This study includes a reply to the charge that GNU, by its loyalty to the principles of
the Decalogue, has let the gospel slip.
Over 330 times, we find the term "covenant" in Scripture. Every Christian
needs to be intelligent regarding this topic which has provided the titles
for the two chief sections of the Bible. (Old Testament means Old Covenant,
and New Testament means New Covenant.)
Even among gospel believers, there is not only haziness but heresy as
regards covenant theology.
Dispensationalism's Error
Dispensationalists, for example, abound among fundamentalist Christians but
are much rarer among studious evangelicals. Dispensationalists have always
held that God had more than one way of salvation one for the Jew and another
for the Gentile.<
This school of thought - known as Dispensationalism, and popularized by the
Scofield Bible - contrasts the dispensation of law (Sinai to the Cross) with
the dispensation of grace (beyond the Cross).
Very few Bible scholars today hold such a position, but Dispensationalism
surfaces whenever the issue of Christian obedience is under review.
Obedience to the Nine
In gospel ranks at the present time, there are some of our friends (we do
not use that term loosely), offering an explanation of the covenants that,
in practical terms, leads to obedience to nine commandments of the
Decalogue, but not to that one which is central, the longest, and solely
prefaced by "remember."
It is an exaggeration to say that such are nine-tenths under law and one
tenth under grace, but it's an understandable criticism.
Truth and Error Are Close
The issue is of great importance; and it must be remembered, as we consider
it, that truth and error often lie close together. It is clear that the New
Testament opposes legalism of all types, yet it is just as certainly
supportive of the testing truth delivered by Jesus on his last night on
earth. Love to him is always accompanied by obedience to his commandments.
(John 14:15).
Scripture is neither legalistic nor antinomian. Legalism is perversion of
the legal, but the legal element is prominent in both Testaments, and
particularly so in the teachings of Jesus and Paul.
Without the legal aspect, the doctrine of the Cross becomes hollow. (See
Romans 3:25. Especially study and compare Galatians 5:6; 6:15; and 1
Corinthians 7:19.)
Sinai, the Point of Controversy
Because the covenant of Sinai has most to say about law, it becomes the
focal point of controversy. Galatians condemns in no uncertain terms all
those who endeavor to earn salvation by slavish fulfillment of the precepts
of the Sinaitic covenant; and 2 Corinthians 3 emphasizes that, without faith
in Christ, both the Sinaitic covenant and the new (renewed) become a
ministration of condemnation and death.
Hebrews 8 joyously announces that the old national covenant, with its
necessary limitations, has been displaced by the new covenant sealed at the
Cross.
Covenantal Agreement
Today, the majority of evangelical scholars teach, in essence, what the
Reformers of the sixteenth century wrote regarding the covenants. Except for
the divine-human encounter before the Fall (often called "the covenant of
works" or "the covenant of Life"), all biblical covenants between God and
man were revelations of grace and mirrored the plan of salvation. (Hebrews
13:8,20,21; Psalm 105:5-11.)
These scholars see the covenants (including that of Sinai), as merciful,
unilateral arrangements whereby the promise might be offered and
experienced:
Legal Versus Legalistic
Legal elements are found in the covenant (including the new covenant), but
we must surely distinguish between what is legal and what is legalistic, as
surely as we distinguish between what is rational and what is rationalistic.
In his book The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, Leon Morris writes:
The Old Testament consistently thinks of a God who works by the method of
law. This is not the conception of one or two writers but is found
everywhere in the Old Testament, and is attested by a variety of
conceptions, many being taken straight from forensic practices. Among the
heathen, the deity was thought of as above the law, with nothing but the
dictates of his own desires to limit him. According to his behavior, he was
completely unpredictable, and while he made demands on his worshippers for
obedience and service, there were few if any ethical implications of this
service, and none of a logically necessary kind. Far otherwise was it with
the God of the Hebrews.
Yahweh and law went well together.
The Old Testament consistently thinks of a God who works by the method of
law. Thus, as we approach the question of the use of justification in the
Old Testament, we are dealing not with an isolated conception which appears
briefly now and then, but with an idea of law which runs through and through
the ancient Scriptures. (page 258)
Condemnation or Correction?
But does not the book of Galatians condemn the old covenant as leading to
bondage? Yes, but as with all of Scripture, context, both literary and
historical, is essential to correct understanding.
Galatians was written to people who believed that Gentiles had first to
become Jews before they could be Christians, i.e., they had to be
circumcised and be in harmony with contemporary Jewish life-style (unclean
foods not permissible; to eat with the heathen not allowable, etc.) Paul
opposed this with great vigor.
Law Is Not a Synonym for the Decalogue
There are other things which must be kept in mind when studying Galatians.
The term "law" here usually means the entire Jewish system. (The word is NOT
a synonym for the Decalogue.) It can also mean the writings of Moses (see
Galatians 4:21,22).
Second, the reference to circumcision 13 times in this letter shows the
location of the storm center. Circumcision was originally given by God to be
a sign and seal of righteousness by faith. Paul says precisely that in
Romans 4:11.
But the Jews turned the sign of the gospel into a badge of legalism‹and they
did likewise with the entire covenant. (See Romans 9:30 to 10:4.)
Galatians Is Often Misunderstood
The best commentators have pointed out that Galatians 4 is frequently
misunderstood, and that any deprecation of the Old Covenant as God intended
it is unjust.
See Luther's famous commentary, and Calvin's Institutes, book 2, chapters 10
and 11. Best of all, see Patrick Fairbairn's Typology of Scripture, volume
2, pages 154 ff.
Abraham Personifies the Problem
Galatians shows that when Abraham tried to fulfill the promises of God by
relying on his own weak human nature, he personified the problem to be
repeated by the bulk of his descendants. Let us never judge the divine
intention by human weakness and perversion.
The devout John Flavel wrote on this topic as follows:
The law is excellently described, Gal. 4, in that allegory of Hagar and
Sarah, the figures of the two covenants. Hagar in her first and proper
station was but a serviceable handmaid to Sarah, as the law is a
schoolmaster to Christ; but when Hagar the handmaid is taken into Sarah¹s
bed, and brings forth children that aspire to the inheritance, then saith
the Scripture, Cast out the bond-woman, with her son. So it is here, take
the law in its primary use, as God designed it, as a handmaid to Christ and
the promise, so it is consistent with them; but if we marry this handmaid,
and espouse it as a covenant of works, then we are bound to it for life,
Rom. 7, and must have nothing to do with Christ. The believers of the Old
Testament had true apprehensions of the true end and use of the law, which
directed them to Christ, and so they became the children of the free-woman.
The carnal Jews trusted to the works of the law for righteousness, and so
became children of the bond-woman. Whole Works, 7th ed., 1772, vol. 2, p.
432 (cited by Roderick Campbell, Israel and the New Covenant, p. 49)
Not Under Law As a Covenant
The New Testament is emphatic that Christians are not "under law," any kind
of law, including the laws of the Sermon on the Mount as a covenant. To use
law-keeping as a method of salvation is to fall from grace.
The law in its condemning power has been abolished.
Any commandment, including those of the New Testament, pursued diligently
yet apart from faith in Christ, becomes a ministry of death. See Colossians
2:14 and 2 Corinthians 3; Ephesians 2:8,9; and Galatians 5:2-4.
What We Need to Know
What then, in essence, should we know about the covenants?
The words translated "covenant" in the Old and New Testaments, when
applied to divine human relationships, mean an arrangement a synonym for the
plan of salvation.
The God-initiated covenants after the Fall were unilateral they were NOT
agreements between the people and God. God made the terms, the promises, the
stipulations, the warnings. All the people had to do was accept and loyally
respond.
All the Covenants Essentially the Same
All the Scriptural covenants between God and man, Genesis 3:15, the
Noahic, the Abrahamic, the Sinaitic, the Davidic, the New in essence were
the same, though the emphases were different, according to the historical
situation.
For example, all stressed grace, and all stressed that the natural response
to grace was loyalty and obedience. What is known as the "Old" Covenant was
but an extension of the Abrahamic covenant which in principle is still in
force. (See Exodus 2:24; 3:6-10; 6:5; 32:13, 14; Galatians 3:29; Romans
4:11,13,16; and Psalms 105:6-11.).
At Sinai, because the people had their moral consciousness darkened by the
centuries of idolatry in Egypt, God particularly stressed the aspect of law.
See Galatians 3:19-25. Furthermore, the promise of the new covenant in
Jeremiah 31 is emphatic that the experience of the forgiveness of sins
results in the writing of God¹s law in the hearts of the faithful.
The promise is the same in all the covenants: "I will be your God, and
you shall be my people." And the response of believers is the same willing,
glad obedience.
The New Covenant is the flower of which all preceding post-Fall covenants
are the seed. Here grace and the gift of the indwelling Spirit are fully
unveiled in the God-man mediator, showing the one way of salvation for all.
Different Signs and Seals
The sign and seal of the Adamic covenant was the seventh-day Sabbath;
that of the Noahic covenant was the rainbow; and that of the Abrahamic and
Sinaitic covenants circumcision (without ignoring the previous signs and
seals).
The added signs and seals of the New Covenant are baptism (which has
replaced circumcision as a more adequate parable of the gospel), and the
Lord¹s Supper, but again without rejecting the signs and seals of the
earlier covenants.
Thus our Lord's sufferings begin in a garden towards the close of the sixth
day of the week, and his work of re-creation is declared complete by the
cry, "It is finished," at the very moment synagogues throughout the land
were reading Genesis 2:1-3 and echoing the same victorious cry of
accomplishment. He then rested through the whole of the Sabbath day.
See also the use of the rainbow in the Bible's closing book.
Not Essential for Salvation
These signs and seals of the covenants are not essential for salvation but
they are important aids to faith. Each of them is a sensory parable pointing
to the heart of the gospel.
The rainbow reminds us that the Cross and all God¹s dealings combine justice
and mercy as the rainbow unites sunshine and rain.
The Sabbath points to our constant rest of conscience in Christ as we trust
in his finished work of redemption which is actually a re-creation.
Circumcision points to the cutting away of the flesh, accomplished by the
moving of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism replaces the national symbol and acts out the death and
resurrection, not only of Christ, but of each believer.
As for the Lord's Supper, its meaning is explained in John 6:47-51.
Does the Sabbath Seal Have Lasting Relevance for Christians?
There has been continuing controversy in all ages over the signs and seals
of the covenants.
Denominations have disagreed on the mode of baptism (triune, sprinkling, or
immersion).
There has also been disagreement in the manner of observing the Lord¹s
Supper. The cup has been withheld for centuries from the laity in the
largest section of Christendom. Argument has continued over the words of the
institution "This is my body," and "This is my blood of the covenant." Are
the words to be taken literally or are they symbolic? (This argumentation
has lasted for centuries.)
And the rest day has had no rest, although until the birth of the industrial
age almost all Christians agreed that one day in seven should be kept holy.
Disagreement Over the Day
Most of the Church's leaders in all ages have agreed on the necessity of a
day of Sabbath rest and worship each week, though not all have agreed on
which day.2
Moody said, "When the Sabbath goes, the church goes. When the Church goes,
the family goes. When the family goes, the nation goes."
And Calvin wrote, " if it [the rest day] were abolished, the Church would
be in imminent danger of immediate convulsion and ruin" (Institutes, II:
viii).
Karl Barth, who gives much space in his Church Dogmatics to the fourth
commandment, and who wrote of its "decisive material significance," "radical
importance," and the "almost monstrous range of this law," quoted de
Quervain approvingly, "Where the holy day becomes a day of man, society and
humanity wither away and the demons rule..." (Church Dogmatics, III: p. 53).
Why Not Keep Every Day Holy?
A tiny minority have dropped the seals and signs altogether. The Salvation
Army does not practice the Lord's Supper, and the Society of Friends
(Quakers) see no value in outward forms. Some take the same attitude to the
fourth commandment, though claiming they keep every day holy. Such a claim,
of course, is utter nonsense, for how can every day be kept separate (when
"to sanctify" means "keep distinct or separate").
Almost everybody works at secular employment most days of the week. God
planned such human occupation from the beginning of time. Work and rest are
the appointed rhythm for humans, and God appointed us rest in order for us
to worship.
The group that sees all days as equal believes it honors Christ by ignoring
the day of which He declared himself Lord that day which he said "was made
for man," thus decking it with undying freshness.
Such a stand has not recommended itself to most Christians.
The Sabbath In a Sense Brought the Cross
Campbell Morgan pointed out that Christ risked his life and ministry to
reform Sabbath observance. Who cleans the barnacles from a sinking ship or
cleans up an old shed before burning it? From a human point of view, Christ
went to the Cross because he opposed the pharisaical traditions which made
the Sabbath (called "a delight," or "a luxury," in Isaiah 58), a burden. See
Matthew 12:14 and Luke 6:7,11.
Two Honorable Institutions
Only two institutions in the Bible are called "honorable" the sabbath and
marriage. See Isaiah 58:13 and Hebrews 13:4. Strange that now many would
dishonor the Sabbath. What greater blessing, apart from the Gospel, could
there be than the gift of 52 Spring days, 52 mini-Edens, every year, during
which all secular duties and cares are relinquished.
It will be of interest to some to learn that the most recent scholarly
discussion on these themes, representing a variety of denominations, admits
that Christ observed the seventh-day Sabbath and so did the early Church.
See From Sabbath to Lord¹s Day, edited by D. A. Carson, pp. 345-346, 365.
This volume denies there was ever any transfer from the seventh day to the
first. See pp. 346-347.
The Issue is Worship
We would emphasize that this matter is viewed in a false light when it is
set forth as an issue of days only. Rather, the issue is worship. Worship is
the primary duty of all rational creatures, and the declared will of God in
this regard is sacrosanct. There is nothing more important than giving God
his place.
Perhaps it is not without significance that the first time the Sabbath is
referred to by name in Scripture (Exodus 16), it is set forth as a test. See
Exodus 16:4 ff (NIV and other versions).
Reality Never Displaces Observance
Let it be carefully observed that the reality in experience never displaces
or makes void the necessity for observing the symbol, sign or seal, any more
than the bending of our wills in submission ends our kneeling to pray.
Marriage, according to Paul, symbolizes the relationship between Christ and
his church, but this does not abolish marriage now the reality symbolized
has come.
It should never be forgotten by men and women who live in the body that
spirit without form dies, while form without spirit is already dead.
Is the Gospel the True Center?
What charges are then being made against those who take the views here set
forth? It is said, and I quote:
"...the gospel is not the only true CENTER of their working agenda... it is a
false gospel - creating a wall that keeps them divided/separated from other
genuine Biblical Christians."
The position is declared to be a "false Christ," looming much larger than
the true Christ.
Are These Accusations Fair?
Strong accusations indeed, and not really reflective of the true Christian
quality of those who utter them.
So we are compelled to ask rhetorically, "Did Adam and Eve in their sinless
days deny the grace of God because they kept in mind His will concerning the
Tree of knowledge? Did David reject the grace of God when he took seriously
the divine commandment against touching the sacred ark?
Was Joshua guilty of legalism because he took seriously the command against
touching the things of Babylon and Jericho?
When Paul in the second half of most of his epistles stresses obedience, has
he lapsed and fallen from grace?
Most of all, did Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, which has much more
admonition than promise, forget his own gospel?
Let the reader decide.
Promise AND Law
As for us, we will remember what most Christians since the Reformation have
believed: in the law of God we find His will, and in the promises, we find
his gospel.
This "New" Commandment Is Very Old
Critics of our position are quick to say that love has replaced law, and
that the only commandment now to be kept in mind as a guide is Christ¹s new
commandment.
We will take the last first and, in doing so, discover that the apostle John
declares that the "new" commandment is really an old one and existed from
the beginning. First John 2:3-11; 4:19-5:3; Leviticus 19:18; and Deuteronomy
6:5 enshrine the "new" commandment, and some of these verses are about three
and a half thousand years old.
Love Is a Rule, Not a Motive
As for the other contention that love is now the Christian's only rule, we
would remind our friends of the wise words of Horatius Bonar:
Love is not a rule, but a motive. Love does not tell me what to do; it
tells me how to do it. Love constrains me to do the will of the Beloved One;
but to know what the will is, I must go elsewhere. The law of our God is the
will of the Beloved One, and were that expression of his will withdrawn,
love would be utterly in the dark; it would not know what to do. It might
say, I love my Master, and I love his service, and I want to do his bidding,
but I must know the rules of his house, that I may know how to serve him.
Love without law to guide its impulses would be the parent of will-worship
and confusion, as surely as terror and self-righteousness, unless upon the
supposition of an inward miraculous illumination, as an equivalent for law.
Love goes to the law to learn the divine will, and love delights in the law,
as the exponent of that will; and he who says that a believing man has
nothing more to do with law, save to shun it as an old enemy, might as well
say that he has nothing to do with the will of God. For the divine law and
the divine will are substantially one, the former being the outward
manifestation of the latter.
God's Way of Holiness, pp. 77-78.
The Law Is Holy, Just, and Good
The New Testament is emphatic that faith does not make void the law (Romans
3:31). It is equally emphatic that the moral law, rightly used in the light
of Christ and his apostles, is "holy, just, and good," and "spiritual," and
to be fulfilled by every believer. (See Romans 7:12, 14; 8:4.)
The first verses of Ephesians 6 take it for granted that all Christians, not
only knew the Decalogue as a guide for conduct, but also knew the order of
its commands. First Timothy 1:8-10 refers to both tables of the law from
Sinai, and declares them "good."
Whenever the Hebrew and Greek words for "testimony" are used in connection
with the sanctuary, they always refer to the Decalogue. And in the Bible¹s
last book, they are seen again in glory as the foundation of the divine
government. (See Revelation 15:5.)
Two Law Error
It is true that many have erred in affirming that the New Testament teaches
that the Old had two laws - one moral and the other ceremonial. Such a
statement would be false, but the intent is true - the one law of Israel
contained both moral and ceremonial elements, the former being distinguished
by God himself in speaking and writing it.
Almost all church creeds have affirmed this reality, and so have the
majority of Christian theologians over the centuries. It should be
remembered that one can destroy a house without destroying the sunshine that
has illuminated it.
Likewise, the house of the Torah has gone, but not the light which illumined
it - the light of pure morality.
Thus Jesus could quote both Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5 as
mandatory.
The Hinges of the Law
The Decalogue gives us a clue by putting its only two positive commandments
at its center - the hinges of the two tables. These, the fourth and fifth
commandments, point back to the two institutions that preceded sin‹the
Sabbath and marriage. Whatever was human duty before the Fall remains so in
principle for all ages.
On the other hand, whatever came in by law to typify the remedy for the Fall
came to its end when that remedy - Christ and his Cross - appeared, just as a
shadow of a tree ceases at the root of the tree.
Must we cringe if these age-long convictions of the everlasting gospel
threaten to create a barrier between us and other Christians? Must we
therefore hasten to teach infant sprinkling instead of baptism by immersion,
eternal torture in hell fire, rather than the destruction of the willfully
wicked, and the secret rapture with all its oddities?
Absence of the Moral Law Brings Chaos
We believe the warnings of Roderick Campbell and Martin Luther ring true.
See if you think so too.
The absence of the basic Moral law would bring chaos, anarchy, or death,
into every realm of rational being. On the other hand, if there were no law
there would be no sin, hence no sinners, and no room for Grace. If there
were no sin, there would be no Saviour, no redemption, and no gospel
message.
Thus we read, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:20,21).
Grace is that golden stream, that river of the water of life, which always
flows in the channel of Law, out from the fountain of the immeasurable love
of God.
Without a conscience within and an objective Moral Law without, mankind
would revert to a condition lower than the brute creation. The earth becomes
a garden or a desert, a paradise or a hell, according as men perform, or
fail to perform, the just demands of the righteous Moral Law. A stable order
among men can be maintained only when it is based upon a conviction that,
above the level of life on earth, and above the physical creation, there
exists a supreme Moral Governor of the world...
Israel and the New Covenant, pp. 42, 43
A Heresy That Luther Never Thought to See
Martin Luther was amazed how some responded to his gospel message, and commented:
But Satan, the god of all dissension, stirreth up daily new sects, and last
of all (which of all other I should never have foreseen or once suspected),
he hath raised up a sect of such as teach that the Ten Commandments ought to
be taken out of the church, and that men should not be terrified by the law,
but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.
Preface to Luther's Commentary on Galatians
Footnotes
Daniel 9:26 says the Messiah's death would confirm or seal (ratify) the
covenant - the same covenant mentioned in verse 4 and in 11:22 - the covenant of
Sinai, which itself was identical with the Abrahamic covenant.
A close study of the covenants solves this issue also. Galatians 3:15 and
Hebrews 9:16, 17 stress that nothing can be added to a covenant after the
sacrificial death which seals it. Thus Sunday was three days too late to
become part of the New Covenant. For this reason also, baptism was included
by Christ's own example prior to Calvary.
Back to the Articles
Good News Unlimited
P.O. Box 6687
Auburn, CA 95602
(530) 823-9690