Three Covenants

Some people find the Bible confusing because in places such as Ezekiel 18:24 it says that a righteous person who turns from righteousness and sins will die.

Here is the passage, “But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness, commits injustice and does according to all the abominations that the wicked person does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.” (Ezekiel 18:24, NASB 2020)

This confusion comes from a failure to account for what covenant was in force when these things were said.

There are three covenants we need to be mindful of. They are all instituted with blood.

The first was with Abraham. You can read about it in Genesis 15 and following. This was a unilateral covenant in which God promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. The covenant was unilateral because Abraham had no requirements to uphold. God instituted the covenant by walking between the two halves of animals (this was the blood component) while Abraham was asleep. God had declared Abraham righteous because he believed God. From that point on, Abraham was treated as a righteous man. This despite his failures at several points afterward.

The second covenant was the people of Israel. This covenant was a bilateral in which God promised the Hebrew people (Israel) blessing if they kept the terms, and death if they failed to uphold their part of the covenant. The covenant was bilateral because both God and the people of Israel had requirements to uphold. God instituted this covenant through Moses and the people ratified it by agreeing (several times) to do everything God said and being sprinkled with blood. In this covenant people were righteous only if they kept all 613 terms of the agreement. God knew they could not do this and set up a sacrificial system including the Day of Atonement to provide covering for sin and forgiveness over and over until the Messiah (Christ) would come fulfill the terms for them once for all. The failures of the Israelites at many points afterward show us that apart from the Messiah, none of us has any hope of righteousness or Life.

This is the covenant that was in place when God said in Ezekiel 18:24 that if a righteous person sins, they will die. Those were the terms of that covenant. Importantly, that covenant was ONLY for the Hebrew nation. It NEVER applied to anyone who was not an Israelite in any way. This was the situation for all Gentiles: “Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:11–12, NASB 2020) Saint, you were never included in that bilateral covenant. Without Christ, you were without hope and without God.

The third (and final) covenant is called the New Covenant or Testament. This covenant is a unilateral covenant in which God promises that everyone who agrees to be included (by faith) is made righteous and given eternal Life. This covenant is unilateral because we have no requirements to uphold. God instituted this covenant with the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ on a Roman cross. Just as Abraham was treated as a righteous man forever after God's covenant with him, so everyone who agrees to be included in this new covenant by trusting Jesus is made righteous for all time and given eternal Life. This despite their failures at many points afterward.

Saint, you are governed ONLY by the third and final covenant.