<p>8:8 <i>For finding fault with them, He said- </i>The ensuing quotation is from God's words in Jeremiah 31. So it would be God who was the one seeking a place for the second covenant, and who found fault with the old covenant- in that it could not bring about the human salvation He sought. But it could equally be that the &quot;them&quot; with whom God &quot;found fault&quot; were the Judah of Jeremiah's day, which would better account for the plural &quot;them&quot;. The answer to the &quot;fault&quot; of the law being unable to bring salvation for sinful man was in the new covenant.</p><p><i>Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- </i>The mention of both the houses of Israel and Judah would imply that unity between God's people is achieved on the basis of them all being within the new covenant. The cup of the new covenant / testament is therefore the symbol of unity between the redeemed; to refuse it to those who are within the house of God's people is serious indeed, an undoing of God's intention of unity upon the basis of the covenant. The new covenant system of salvation was designed for sinners; those with whom God had &quot;found fault&quot;.</p>