Review: Transformed by God: New Covenant Life and Ministry

If you’ve read Jeremiah’s rich promise of a new covenant and want to know how it has been fulfilled by the work of Jesus Christ, then this book is for you.

David G. Peterson, a professor at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, and an expert biblical theologian, traces the allusions to Jeremiah’s new covenant through the New Testament in Transformed by God (IVP Academic, 2012).

As with any good sermon, the key point is in the title: The definitive forgiveness of sins prophesied by Jeremiah is the means by which God transforms sinners into saints. But forgiveness does not operate alone. It brings God’s people to know Him not merely intellectually, but experientially. To know Christ, in turn, results in life transformation and new obedience to God’s will.

This theme appears in the work of Luke, who recounts how John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul proclaimed forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness not only transformed those who heard it, it also enabled them to proclaim God’s forgiveness to the nations.

In Hebrews, the focus is on how the new covenant renews worship. Rather than the old sacrificial system, the new covenant provides a final solution to the problem of sin. John, too, proclaims this message: to experientially know Christ and His atoning work is to be transformed.

The new covenant is glorious—much more glorious, insists Paul, than the old covenant. Moses’ shining face faded, but in the new covenant, Jeremiah’s prophecy is fulfilled. Believers have the law written on their hearts, but even more, they have the Spirit dwelling in them and enabling them to keep that internalized law. As forgiven people, the recipients of Paul’s letters are able to know God and live in His presence as people under the old covenant never could.

We live in this world on His riches.