The Old vs. The New (Covenant)

"The weakness of the law was threefold: (1) it could not cancel past sins - that is it could not justify; (2) it could not make dead men live - that is, it could not regenerate; (3) it could not make bad hearts good - that is, it could not sanctify."

(1) It could not justify, because it was the "ministration of condemnation." - II Corinthians 3:9

(2) It could not regenerate, otherwise Paul would not have been killed by it. - Romans 7:9-10

(3) It could not sanctify, otherwise it would never have been disannulled for "making nothing perfect." - Hebrews 7:18-19

"To teach that the insufficiency of the law lay in man's moral inability to meet its simple demands on human behaviour is to err most radically. If the law could not be kept, God is in a position of laying upon man an impossible burden and then punishing them for failure to do the impossible"

-- Adapted from A. W. Tozer's book "Paths to Power"

Tozer makes a very good point: that the defect in the covenant of law was not that it was too difficult to keep, but that it didn't make the comers thereunto perfect. In the new covenant, however, that has been remedied; Christ's work of grace has not only allowed our sins to be forgiven (justification), but we are made new creatures in Him (regeneration), and are given all things that pertain to life and godliness (sanctification).