New Covenant Baptist Fellowship … Buffalo, NY
Contemplating and Preaching the beauty of our New Covenant-Jesus Christ.
Dr. Wright has an article posted at Moe’ Bergeron’s Christ My Covenant blog.
For any pursuing New Covenant Theology and a redemptive-historical approach to understanding the Scriptures though the lens of the New Covenant, this article is a must read.
His book No Place For Sovereignty is a superb work as well.
[new covenant theology]
Mr. President, forget the Olympics!
I recently posted a comment about our President and social justice in this country on Facebook after watching a video on CNN about our homeless people in many cities.This issue has been skirted for years.
Tent cities similar to those during the great depression are growing in a number of communities.
Christians have an obligation to be at the forefront of social justice issues. I don’t mean this in a political sense or that if we are truly bible believing Christians that we mimic the “liberal” brand of Christianity and preach a social gospel rather than one that makes the idea of sin, repentance, God’s wrath and God’s forgiveness through the Gospel of Jesus Christ very clear.
Books can be, have been and are being written on this subject.
It needs to be in the forefront of a truly Christian witness.
When mega-churches are spending thousands to provide Starbucks like coffee bars in their lounges and multi-media experience centers in their sanctuaries and false evangelists, TV or otherwise, are raking in millions of dollars and spending it on planes, mansions and other assets, some smaller churches with little resources are attempting to do more for the poor and the hurting.
The government should not take the place of the church and we should not be advocating a theocracy but both the government and the church have an obligation to be engaged in the issue.
Let’s look at an often misused verse of Scripture that for some, advocates a Christian Theocracy in the US.
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34
While v. 34 makes righteousness the key to a nation’s greatness, a recipe that has nowhere been majoritively evidenced, its converse (34b) has often been proven. For such a society, mercy and justice would be an ideal foundation, Legal justice will also be of key importance to it if you read 14:25).
Leaders are only as significant as their people; v 28 points to the pressures on leadership in society. That explains something of the high stakes involved in working for them and the need to know how to handle the relationship wisely.
In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, but without people a prince is ruined. Prov. 14:28
America is not a Christian nation. What a misnomer. It never was. Yes, Christianity’s influence was a strong one but we were never a Christocentric Theocracy nor will we ever be.
That is not the goal established for us by Christ in the Gospel.
I am not embarking on a lengthy tome about the Sermon on The Mount, and the Kingdom of God ( I do have a series on it on our website in the Sermons section and we addressed some aspects at our think tank this year, also on our website on the Conferences page) but I would like to point out a few ideas about righteousness and what I believe it means in regards to this issue of social justice from a biblical view.
Proverbs was written during the Golden Age of Israel under Solomon’s reign.
Proverbs must be understood in the context of creation, the fall and redemption. The creation narratives in Genesis 1–2 depict Adam and Eve’s being addressed by God, whose word sets the boundaries of their existence (Gen. 1:28–30). Being created in the image of God and having dominion over the rest of the creation implies the use of rational faculties, as does the task of naming the animals (Gen. 2:19). The serpent tempts the couple to reject the authority of God’s word and thus to dismiss his interpretation of reality. Human rationality and intelligence are misused when humans interpret the world of experience apart from the revelation of God. The result is a different and erroneous view which may work well at the mundane and pragmatic level of human wisdom but which is ultimately self-destructive.
Proverbs points to the redemptive revelation of God to which humans must respond with ‘fear’, i.e. awe, reverence and faith. Within this framework of revelation they are able to learn from experience about the good life. When Solomon the wise forsook the fear of the Lord, the ultimate result of his apostasy was the destruction of the nation, Jerusalem and the temple. During the period of decline the prophets predicted another son of David who would be filled with wisdom. The vocabulary associated with wisdom in Proverbs 1:1–7 and 8:12–15 is similar to that used in Isaiah 11:1–5. In Israel wisdom was limited; in the new Israel it is established fully by the one who is greater than Solomon. Luke sees Proverbs 3:4 as being fulfilled in the boy Jesus (Luke 2:52). As an adult, Jesus uses the wisdom forms of proverb and parable for much of his teaching. He is not only the truly wise man, but he is the wisdom of God itself. The framework for true human empirical wisdom is the revealed wisdom of God in the gospel (1 Cor. 1:18–2:7). The fear of the Lord now includes faith in and intellectual apprehension of the gospel.
Proverbs, and the wisdom literature in general, counter the idea that being spiritual means handing all decisions over to the “leading” of the Lord. The opposite is true. Proverbs reveals that God does not make all people’s decisions for them, but rather expects them to use his gift of reason to interpret the circumstances and events of life within the framework of revelation that he has given. Yet when they have exercised their responsibility in decision-making, they can look back and see that the sovereign God has guided. Ultimately, to learn wisdom is to choose life, while a life of folly is a deliberate choice of destruction.
So how does righteousness exalt a nation?
All through the Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, righteousness has embedded in it’s meaning the ideas of mercy and justice.
Any nation will be exalted when these two attributes are predominant.
Why?
Righteousness is ultimately a revealing of the very nature of God and it can as a shared attribute of Creation be expressed in those whom He has created.
As God gave man dominion over the earth, this is expected of man, regardless of the fall into sin. God sets up and brings down nations as He so wills. He has demands that are to be met because in the non-spiritual aspect they can be.
For the New Covenant Church this takes on an added dimension.
Jesus said if you want to be his disciple then your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, the religious hypocrites, and any others who are engaged in the theater of piety. In our natural state of sin this is impossible. The only way it can be accomplished is in Christ for we are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, we represent the mercy and justice of God in all of its aspects because we are salt and light according to Jesus’ own words.
What we should and can do should exceed what the government can do at least in principle, with honest effort.
So Mr. President, as I wrote on my Facebook wall, forget the Olympics and put some resources towards social justice and mercy. Regardless of what you say your “faith” view is, as the leader of a nation you can urge others with proverbial wisdom and practical decisions to care for the poor.
(Note: It looks like I will have to write a bit more……)
[new covenant theology]
Here is a photo update on the September 5th joint service celebrating the 1 year anniversary of New Covenant Baptist Fellowship Davao and the new church plant that was formed in April following our visit to Pamuhatan including the baptism service.
We are committed to the Doctrines of Grace and are committed to pursuing a better understanding of New Covenant Theology.
I am using this opportunity to mention some of the wonderful things that the Lord is doing with our sister churches in the Philippines.
This link contains a quickie page with some photos taken last week at the property in Pamuhatan where Pastor Bosay is shepherding the congregation. https://www.ncbf.us/NewCovenantBaptistFellowshipEvansNY/Clearingland.html
It is adjacent to where we met as a gathering point for our evangelistic work while there in April. You can find reports about that at our website.
(New Covenant Theology – A Christ Centered hermeneutic)
It was donated by a family living on the property and we were able to send them a small gift to help the family.
I will also be adding pictures of the visitation and evangelistic work in Pamuhatan and Seabreeze soon at our website. Video will also be added.
The previous post has the link for the conference on Samal Island.
(New Covenant Theology – A Christ Centered hermeneutic)
The property in the pictures is being prepared for a larger meeting place. The small home we used as our meeting area was also being used as the first church meeting place after our meetings there. It has become too small. The church has grown to 35 in attendance.
This is an excerpt from my chat with Ernie last Friday.
I talked to a carpenter last week about the cost of materials needed and he gave me a rough estimate. We are praying for this needs. Here is the materials needed and the estimated cost; Lumber; we need 692 board feet @ 30.40/board foot, G.I. sheets; 68 pcs. @200 each, Plain sheet 6 pcs @268 each, steel 10 mm 32pcs @ 118 each, 8mm 50 pcs. @ 68 each, hollow blocks; 450 pcs @ 8.50 each, Sand and Gravel; 4 loads @ 3,500/load, tie wire 3 kls @ 60/kl, cement; 50 bags @200/bag, Plywood 20 pcs @250 each. We need your prayer for this need. Our plan to errect this building will be next year as the Lord provides. (NOTE:funds are in Philippine Pesos. Current exchange rate is for example 250 pesos=$5.13)
This Saturday September 5, 2009, the Pamuhatan and Davao Fellowships will meet together in Davao at the ocean for a baptism service. 13 from Pamuhatan and 2 from Davao.
We have set up an account number for personal support for Pastor Ernie Daasin (this is a hidden page on our website that we have put together and are getting ready for full publication) or support for the work in general through Christian Aid.
“THEOS DOULOS Church Planting Movement” is the branch of Christian Aid that will receive contributions. Whenever you wish to contribute to Ernie’s ministry, please use the giving code that is set up for him. It is 801THDO.
Distribution is as follows:
They would email Ernie each month his donor list. Every odd-numbered month, they would send the funds to him. (The funds received in September and October will be sent in November and so on.) There are NO processing fees. Every penny goes to the account. Christian Aid is unique in this. They receive nothing for providing this service.
Checks are sent to : Christian Aid Mission · P.O. Box 9037 · Charlottesville, VA 22906
Christian Aid Mission is wonderful organization that funnels aid to indigenous pastors, churches and organizations.
Regardless of your overall doctrinal convictions they are worth investigating. If you have any question contact me at ncbfevans@gmail.com
Also, if you would, pray for us that the Lord will be gracious to allow us to sell our property. As a new church plant we inherited a good church building and parsonage that we can no longer afford to maintain. The sale would allow us to do much more “ministry” focus with resources we cannot raise at the present time and we do so want to be a vital component of the work begun in the Philippines. I have been bi-vocational as the pastor since we began and continue to do so but the job market here in Buffalo is not very good as I am currently seeking employment.
Thanks for reading and praying.
[new covenant theology]
Listed below are a number of New Covenant Theology meetings, think tanks, conferences and radio broadcasts.
Think Tank 2009 Buffalo NY
A focus on the Sermon on the Mount and other topics
Chad Bresson, Jack Jeffery, Chad Bresson, Ed Trefzger
Davo, Philippines Pastor’s Conference April 2009
Introduction to New Covenant Theology and various aspects of New Covenant Theology
Joseph Krygier
Think Tank 2008 Camp Cherith NY
Main Theme: Christ Our Covenant and the Future of New Covenant Theology
Treasuring Christ Brisbane Australia August 2007
Theme: Christ our Covenant, New Covenant Power and other topics.
Shane Becker and Joseph Krygier
Think Tank 2007 Smicksburg Pa.
Various aspects of New Covenant Theology
Geoff Volker and Steve Lehrer
Various Aspects of New Covenant Theology
Video has short extracts of sessions and most importantly interviews with the participants including Tom Wells, Geoff Volker and Steve Lehrer
They can all be found here:
https://www.ncbf.us/NewCovenantBaptistFellowshipEvansNY/Conferences/Conferences.html
Calling for Truth Radio Program
You will find the radio broadcasts here:
www.fbceny.org/NewCovenantBaptistFellowshipEvansNY/AudioVideo.html
Descriptions of each meeting are listed at each link.
[new covenant theology]
Living as aliens in the world is the only pathway to heaven. If you choose to be at home in the world and love the things of the world, you will perish with the world. John said, “The world is passing away and its desires, but the one who does the will of God abides for ever” (1 John 2:17).
So the question of how to keep our alien identity is not an idle question. It is utterly important. Our eternal destiny hangs on it.
Paul wrote in 2Ti 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
There is no way that we are true believers if we do not endure to the end. To believe less is to deny the purpose of God for His adopted ones in Christ. He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. All of the promises in Him are yea and Amen.
God has purposed it for us to be aliens. As such we see our sufficiency in him. The world is not sufficient for us. The world and all of its wisdom, power and deceit will be put under the feet of Christ and in essence already is. He is the king of kings and Lord of Lords. Men just do not acknowledge it yet. But they will even unto their own condemnation.
Yet, there are many who are forsaking the way of the alien to be popular.
Today we have the Purpose Driven Church and the Emerging Church both of which are sacrificing the gospel and preaching messages that are focused on felt needs and problem solving in practical terms without applying biblical doctrine.
Dr. D. A Carson writes about the Emerging church and says,
“At the heart of the Emergent Church movement—or as some of its leaders prefer to call it, the “conversation”—lies the conviction that changes in the culture signal that a new church is “emerging.” Christian leaders must therefore adapt to this emerging church. Those who fail to do so are blind to the cultural accretions that hide the gospel behind forms of thought and modes of expression that no longer communicate with the new generation, the emerging generation. One reason why the movement has mushroomed so quickly is that it is bringing to focus a lot of hazy perceptions already widely circulating in the culture. It is articulating crisply and polemically what many pastors and others were already beginning to think, even though they did not enjoy—until the leaders of this movement came along—any champions who put their amorphous malaise into perspective.”
Here are eight points from a book on missions from an Emerging Church believer’s book on missions: Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. His name is David Bosch.
“1. Accept co-existence with different faiths gladly, not begrudgingly. It is not their fault if they are alive. 2. Dialogue presupposes commitment to one’s position, so it is surely not a bad thing to listen well. Dialogue should be congruent with confidence in the gospel. 3. We assume that the dialogue takes place in the presence of God, the unseen Presence. In such dialogue we may learn things, as Peter does in Acts 10–11. Similarly, Jesus learns from his interchange with the Syrophoenician woman. 4. Missional dialogue requires humility and vulnerability. But that should not frighten us, for when we are weak, we are strong. It is surely right, for instance, to acknowledge earlier atrocities committed by Christians, even as we remain careful not to disparage those earlier Christians. 5. Each religion operates in its own world and therefore demands different responses from Christians. 6. Christian witness does not preclude dialogue. 7. The “old, old story” may not be the true, true story, for we continue to grow, and even our discussion and dialogues contribute to such growth. In other words, the questions raised by postmodernism help us to grow. 8. Live with the paradox: we know no way of salvation apart from Jesus Christ, but we do not prejudge what God may do with others. We must simply live with the tension.”
Let me define post modernism for you.
It is a worldview that emphasizes the existence of different worldviews and concepts of reality, rather than one “correct or true” one. (ie. the absolutes of Christianity for example are meaningless) Whereas modernism the predecessor of postmodernism emphasized a trust in the empirical scientific method, and a distrust and lack of faith in ideologies and religious beliefs that could not be tested using scientific methods; postmodernism emphasizes that a particular reality is a social construction by a particular group, community, or class of persons. (In other words whatever you or a group want to believe about anything is the truth. The bible calls that each man being right in his own eyes and we know what that led to.
Now I want to ask Mr. Bosch what did Jesus learn from the Syrophoenecian woman?
What different response am I to give to a Muslim, a Hindu, a Mormon, a Jehovah’s witness, a Catholic, a Jew, a Buddhist and so on concerning the absolute truth of Jesus Christ and that He is the way the truth and the life.
Yes, I may use a little different tactic with each to get them to where they need to think about sin and a personal redeemer but in the end it is the same absolute truth that is found in Christ and Christ alone.
Now you may ask why bother with all this intellectual nonsense.
Brethren we are to have a Christian worldview and it must stand the test of the times in which we live. Christians are to be thinkers. Biblical doctrine requires sound reasoning with the help of the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. We must work at understanding the Scripture. We are to labor at it otherwise we do come off like mean spirited, narrow-minded bigots.
To be an alien in the land does not mean to be ignorant of the land and those who inhabit it. Post-modernism is the mainstream philosophy against which we fight the good fight of faith in the secular realm. This is the thinking of the newer generation and those who have leapt from one philosophy to another just to be relevant to the times.
It is all in the name of tolerance and cultural pluralism.
There are those who have called themselves Christians who now believe in Universalism, meaning that as long as a man in some way proves to love God, he will go to heaven.
Sadly we have those who call themselves Christians who are not living like aliens but are living like the world around them and accomodating the world in Christ’s church.
If we are truly aliens we should be longing for the consummation of the kingdom in the return of Christ. There are many things in this world that should make us uncomfortable.
We should not forget that once we were alienated from God, without help and without hope. But by His grace we have been helped and we have the greatest hope even as Peter later writes, “we are born again unto a living hope.”
As aliens we are sanctified unto obedience. This is the will of God for us. This is the purpose for us. Our lives are to show a desire for Christ above all other things.
We are to be seeking the beauty of our New Covenant as it is found in the person of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and savor every moment that we can in the joy of Christ and Christ alone.
We are the elect of God for no other reason than the fact that He loved us so that we could love Him. By His grace and who we are in Christ Jesus we are no longer God haters but we have become incurable lovers of God who can obey the commands of God because they are not burdensome.
We have our rest in Christ and no matter what trials will come our way as aliens in a strange land we will endure by the grace of God unto the glory of God if we are truly Christ’s.
by Chad Richard Bresson posted at The Vossed World
If Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Covenant of the New Covenant the natural question arises as to what law must be obeyed under the New Covenant since the law delineated the stipulations of the Sinatic Covenant. Those stipulations under the Old Covenant outlined, among other things, the terms of righteousness and holiness. To keep covenant was to obey the law (a thought worth much more consideration at some other time).
Spurgeon, in a sermon on the subject of Christ as Our Righteousness — taken from Jeremiah 23:6, drops this tantalizing thought: “Christ in his life was so righteous, that we may say of the life, taken as a vehicle, that it is righteousness itself. Christ is the law incarnate. Understand me. He lived out the law of God to the very full, and while you see God’s precepts written in fire on Sinai’s brow, you see them written in flesh in the person of Christ.” — Charles Spurgeon, “Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord Our Righteousness”.
Much could be said about Spurgeon’s perception, but in the interest of brevity we will suffice with this: Christ’s perfect obedience to the law not only fulfilled the law, but incarnated the Law as a New Standard. Thus, to answer one question that arises from the reality of the New Covenant, Christ is “the LAW we need to obey” since He (and no longer the Decalogue), in and of himself, is the Standard by which all holiness is measured. The stone tablets have been exchanged for a Person, a Person who has fulfilled and now incarnates the tablets. Not only has he imputed that work to those who could never obey the law and were under its condemnation, in that imputation he has placed a new law on the heart, the Spirit, to conform us to the Incarnation of the tablets.
But there’s more. “Written in fire on Sinai’s brow.” Such a “Spurgeonic” phrase brings to mind an incident in the life of Christ that not only tends to be overlooked in Christian theology, but tends to be ignored in the discussion of what *law* constitutes the righteousness of the New Covenant: the Transfiguration. The imagery and implications of the Transfiguration event cannot be understated in consideration of Christ as the Law Incarnate. We do not simply obey Christ because He is the Lawgiver, though he is surely that. When that voice that shakes the foundations of the heavenly temple booms out, “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him”, it’s not merely in the context of Moses. The gloriously transfigured Messiah descends that mount not merely as the New Moses, the ultimate Lawgiver, but as the new Law (note the language of Deuteronomy 33:1-5 and its NC/NT fulfillment in Matt. 17:1ff, Mark 9:2ff, Luke 9:28ff AND Acts 7:52-53).
Unlike Deuteronomy 33, the new Moses descends the Sinai of Transfiguration empty handed. Why? Because the former code has been incarnated in a Person (insert here the indicative of imputation and justification, not merely sanctification). We *listen to* or *obey* the new Lawgiver because the Lawgiver has personified that standard which had been foreshadowed in temporary stone.
He also descends empty handed because there is no new code to deliver. The entire paradigm for obedience has been flipped on its head. As this Incarnate Law descends the Sinai of Transfiguration, he descends to finish His work in His own Person of breaking the tyranny of the law… and in doing so, descends as a Law that will cause His people to conform to His Standard, His image.
And this is precisely what happens. The glory cloud, which was the top of Sinai Transfiguration, and the Spirit descends @ Pentecost, even as Christ ascends. The law written on hearts of flesh comes to dwell among His people, even as the Lawgiver, Law, and Judge begins His rule from the heavens. This isn’t simply an exchange of code for code. The new law written on hearts of flesh *causes* conformity to the image of the Son. This “law” is alive, doing what the old code could never do… effecting transformation in those who are “under” it. Because it is everything the old “law” is not, this “Law” really is the perfect “anti-law”.
And what of the imperatives that are so dominant in the Old Covenant schema? The imperatives of the NC don’t “replace” the old code. Christ Himself replaces the code and then implants Himself in His people via the Spirit on hearts of flesh. The imperatives are the means by which Christ through His Spirit is conforming us to the image of God in His Son. Yes, even the smattering of OC code which appear in the NT, even those moral principles in the backdrop of the Decalogue, no longer have the same function as they did in the OC. They cannot simply be listed in the same way as *code* (Christ Himself is the *code*, applied to the heart by the Spirit). The imperatives have a new identity (“grace and truth” – John 1:17, providing more parallel between “law” and “lawgiver”). They are no longer external, but internal, being worked out of us in the transformation of the Spirit. We work out the imperatives of the NC, we *do* the imperatives because conformity through them to the image of Christ is *who we are*. To suggest that the imperatives are new code replacing old code is pulling an old paradigm into the new, when in fact, the very nature of commands and imperatives in the NC has been changed.
W.D. Davies suggests the Messianic Age was so bound up with the idea of New Torah, the early disciples understood the New Age that dawned in Christ had its Torah personified in Christ himself: “Although Paul regards the words of Jesus as the basis of a kind of Christian halakah (the entire collection of Jewish law), it is Christ Himself in His person, not only or chiefly in His words, who constitutes the New Torah; and so too in the Fourth Gospel the New Torah is not only epitomized in the commandment of agape which finds its norm in the love of Christ for His own and in the love of God for Christ, but is realized also in the Person of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, i.e. the personalized Torah who is set over against Moses… those in the Early Church…saw their Torah in Jesus Himself, as well as in His words…” W.D. Davies, “Torah in the Messianic Age and/or the Age to Come”, p. 93
It’s interesting to read John 1 (LOGOS as Torah) in light of what Theodore Vriezen notes in Isaiah 42, 43 and 55. Of Isaiah 42, Vriezen writes: “God wants to use Israel to bring to the nations the knowledge of his Torah… (Isaiah) proclaims… the universal vocation of Israel… as a missionary task. Israel is to bring the message of the Torah to the world and to reveal the redeeming and vivifying power of suffering for the sins of the world… Here the Old Testament revelation of God reached its culminating point, especially in Isaiah 43, for here the idea arose that the Torah (revelation) not only leads to theocracy, the rule of God over Israel itself, but also to that love which suffers unto death for the sins of others.
“This is the last new element of the revelation of God given to Israel before the coming of Christ… Jesus Christ becomes the fulfillment of this divine vision. In this way the greatest and most profound message of the Old Testament is *actualized* (my emph., crb) by Him among men on this earth, and thus the true meaning of the word of God, spoken to Israel is revealed completely… There will be an everlasting covenant which will reveal all the faithful acts of grace granted to David, so that all the nations will run unto Israel which is His witness (55:3-5); Israel is called to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’ and a ‘covenant of the people’ to teach the world the Torah and ‘Righteousness/Justice’ (misphat)… Israel should become a light to the Gentiles so that God’s salvation might spread as far as the ends of the earth. ” Theodore Vriezen, “An Outline of Old Testament Theology”, p. 18, 34
In John, then, we see the New Torah tabernacling (as the original tablets had done in the Ark of the Covenant) among His people. Stephen picks up on this theme from the Deuteronomy 33 passage in Acts 7, when he equates “the Righteous One” with the “law delivered by angels” (Acts 7:52,53). Something or Someone greater than the Torah has been delivered by angels. And as the disobedient Israelites rejected what had been delivered by angels, so too, disobedient Israelites, including this Sanhedrin, had rejected the fulfillment of the law which had been accompanied by angels to Bethlehem.
Into the Old Testament line of martyred prophets, Stephen places the baby delivered by angels to be the new Torah. It is that baby, who is both Law and Lawgiver who would be martyred. It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the Righteous One who numbered himself with the transgressors and made many righteous. It is the Righteous ruler and redeemer that Zechariah says would come riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey that has been betrayed and murdered. Surrounded by a heavenly host giving praise to God, the New Torah had been delivered and subsequently rejected, just as Israel had done to so many prophets who had proclaimed the Messiah’s coming. Stephen would soon experience that very same rejection.
Stephen’s sermon, though, pulses with the energy of Pentecost. The Sinai of Transfiguration which displays the Torah Personified is brought to bear on the Upper Room as the New Torah ascends to the heavenly temple and the Law written on the Heart descends to indwell a temple made without hands, the church. Just as the external law descended on a mountain with fire in a shekinah glory-cloud with a roar producing fear and trembling (Exodus 19:16-20, 24:15-18), so too the Law written on the heart descended on an “Upper” room with fire in a shekinah glory-wind with a roar producing amazement and “fear” (Acts 2:1-12,33,37). Pentecost not only duplicated Sinai, but superceded Sinai bringing a greater, permanent glory than the one that was fading away (2 Cor. 3).
But Pentecost as Lawgiving occurred only because the Greatest Law and Lawgiver first had descended on a mountain with the radiance of light “like the sun” in a glory cloud with a voice producing fear and trembling (Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:3,7, Luke 9:29,34,35). Rather than hearing the commandments and indeed the entire Mosaic Covenant from Moses, the disciples are told to listen to Christ. It is Christ, not Moses, who is the new authority, the new Torah, for the new era that is about to dawn in the cross and resurrection. Sinai. Transfiguration. Pentecost.
Thus, Christ’s descent from Sinai Transfiguration and his ascent to His throne must change everything we ever thought about law, law keeping and imperative obeying. Christ the King is Christ the Law. The very fingers that carved out the words in the tablets have now taken on flesh and have *become* the Word imprinted by the Spirit on the heart. In Christ, not only has David’s throne found its promised and eternal Successor, but the law enforced by that throne has found its ultimate Endpoint and Final Expression.
This New Torah descending the New Sinai of Transfiguration wasn’t New Torah for Torah’s sake. While condemnation came through the law of Moses, “grace and truth” came through this New Torah (John 1:18). This New Torah descended the mount in order to effect a new order in His people. The One who became a New Covenant for His people now creates covenant keepers through His Spirit Who produces covenant keeping. The New Torah, who is both the original Lawgiver and perfect Lawkeeper, produces obedience in those who are indwelt by the Spirit, the law written on the heart.
But that’s not all. This New Torah grants the lawless a righteousness that perfectly meets the standards imposed by the Sinaitic Law. The righteousness required by the condemning law comes from the One who obeyed it perfectly on behalf of those who could not keep it. Again, Spurgeon is sublime: “He carried out the law, then, I say to the very letter he spelt out its mystic syllables, and verily he magnified it, and made it honorable. He loved the Lord his God, with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and he loved his neighbors as himself. Jesus Christ was righteousness impersonated…the Law-giver has himself obeyed the law Do you not think that his obedience will be sufficient? Jehovah has himself become man that so he may do man’s work: think you that he has done it imperfectly? Jehovah—he who girds the angels that excel in strength—has taken upon him the form of a servant that he may become obedient: think you that his service will be incomplete? Let the fact that the Saviour is Jehovah strengthen your confidence. Be ye bold. Be ye very courageous. Face heaven, and earth, and hell with the challenge of the apostle. “Who shall say anything to the charge of God’s elect? “Look back upon your past sins, look upon your present infirmities, and all your future errors, and while you weep the tears of repentance, let no fear of damnation blanch your cheek. You stand before God to-day robed in your Saviour’s garments, “with his spotless vestments on, holy as the Holy One.” — Charles Spurgeon, “Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord Our Righteousness”.
This is the New Covenant. Things are not the same. We’re not in Kansas anymore (and all praise to Him who is our Covenant that we are not). Is it any wonder that one of the disciples at the foot of the mount would later write, “In the beginning was Torah (Logos/Wisdom), and Torah was with God and Torah was God”? — crb
[new theology theology]
“It is, in other words, that all the law and all the prophets point to Him and will be fulfilled in Him down to the smallest detail. Everything that is in the law and the prophets culminates in Christ, and He is the fulfillment of them. It is the most stupendous claim that He ever made.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, on Matt. 5:17, 18
So then, how do we interpret the bible? Or let me say it another way. How do we understand the text, the printed page that we hold in our hands in light of who Christ is as the Living, Eternal Word of God.? This is an aspect of New Covenant Theology.
If we understand that Jesus is the Living Word and that means that He is the Word incarnate, then we can understand that the first way to understand Scripture is to understand Christ because that is the priority of Scripture from Genesis to The Revelation. If we do this we can say that the text we read was lived by Him. So, what we read about Him all through Scripture as God, as Jesus, and as The Holy Spirit, reveals to us His completeness as a person with all of His attributes and as we understand that and how He has acted before He was incarnate and how He lived as the God/man then we can more easily understand the things He says with His words because His life and His words are indicative of who He is and the imperatives- the commands He gives us – once we are in Him, are rooted or established first in Him and who He is then in us and who He has made us to be. We have the Living Torah, The Living Word, the Inscription of God. When we read Romans 12:1,2 this should give us a better understanding of why and how we understand the Word of God.
“1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1, 2, NAS95.
For us the will of God in essence is growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.
Romans 12:1-2 can be seen, as some may say, as a way and others would say the means of doing this.
In the first verse, Paul speaks of a call to worship that all Christians will and must embrace to some degree or there is no work of the abiding Holy Spirit and a changed heart.
Paul speaks of the literal human body as a sacrifice unto God. Instead of taking a lamb to slaughter as a sacrifice for God, as Israel did before Jesus died on the Cross, Paul offers up visual imagery to allow the reader to better understand that Christians should offer their bodies unto Christ. This use of sacrificial language by Paul is important to mention. Literal sacrificial worship at this time was very vivid in the minds of most ancient religions, including Judaism. Using metaphors to describe this sacrificial act of worship were vastly understood by the Roman culture that he originally wrote the book of Romans to (Moo 73). Therefore, this usage of language was not foreign to the people that he wrote this specific letter to. This mention of a so-called spiritual sacrifice is considered an act of worship. Paul displays this sacrificial speech in symbolic and cultic terms in these verses (Moo 750). Instead of a literal slaughter of the human body, Christians should offer the body to be used by God for his discernment and will. The word “urge” or beseech in this verse is a translation of the Greek word parakaleo. This word is designed to deliver the correct meaning and usage of the word, which has moral undertones within it. The word parakaleo was often used when signaling a shift in conversation in the Greek language (Moo 73). Therefore, when a slight subject change was to be noted in text, this is a common word to include in usage to signal this change in conversation. This verse is designed to ask for dedication from Christians unto God, without demanding this act. Because the act of giving the body to Christ is an act of worship, this act cannot be forced but one who is truly regenerated does not need to be forced because we possess the desire to do so, albeit the conflict of the remnant of the old man may at times cause a struggle within us. . This worship is, however, a worship that not only involves the mind, the heart meaning the total being of who we are in Christ.
The second verse of this passage speaks of God’s ability to transform an individual. The transformation is a life long enterprise as we are seeking the prize and the goal of Christ our Lord. Paul here is not referring, although some tend to believe so, to the church to stop conforming to the world, but is saying be continually being transformed into the likeness of Christ, into who you are. This is a direct reference to the theology of Romans chapter 5-8. Not being conformed to the world, the age that produces what we were. Here in Romans 12, because of the work that has been accomplished for us by Christ from justification to sanctification to the indwelling of the Spirit we are now to be who we are according to the renewing process that keeps transforming us into the likeness of Christ. To be transformed is having the mind of Christ in a growing way, in a maturing way, in knowing the Living Word and His words and walking in the Spirit. Knowing the will of God does not first come from obeying some external standards of law like the Decalogue. We are bound to the Law of Christ which includes all that Jesus has taught us and that which has been taught us by His apostles, all that is Jesus’ teaching preserved in the teaching of the NT writers (This was Jesus’ own plan: John 16:12; John 14:25, 26; John 15:26, 27; 16:12-15). This includes how they interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures in light of Christ, which then gives us the proper understanding of how to understand the Old Testament Scriptures as they are fulfilled in Christ. In this way we know that all Scripture is given to us by Christ and therefore is inspired and we learn what is for teaching by way of illustration from the Old Testament and what can be applied in light of Christ in the New Covenant. For example, we do not follow the dietary laws of the Old Covenant but they teach us about the holiness of God’s people and how they were meant to be set apart as different. We see in all the sacrifices, which we do not make, that they pointed to Christ and are all fulfilled in Him. This informs and instructs us but we don’t do those things.
But the Law of Christ is Christ Himself and His law is written on our hearts. That Law is there because by His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ we are internally driven to outwardly show who we are and a means of that is the desire to obey the imperatives-the commands- the written laws that reveal the standard of Christ for His New Covenant people. We are not shaped by the imperatives but by what Christ has made us to be and is making to be. I am not who I am in Christ because of what I do I do what I do because of who I am, even though in this life it will be imperfect.
We should not be saying, as Steve Fuchs has written, “that Jesus is the guy we need to obey and imitate.”
“We should be saying that ‘Jesus is causing us to act RIGHTLY’. It’s no longer about obedience to codes, but anticipation for being fully ruled.
It’s about taking our eyes off of what we need to do in sanctification, fixing them instead on what we are/are becoming by his sanctifying work and fixing them on the glory of what is in store for us and longing for Him to speed up the procession being excited to be ruled (driven) entirely by Him in every act and thought.
We are still under a Law, but it’s a law of a different nature. His nature is Spirit, not code. Codes tell, but Spirit causes. This Spirit who causes us to think and act righteously is not conforming us to the list of imperatives in the NT anymore than to the Decalogue alone or the whole of Law and Prophets
This Law of Christ is everlasting in the forward AND backward sense.
He existed from the beginning even while He was only revealed in the shadows of Law and Prophets. He was always the true substance of Righteousness.
The True Covenant didn’t change so much as His substance became fully visible and exposed the shadows to be mere shadows (Col 2 uses the word ‘mere’ ).
None-the-less, among the shadows the faith of OC believers trusted that He would perfect them by ruling their very thoughts and desires with His own Spirit.
Our hope should not long for how much we’ll obey codes.
Our hope should be fixed on the Righteousness He is fulfilling in us…ruling our thoughts and desires to be perfect as the Father is perfect.”
As the living Word is eternal and as His people we are eternal then His words and the result of them will never pass away.
[new covenant theology]