What is a Covenant?
Definition: In both Jewish and Christian traditions, a biblical covenant (Hebrew 'berit' or Greek 'diatheke') is a sacred, binding agreement that establishes a formal, oath-bound relationship between God and humanity - similar to a promise we make with God.Comparison of the Jewish and Christian Covenant
The table below compares how 'the Covenant with God' is understood in the Jewish and Christian traditions.
JEWISH
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CHRISTIAN
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Judaism treats the covenant ('berit') as a constitutional law. It is an enduring, legal, and relational treaty.
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
[Genesis 17:7] |
Christianity interprets covenant (diatheke) through a transformational lens. It focuses on spiritual rebirth and global inclusion.
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
[Luke 22:20] |
| 1. The Covenant Recipients | |
| Primarily the Jewish people through physical lineage or formal conversion. A universal moral code is intended for non-Jews via the Noahide laws.
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
[Deuteronomy 7:6] |
All of humanity through personal faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of ethnicity.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[Galatians 3:28] |
| 2. God's Chosen People | |
| God makes a covenant with Israel, choosing them as His holy people bound by the Ten Commandments and Mosaic Law.
Now if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine."
[Exodus 19:5] |
Christians share a personal relationship with God built on His profound love, through which He gave His Son so believers receive eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16] |
| 3. Establishment of the Covenant | |
| At Mount Sinai, God established a covenant with the Israelites after freeing them from Egyptian bondage. God promised to protect them and make them a holy nation if they obeyed His commandments, including the Ten Commandments. This mutual agreement bound the Jewish people to a divine law, defining their identity and purpose for generations. | Jesus established the new covenant with humanity through His sacrificial death on the cross. His spilled blood sealed this agreement, replacing the old system of animal sacrifices with permanent forgiveness of sins. Through this ultimate sacrifice, believers gain direct access to God and the promise of eternal life. |
| 4. Core Covenant Focus | |
| Living a holy life bound to the eternal Law given at Mount Sinai.
All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
[Psalm 119:160] |
Experiencing spiritual rebirth through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
[Luke 22:20] |
| 5. Covenant Requirements | |
| Keeping the Ten Commandments, Torah and God's laws, in particular God's 613 commandments (mitzvot) found in the Torah governing moral, civil and religious affairs
You shall have no other gods before me.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
[Exodus 20:1-17] Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine [Exodus 19:5] |
Faith in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Be perfect, believe, love one another, and sacrifice. Thus receiving divine grace by trusting in Jesus Christ.
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
[Romans 6:14] And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us. [1 John 3:23] Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. [Romans 12:1] |
| 6. Role of Mediation | |
| Moses acts as a mediator when the Israelites ask him to speak to them instead of God, fearing they will die if God talks to them directly.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram's horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance. 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen,' they said to Moses. 'But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.'
[Exodus 20:18-19] |
Jesus serves as mediator of a superior new covenant that brings better promises than the old law.
But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
[Hebrews 8:6] |
| 7. Physical Covenant Signs | |
| Circumcision of males and the weekly observance of Sabbath.
You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
[Genesis 17:11] Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the LORD made them holy. [Ezekiel 20:12] Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. [Exodus 20:8-11] |
Conversion of the heart. The spiritual sacraments of baptism and taking communion ('Eucharist'). Seasonal festivals and Lord's Supper
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
[Luke 22:20] A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God. [Romans 2:28-29] |
| 8. Place of Worship | |
| Jewish place of worship is the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which King Solomon dedicated as a sacred house for God's name where the Israelites could turn to offer their prayers and worship.
May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My Name shall be there', so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
[1 Kings 8:29] |
Jesus taught that true worship is not bound to a specific physical building or mountain, meaning believers worship God anywhere in spirit and truth rather than in one sacred earthly location.
'Believe Me, woman,' Jesus replied, 'a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.'
[John 4:21-24] |
| 9. Priesthood | |
| God established the priesthood as a permanent, perpetual statute for Aaron and his sons through a sacred consecration ceremony.
Fasten caps on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. Then you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.
[Exodus 29:9] |
Jesus enabled believers to serve as a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
[Hebrews 4:14-15] Like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. [1 Peter 2:5] |
| 10. Understanding Sin | |
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Sins are forgiven through sincere repentance, prayer, and changing one's actions.
A person returns to purity through repentence ('teshuvah'), verbal confession, prayer, and to avoid a repeat of the sin. But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them [Ezekiel 18:21-22] |
Sins are forgiven through the belief in the sacrificial blood shed by Jesus on the cross. The Sermon on the Mount shows the law of Christ is fulfilled in loving God and loving others
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
[John 13:34-35] For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. [Galatians 5:14] Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. [1 John 3:7-10] |
| 11. Blood Sacrifice | |
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In ancient Judaism, ritual animal blood sacrifices were offered by priests at the Jerusalem Temple to draw closer to God and seek atonement.
Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.'
[Exodus 24:8] |
In Christian theology, the crucifixion of Jesus serves as the ultimate, atoning blood sacrifice through which humanity is forgiven of sin and reconciled with God.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished
[Romans 3:25] |
| 12. Covenant Redemption | |
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The Jewish people received their divine redemption when God freed them from slavery and led them safely out of Egypt during the Exodus.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
[Exodus 20:2] |
Christians receive redemption through Jesus offering his life as a sacrifice on the cross to forgive their sins.
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance - now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
[Hebrews 9:15] |
| 13. Eternal Covenant | |
| The bond with Israel is unbreakable, even when people fail to keep the laws.
Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.
[Leviticus 26:44-45] |
The Old Covenant is fulfilled. It is now transformed into a superior, everlasting New Covenant under the direction of Jesus Christ. By calling this covenant 'new', he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
[Hebrews 8:13] Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. [John 6:54-57] |
| 14. Successful Outcome | |
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The nation Isreal to prosper, national security, and to become God's treasured nation
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you (Israel) will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine
[Exodus 19:5] You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, to keep his decrees, commands and laws... And the Lord has declared this day that you are his treasured possession, as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you (Israel) high above all the nations he has made in praise, fame and honor, and that you will be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he promised. [Deuteronomy 26:17-19] |
Eternal life for the 'children of God'. Those who love God are forgiven and will be with God forever in the afterlife.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16] For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. [Romans 8:14-17] |
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| Author: Guest • Updated: 29 Aug 2026 • 2284 views | 25 mins ago |
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All articles are intended for general educational purposes only. All information is believed to be correct, accurate and truthful. You are advised to always do your own research. Articles are live documents and may be updated with new content at any time. Where available, sources and references are credited. If you spot any errors, omissions or to give feedback kindly contact us with details.
All articles are intended for general educational purposes only. All information is believed to be correct, accurate and truthful. You are advised to always do your own research. Articles are live documents and may be updated with new content at any time. Where available, sources and references are credited. If you spot any errors, omissions or to give feedback kindly contact us with details.
