New Covenant Theology focuses on:
  the finality of Christ,
  the newness of the New Covenant,
  the fulfillment/obsolescence of the Mosaic covenant,
  and the believer’s relationship to the law of Christ.

1) The New Covenant is decisively new and better

Jeremiah 31:31–34:
  promise of a new covenant,
  law written on hearts,
  universal covenant knowledge,
  sins forgiven.
Ezekiel 36:25–27 — new heart/new spirit; God causes obedience.
Luke 22:20 — This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Hebrews 8:6–13 — Christ mediates a better covenant; the first is “obsolete” and “aging.”
Hebrews 10:14–18 — definitive forgiveness and internalized law under the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is not merely a later administration of one covenantal arrangement, but marks a substantial redemptive-historical transition.

2) The Mosaic covenant/law has been fulfilled and set aside as a covenantal unit

Romans 6:14 — believers are not under law but under grace.
Romans 7:4–6 — believers have died to the law, to serve in the new way of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:19–25 — the law was a guardian until Christ came; now that faith has come, believers are no longer under a guardian.
Galatians 4:1–7 — movement from tutelage/slavery to sonship.
Ephesians 2:14–16 — Christ abolishes the “law of commandments expressed in ordinances” as a barrier.
Colossians 2:13–17 — legal debt canceled; food laws, festivals, new moons, and sabbaths are shadows fulfilled in Christ.
Hebrews 7:12 — change in priesthood entails a change in the law.
Hebrews 8:13 — by calling it “new,” He makes the first obsolete.

Christians are not under the Mosaic code as such, and the old covenant has been superseded in Christ.

3) Christians are under the “Law of Christ,” not the Mosaic law

John 13:34 — “A new commandment” to love one another as Christ loved us.
1 Corinthians 9:20–21 — Paul is not under the law in the same covenantal sense, but is under Christ’s law.
Galatians 5:14 — the whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbor.
Galatians 6:2 — believers fulfill the law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens.
Romans 13:8–10 — love fulfills the law.
James 1:25; 2:8, 12 — the “perfect law,” “royal law,” and “law of liberty.”

The believer’s ethical norm is mediated through Christ and the apostles, rather than by direct covenantal continuity with the Mosaic code.

4) Christ fulfills the Old Testament law and institutions

Matthew 5:17–18 — Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
Luke 24:27, 44 — the Scriptures point to Christ.
Romans 10:4 — Christ is the telos (goal/end) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
2 Corinthians 3:6–11 — contrast between old covenant ministry, and the surpassing glory of the new.
Hebrews 9–10 — Old Testament sacrifices, priesthood, sanctuary were shadows fulfilled in Christ.

Christ is the interpretive center and terminus of the old covenant economy.

5) Discontinuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant

John 1:17 — “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Romans 7:1–6 — death to the law/new way of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:7–11 — old covenant glory fades before the surpassing glory of the new.
Hebrews 12:18–24 — contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.

The coming of Christ changes the believer’s covenantal relationship in a significant way, not merely in degree.

6) The Old Covenant Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ

Colossians 2:16–17 — sabbaths are a shadow; the substance belongs to Christ.
Romans 14:5–6 — one person esteems one day above another, another esteems all days alike.
Hebrews 4:1–11 — true rest is found in God’s rest and in Christ.

There is no binding Christian Sabbath as a continuation of the fourth commandment in the classic covenantal sense.

7) The New Covenant consists of regenerate members

Jeremiah 31:31–34 — “they shall all know Me.”
Ezekiel 36:25–27 — inward transformation.
Hebrews 8:8–12 — citation of Jeremiah 31.
Hebrews 10:15–18 — internalized law and definitive forgiveness.

New Covenant membership is inwardly transformed and savingly known.

Conclusion: