Many may agree with that view. Personally I think that the New Testament began at the conception of Christ.
Hebrews 9:16-28
The Testator must die for His Testament to be activated. Until He dies, that Testament has no power. It was at that time, the cross, that Jesus became the just (righteousness of God that is imputed to us), and the justifier (blood shed) of those who believe in Him (Romans 3:25-26). But He had to ascend, and then give the Holy Spirit, Who, when we believe in the NT, is placed in us, and that places us in Christ, justified and born again. During the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples,
"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you". OT-John 14:20 -And- "I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity" OT-John 17:23. That prayer is answered with the baptizing with/by the Holy Spirit, which began at Pentecost, and places every believer into Christ, bring that true unity (NT-1 Corinthians 12:13-14).
Pentecost was the first believers placed into Christ and actually justified, literally, not just in promise. That's when the NT technically began, although you could say that the OT ended at the cross, when the curtain was torn in the Temple, but the NT waited for Jesus to ascend. The Old Covenant pointed, and the New Covenant delivered. I think of the Testaments in that same way as the Covenants. Abraham was credited with the righteousness of God because of His faith, but He didn't have it except in promise because that righteousness hadn't yet been completed ("it is finished"). Some, who had heard the Gospel and believed before the cross, were given the right to because Sons of God (OT-John 1:12-13), to be born again. But that had not yet happened either, as that can only happen when a believer is placed into Christ, after the death, resurrection and ascension, which waited for the giving of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, which waited on the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, so He could ascend. It's a double edged sword. The Holy Spirit would not enter a believer, (in the NT we are called the Temple of the Holy Spirit), until there was blood to cleanse that Temple, us. And the death, resurrection and ascension needed to happen so that there was blood shed, and the ingredients to save us, the atonement to apply to us, the righteousness of God established to impute to us, and a death and resurrection to spiritually identify with so that we can be born again when we are placed into Christ. Jesus summed all that up with saying that He must first be lifted up, or glorified. It all culminated and the promises began to be realized at Pentecost, the birth of the Church, the first believers placed into Jesus and born again and justified, promise delivered.
The difference between the old covenant and the New covenant there are no more animals sacrifices: Jesus was / is the sacrifice for once and all the old covenant leading to the new.
HEBREWS Analysis by Kenneth S. Wuest Wuest's Word Studies From the Greek New Testament I. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament because its Founder, the Messiah, is better than... (1:1-8:6) 1. The prophets (1:1-3) since Messiah is... ....a. God the Son...
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