We are solidly New Covenant. The Old Covenant refers to the Mosaic Law Code and includes the rules and regulations from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. It was given to the Jews, not the Gentiles. There is NO RECORD of God ever giving the Old Covenant to the Gentiles. Nor expecting them to live by it. Rather, Romans says that Gentiles are those “without the Law.” They are judged according to conscience rather than Law. And still fall just as short as everyone else.
Strangely, most Bible-belt Christians have a weird pick-and-choose relationship with the Old Testament. They say we are under the 10 Commandments, then refuse to follow the Sabbath rules (Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown). They say it’s about the spirit of the Law. But that’s just the point- the Law is the Law. There is no “spirit of the law” that says we can enforce some of it and walk away from other parts.
Circumcision was codified in the Old Covenant. Yet Paul says in Galatians, “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law (not just parts and not just the “spirit of the law”)… For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love”- Galatians. 5 James says, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it”.
Yet some religious folks have no problem enforcing a Levitical injunction against tattoos. But think nothing of wearing mixed fibers, eating meat with blood in it and cutting the hair on the edges of the head and beard. Yet those rules are found IN THE SAME CHAPTER. So either we are under the Law and must do every single one of the 600+ Laws. Or we are not.
Check it- “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear”- Hebrews 8:13. “Christ is the end of the Law so that there may be righteousness for those who believe”- Romans 10:4. “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are NO LONGER UNDER a guardian”- Gal. 3:24-25.
The Law hasn’t passed away…for those still under it: Old Covenant Jews who haven’t become followers of Christ. But for Gentiles- ESPECIALLY those in Christ- we are not under the Old Covenant Law Code. Never were.
Therefore…the basis of our belief and practice is New Testament-oriented. We don’t confess to priests, but to Christ. We don’t bring an animal offering, because Christ is our Lamb, slain on our behalf. We don’t forbid what Jesus doesn’t forbid, so tattoos and eating at restaurants on Saturday (or Sunday) isn’t wrong. We don’t celebrate the Old Testament Festivals and the like, because they were a shadow whose reality and fulfillment is found in Christ. “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ”- Col. 2:16-17
“For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the Law as well”- Heb. 7:12, referring to Christ and his Priesthood as the replacement for the Levitical Priesthood.