The Christian who holds to the historic faith recognizes that he stands on the shoulders of giants.  He boasts that God is sovereign over history, and that history has helped to shape the church.  He does not claim that he or his church have arrived at their own interpretation of scripture without the aid of those in the past.  Instead he rejoices that his rich faith is the result of the doctrinal battles fought by men throughout history.  He can identify with men such as Augustine, Luther, John Calvin, Francis Turretin, John Owens, Charles Spurgeon, Johnathan Edwards, the puritans and more…  It is the faith that is aware of its historic context and unstated assumptions that is better equipped to distinguish between truth and error.

Find me a Church or Christian that boasts in her non-denominational status and I will show you a Church and a Christian who is ignorant of her invisible foundation!

In its essence, of course, Christian liberty is spiritual. It consists of freedom from the bondage of the law and restoration to voluntary obedience to the will of God. Since we are free from the law as an instrument unto salvation, we respond as children to the service of God with joy and alacrity. Liberty is enjoyed in the way of faith and it ought to animate us to virtue, but slavish minds, who would use it to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, have no part in it.

Since Paul makes all external things subject to our liberty (Rom. 14:14), there is nothing unclean in itself, provided we use our freedom before God and not before men. God’s good gifts are abused if they are too ardently coveted, too proudly boasted, and too luxuriously lavished. However, unto the pure all things are pure, but all that is not out of faith is sin, and “unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience
is defiled” (Titus 1: 15) .

The Christian, who is God’s freeman, uses this world in faith, that is, in obedience to the commandments of God unto his glory. He must observe moderation lest he abuse God’s good gifts; he must be patient and submissive when deprived of earthly blessings. He is called to exercise love and forbearance in the use of his liberty, so that his neighbor may be edified. But since the things of this world are not sinful in themselves he may possess them, but must guard
against being possessed in the process. The pursuit of cultural achievement and the attainment of wealth are not evil in themselves; the enjoyment of food, drink and luxury are not to be despised or condemned, but God’s curses fall upon the rich because they are immersed in sensual delights and their hearts are inebriated with present pleasures while perpetually grasping for new ones (Inst. 111, 19, 9 & 111, 6-10). In his meditation upon the future life Calvin says we must learn to despise this present world because it draws us away from our calling. In that sense the things good in themselves become evil to us; hence we must learn to look upon all things in the light of eternity.

Here is the crux of the matter. This is the decisive issue! For Calvin one’s cultural striving is good or bad, depending upon one’s faith. All that is not out of faith is sin. All apostate culture is selfseeking in which man saves himself by his works and exalts his own glory. But the doctrine of justification by faith with its appendix of Christian liberty sets man free to serve God in his cultural calling. Abraham Kuyper, in his Stone Lectures, signalizes this point when he reminds us that it was this liberation of the medieval man from the burden of gaining salvation by works that set free the energy and interest which produced our modern world of science, industry, and invention. For, by Calvin’s emphasis on the proper use of this world, the gaze of the believer was directed to this beautiful cosmos in which God calls us to be his cultural agents, and to have dominion over the earth, to replenish it, and to cultivate the ground.

(The Calvinistic Concept of Culture, Henry Van Til)

The entire audio commentary of Calvary Chapel’s “Pastor’s” Perspective.

Listen to the Dividing Line and ministry of Doctor James White: http://www.aomin.org

Late Great Planet Church.

<snip>

To conclude, religion and culture are inseparable.  Every culture is animated by religion.  A religion that is restricted to the prayer-cell is, in light of the above definition, a monstrosity and historically has proved unfruitful.  True religion covers the whole range of man’s existence. The basic covenantal relationship in which man stands to God comes to expression both in his cultus and his culture. Hence culture is never something adventitious, the color added as in the case of oranges and oleomargarine, to satisfy the eye. Kroner’s suggestion that the story of the fall belongs in a category with that of Prometheus, who stole the divine fire and thus began man’s cultural achievements, for which he was punished, is wrong.  This would make man’s cultural striving a doubtful addition to the divine intention.  This is surely an egregious misinterpretation of the biblical narrative, which presents man as both creature and of co-worker with God to fulfill his creative will from the beginning. The first sin of man consisted of an act of disloyalty in accepting Satan’s interpretation concerning the cosmos and man’s place in it, instead of living by the word of God’s revelation. Kroner is right in holding that man never regains paradise by his own efforts, but he is most certainly wrong in holding that culture as such is to be blamed for man’s tragic fiasco.  In the final analysis Kroner cannot reach an integration of culture and faith because he sees the antithesis between God and Satan as a tension immanent in “creation” from the outset.  This is not only theologically reprehensible, since reconciliation is changed from an ethical transaction centering in the vicarious atonement of Christ on Calvary to an ontological (that which pertains to being) one, thereby shifting the central message of the Gospel to the “incarnation.” but on this basis, no Christian culture is possible, since then all of man’s works are under the judgment of God on the basis of their creatureliness. However in Christ man is restored to God as cultural creature to serve his Maker in the world and as ruler over the world for God’s sake.

I was thinking about that statement and it truly reflects the individualistic mindset of Calvary Chapel and the post-modern church.  Honestly, if I was put on an island alone with a bible and no prior knowledge of Christianity I am not quite sure I would come to an understanding of the trinity, the deity of Christ or MANY of the doctrines of the Church… and the reason?!  Because Christ established a Church, not an island!  Not even the Ethiopian eunuch could figure out how to be saved on his own.  “What must I do to be saved?!”  He had the scriptures to read, but Philip needed to be transported to his aid. (Acts 8 )

The Church was established to teach, instruct and to care for the saints.  The Bible is not organized as a textbook with a table of contents for doctrine.  The church was also established to protect and derive biblical doctrine.  A clear example of this is when Peter began teaching the error that gentiles must be circumcised.  Paul refuted Peter to his face and now here you have one apostle against another.  Who was there to decide the truth?  The CHURCH!  The Presbyterian (elder) model of church was in effect.  There are no individual final authorities, popes or islands.  Elders gathered from many churches to form the Council of Jerusalem.  Their task?  To search the scriptures, debate and derive doctrine!  They went back and forth, preached to one another and finally came to a conclusion.  The counsel’s decree, derived from scripture, stood as the authority. (Acts 15)

The believer is not an island, and neither is the Church.  If left to ourselves, any individual or church’s Christianity would be error prone, surface level and divided.  The test of good doctrine is not, “would we have come up with this if left alone.”  We are called to unity and every part of the church is called to be subject to authority.  This was a major point of the reformation.  The believer is under the authority of the local church.  The local church is united to the orthodox historic church and makes up today’s church as a whole.  Today’s church as a whole is tied to the generational church at large.. and the Christ of the scriptures trumphs over all. We see this example in scripture.  Ironically, the so called pope or “Moses model” was for a budding nation, not the new testament church.

Many councils have met since the Council of Jerusalem.  Ironically modern evangelicals presuppose the canon of scripture without recognizing the source.  They would like to imagine that God selected the books to be included in the Bible and hand delivered it to every publishing house that prints them. Truth is, it was a council, the Council of Nicea that did very much like what was done in Acts 15.

The Church throughout History has derived doctrine from the scriptures and has passed down knowledge throughout the generations.  Elders and Pastors were not self appointed, they were appointed by a Church “by the laying on of hands.”  This indicates continuity.  The post-modern Church rejects the generational church, knowledge and scholarship and claims they have done it all and can do it all on their own.  In so doing, modern evangelical’s individualism is the cause of division.  Not only do they lack the biblical model of leadership, but in their individualism they have set their church and their followers on an island.

Jesus indicates that it is possible to study the scriptures, to comment on the scriptures, to read and to teach the scriptures and yet miss the forest for the trees.  The fact that someone has a process of working through the scriptures in a sermon series: verse by verse, chapter by chapter and book by book does not guarantee that the person is handling the text rightly.  To mutilate a George Orwell, “math doesn’t lie, but liars use math.”  In like manner the Bible doesn’t lie, but liars use the Bible!  Reading the text verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book is not a fool proof way to guarantee the text is taught in context or that the full counsel of God is being proclaimed.  So often I have heard Calvary Chapel pastors read texts verse by verse and use them as platforms to tell stories about unrelated concepts, newspaper prophecy, or as a comedy routine.  Teaching verse by verse does not excuse anyone from the false handling of scriptures.

In the book, “Calvary Distinctives” Chuck Smith makes the mistake of assuming that by going through the bible in this manner he is guaranteeing the proper handling of the text.  To quote him, “Yet, it’s so important to take the people through the Word, line upon line, precept by precept.  When we do, we are delivering to them the whole counsel of God.”  Ironically, he is quoting Isaiah 28:13 and Acts 20:27 out of context.  In the context of “line upon line, precept upon precept” it is presented as a curse so “that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”   The reference to Paul being “innocent the blood of all men because he did not shun to declare the full counsel of God” comes from the book of Acts (Acts 20:27).  Paul is referencing his prior statement in v20 “how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable” and Ezekial 33:8, “If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”  These are not proof texts stating that the only legitimate method of teaching the bible is verse by verse, nor does it indicate that by teaching verse by verse you are guaranteed to handle it rightly.

I am amazed, no longer being in Calvary Chapel, learning how much of the Scriptures I have missed out on over the course of seven years.  The mystery passages of Hebrews 6, Hebrews 9, Acts 2, Romans 9, John 6 and the many other passages that made absolutely no sense without the God of the covenant, the doctrines of grace or election now make complete sense and glorify Christ and His work. Old Testament passages no longer require complicated charts to understand, they too speak of Christ.

Calvary Chapel is quite often guilty of reading the recently invented dispensational view of scriptures into texts that are actually speaking of Christ.  In this sense they search the scriptures for in them they think they ‘can interpret the newspapers’ or ‘tell the future’, but these are they that speak of Christ!  This is typical of end-time movements.  Having gone through the scriptures with Chuck Smith on tape and taking notes; I am amazed, looking back, at how many times Old Testament illustrations of Christ’s first coming and ascension are mistaken for pictures of a secret rapture…  Or how Daniel’s prophecy of the first coming are mistaken for the dispensational “third coming.”

Texts are often grossly mutilated.  I have heard more than one Calvary Chapel pastor entertain cultist myths of Angels having sexual relations with men and talks of aliens by Chuck Missler.  I have also heard all of Greg Laurie, Chuck Smith and Jon Courson teach that Col 3:15 tells us how to hear the mystical voice of God “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” when in fact it is in context teaching the unity of the body of Christ! I can’t count the number of times I have heard this verse of scripture used to teach the modern evangelical equivalent of the Mormon “burning bosom sensation.” In fact I have a Greg Laurie booklet for new believers that explains this bizarre pagan practice to, the soon to be confused, new converts who are never sure why they don’t hear God speak to them as clearly as he seems to speak to everyone else.

I am often humbled by the fact that I remained in Calvary as long as I did.  I honestly thought we were teaching the bible, I honestly thought these were respected views of scripture and I honestly thought we proclaimed “the full counsel of God.”  Instead, we mocked those who took the time to learn the original languages, we mocked the reformation martyrs who brought us out of Rome, we mocked the Puritans who established America, we mocked the Biblical mandate for Pastors to be dedicated to prayer and the study of scripture.  We rejected the sovereign grace of God.  Seminary was called cemetery and we replaced learning with the babbling’s and regurgitation’s of the Pope: the bishop of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith.  We went back to Rome.

Three aspects of the Mosaic covenant may be stressed in an effort to place this distinctive covenant in its proper biblical-theological setting: the covenant of law is related organically to the totality of God’s redemptive purposes; the covenant of law is related progressively to the totality of God’s redemptive purposes; the covenant of law finds its consummation in Jesus Christ.

First, the covenant of law is related organically to the totality of God’s redemptive purposes.  To speak of an organic relationship is to suggest a living,vital inter-connection as over against an isolationistic compartmentalization.  The clear enunciation of the will of God at the time of Moses did not appear as something novel in the history of redemption.  At the same time, law did not disappear after Moses.  Law functioned significantly in the period preceding Moses, and law functions significantly in the period succeeding Moses.  While the summation of law in an externalized form may remain as the distinctive property of the Mosaic era, the presence of law throughout the history of redemption must be recognized.

1. Law is significant in all administrations prior to Moses.

References to the will of God and to the necessity of obedience to that will may be noted in each of the biblical covenants.  Adam, while receiving gratuitously the promise of a saving seed, must work in the sweat of his face to sustain life until the seed should come (Gen 3:19).  Noah receives an integral part of his mercy-filled covenant the decree of God’s will concerning the disposition of man-slayers: “Who so sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen 9:6)

Even more comprehensively, the Abrahamic covenant of promise builds on the responsibility fo God’s people with reference to the revealed will of God.  The total allegiance to his Lord demanded of Abraham involves the whole of his life (cf. Gen 12:1; 17:1).  The patriarch must leave his father’s house and walk before the Lord in whole-hearted obedience.

Subsequent happenings under the administration of the Abrahamic covenant further indicate the presence of covenantal law, especially with regard to the sealing ordinance of circumcision.  According to Genesis 17:14, “the uncircumcised male… who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.” Quite a hair-raising incident in this very connection is recording subsequently in connection with the life of Moses.  After having received his commission to deliver Israel in fulfillment of the promise of the Abrahamic covenant, Moses begins the return trip to Egypt with his family:

Now it came about at the lodging-place on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, ‘You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.

So He let him alone.  At that time she said, ‘You are a bridegroom of blood’– because of the circumcision (Exod 4:24-26).

Under the provision of the Abrahamic covenant of promise, God almost slays Moses for failing to observe its stipulations.  Obviously law plays a vital role in this covenantal relationship.

The presence of stipulations in the covenants prior to Moses does not detract from the uniqueness of the legal codification under Moses.  No other covenant could be characterized convincingly as “the covenant of law.” No more fitting designation could be applied to the Mosaic covenant.  Yet the continuing presence of covenantal stipulations in every earlier administration relates the covenant of Moses organically with that which precedes.  Law simply becomes predominant under Moses.

2. Law is significant in all administrations subsequent to Moses.

Both the Davidic covenant and the new covenant continue to recognize the significance of divine law in redemptive history.  At the conclusion of the Mosaic epoch, Israel’s history immediately begins the movement “toward a kingship.” The establishment of a permanent monarchy in Israel ultimately finds realization by the institution of the Davidic covenant.  The provisional dimension of God’s covenant with David is expressed rather pointedly at the time of covenant inauguration.  Concerning the line of a descendency from David, God says: “When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men….” The framework in which this potential punishment of iniquity is to be understood is spelled out quite pointedly in David’s subsequent death-bed charge to Solomon his son and successor:

As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth.  Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.  And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is writen in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out His promise when he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel’” (I Kings 2:1-4).

The law of Moses is thus seen to have an integral role in the Davidic covenant.  The entire historical narrative concerning the kings of Israel may be regarded as one magnificent verification of the promise to David, together with its accompanying threat of punishment based on the provisions of the Mosaic covenant of law.

Both the psalm-singers and the prophets of Israel sing and prophesy of the law of God. “Oh how love I they law; it is my meditation all the day,” sings the Psalmist (Ps. 119:97). “I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are accounted as a strange thing,” complains the prophet (Hos 8:12). Quite obviously, the law functions significantly in the period of Israel’s history embraced by the Davidic covenant.  The Davidic covenant cannot be regarded as functioning as an entity to itself, isolated from the decrees of Sinai.  The “ten words” continue to posses a primary significance for God’s people.

It is with respect to the new covenant that the greatest problems arise concerning the continuing role of law.  Is the covenant of law still significant for participants in the new covenant?  Do legal prescriptions apply to Christians today?  This difficult question shall be treated first by noting some general considerations that need to be kept in mind.  Then positive evidence form the New Testament confirming the role of law in the life of the Christian will be noted.

Confusion and debate on this particular issue arise in part from the efforts to understand the seemingly contradictory statements of the New Testament itself. On the one hand, a variety of new covenant Scriptures plainly assert:

Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14)

But now we have been released from the law, having died so that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter (Rom 7:6)

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Gal 3:23-25)

On the other hand, Scripture equally asserts:

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

Fur truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, no the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.

Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:17-19) .

Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

…So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7:7, 12).

What then is the Christian’s status? Does he have obligations relating to the Mosaic covenant of law? Or is he freed altogether from law-covenant?

One complicating factor in this whole matter relates to the varied ways in which the term greek:LAW is used in the New Testament. In the course of a few verses, the apostle Paul may use the same term in three or four different ways.  According to Romans 3:21, the righteousness of faith has been witnessed by “the law and the prophets.” The term “law” in this phrase refers to the Pentateuch as a literary unit.  But the first half of this same verse declares that the righteousness of God has appeared “apart from law.” The precise meaning of the term “law” in this phrase is difficult to determine.  Most likely it represents a “shorthand abbreviation” for the “works of the law” in terms of man’s capacity to please God by his own deeds of righteousness (cf. v. 20, which immediately precedes). But in any case, the meaning of “law” in the first half of Romans 3:21 is quite distinct from the meaning of the same term in the second half of the same verse.

Reading a little further in the apostle’s argument, a third use of the term greek:LAW appears.  In Romans 3:27, Paul poses a question.  By what “law” is boasting excluded from the justified?

Now Paul uses the term “law” to refer to a general principle.  It is by the “principle” of faith-justification that boasting over righteousness is excluded.

Earlier Paul appears to use the term in still a fourth sense (cf. Rom. 2:21-23).  First he cites three commandments of the Decalogue.  Then he accosts his readers: “You who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God?” Paul now appears to use “law” to refer more narrowly to the Ten Commandments.  It is the “ten words” that his contemporaries have broken.

At other points, context seems to demand that the term “law” be understood as referring specifically to law-keeping a a means of justification.  In these cases, the term “law” becomes the equivalent of the Judaizer’s misapprehension of the proper role of the law in the history of redemption.

In Galations 4:21, Paul addresses himself to htose who want to be “under law.” He speaks to those who would attempt to achieve righteousness before God by personal law-keeping.  The apostle spells out a “formula of equivalencies” spanning the history of redemption.

Two antihetical alternatives for realizing acceptance by God face the Galations.  The first alternative traces its lineage back to Abraham’s slave-son Ishmael, who was born out of the patriarch’s efforts to assure the fulfillment of God’s promises on the basis of his own resources.  This alternative for “justification” manifests itself again in the law-covenant of Sinai, which corresponds to the “present Jerusalem.”

it is essential to understand Paul’s reference to the Sinai in the context of the equivalencies which he had developed.  The covenant of “law” corresponds to the “present Jerusalem,” the Jerusalem of the Judaizers.  It is the legalistic misapprehension of the Sinaitic law-covenant that is in the mind of the apostle.  Slavery inevitably wil result from resorting to natural human resources as a means of pleasing God.  Ishmael, the current Judaizers, and unbelieving Israel conjointly find themselves to be slaves.

As this “formula of equivalencies” is considered, it must be stressed that the understanding of Mosaic law with which Paul is contending cannot be viewed as the divinely intended purpose of the giving of the law at Sinai.  Even though the middle member of this first triad (Hagar-Sinai-Present Jerusalem) is identified as “Mount Sinai” (v.25), it does not represnt the true purpose of the Sinaitic law-giving.

This assertion rests on the clear purpose of law-giving as explicated by Paul in Galations 3:24.  The purpose of the law was to lead to Christ, not to lead away from Christ.  The effect of the law on the current Judaizers was not in accord with God’s purpose in the giving of the law.  By reading the law in terms of an alternative way of salvation, current Judaism blinded itself to the true intention of God in the giving of the law.

The true purpose of God’s law-giving at Sinai did not find its proper manifestation in the Judaizers of the first century. Their pride compelled them to pervert God’s purpose in law-giving.  Instead of serving to convict them of the absolute impossibility of pleasing God by law-keeping, the law fostered in them a deeply entrenched determination to depend on personal resources in order to please God.  Thus the law did not serve the purposes of grace in leading the Judaizers to Christ.  Instead, it closed them off from Christ. “Law” and “Sinai” in this context must refer to legalistic misapprehension of God’s purpose in law-giving rather than the proper apprehension of God’s revelation of law.

The contrary “formula of equivalencies” runs from the free-woman  Sarah through the covenant of promise to the “above Jerusalem.” God’s sovereign and gracious intervention in the life of sinful man invariably produces children that are free.

It may be acknowledged that something in the form of law-administration lent itself to an easy misapprehension of its proper purpose in man’s redemption.  The externalized, codified form of law readily came to be understood as offering a way of life other than the faith-principle crystallized under Abraham.  It was possible to understand law properly as a schoolmaster that would lead to Christ by increasing awareness of sin.  Or it was possible to misunderstand law as a taskmaster that led away from Christ by diverting concentration from faith-righteousness to works-righteousness.  It is this latter perspective that the apostle has in mind when he addresses himself to those who wish to be “under law.” “Law” in this context points to the misapprehension of the law’s purpose as reflected in Abraham’s misdirected efforts to provide a son for himself and in the Judaizer’s efforts to provide righteousnes for themselves.

To this point, several different uses of “law” in Paul have been noted.  Other more refined significances may be involved.  Clearly it is necessary to exercise extreme care in evaluating biblical statements about the role of the “law” in the life of the Christian.  When the New Testament affirms bluntly “you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14), clearly does not mean “you are not under Pentateuch.” It does not mean “you are not under the Ten Commandments.” Most probably in the context of Romans 6, it means “you are not under the Mosaic covenant as a principle which would make righteousness depend on the individual’s personal resources as law-keeper.”

One positive step towards solving the difficult question of the Christian’s relation to the law may be taken by noting once more the distincitiveness of law-administration emphasized under Moses. Under the Mosaic covenant, law appeared as an externalized summation of the will of God.  The Christian does not live under an externalized ministration of law engraved in stone tablets.  Instead, he lives with the law written in his heart.  While the Christian always stands obligated to reflect the holiness and righteousness required in God’s law, he no longer relates to that law as an impersonal code standing outside himself.  Instead, the Spirit of God constantly ministers the law within the heart of the believer.

This understanding of the question gives recognition to the fading form of law-administration under the Mosaic covenant, while also treating seriously the continuing significance of the essence of the same law.  While this explanation may not satisfy all the problems arising from the Christian’s relation to the law, it does provide one fruitful area for reflection.

In addition to these general considerations, it is important to present positive evidence from the New Testament which affirms the continuing significance of the Mosaic covenant of law:

First of all,  presumptive evidence favors the continuing significance of the essence if not the form of the Mosaic law-covenant into the present day.  It is obvious from Scripture that men today continue under the provisions of other administrations of the covenant of redemption.  Romans 16:20 refers to the ultimate bruising of the head of the serpent under the Christian’s feet. The language clearly indicates the continuing significance of God’s covenant with Adam.  II Peter 3:5-7 notes the significance of God’s judgment on the wicked in Noah’s day, and appeals to the covenanting word spoken to Noah which current preserves the earth.

The designation of Abraham as “the father of us all” (Rom. 4:16, 17) indicates the significance today of the covenantal promise concerning an innumerable seed.  Even today, the “root of Jesse” rules as the hope of the Gentiles, in accord with the covenant with David (Rom 15:22).  These references to the continuing significance of the covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David into the present could be expanded greatly.

Are we to conlcude that all the various covenantal administrations of the Old Testament find continuing significance for believers today with the single exception of the Mosaic covenant? Are we to presume that the covenant of law alone among the divinely-initiated covenants has lost its binding significance?

to be continued in Part III…

O. Palmer Robertson writes:

The Mosaic dispensation rests squarely on a covenantal rather than a legal relationship.  While law plays an extremely significant role both in the international treaty forms and in the Mosaic era, covenant always supersedes law.

Essential to the Hittite treaty form was the recognition of the historical context in which legal stipulations functioned.  The historical prologue of the documents set the current relation of conquering lord and conquered vassal in the light of past interchanges.

Nothing could be more basic to a proper understanding of the Mosaic era.  It is not law that is preeminent, but covenant.  Whatever concept of law may be advanced, it must remain at all times subservient to the broader concept of the covenant.

This point is made most obvious by a recognition of the historical context in which the covenant of law was revealed.  Historically, the nation of Israel already was in a covenantal relationship with the Lord through Abraham.  The Exodus narrative begins when God hears the groaning of Israel, and “remembers his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24).  After God has established himself as Israel’s Lord through the historical fact of the deliverance from Egypt, the law-covenant of Sinai is administered.  The Decalogue’s “I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,” provides the essential historical framework in which the Sinaitic law-covenant may be understood.  As has been stated:

The laws have their place in the doctrine of the covenant.  Yahweh has chosen Israel as His people, and Israel has acknowledged Yahweh as its God. This fundamental O.T. principle is the direct basis of these laws. (W. Gutbrod, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1967), 4: 1036)

Covenant, therefore, is the larger concept, always taking precedence over law.  Covenant binds persons; externalized legal stipulations represent one mode of administration of the covenantal bond.

God renews an ancient commitment to his people by the covenant of Moses.  The law serves only as a single mode of administering the covenant of redemption.  Originally established under Adam, confirmed under Noah and Abraham, the covenantal relationship renewed under Moses cannot disturb God’s on going commitment by its emphasis to the legal dimension of the covenant relationship.

The Distinctiveness of the Mosaic Covenant

If the Mosaic covenant stands in a basic relation of unity with God’s earlier covenantal administration, what then is its distinctiveness?  What particularly characterizes this covenantal administration?  How does it stand apart from God’s other ways of dealing with his people?

The Mosaic covenant manifests its distinctiveness as an externalized summation of the will of God.  The patriarchs certainly were aware o God’s will in general terms.  On occasion, they received direct revelation concerning specific aspects of the will of God.  Under Moses, however, a full summary of God’s will was made explicit through the physical inscripturation of the law. This external-to-man, formally ordered summation of God’s will constitutes the distinctiveness of the Mosaic covenant.

The emphasis in the pentateuch on the “ten words” and the explicit identification of these words with the covenant itself clearly indicate that the distinctiveness of the Mosaic covenant resides in this externalized summation of God’s law.  Note in particular the language of the following verses:

… And he [Moses] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words (Exod. 34:28).
So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the ten words; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone (Deut. 4:13).

When I went upto the mountain to receive the tablet of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you….

And…at the end of the forty days and nights … the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant (Deut. 9:9, 11).

These verses indicate the closeness of identification between the Mosaic covenant and the “ten words.” These words summarize the essence of the Mosaic covenant.

The same verses emphasize also the externalized character of the Mosaic law-administration.  The stone-engraven character of the Mosaic covenant does not reflect simply the manner by which covenantal documents were preserved in the days of Moses.  This stark, cold, externalized form in which the covenant stipulations appeared manifests eloquently a most distinctive characteristic of the Mosaic covenant.  A law has been written, a will has been decreed; but his law stands outside man, demanding conformity.  “Law” as it is used in relation to the Mosaic covenant should not be defined simply as a revelation of the will of God.  More specifically, law denotes an externalized summation of God’s will.

In the case of the Mosaic covenant, the prominence of this external form of God’s will provides ample justification for the characterization of the Mosaic covenant as the covenant of law.  This characterization has the full support of the New Testament Scriptures.  “The law was given through Moses,” says the apostle John (John 1:17).  In his letter to the Galations, Paul clearly characterizes the Mosaic period as the epoch of “law” (Gal. 3:17)

This phrase “covenant of law” must not be confused with the traditional terminology which speaks of a “covenant of works.” The phrase “covenant of works” customarily refers to the situation at creation in which man was required to obey God perfectly in order to enter into a state of eternal blessedness.  Contrary to this relation established with man in innocence, the Mosaic covenant of law clearly addresses itself to man in sin.  this latter covenant never intended to suggest that man by perfect moral obedience could enter into a state of guaranteed covenantal blessedness.  The integral role of a substitutionary sacrificial system within the legal provisions of the Mosaic covenant clearly indicates a sober awareness of the distinction between God’s dealings with man in innocence and with man in sin.

As already has been indicated, God’s covenantal commitment to redeem from the state of sin a people to himself was in effect prior to the giving of the law at Sinai.  Israel assembled at Sinai only because God had redeemed them from Egypt.  For the covenant of law to function as a principle of salvation by works, the covenant of promise first would have to be suspended.

The concrete externalization of covenantal stipulations written on tables of stone never was intended to detract from the gracious promise of the Abrahamic covenant, as Paul argues so aptly.  The covenant of law, coming 400 years after promise, could not possibly disannul the previous covenant (Gal. 3:17).

Not only did the covenant of law not disannul the covenant of promise; more specifically, it did not offer a temporary alternative to the covenant of promise.  This particular perspective is often overlooked.  It is sometimes assumed that the covenant of law temporarily replaced the covenant of promise, or somehow ran alongside it as an alternative method of man’s salvation.   The covenant of law often has been considered as a self-contained unit which served as another basis for determining the relation of Israel to God in the period between Abrahamic covenant and the coming of Christ.  In this scheme, the covenant of promise is treated as though it has been set aside or made secondary for a period, although not “disannulled.”

However, the covenant of promise made with Abraham always has been in effect from the day of its inauguration until the present.  The coming of law did not suspend the Abrahamic covenant.  The principle enunciated in Genesis 15:6 concerning the justification of Abraham by faith never has experienced interruption.  Throughout the Mosaic period of law-covenant, God considered as righteous everyone who believed in him.

For this reason, the covenant of law as revealed at Sinai would best be divorced from “covenant of works” terminology.  The “covenant of works” refers to legal requirements laid on man at the time of his innocency in creation.  The “covenant of law” refers to a new stage in the process of God’s unfolding the richness of the covenant of redemption.  As such, the law which came through Moses did not in any way disannul or suspend the covenant of promise.

I too was once like you.  I use to read the scriptures that clearly taught man’s depravity through the lens of humanism.  After all- we are fed disgusting lies and contradictions that, “if you believe what the bible says you won’t evangelize or pray.”  As if faulty logic or pragmatism were the discerner of true doctrine!

Quite the contrary!  I believe that God is sovereign and that THE ENTIRE WORK OF SALVATION belongs to Him.  It is because my God is powerful, and it is because He can and DOES impart grace to those who are DEAD that I pray.  It is precisely for this reason that He has chosen to use MEN in this work of evangelism.

Modern evangelicals, don’t take this the wrong way.  But your religion is a return to Rome.  It is a counter-reformation that denies the power of God.  It is a movement that exalts men and feelings over truth.  It claims that there must be a balance of spirit and truth when in reality there must be ALL SPIRIT and ALL TRUTH.  Your scales are man made and your balances are broken…  RETURN!

I pray the mighty, powerful God that He continue to awaken the hearts of men.  That men will return to biblical theology and rather than crowning micro-popes they would return and join the historic church in preaching the gospel of our very powerful savior Jesus Christ!

Until then I will love you anyway.