What’s Different in the New Covenant - Daniel Bennett - Charis Daily - Season 17 Ep. 14

Summary

Daniel Bennett argues that the Old and New Testaments should not be treated as though every passage applies to believers in the same way. Christians should “rightly divide” Scripture by paying attention to its context, audience, historical period, and covenant. The New Covenant, he says, changes believers’ relationship with God and what they can expect from Him.

Understanding the covenants

• The Bible records people living under different covenants—or without a covenant—so their instructions and relationship with God may differ from those of Christians today.
• Bennett compares covenants to different contracts at a hotel: a visitor, customer, manager, and owner have different rights and responsibilities. In the same way, readers need to understand the covenant they are reading about.
• Scripture may also record statements made by people who are mistaken. The fact that a statement appears in the Bible does not necessarily mean the statement itself is God’s truth.
• Bennett points to Jeremiah’s prophecy of a New Covenant and Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, identifying Jesus’ blood and death as the basis of that covenant.

Major differences Bennett identifies

1. Worship moves from outward acts to inward spiritual life. Under the Old Covenant, people could worship through songs, offerings, sacrifices, and other actions. Bennett says that in the New Covenant, believers—made spiritually alive in Christ—can worship God “in spirit and truth.” Outward acts such as singing and giving are meaningful when they express worship arising from the heart.

2. The law exposes the problem; the New Covenant transforms the person. Bennett describes the Old Covenant law as an external set of commands that could not change people internally. Its purpose was to reveal people’s need for a Savior, not to make them righteous by rule-keeping. Jesus’ teaching about adultery and lust illustrates that the issue is not only outward behavior but also the heart.

3. God’s law is written on believers’ hearts. Drawing on Jeremiah’s prophecy, Bennett says the New Covenant changes people from within: their thoughts, desires, and motivations. His practical emphasis is that when behavior is wrong, Christians should not focus only on external correction; they should also examine their hearts and return to living from their new identity in Christ.

4. Sin is removed, not merely covered. Bennett contrasts repeated Old Testament sacrifices, which he says could not take away sin, with Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice. He teaches that God does not merely overlook believers’ sin by looking at Jesus instead; through Christ, they are made clean, righteous, and holy. He grounds this in the ideas that God remembers sins no more and that anyone in Christ is a new creation.

5. Believers’ identity is new. Christians, in Bennett’s account, should not define themselves as worthless, spiritually dirty, or merely “sinners saved by grace.” Although people were sinners before being born again, he says, those in Christ have been made new and are now saints—righteous and worthy of God’s favor as a gift, not through personal achievement. He distinguishes this spiritual identity from the continuing limitations of the physical body.

6. God’s presence lives within believers. Rather than needing to go to a physical temple to draw near to God, believers are described as temples of the Holy Spirit. Bennett presents the believer’s body as carrying God’s presence.

7. Forgiveness replaces retaliation. Bennett contrasts the Old Covenant principle of “an eye for an eye” with Jesus’ teaching to respond to wrongdoing without revenge. Because God has forgiven believers, they can extend forgiveness to others, even when the other person does not deserve it. The parable of the unforgiving servant illustrates the relationship between receiving mercy and showing mercy.

Practical takeaway: Live according to the New Covenant

Bennett closes by urging Christians to renew their minds to match their changed spiritual reality. His main practical points are:

• Read Scripture in context and distinguish between covenants and audiences.
• Do not reduce Christianity to outward rule-following; attend to inward transformation.
• When your actions conflict with God’s ways, examine what is happening in your heart and whether you are living from your identity in Christ.
• Regard righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as gifts made possible by Jesus, rather than achievements earned by personal effort.
• Forgive others and resist cycles of retaliation.
• Renew your thinking so it reflects the promises and relationship Bennett associates with the New Covenant.

The program also promotes a free booklet, Grace—The Power of the Gospel by Andrew Wommack, and mentions a prayer line and other ministry resources.

Speakers and sources featured

• Daniel Bennett — Host and speaker; identified as Senior Executive Director of Charis Bible College.
• Biblical passages quoted or referenced by Bennett: 2 Timothy 2:15; Jeremiah 31:31–33; Luke 22:20; John 4:23; Matthew 5:27–28 and 5:38–39; Psalm 36:4; Isaiah 1:18; Hebrews 10:11–14 and 8:12; Romans 5:8 and 12:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Colossians 3:12–13; Matthew 18:23 onward; and Stephen’s prayer in Acts 7:60.
• Andrew Wommack — Author of the promoted booklet, Grace—The Power of the Gospel.