The Old and New Covenants are two different covenants in terms of both form and function. The one is an administration of death, and the other is an administration of life.
How do we evaluate this statement?
I would look for someone like Gill that knew, first, how to leave the Covenant of Grace as ONE ETERNAL COVENANT, and then, how to divide those two Major Administrations of that One Covenant up some, in detail, to explain it.
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His By Grace--"John Gill: A Body of Doctrinal & Practical Divinity"-Doctrinal Book 4, Chapter 1
"The covenant of grace is but one and the same in all ages, of which Christ is the substance;
"being given for "a covenant of the people", of all the people of God, both Jews and Gentiles, who is "the same" in the "yesterday" of the Old Testament, and in the "today" of the New Testament, and "for ever";
"he is "the way, the truth, and the life", the only true way to eternal life;
"and there never was any other way made known to men since the fall of Adam;
"no other name under heaven has been given, or will be given, by which men can be saved.
"The patriarchs before the flood and after, before the law of Moses and under it, before the coming of Christ, and all the saints since, are saved in one and the same way, even "by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ";
"and that is the grace of the covenant, exhibited at different times, and in divers manners.
"For though the covenant is but one, there are different administrations of it;
"particularly two, one before the coming of Christ, and the other after it;
"which lay the foundation for the distinction of the "first" and "second", the "old" and the "new" covenant, observed by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, #Hebrews 8:7,8,13 9:1,15 12:24 for by the first and old covenant, is not meant the covenant of works made with Adam, which had been broke and abrogated long ago;
"since the apostle is speaking of a covenant waxen old, and ready to vanish away in his time: nor was the covenant of works the first and most ancient covenant;
"the covenant of grace, as an eternal compact, was before that;
"but by it is meant the first and most ancient administration of the covenant of grace which reached from the fall of Adam, when the covenant of works was broke, unto the coming of Christ, when it was superseded and vacated by another administration of the same covenant, called therefore the "second" and "new" covenant.
"The one we commonly call the Old Testament dispensation, and the other the New Testament dispensation;
"for which there seems to be some foundation in #2Co 3:6,14 #Hebrews 9:15 these two covenants, or rather the two administrations of the same covenant, are allegorically represented by two women, Hagar and Sarah, the bondwoman and the free, #Ga 4:22-26 which fitly describe the nature and difference of them...
"And before
I proceed any farther, I shall just point out the agreement and disagreement of those two administrations of the covenant of grace.
1. First, The agreement there is between them.
1a. They agree in the efficient cause, God: the covenant of grace, in its original constitution in eternity, is of God, and therefore it is called his covenant, being made by him; "I have made a covenant--my covenant I will not break", #Ps 89:3,34....
1b. In the moving cause, the sovereign mercy, and free grace of God, which moved God to make the covenant of grace at first, #Ps 89:2,3....
1c. In the Mediator, who is Christ; there is but one Mediator of the covenant of grace, let it be considered under what dispensation it will;
even Christ, who under the former dispensation was revealed as the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, and make atonement by his sufferings and death, signified by the expiatory sacrifices, under the law;
the Shiloh, the peaceable One, and the Peace Maker, the living Redeemer of Job, and of all believers under the Old Testament, etc., etc....
1d. In the subjects of these covenants, or administrations of the covenants of grace, the elect of God, to whom the blessings of it are applied....
1e. In the blessings of it;
they are the same under both administrations.
Salvation and redemption by Christ is the great blessing held forth and enjoyed under the one as under the other, #2Sa 23:5 Heb 9:15.
Justification by the righteousness of Christ, which the Old Testament church had knowledge of, and faith in, as well as the new, #Isa 45:24,25 Ro 3:21-23.
Forgiveness of sin through faith in Christ, all the prophets bore witness to; and the saints of old, as now, had as comfortable an application of it, #Ps 32:1,5 Isa 43:25 Mic 7:18 Ac 10:43.
Regeneration, spiritual circumcision, and sanctification, were what men were made partakers of under the first, as under the second administration of the covenant, #De 30:6 Php 3:3.
Eternal life was made known in the writings of the Old Testament, as well as in those of the New; and was believed, looked for, and expected by the saints of the former, as of the latter dispensation, #Joh 5:39 Heb 11:10,16 Job 19:26,27.
In a word, they and we eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ, #1Co 10:3,4.
2. Secondly, In some things there is a disagreement between these two administrations of the covenant of Grace.
2a. Under the first administration saints looked forward to Christ that was to come, and to the good things that were to come by him, and so were waiting, expecting, and longing for the enjoyment of them;
but under the second and new administration, believers look backwards to Christ as being come, before whose eyes he is evidently set forth in the word and ordinances, as crucified and slain....
2b. There is a greater clearness and evidence of things under the one than under the other....
2c. There is more of a spirit of liberty, and less of bondage, under the one, than under the other;
saints under the one differed little from servants, being in bondage under the elements of the world;
but under the other are Christ's freemen, and receive not the spirit of bondage again, to fear;
but the spirit of adoption, crying Abba, Father....
2d. There is a larger and more plentiful effusion of the Spirit, and of his gifts and graces, under the one than under the other...
etc., etc.
... .how does it align with Scripture, is it true, is it false, and why).