In Defense of Jesus, the New Lawgiver Quotes

“This principle means that in a purely legal sense, the Old Covenant that established Israel as a theocracy is finished and has been replaced by a New Covenant with the church. Everything under the Old Covenant is finished as far as having binding authority over the conscience. Because this is true, it follows that none of the theocratic laws of Israel can be used in the church in an absolute sense unless those laws are, in some sense, given validity in the New Testament.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“We view the significance of Jesus’ words, “But I say to you,” as one of redemptive-historical movement. Barcellos interprets them as corrective of pharisaical abuse and as a return to Moses’ true intent. There is no redemptive-historical movement forward.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“When Barcellos discusses the abolition of the Old Covenant, he wants to insist that the Ten Commandments are not an integral part of the Old Covenant, but are merely the law of Old Covenant. The Old Covenant is abolished, but its law is still in force, although it no longer functions as law. How can law no longer function as law? If a law is in force, it is functioning as law. If it is functioning as something else, then it has become something else and no longer remains law.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“The relationship of law to grace, the Old Covenant to the New, and Moses to Christ is not one of opposition, but one of preparation and progression.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“Separating the Ten Commandments as the law of the Old Covenant enables Barcellos to, on the one hand, agree that the Old Covenant is totally finished and gone, but, on the other hand, assert that the tables of the covenant, or the Ten Commandments, are still in full force and unchanged under the New Covenant. The law of the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments, written on the tables of the covenant, remains, unchanged, but the Old Covenant is completely gone. When Barcellos identifies the New Covenant, he can say that it is the death knell of the Old Covenant because he has divorced the tablets of the covenant from the Old Covenant.103 The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant, but it is the Old Covenant minus the Decalogue. He has denied that the actual treaty/covenant document (the tables of the covenant, the Ten Commandments), kept in the Ark of the Covenant, is a real part of the Old Covenant.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“To put it bluntly, we believe this view is an insult to both God the Father and to his Son our Lord Jesus Christ. We reject any notion that enthrones Moses as the king in the conscience in the area of morality, and subjects Christ as his rubber stamp. The issue is simple. Is our Lord Jesus Christ a new lawgiver who replaces Moses, or is Moses the greatest and highest lawgiver that ever lived? We do not pit Christ and Moses against each other as if they were bitter enemies, as Barcellos charges.92 We do, however, allow for progressive revelation in keeping with the ideas presented in the opening chapter of the letter to the Hebrews. Is the primary purpose and function of Christ, in the area of morality, to merely interpret and enforce Moses, or does he supercede and go beyond Moses?”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“The New Covenant has objective absolutes, but it is not law centered. It is Christ centered, as he is the covenant (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:12; 13:12, 20). The New Covenant believer is under the rule of the entire New Covenant Scriptures, including the interpretation and application of the Ten Commandments given by Christ and the apostles. New Covenant Theology’s position in no way downgrades the Ten Commandments. We have no fault to find with them. They functioned well in fulfilling the preparatory phase in God’s scheme of redemption (Heb. 3:5).”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“The exhortation in Galatians 5:1 to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” concerns liberty of conscience, and not merely liberty to eat non-kosher foods or wear clothing woven from mixed fibers. Jesus did not shed his blood just to make it acceptable for a Christian to eat shrimp and bacon—to be freed from laws that we have labeled ceremonial. Paul is writing about true liberty of conscience that enables Christians to come boldly to the throne of grace—a privilege an Old Covenant believer did not have as long as the veil stood in place. It is a liberty that we must protect against all infringements.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“The Old Testament Scriptures (the thirty-nine books written before Christ came) are in force as the unchanging Word of God as much today as when first written. Within those thirty-nine books, however, there is a distinctive Old Covenant, sometimes called the law of Moses, that God made with Israel alone at Mount Sinai (Exod. 20-24). The cross (the death, resurrection, and ascension) of Christ has done away with this Old Covenant, but it has in no sense whatsoever revoked the Old Testament Scriptures. They were, and are, part of the inspired Word of God.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“We must see the Old Covenant as a legal covenant with one primary purpose, namely, conviction of sin and preparation for grace. We must separate a gracious purpose—the preparation of sinners for salvation—from grace itself, which, as Owen said, is found only in the gospel. John Owen is unerring in his two-fold definition. When the Scripture refers to the law covenant at Sinai, it refers to a legal covenant with no grace in its terms. Conversely, the Old Testament Scriptures, as revelation, are inherently gracious: it is an act of grace for God to reveal himself to his creatures, especially to those who have rebelled against him. The entire Old Covenant, as a part of that revelation, is gracious in that same sense, but not in its covenantal terms.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“We reject the Covenant Theology mantra, “Moses will lead you to Christ to be justified and Christ will lead you back to Moses to be sanctified.” That axiom would be appropriate if the tables of the covenant, or the Decalogue, were indeed the unchanging moral law of God. If such were the case, that would also mean that Moses is the ultimate authority in the conscience of a child of God. New Covenant Theology protests that such a view reduces Jesus to the status of servant in the house (Heb. 3:1-6), and not lord over the house. Christ then becomes a mere rubber stamp of Moses, who is the true and only lawgiver. We believe that the Scripture teaches that the ministry of the Spirit is to glorify Christ, not Moses.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“We insist that Christ is the new lawgiver and Barcellos insists that Christ is merely the greatest exegete and interpreter of the unchanging law of God given through Moses. To view Christ as only an exegete, even as the greatest exegete, is to reduce the Sermon on the Mount to nothing more than a true and spiritual understanding of the law given to Moses.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver

“We would claim for our reply that it is a defense of the enduring laws of God contained in (but not exhausted by) the Ten Commandments, expounded and expanded by our Lord Jesus Christ, the new lawgiver, in his ministry and later through the inspired epistles of the New Covenant Scriptures. Our basic disagreement with Barcellos has nothing to do with whether the revelation of God’s will for his people comes in clear and concrete commandments, or whether the Ten Commandments are a vital part of that revelation applicable to a child of God today. Our difference is (1) whether Moses is the greatest lawgiver that ever lived, including the Lord Jesus Christ himself, or (2) whether Jesus replaced Moses as the new prophet and lawgiver in the very same sense that he replaced Aaron as the new high priest. These two contrary principles underlie the two positions. New Covenant Theology defends Jesus Christ as the new, greater, full, and final lawgiver who replaces Moses. We insist that the laws of Christ, given to the children of the kingdom of grace, make higher demands than those given by God to Israel at Sinai.”
― John G. Reisinger, In Defense of Jesus, The New Lawgiver