Jesus didn’t just show us a new way, He made it possible for us to live in that new way. He gave us the New Covenant to replace the Old.
In the New Covenant we receive from God by faith. It is a two-step process summarized clearly in First John: “And this is His commandment: that we should [1] believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and [2] love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). We (1) believe that Jesus is the Son of God and we (2) love as Jesus commanded with the love He first gave to us.
The New Covenant speaks, not of what we should do, but of what Jesus has done. He has made a way for us to live in love-relationship with God. It is God who changes us from the inside out. Obedience to the New Covenant does not depend upon the work of our independent soul; the only requirement is that we believe in Jesus and all that He accomplished for us on the cross.
The first command of the New Covenant—the first step in restoring relationship with God—is to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Scripture repeats this first step with its promises over and over again. John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”John 6:40 reiterates, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.”
When we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for us, our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life. When we die, we will go to heaven. No good works are required of the independent soul. We simply accept the truth by faith. Salvation is a free gift. The Holy Spirit comes to live in our spirit and we are born again. When we invite Jesus into our heart, our spirit becomes a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit and we begin our relationship with God. In this way, our spirit fulfills its God-intended purpose; it connects us to God and His all-embracing love.
The diagram below shows that the spirit of one who believes in Jesus is filled with the love of God.
During the time of the Reformation, in the early 1500s, the church was reintroduced to the first command of the New Covenant. God used the teaching and writing of Martin Luther to make it clear that eternal life cannot be earned by works but is a free gift to be received by faith. With strong resolve the Luther held to the truth of Scriptures such as Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith.” Today many Christians have an understanding of the first command of the New Covenant. We know that we are justified by faith and not by works of the law.
When I was 16, the truth of believing of Jesus became clear to me and I accepted Him into my heart. As a new believer, I spent the first few months of my new relationship with God just enjoying Him. I would ride my horse into the hills, find a spot for him to graze, lie under a tree and read my Bible. Some days I would get up early and walk down the dirt road with my dog just to watch the sunrise and sing made-up songs to Jesus.
But then I began to learn about all the things good Christians did. I didn’t understand that these things were meant to come naturally from the spirit relationship I was enjoying, so I began trying to do my own good deeds. I thought this was what God wanted me to do. And so the framework of my Christian life became twisted: I began to assume that God would bless me and love me because of my good deeds. Thus, in working for God, I lost the simple rightness of living life in relationship with God.
My Christian life had begun well—with Jesus in my heart—in Spirit-to-spirit relationship. And I knew it would end well—with eternal life in heaven when I died. But I was completely deceived about how to live life on earth—in those important in-between years.
Salvation by faith in Jesus as the Son of God isn’t all that God intends for us. We were made for more than a born-again spirit and eternal life. We were created in the image of God to share His life and love with others—just as Jesus did. God intends that, through our spirit connection, we begin to understand more and more of His love—so that our souls also come to be renewed.
Reflection Questions:
- Share one way, meaningful to you, that the New Covenant is different from the Old.
- What does the Bible teach about how to receive everlasting life?
- Why is believing in Jesus a critical first step in our relationship with God?
- Share three ways that believing in Jesus has changed you.
- John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world …” Why is God’s love central to understanding what this verse is saying?