Jeremiah 31 and the New/Re-Newed Covenant:

Hellenistic Christianity has, in my opinion, seriously misunderstood the amazing prophecy in Jeremiah 31.

Consider first though this prophecy in Ezekiel 36:

Ezek 36: 24-30“ 24 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.”
Two points to notice here.
This prophecy is to Israel and is clearly a renewal and refinement of their Covenant with the Almighty (see Deuteronomy 30:1-10) despite their failure at times to live up to the terms and expectations of the covenantal relationship.
Notice that this refinement involves giving them a ‘new heart’ meaning a new attitude and openness to God’s leading.
Secondly though, there are some amazing specifics in the details here, in particular, that the Jewish people will be returned to the Land of Israel and that the land once desolate (as per the curse of the covenant in Deut 29) will again produce food in abundance. This prophecy appears to be being fulfilled before our very eyes! [1]

So being given ‘new hearts and spirits’ is a part of the on-going process of the Covenantal relationship that Israel has with the Almighty. Let's now reconsider the ‘New Covenant’ of Jeremiah 31. 

Jeremiah 31:31-3431 "Here, the days are coming," says Yehovah, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. 

32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says Yehovah.
33 "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says Yehovah: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know Yehovah'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more."

The term ‘new covenant’ (transliterated from Hebrew as ‘brit chadash’) could also be translated as ‘re-newed covenant’ (see for example, The NET Bible footnotes Jeremiah 31:31: Or "a renewed covenant"). 

Regardless, the intent here, as in Ezekiel 36, is a further, though very significant, refinement or improvement of the original Abrahamic covenant.
This ‘new covenant’ is still with Israel despite their failure at times to maintain the terms of the covenant. This ‘new covenant’; this improvement and development, does not, and can not remove or do away with the Abrahamic covenant and its refinements through the Sinai covenant, etc.
Some seem to have got hung up on Jeremiah’s use of ‘new’ as if that meant some sort of replacement of something else that was ‘old’. This is clearly not the case when seen in the proper context of Israel’s covenantal relationship with the Almighty.
Consider the term ‘new moon’ (the Hebrew word for new moon being a derivative of the word for new/renew). When we see a ‘new moon’ it is not a different moon that has replaced the old moon from the previous month, but a ‘renewing’ of the cycle of life. Note also that in verse 32, where we read that this ‘new’ covenant is not like the covenant after the exodus from Egypt, the reason for the difference is not because Israel has been rejected, but because Israel ‘violated’ this covenant, but they will not violate this improvement.
Some scholars have argued that the ‘New Covenant’ of Jeremiah was fulfilled with the return from Babylon. While there may have been a great number who made ‘aliyah’ (returned to the Land of Israel - Eretz Israel), whose hearts were truly circumcised, this improved covenantal relationship after Babylon clearly did not last.
Some of the most brilliant scholars of recent times who have studied the times of Yeshua have seen many signs during that time of a spirit of the New Covenant relationship.
For example, Prof. David Flusser argues in ‘Judaism and the Second Temple Period’ that comments in the Damascus Document that refer to ‘ “the converts of Israel, who left the land of Judah and lived in the land of Damascus” (CD 6.5), and to “all the men who entered the new covenant in the land of Damascus (CD 8.21, and see also 10.19; 19.34; 20.21).’ (page xii) relate to a Jewish sect that existed some 50+ years before the time of Yeshua.
Flusser also argues that the Essenes saw themselves as members of the New Covenant:
“The members of the Qumran community, on the other hand, believed themselves to be the only group faithful to the spirit and the letter of the covenant with God. They were, moreover, convinced that their own congregation, with its unique lifestyle and religious observance, is the new covenant of which Jeremiah prophesied. Thus their view that “futile are all those who do not know the covenant, and all those who scorn his word he shall cause to vanish from the world” (1QS 5.19).” (‘Judaism and the Second Temple Period’ page 253).
Other scholars have argued that the times of Yeshua were indeed a ‘New Covenant’ time, based not only on the arrival of Yeshua, but also on the activities of the various Jewish sects:  “Finally God inspired the long-expected new covenant, an incredible vitality in Judaism that produced the Pharisees’ wisdom and charity, the Sadducees’ liturgical enthusiasm, the Zealots’ deep commitment to social action and the Essenes’ mystical purity.“ - Philip Culbertson, in ‘The Pharisaic Jesus and His Gospel Parables’.
The most important point in all this is that the New/Re-Newed Covenant was really a step forward in God’s agenda and relationship with the Jewish people, and while we may all await it’s full appearance with the arrival of the Coming Age (the Olam Ha Bah), or the 'Kingdom of God'; it is most important to recognize that the movement of ‘Christ-followers’ (or better, those whose live by 'Yeshua Judaism') does not have exclusive access to this covenantal relationship. That is, the overall context of this covenantal relationship is that it is a relationship of Israel with God and not the Hellenistic church or some Gentile denomination within the church.
If, when reading the New Testament we appear to read that this Abrahamic/Sinai/Mt Gerizim/New Covenant has been torn from the Jewish people and given exclusively to mostly Gentile and Hellenistic followers of ‘Christ’ (a misleading Greek term for a Hebraic role and concept), we need to seriously question our reading and interpretation, because any such interpretation is in serious conflict with, and contradiction to the Tanakh’s clear message to God’s Covenantal people.
Many will of-course still object, and refer to certain NT scriptures, especially from the Epistle to the Hebrews. Here, I strongly recommend Frank Selch’s ‘The Covenant in Hebrews 8 & 9’ [2], where Frank demonstrates most emphatically that it is the ‘new priesthood’ which is primarily being referred to as having replaced the Levitical Priesthood, not any replacement of the Abrahamic or Mosaic covenant.
To highlight a little of Frank’s excellent article, consider a typical translation of Hebrews 9:1 such as the ESV:
“Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.”.
The word covenant in this verse is not in any of the Greek versions. At least the King James Version puts the word ‘covenant’ in italics to indicate that it is an editorial addition. But when considered properly in context (including the fact that the ‘first’ if applied to covenant would be the Noahide or Abrahamic, and certainly not the Mosaic Covenant), it should be abundantly clear that this verse is referring to the ‘first’ priesthood NOT covenant.
Thus a better translation is given by Frank: Hebrews 9:1 “Therefore, even the first (priesthood) had divine services that were established by Torah to serve The Sacred and the earthly.” Please read Frank Selch’s complete article at circumcisedheart.info to properly grasp the issues here.
For more on this please see 'Righteousness Before Messiah' (https://goo.gl/iV7ZrA) at circumcisedheart.info

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[1] See my article ‘Israel’s Return in Belief or Unbelief’ at www.circumcisedheart.info

[2] Also available from circumcisedheart.info