Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "covenantalism"
Parlor Tricks – Part 1
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fulness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fulness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fulness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fulness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Parlor Tricks – Part 2
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Parlor Tricks – Part 1
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fullness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fullness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fullness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fullness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Parlor Tricks – Part 2
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Parlor Tricks – Part 1
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fullness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fullness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fullness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fullness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Parlor Tricks – Part 2
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
