Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV
In much of the Biblical writings, the main point comes at the end of the section. It’s kind of opposite to how we format most of our Bibles today, many of them with additional subheadings placed by the translator/interpreter at the beginning of the passage. We’ll key in on the last phrase in this section, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The phrase is a poetic parallel, where the poet says essentially the same thing twice, but avoids redundancy by using synonyms to give additional nuance to the entire phrase. Thus “forgive” is paired with “remember no more”, and “iniquity” is paired with “sin”. Rearranging the words slightly, we see how it works:
I will > forgive > their iniquity
and I will > remember no more > their sin
Addressing the issue
Why is this phrase important? A little backstory is helpful here. Every reader of the Torah is intimately familiar with the “Ten Words”, aka the ten commandments, outlined in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The second Word in particular, prohibiting rival objects of worship and sources of divine authority, uses the phrase “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children”, a consequence God brings about on those who have given their deepest devotion to things that will not serve them as a true source of eternal salvation. But how exactly does one “visit” moral wrongdoing via covenant unfaithfulness?
Breaking this down, visiting (Heb. פָּקַד pa-qad) is used in places interchangeably with remembering (Heb. זָכַר za-khar), as in Psalm 109:14 “May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD”, a direct reference to the second Word. In Hebrew, remembering is not just a cognitive act, but more like cognition that results in present action. Punishing makes for another synonym, as used in Jeremiah 14:10, “now he will remember their iniquity, and punish (paqad) their sins.”
This gives us a way to triangulate the meaning of “visiting”, with the addition of “remembering” and “punishing”. In summary, God re-visits or re-addresses the problem with each generation that breaks faith with him as his covenant people.
This gives any given generation’s children new opportunity to break from the moral failings of their parents, as each child is also charged to wisely re-visit decisions initially made for them by their elders, and reevaluate (remember) for themselves the quality of their covenant bond with the God who freed them and gave them the choice to follow in loyal love as a sign of God’s desire to bless not only them but also the whole world.
On the flip side, it also means children can leave the faithful path of their parents. They can choose to not consider and act according to the love the Lord has shown in the past. And this can so often be the case with them and us as God’s people. We are prone to wander.
Ancient Israel knew that one could not become morally pure simply by acting out rote commands, even if they were inscribed on stone by the finger of God. The poet examines the problem and identifies the inner source of iniquity and the need for heart replacement. “Create in me a clean heart, O God… and sustain me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51).
Deep dive to renewal
Levitical actions like the sprinkling of water and blood were designed to communicate cleansing, forgiveness and restoration. But sprinkling only touched the surface of the body. What could remove the moral and mental thickness that stifles joy and gladness in the LORD’s abundant love? What could cleanse the conscience and make one willing to surrender not just an animal to God, but one’s entire life in service and grateful wonder? An inner transformation is needed to compliment and complete the outward intention.
In contrast to the language used in the second Word, we hear something different in Jeremiah’s language surrounding the new covenant God proposes for his people. And this something brings about the total forgiveness (non-visitation) of iniquity, and the eternal no-remembering of sin. The inscription is transferred from hard dead stones to soft living hearts, and the interior work of God’s Spirit will move ahead to forge an even deeper relationship between human and divine.
If I could be put in a place where the debt of my moral failings was forgiven me; if I could be set down where the hurt I caused could never again be remembered and held against me; if I could be sustained not only by bread and wine but also by an ever-willing Spirit; well, that place would be a heaven. And that is exactly the honour the Father has promised to those who love him and walk in the ways of his Son (John 12:26).
Spoiler alert: we don’t have to wait for a cloud-sitting afterlife to get in on this. The visiting and revisiting of our inner space can happen repeatedly as time passes. There are things to remember and things to leave in the keeping of Jesus’ non-remembrance. Special days can function like moments of renewed commitment, and seasons like Lent bring about deeper evaluation and cleansing, resulting in tighter focus. Even a simple Sunday morning can act not only like the first sunrise of the week, but a new beginning of resurrected life born from freedom in the Messiah, joy in the Spirit and the breath of true Divine inspiration.
There’s never a bad time to remember, reflect and renew our loyalty and love for the true Source of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5).