “The Ethics of the Sermon on the Mount”, Southwestern Journal of
Theology, 35 no 1 Fall 1992, p 13-19.
 Hermeneutical Approaches to the
Ethical Implications of Matthew 5

The hyperbole approach

It holds the idea that Jesus used exaggerations,
as didactic resource, in the description of the
ethical implications of the Sermon of the Mount.
There are several examples of the use of this
technique in the ministry of Jesus.

Cf. E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of the Mount (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1931),
15f.
 Hermeneutical Approaches to the
Ethical Implications of Matthew 5

The double standard view

It distinguishes the “precepts” from the “counsels”
of the Gospel. The former describes those
commandments that are achievable, while the latter
is related to harder prescriptions. The precepts
should be obeyed because they are easy and
fundamentals but there is certain grade of flexibility
of the counsels. (Thomas Aquinas)

Cf. Guy Greenfield, “The Ethics of the Sermon on the Mount”, Southwestern
Journal of Theology, 35 no 1 Fall 1992, p 13-19.
 Hermeneutical Approaches to the
Ethical Implications of Matthew 5

The two realms approach

Proposed by Luther, this position was the
respond to the Catholic double standard view.
Luther affirmed that human behavior was divided
into two spheres: the spiritual and the temporal.
Spiritually, the human being is obligated to obey
all the prescriptions of Jesus. In the temporal
sphere however, humans follow the natural law or
the common sense.
The approach proposed by this
work
Covenantal application

Jesus interpreted the theological concepts of the

New Covenant, as they are presented in the Old
Testament, and applied them to the nascent
church in order to identified it as the people of the
New Covenant.
The form of the New Covenant

Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will

make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their
fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I
was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the
covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those
days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on
their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people. "And they shall not teach again, each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest
of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and
their sin I will remember no more.“ (Jer 31:31-34 NAS)
 ‫יָמים ָב ִאים‬
ִ ‫ִהנֵּ ה‬
Behold days are coming…(NAS)

‫ִהנֵּ ה‬
This is a temporal and spatial particle that marks immediacy.
When it is combined with the participle (‫)ב ִאים‬
ָ denotes an
imminent action in the future. It appears about 150 times in the
book of Jeremiah, more often in the context of the judgment
and the messianism. The specific combination of ‫יָמים‬ ִ ‫ִהנֵּ ה‬
appears 21 times in Jeremiah.

Cf. Gary Practico and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2007), 149-150.
 ‫ְּב ִרית ֲח ָד ָשה‬
A New Covenant…
Some scholars have suggested that the word ‫ֲח ָד ָשה‬
in Jer.31:31 may implies a renewed covenant
instead of the new covenant.

Walter C. Kaiser Jr."The old promise and the New Covenant: Jeremiah 31:31-34." Journal
of the Evangelical Theological Society 15, no. 1 (December 1, 1972): 11-23.
 A Closer View to ‫שה‬
ָ ‫ֲח ָד‬
As a verb (only Piel and Hiphil), it means
renew or repair in the entire Semitic Family:
ܶ
Arabic ‫( ܰܚܕܬ‬hadet)
Ethiopic ሐደሰ (ḥaddasa)
Assyrian (adâšu), (uddiš)
Aramaic ‫ث‬ ََ َ‫ َحد‬ḥadaṯa and ;‫ַח ֵּדש‬

Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-
Driver-Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems,
2000), 293.
 A Closer View to ‫שה‬
ָ ‫ֲח ָד‬
As a noun, it connotes novelty but based on
a previous element of the same kind.

 New King Exodus 1:8

 New House Deuteronomy 20:5
 New Wife Deuteronomy 24:5
 New Song Isaiah 42:10
 New Spirit Ezekiel 11:19
 ‫ת־ּתֹור ִתי ְּב ִק ְּר ָבם‬
ָ ‫נָ ַת ִּתי ֶא‬
 The word ‫ּתֹורה‬ָ appears only 12 times with the
suffix1st person common singular in the Old
Testament.
 Always is connected with the Law and teachings
of God.
 It seems that the problem solved by the New
Covenant is not related with the kind of legal
precepts of the Old Testament, but with the
practical attitude toward the Law of God.
The Result of the New Covenant

And they shall not teach again, each man his

neighbor and each man his brother, saying,
'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them,"
declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
(Jer 31:34 NAS)
 Theological Implications of the New
Covenant in the Old Testament

 The New Covenant was understood as a future and

imminent event.
 It can not be understood separately from the meaning
and theological structure of the Old Covenant.
 The change of the New Covenant do not implies a
modification of the legal prescriptions of the Old
Covenant, but a reform of the attitude toward the Law.
 The final result of the New Covenant is that people will
know the Lord through the behavior of the people of
God, which is the result of their spiritual experience.
 The New Covenant is fully ethical.
The New Covenant and Matthew 5

 Righteousness is the philosophical-

theological context of Matthew 5.
 This term was closely related to the
covenantal understanding.

J. Daryl Charles, “Do not Suppose That I have come”: The Ethic of the Sermon on the
Mount Reconsidered”, Southwestern Journal of Theology Volume 46, Number 3, summer
2004. P. 47-70
 Righteousness and Covenant

You are righteous because you want to be part of

the covenant (traditional view)

Covenant You are righteous because, as a result, of the

covenant. (Jesus)

You are righteous because you want to be kept

on the covenant (Second Temple Judaism
(NPP)
 New Covenant from the Structure
of Matthew 5

I. Matthew 5:1-11. Description of the

People of the New Covenant.
II. Matthew 5:13-16. The practical result
of the New Covenant.
III. Matthew 5:17-48. The internalized
Law.
 Description of the People of the New
Covenant

Matthew used three grammatical recourses

to stress the internal experience of the
people of the New Covenant: dative
locative, participles, and adjectives.
 Description of the People of the New
Covenant
Μακάπιοι οἱ πηυσοὶ ηῷ πνεύμαηι, Locative
(Mat 5:3 BNT)

μακάπιοι οἱ πενθοῦνηες (Mat 5:4 BNT) Participle

μακάπιοι οἱ πραεῖς, (Mat 5:5 BNT) Adjective

μακάπιοι οἱ πεινῶνηες καὶ διψῶνηες Participle

(Mat 5:6 BNT)
μακάπιοι οἱ ἐλεήμονες, (Mat 5:7 BNT) Participle
μακάπιοι οἱ καθαποὶ ηῇ καρδίᾳ, (Mat 5:8 BNT) Locative
μακάπιοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, (Mat 5:9 BNT) Adjective
μακάπιοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι (Mat 5:10 BNT) Participle
 The practical result of the New
Covenant

 Jesus used two metaphors to describe the

visible and tangible result of the New
Covenant in the people.
 ὑμεῖς ἐζηε ηὸ ἅλας ηῆς γῆς· (Mat 5:13 BNT)
 ὑμεῖς ἐζηε ηὸ θῶς ηοῦ κόζμοσ.
(Mat 5:14 BNT)
 Note that in these verses it is not used the
comparative like. This is to stress the inner
experience of the Christian life.
 Result of the New Covenant

οὕηως λαμτάηυ ηὸ θῶρ ὑμῶν

ἔμπποζθεν ηῶν ἀνθπώπυν,
ὅπως ἴδυζιν ὑμῶν ηὰ καλὰ ἔπγα
καὶ δοξάζυζιν ηὸν παηέπα ὑμῶν
ηὸν ἐν ηοῖρ οὐπανοῖρ.
(Mat 5:16 BNT)
 The internalized Law

 It is very striking that Jesus clearly stated His

position about the Law before the analysis of
some commandments.
 Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to
fulfill. "For truly I say to you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not the smallest letter or
stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all
is accomplished.(Mat 5:17-18 NAS)
 The internalized Law

ὃρ δ᾽ ἂν ποιήζῃ καὶ διδάξῃ, οὗηορ μέγαρ

κληθήζεηαι ἐν ηῇ βαζιλείᾳ ηῶν οὐπανῶν.
(Mat 5:19 BNT)
 The word ποιήυ, in the subjunctive aorist,
denotes to do external things, but with
internal conviction.
 διδάξῃ is another subjunctive aorist that
implies a action from the internal to the
external
 The internalized Law
 Jesus alluded not only the Ten Commandments, but also to other laws
related to the ethic behavior.
Ηκούζαηε ὅηι ἐππέθη ηοῖρ ἀπσαίοιρ· οὐ θονεύζειρ…ἐγὼ 10 Comm.
δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν Said-Say-Application

Ηκούζαηε ὅηι ἐππέθη· οὐ μοισεύζειρ…ἐγὼ δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν 10 Comm.

Said-Say-Application

Εππέθη δέ· ὃρ ἂν ἀπολύζῃ ηὴν γςναῖκα αὐηοῦ, δόηυ Tradition/Moses

αὐηῇ ἀποζηάζιον…ἐγὼ δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν Said-Say

ἠκούζαηε ὅηι ἐππέθη ηοῖρ ἀπσαίοιρ…ἐγὼ δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν Tradition- Said-Say

Ηκούζαηε ὅηι ἐππέθη· ὀθθαλμὸν ἀνηὶ ὀθθαλμοῦ καὶ Tradition/Moses

ὀδόνηα ἀνηὶ ὀδόνηορ…ἐγὼ δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν Said-Say-Application
Ηκούζαηε ὅηι ἐππέθη· ἀγαπήζειρ ηὸν πληζίον ζος καὶ Tradition
μιζήζειρ ηὸν ἐσθπόν ζος…ἐγὼ δὲ λέγυ ὑμῖν Said-Say-Application
 Conclusions
 The ethical and theological implications of Matthew 5 seems
to fit correctly with the definition of New Covenant in the Old
Testament.
 Jesus seems to be applying the concept of New Covenant to
describe the ideal behavior of His church and His disciples.
 The Law of Jesus do not differ from the Ten Commandments
in essence. The only difference is that in Jesus those
commandments are part of the internal spiritual experience of
the human being and not only a simple external or ethic
precept.
 The ethic of the New Covenant is not an external experience,
but the natural result of the internalization of the Law of God
in the heart.