The Old Covenant of Law vs. The New Covenant of Grace

Under the old covenant of law                                           Under the new covenant of grace


God demanded righteousness from man.                             God imparts righteousness to man
                                                                                         through the finished work of Jesus
                                                                                                  (Romans 4:5-7)

God will visit your sins to the third and fourth                       God will by no means remember your sins

generations. (Exodus 20:5)                                                           (Hebrews 8:12;, 10:17)

The children of Israel were blessed only if they                     Believers don't have to depend on their   
obeyed God's commandments perfectly--                            self-efforts  to receive God's blessings,
inwardly and outwardly, (Deuteronomy 28:13,14)                because Jesus fulfilled every one of the
                                                                                            requirements of the law on their behalf
                                                                                                       (Colossians 2:14)

The children of Israel were cursed if they did not                  Believers can enjoy God's blessings and          obey God's commandments perfectly.                                  and undeserved favor because Christ became
(Deuteronomy 28:15-1618,20                                             a curse for them on the cross.(Galatians 3:13)

Depending on self-efforts produces behavior                       Beholding the loveliness of Jesus and His
modification without heart transformation.                            finished work brings about inner transformation,
                                                                                          which produces good works that are motivated 
                                                                                          by God's love. (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The blood sacrifices of animals covers the sins of                 The blood of Jesus has removed the sins--
the children of Israel for only one year, and the                     past, present and future--of believers,
process had to be repeated every year.                                completely, and perfectly, once and for all.
(Hebrews 10:3)                                                                   (Hebrews 10:11,12)

Obeying the law could not and did not give the                     Sin has no dominion over believers.(Rom.6:14)
children of Israel the power to stop sin in their                       as the power of Jesus to overcome
in their lives.  The law has no power to make anyone             temptation kicks in when they are conscious
holy, just and good.                                                               that they are righteous in Christ apart from their
                                                                                            works. (Romans 4:6)

The children of Israel were robbed of their confidence           Believers can have a tremendous sense of
in the goodness of God because they were always                 confidence and security in Christ because
looking at themselves to see how well or poorly                     they are now looking to Jesus and not
they performed (i.e self-conscious)                                        themselves. (i.e. Christ- conscious)

The children of Israel could not have an intimate                    Believers can enjoy a close, intimate,
relationship with God because their unrighteousness               relationship with God as their Father by faith 
put distance between themselves and God.                            in  Jesus. ( Corinthians 5:17; Romans 5:7-9
                                                                                            (Hebrews 10:10)


The children of Israel could not enter the Holy of                   Not only can believers enter God's holy

Holies. (where the presence of God was). Only the                presence, they can also come boldly to His
High Priest could, and that only once a year, on the                throne of grace to find mercy and grace in
Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:2,14)                                    their time of need because of  Jesus' perfect
                                                                                             atonement. (Hebrews 4:16).

The children of Israel were under the ministry of death            Believers are under the ministry of Jesus'
(2 Corinthians 3:7)                                                                 abundant life (2 Corinthians 3:6, John 10:10).


What GOOD NEWS the New Covenant has brought to us.  This information has been compiled by 
Joseph Prince in his excellent book  'UNMERITED FAVOR'. It has been a great blessing to me.