Simply put, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. In the context of the Bible, it is an agreement between God and man. Most folks are at least somewhat familiar with the Old Covenant (OC) in that they’ve heard the 10 commandments and maybe they’ve heard about some of the Sabbath and dietary laws.
Deut 28 (take a second to read it) is a handy chapter because it lists the blessings that God will bestow on individuals who keep all the commandments, followed by all the curses that you’ll get if you don’t follow all the commandments. The blessings are good things like never being hungry, living in peace and defeating your enemies, and having lots of healthy kids. The curses are basically the opposite: you’ll be hungry, you’ll be taken over and exiled by your enemies, and you’ll have kids but not be able to keep them, etc.
Note the strict words and phrases used in Deut 28 like all, fully obey, keep, and carefully follow. That’s the basis of a covenant: it is to be fully obeyed by the two parties as long as it is in effect.
We’re really not accustomed to following covenants. In today’s society, there’s all kinds of leniencies and chances that people get. But with God, that’s not possible because He has perfect justice. He must fulfill his end of the deal and we must fulfill ours, period.
So why should the New Covenant (NC) be any different? It’s not. Whatever the NC is, we must fully obey it. That’s not the view of most Christians though. They think God “got nice” and the NC is something you just need to try your hardest on, and God will forgive the rest.
Where do we find the definition the NC? The Old Testament and the New Testament? Just the New Testament? Just the words of Jesus? Just the commands of Jesus? Let’s say it’s just the commands of Jesus for now. In Mat 6:14 Jesus commands that we must forgive people in order to receive forgiveness from God. If you include this commandment in the NC then you’re in a bad place. Have you fully forgiven everyone who has ever hurt you? If you haven’t, then God hasn’t forgiven you. Some doctrines go so far as to say that people go in and out of forgiveness based on when you forgive others.
Since theologians know that humans cannot forgive all the time, they have to do something to avoid commandments like this meaning what they seem to mean. Many doctrines change it from “you must” to “give it your best try.” But this is not how covenants work—you must understand this. In the words of Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try!”
Therefore any covenant between God and man must be followed fully all the time, whether it’s “Do not eat from that tree,” the OC with its 613 laws, or the NC with whatever laws it contains. If mankind were meant to be capable of following the NC, then categorically it must be very different from the OC, just as Jer 31:31-34 declares.
What is your definition of the NC? Can you express it in words? Can you find it in the Bible? Are you capable of following it all the time?