Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a vastly important passage. Many commentators consider it the theological high point of Jeremiah and perhaps even the whole Old Testament.[1] In fact, this passage is likely partly responsible for the division of the English Bible into the Old and New Testaments.[2] It speaks a promise from God to the nation of Judah of a new covenant in which Yahweh himself will write the law upon their hearts and forgive sin once and for all.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 In Its Immediate Context

This passage is placed near the middle of Jeremiah’s Book of Comfort, Jeremiah chapters thirty through thirty-three.[3] Therefore, it is vital to understand the content of these chapters to understand the theological emphasis of this passage.[4] This is a passage of hope.

The promise of the new covenant is set in eschatological times.[5]Jeremiah writes that the days are coming when he will make this new covenant. This would mean that the time had not yet come, but something would happen in the future to bring the new covenant to fruition.

At this point in history, the tribes of Israel had split into two kingdoms. Yet Yahweh will make the new covenant with the nations of Israel and Judah. The implication is that this promise is to all of Israel, not just the Jews.[6] This suggests that the two will be rejoined together under this new covenant.[7]  

Something is missing in the previous covenant that Yahweh had made with Israel. The old covenant was broken. There was nothing inherently wrong with the covenant, and there was certainly no failure on Yahweh’s part. The people had broken the covenant.[8] The missing element of the old covenant was Israel’s obedience to it. By breaking the covenant, they had rendered it ineffective and void. Therefore, something needed to be done to allow the relationship between Israel and Yahweh to continue.

Yahweh said through Jeremiah that He would create a new covenant. This covenant would be different, not in changing the law but in changing the mode of reception.[9] The law would not be abolished as an expression of Yahweh’s will.[10] There is no indication that the content of the law would be altered in commandment, statute, or ordinance.[11]

Instead of writing the law on stone tablets, it would be written on their hearts. It would be inscribed on the heart of both the people and each individual.[12] By writing it on their hearts, Yahweh would overcome the internal impediment to the perfection of the covenant relationship.[13] The old covenant had been written on stone tablets by the hand of Moses. As commands were received externally, the problem of their rebellious hearts had not changed their human condition; they were still sinful creatures. By placing the law upon their hearts, Yahweh would be replacing the rebellion in their hearts with a desire to obey His law.[14]

 Once external law becomes a thing of the past, so will teaching.[15]  Jeremiah envisions a day when prophets like himself would be out of a job.[16] No longer will one say to another, “know the Lord,” because Yahweh will be known already.[17] The relationship broken by sin would be mended as Yahweh interacts with His people. There would be no more need for an intermediary.

The last sentence of this passage is the new element in the new covenant.[18] Yahweh said he would forgive their sins and remember them no longer. The forgiveness here is a salvific and individually applied promise in the new hearts of the people. [19] No longer would their sin be punished, but instead, Yahweh would forgive sins.[20] The newness is possible because Yahweh has forgiven.[21] Israel would not have to sacrifice animals in the tabernacle or the temple to cover their sins. This would be great hope to the people, but it would be even more remarkable when you understand the context of Jeremiah’s audience.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 In the Context of the Book of Jeremiah

Yahweh would send his prophets to call the nation back to his law throughout Israel’s history. Jeremiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming divine judgment upon the people of the southern kingdom of Judah. His prophecy takes place during a time of political and religious crisis.[22]Jeremiah became a prophet during a time of covenantal renewal under the reign of King Josiah.[23]

After the death of Josiah, the people returned to their worship of idols, yet they trusted that Yahweh was on their side and would protect them no matter how they lived or what they did.[24]Jeremiah was an ardent and loyal patriot. He felt his duty was to inform his compatriots of the dangers looming in their international situation.[25] Three major political superpowers were gathering around Judah. Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon hoped to take the land of Judah for advantage in their political games. During this political tension, Jeremiah was foretelling Judean exile for seventy years.[26] This would begin around 587BC with the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah writes a letter to the people in exile advising them to settle there and expect to remain there for many years. He also proclaims the reason for their exile from the land; the people’s sin demanded punishment from a righteous God.[27] Israel’s apostasy began even while they were in the wilderness receiving the law and lasted until Jeremiah’s time. Every time a righteous king or leader led them back to Yahweh, the people returned to their sin once that person died. There was no question regarding the certainty of divine retribution.[28]

            Yet Yahweh gave Israel a promise of a return to the promised land from the land to which they had been deported.[29]Once they returned to the promised land, Yahweh would give them a new covenant that would not be disobeyed since it would be written on their hearts. Yahweh would discipline his firstborn Israel, but He would not allow his people to disappear in a foreign land. He would bring them back to the land. He would restore his people; not just Judah, but Israel as a whole. The king from the line of David would be fulfilled in a repopulated land.[30]Thus these promises are associated with the end of exile and dispersion and returning home.[31]

Jeremiah 31:31-34 In Biblical Context

Jeremiah’s prophecy looks back to the covenant at Sinai and forward to the work of the Messiah.[32]Jeremiah makes frequent allusions to the covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28.[33]Yet Jeremiah’s description of a new covenant should take the Christian reader straight to the words of Jesus at the Last Supper and to the letter to the Hebrews.[34]

Covenant is a term and concept at home in the Deuteronomistic writings and theology.[35]After Yahweh had delivered Israel from the land of Egypt, he established the Mosaic covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. Therefore, the act of divine grace undergirding the Sinai covenant was the deliverance from Egypt.[36] In creating this covenant with them, Yahweh established himself as Lord over them. They would become a people under his rule. The continued existence of the covenant depended on the continued recognition of Yahweh as Lord and continued obedience to the terms of his covenant.[37] The covenant contained promises of blessing if Israel followed Yahweh and maintained him as their sole God. Deuteronomy contains a long list of the curses which would befall Israel if they failed to obey God’s law.[38]

The notion of the law being in Israel’s heart was found in passages such as Deuteronomy 6:6 and Deuteronomy 30:14.[39] Throughout the Old Testament, it is understood that the law must be internalized.[40]The problem was that the Deuteronomy passages meant no more than learning by heart, committing it forever to memory.[41]The people could commit it to memory, but obeying it was another issue. The Deuteronomic history records Israel’s persistently failed to live following God’s terms.[42] Israel had not merely refused to obey the law or acknowledge Yahweh’s complete and sole sovereignty but was incapable of such obedience.[43] Therefore, they would have to suffer the penalty of their disobedience by going into exile. Even when they returned, the Mosaic covenant would remain in effect until the inauguration of the new one, which the incarnate Lord of the covenant declared would be at his crucifixion.[44]

We should not read Jeremiah 31:31-34 as if it were Jeremiah’s plan for and approval of the rise of Christianity.[45]Jeremiah was not writing with knowledge of the coming of Christ, but Jesus infused Jeremiah’s prophecy with its whole meaning.[46] The church points to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the promise. It understands the hearts to be the lives of people who have responded to God’s love in Christ and have been transformed by His love.[47] From the earliest times, the Christian church claimed the promise of Jeremiah 31 and understood itself to be the people of the new covenant.[48]This is rightly so, for the prophecy pointed forward to the eschatological age relating to Jesus’ person and work.[49]

Jesus specifically told his apostles that he was instituting the new covenant in Luke 22.[50] The definition of the blood of Christ and the cup of communion as the new covenant associated the new covenant with the advent of Christ and the creation of a Christian community.[51] Jesus points to the crucifixion as the occasion by which a new covenant is established, so Jeremiah’s words can apply only to that covenant.[52]The Last Supper conveys the idea that Jesus’ death seals the new covenant.[53]Therefore, Jesus becomes the mediator of the new covenant by his death on the cross.[54]

The church also thought of itself as a new people, Israel reborn as a more inclusive nation to which the Gentiles could now belong.[55] Jesus gave this meal to his disciples. This suggests that the new covenant is not made with all of Judah and Israel but specifically with those who are followers of Jesus.[56] In the New Testament times, the promise incorporated the Gentiles. The discussion in Hebrews about the encompassing work of Christ begins and ends concerning Jeremiah’s new covenant.[57]

Jeremiah 31:31-34 is quoted extensively in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews does not intend to prove the total ineffectiveness of the old covenant and its sacrificial system but instead seeks to emphasize the superior nature of the new.[58]God has always been a forgiving God, but he has done something even better than the old covenant in Christ.[59] Although the new covenant is significantly less burdensome than the old, no antithesis is intended between the two; the new comes to complete the old.[60] The covenant was new, as it is now known, in that it was centered on the God-man, Jesus, for in the total sense, this prophecy was fulfilled only through the work of Christ.[61] Jesus said that he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He brought it to completion by his death on the cross.

Conclusion

As Jeremiah prophesied to a nation coming under punishment for their sin, this passage gave them hope for a return from a geographic exile. They hoped that Yahweh would bring them back to the land he had promised them. Israel’s problem was not merely physical; they had a sin problem like all of humanity. Jeremiah said that sin was written on their hearts. Yahweh knew that the only way they could uphold his law was if he wrote the law on their hearts. Therefore, read geographically, Jeremiah 31 refers to a return from exile; spiritually, it means turning the heart back to Yahweh.[62] This new covenant was inaugurated by the death of Jesus on the cross. It will ultimately be fulfilled when he returns to gather his church to himself.