The Death of the Custodian, The case of the Missing Tutor

by W. Carl Ketcherside

Book by Ketcherside, W. Carl

152 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[James]

This is a great little book about God's covenants with mankind, the law, and our relationship with the law now. Chapter titles: 1 The God of Covenants, 2 The Covenant with Noah, 3 The Covenant with Abraham, 4 The First Testament, 5 Analysis of the Covenant, 6 The Covenant of Law, 7 Weakness of the Law, 8 The Time of Reformation, 9 The Freedom of Maturity, 10 Answering Objects, 11 Commandments of Jesus, 12 Summary and Conclusions. He starts with a sort of history of God's relationship with man, from Adam to Noah to Abraham to the nation of Israel. Although it is a little dry at times, he uses the lense of a covenant to discuss God's relationship with mankind. The whole book paints a picture of a progression from law to freedom, showing that after Jesus came, the new covenant is no longer a covenant of a legalistic code, but rather one of faith, love, and relationship.


This is important to understand, so that we don't fall into the trap of making the New Testament a set of rules the same way the Pharisees made the law into a set of rules. This is a misapplication of the NT, he argues, giving good examples. He frequently quotes from Jeremiah 31, a prophecy of the new covenant, that we would no longer be under law but that God's laws would be "in our hearts." This is a critical aspect of the whole argument of the book, which is moving away from legalistic righteousness and toward righteousness of maturity, freedom, love, and faith. I think this is a profound thing that we all must learn as children going into adulthood and as baby Christians becoming mature. This book had a profound effect on me, though it was short. I look forward to reading it's dense pages several more times to absorb some more wisdom that I missed the first time. I highly recommend. One of the best books I've read in a while.

[David Gaddy]

Ketcherside does a really good job of building a case for faith when contrasted against law. He borrows from the apostle Paul's quintessential writing on the same topic... the book of Galatians. The study gives us insight into the jewish culture surrounding the tutorship of children and how the apostle Paul used that imagery to show how the law was a "schoolmaster" to lead us to faith in Jesus Christ.

[Joey]

Amazing read...freedom from the law. Available as a free download (public domain)