is crucial.8 We have just noted the allusions to prophecies in Jeremiah and Ezekiel about “a new covenant” in which God would confer “a new spirit” on his people and inscribe his law in “new hearts.” Paul, in effect, proclaims that these prophecies are now being fulfilled. Earlier in the letter he referred to the fulfillment of all of God’s promises through the faithfulness of Jesus the †Messiah, whose “yes” to God climaxed in the offering of his life on the cross (1:20). It was certainly no accident