Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 477the new covenant manifests itself among the Gentiles is by no means transpar-
ent in these verses, but one should note that his thinking nevertheless runs par-
allel to Jeremiah's new covenant passage, where the promise of a law written
on the heart is followed by the promise of a new inner motivation to know and
do the Law (Jer 31:34).
In Rom 11:25-32 the new covenant prophecy is given a most extraordinary
interpretation, unlike any other in the NT and certainly unlike any made sub-
sequently by the Church Fathers. Elsewhere the referent for the new covenant
is the Church, which is the New Israel; here the referent is the Israel that re-
mains hardened to the gospel (Dodd 1932: 182). Paul says that at some future
time, when the full number of Gentiles has come in and the Parousia of Jesus
occurs, all Israel will be saved. Isaiah 59:20 is quoted in support of the Parousia
(Rom 11:26); next comes the new covenant prophecy: "And this will be my
covenant with them, when I will take away their sins" (v 27). The OT passage
or passages here quoted cannot be identified with certainty. The first part of
v 27, "And this will be my covenant with them," is thought to be a continuation
of the previous quotation of Isa 59:20 into v 2la. The second part of the verse,
however, "when I will take away their sins;' has to be from somewhere else.
Some suggest that this phrase comes from Isa 27:9b, which in the LXX com-
pares nicely, except for the singular "his sin." The plural "their sins" concludes
the new covenant passage of Jeremiah (LXX 38:34), where also in v 33 the be-
ginning words are "For this is the covenant." Paul could then be giving a freely
rendered abridgment of Jer 31:33-34 (Dodd 1932: 182). An abridgment of this
same Jeremiah passage is found in Heb 10:16-17. Regardless of what precise
passages make up this florilegium, Paul gives the new covenant promise its
most inclusive meaning possible: he believes this covenant really is for every-
one. He concludes by saying, "For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable"
(Rom 11:29), by which he means not just the covenant promise to Abraham
but also the new covenant promise. Both covenants are unconditional, eternal,
and given for the salvation of all.
Paul's lack of a typology between the Mosaic covenant and the new cove-
nant in Christ is compensated for, to some extent, by theology contained in the
Gospels of Matthew and John. Indirectly, and in different ways, both gospel
writers draw a parallel between Jesus and Moses. Matthew depicts Jesus as the
"new Moses" leading a "new Exodus," the Sermon on the Mount being Jesus'
"new Torah" (W. D. Davies 1969: 10-32). Although the new Torah is signifi-
cantly less burdensome than the old (Matt 11:28-30), no antithesis is intended
between the two; the new comes to complete the old ( 5: 17). Matthew does,
however, intend an antithesis between the new people of God and the old.
Jesus pronounces his "blessings" on the new people (5:3-11), but on the old
people he pronounces "woes" (23: 13-36). These blessings and woes are struc-
turally balanced in the Gospel, most likely an adaptation of the old treaty form
found in Deuteronomy and elsewhere (Deut 11:26-32; 28). But the language
is toned down. The words makarioi (blessed) and ouai (woe) translate the He-
brew >asre and hay, both milder than the covenant words baruk (blessed) and