A Better Covenant: Maturity in Christ

In the landscape of modern spirituality, there is a pervasive misconception that maturity is measured by activity—that the more one serves, the more mature one is or becomes. However, the Apostolic witness suggests a radically different metric. Maturity, or "perfection" (teleiōsis), is not the accumulation of religious duties or the adherence to external written codes, precepts, or principles. Wisdom is not reflected by adherence to elemental principles nor even proverbs but in how we grow in Christ, who is our wisdom from God (1 Corinthians 1:29-30). Maturity is a transformation where the believer is conformed to the very life and nature of Jesus.

The Inability of Service to Mature

The Epistle to the Hebrews provides a rigorous critique of the Old Covenant system. The Levitical priesthood was defined by constant service, sacrifice, and ritual. Yet, the writer argues that this ceaseless activity failed to achieve God’s ultimate goal for man: perfection.

Hebrews 7:11 (Literal) "If indeed therefore perfection [teleiōsis] was through the Levitical priesthood (for upon it the people had received the law), what need still [was there for] a different priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron to be named?"

The text utilizes the Greek word teleiōsis, which implies a completion, a finishing, or reaching a goal. The argument is stark: if the priesthood (the highest form of religious service) could bring about this maturity, there would have been no need for Christ. The implication is that "serving" in the religious sphere does not inherently change the nature of the worshiper. One can serve in the temple for a lifetime and remain spiritually incomplete.

The service in the temple was an integral part of the Mosaic Law "... the Levitical priesthood (for upon it the people had received the law),." The writer of Hebrews also states the Law did not mature.

The Weakness of the Law and the Better Hope

Hebrews 7:18-19 (Literal) "For an annulment indeed occurs of [the] preceding commandment on account of the weakness of it and unprofitableness (for nothing [was] perfected [eteleiōsen] [by] the Law), [there is] an introduction but of a better hope through which we draw near to God."

Here, the Greek text notes the athetēsis (annulment/setting aside) of the commandment. Why? Because it was asthenēs (weak) and anōpheles (unprofitable). The parenthetical statement is the key to understanding biblical maturity: "For the Law perfected nothing ." The Law could expose sin, but it could not mature the sinner.

Because the mechanism of the Law and the Priesthood could not produce maturity, a change was necessitated. The Law was external; it demanded righteousness from a flesh that was incapable of producing it. Therefore, the old system was not merely updated; it was set aside.

Consequently, God introduced a "better hope." This hope is the New Covenant in His blood—a covenant not based on the "law of a fleshly commandment," but on the "power of an indestructible life" (Hebrews 7:16). 

Maturity is no longer about living to written code, on a tablet of stone; it is about drawing near to God and receiving His life. It is about God putting his Spirit within us, replacing the heart of stone, representing the commandments, with a heart of flesh where He is writing on our hearts, see Epistles of A Living God: The Laws of God Written on Hearts and Minds.

The Ultimate Purpose: Conformity to the Son

If the Law is set aside and serving does not perfect us, what is the goal of the "better hope"? It is nothing less than the total transformation of the believer into the visual and spiritual representation of Christ. This was God's intent before the foundation of the world.

Romans 8:28-29 (Literal) "Now, we know all [things] work together good for the ones loved of God, those called according to His purpose. Because whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to be] conformed [symmorphous] to the image of His Son, for to be Him firstborn among many brothers."

The Greek word symmorphous implies having the same form or nature. God’s purpose is not merely to save humanity from judgment and wrath, but to reproduce the character of His Son within them. For "those called according to His purpose" he is working together good "to be conformed to the image of His Son." 

We are to be the many "brothers" who bear the exact family resemblance of the Firstborn. This is the definition of glorification, those he predestined, called, justified, to be glorified: the process by which a human being is saturated with the divine nature until they look like Jesus (Romans 8:30). Those called according to what God purposed within the true church, are being matured into the image of Jesus (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Growing Through Knowledge, Not Effort

How is this conformity achieved? It is not through the "weakness" of fleshly effort, but through the intake of a specific kind of knowledge. In Ephesians, Paul links maturity directly to the knowledge of the Son of God.

Ephesians 4:13 (Literal) "Until we might arrive all at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge [epignōseōs] of the Son of God, into a man mature [andra teleion], at [the] measure of stature of the fullness of the Christ."

The word used for knowledge here is epignōseōs, which denotes a full, precise, and experiential knowledge, distinct from mere gnosis (general knowledge). This type of knowledge and understanding is in Christ alone an essential ingredient to those who overcome in the Parable of Sowing.

Paul equates being a "complete man" (andra teleion) with arriving at this specific knowledge of Jesus. To grow up is to know Him—not intellectually as a historical figure, but vitally as the indwelling life. 

The "measure of stature" is not how much work we have done for God, not how much head knowledge of the scriptures we have, but how much of the "fullness of the Christ" has been formed in us.

Conclusion

The trajectory of the New Testament is clear. The Old Covenant—characterized by the Law and the service of the priesthood—was annulled because it was weak; it could not bring humanity to the finish line (telos). As the writer of Hebrews tells us, this is applicable truth, a lesson to teach us today, laws and serving doesn't mature. God, therefore, established a New Covenant to achieve His eternal purpose: a family conformed to the image of His Son.

True maturity, therefore, is not the expansion of our ministry, but the expansion of Christ within us. It is the cessation of our own efforts to perfect ourselves by written code and the embrace of the "better hope"—a life lived by the power of the Son, growing in the full knowledge of Him until we reflect His image completely.