When studying prophetic literature, the word “new” often refers to a projection of something which will come about in the future. In the case of the new covenant, the profits are foretelling a change that will take place in the covenant between God and man. That is the “oath-bound promise whereby one party solemnly pledges to bless another,” which took place between God and Abraham (Brand, Draper and England 1131). It is important, then, to understand the new covenant according to the New Testament in order to establish canonical consistency between Jeremiah’s foretelling of the new covenant. The following text will demonstrate the consistency between Jeremiahs profession of the new covenant in relation to New Testament texts.
“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it” (The MacArthur Study Bible, Jer. 31.33). This is a projection of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God who indwells followers of Jesus Christ in order to act as helper to them. The Holy Spirit is also for discernment. Paul wrote, “Let your speech always be…seasoned with salt” (The MacArthur Study Bible, Col 4.2-6). This actually points to the law. Meat sacrifices were to be salted according to the law because salt is a symbol of eternal relation with God (Freeman and Chadwick 409). Paul was saying that Christians ought to consider the covenant, in this case the new covenant, when speaking to others in order to speak in wisdom that they may also understand the mystery of Christ.
“I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (The MacArthur Study Bible, Jer. 31.33). This is a common theme throughout prophecy. Those who are part of the new covenant will be His people because they chose to be and therefore are by nature God’s people because of the choice they made. The chosen will shift from Israel to all mankind who will choose him (See also Isaiah 49:6 and Ephesians 3:6 for more on the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles.) However, Israel is still God’s chosen people. Simeon said Christ is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” but he also said that the Gentiles are “for glory to your people Israel” (Men’s Devotional Bible, Luke 2:32). Israel is to praise God for the New Covenant.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (The MacArthur Study Bible, Jer. 31.34). There will be no need to teach your “neighbor” to know the Lord. This is because they already will know Him through the Holy Spirit regardless of spiritual maturity. The Hebrew word translated to “neighbor” in this text directly translates to prim root or tightly intertwined root. It is not referring to your literal neighbor. The idea is that the people who are part of the new covenant will have no need to teach those who they are tightly intertwined with to know the Lord because they will be tightly intertwined with fellow believers in true fellowship. If we walk in the light of Jesus Christ, we have true fellowship with each other, with the Father and with Christ (The MacArthur Study Bible, 1 John 1.3).
“I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (The MacArthur Study Bible, Jer. 31.34). All sin past and present will be forgotten. “Remember no more” translates better to “covered over and protected forever”. The idea is not that God does not know about the sin as that would be contrary to His omniscient nature; rather He has chosen to protect His people from their sins for all eternity. It’s not that they will not sin, but they will not pay the penalty because it has been atoned for by the blood of Jesus Christ (The MacArthur Study Bible, Rom 3.25).
Jeremiahs projection of the new covenant proves to be consistent with the New Testament texts. It clearly highlights all of the major aspects of the Gospel message. That is, the forgiveness of sins for those who would freely choose Him, the Holy Spirit as a helper and the way to true fellowship for both the Israelites and the Gentiles with Jesus Christ and the Father.

Works Cited
Brand, Chad Owen., Draper, Charles W., England, Archie W., ed.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1998.
Freeman, James M., and Chadwick, Harold. The New Manners & Customs of the Bible. Orlando:
Bridge- Putnam, 1998.
Men’s Devotional Bible: New International Version. Zondervan, 1993.
The MacArthur Study Bible: Updated New American Standard Translation. MacArthur:
Thomas Nelson Inc., 2006.

Image Credit: CWMGary, http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=462858

The New Covenant According to Jeremiah