Sound of Grace, Issue 199, July-August 2013

8/22/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 199, July-August 2013

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New Testament) is tantamount or equated with eshly

obedience to a written code.The way to avoid this, in the

minds of many, is to recognize a new kind of obedience,

either performed subconsciously by the Spirit or synony-mous with the Spirit himself. As I interact with several

writers illustrating this error (their quotes in italics), note

how the doctrine of sanctication and the volitional acts

of believers is being conated with the work of God in

forensic justication, even to the exclusion of the means of

the written word.

Steve Brown, a professor at Reformed Theological

Seminary wrote, In the case of our sin, God resolved the

problem by sending his Son to die on a cross as our re-

deemer. If we could be

Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious persons in all of Scripture. He

seems to come from nowhere, makes one brief appearance, and then totally

disappears without leaving a forwarding address. His whole history is recorded

in three verses in the Old Testament Scriptures:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the

priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the

most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God,

which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all

(Gen.14:18-21).

David makes the only other reference to Melchizedek in the Old Testament

Scriptures. David, speaking prophetically, ties Melchizedek to the coming

Messiah:

Is s ue 1 9 9 Jul y-Augus t 2 0 1 3

It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9

Christ, Our New Covenant High

PriestPart 6

John G. Reisinger

2012 Providence Theological SeminaryDoctrinal Conference

The Specic Characteristics of the Grace Move-ment: #4 The Conation of Justication and Sanc-

tication

One of the results if not the intended purpose of con-

ating sanctication and justication is to minimize or

reject the intentionality of the regenerate human will. Even

though no reformed Protestant that I am aware of has

ever denied that true obedience in the believer is ulti-

mately the Spirits work, what is being assumed at least

implicitly is that any intentionality in response to a

written commandment, principle, or precept (Old or

The New Heart, The New Covenant, and Not So New

Controversies: A Critique of the Modern

Grace Movement Part 3 of 3

Dr. J. David Gilliland

ReisingerContinued on page 2

GillilandContinued on page 16

In This Issue

Christ, Our New Covenant HighPriest Part 6

John G. Reisinger

1

The New Heart, The NewCovenant, and Not So New

Controversies: A Critique of theModern "Grace Movement" Part 3 of 3

Dr. J. David Gilliland

1

Galatians 6:15-16

A. Blake White3

Biblical Worship - Revelation 4

Steve West5

A Study of New CovenantTheology, Part 2 of 4

Kevin P. McAloon

7


2/24

Page 2 July-August 2013 Issue 199

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ReisingerContinued from page 1


The LORD hath sworn, and will

not repent, Thou art a priest for

ever after the order of Melchizedek

(Ps.110:4).

Nothing else is recorded about

this mysterious person in the Old

Testament Scriptures. The Jewishcommentators take little note of

Melchizedek in all of their writ-

ings. The writer of the Book of

Hebrews sees Melchizedek as one

of the most important persons in the

Old Testament Scriptures. Actually

he is shown to be a greater person

than even the patriarch Abraham.

Melchizedek is also seen as the

ultimate proof that our Lord is not

only a true high priest, but he is a

much greater high priest than was

Aaron. Melchizedek thus becomes an

extremely important man in the New

Testament theology of fulllment.

There is a sense in which this mysteri-

ous man is the bridge between the two

testaments. Melchizedek is the clear

proof that the Old Covenant made

with Israel at Sinai was an inferior

and temporary arrangement that has

been replaced by a new arrange-

ment that is in reality older than theMosaic covenant. The message taught

in Hebrews concerning Melchizedek

leaves the wavering Jews without any

excuse for even thinking about going

back to Judaism.

Hebrews introduces Melchizedek

to the New Testament.

As he saith also in another place,

Thou art a priest for ever after the order

of Melchizedek (Heb 5:6)

The writer quickly notes an impor-

tant bit of information about the atti-

tude of the Jews toward Melchizedek.

They did not like to hear about this

mysterious person.

Called of God an high priest afterthe order of Melchizedek. Of whom we

have many things to say, and hard to be

uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing

(Heb.5:19, 11).

The Jews reluctance to hear about

Melchizedek is at the heart of under-

standing the book of Hebrews. The

exposition of the Melchizedeks role

in redemptive history establishes the

biblical relationship between the Old

and New Covenants. The truth the

Jews were not interested in hearingis the very foundation of our hope,

as Gentiles, in Christ as the true

Messiah. We will come back to this

point in a moment and show that the

book of Hebrews is a masterpiece of

biblical exegesis. I used to say; You

could read those three verses about

Melchizedek in Genesis 14 a million

times and never come up with the the-

ology of the book of Hebrews. Since

learning New Covenant theology I can

see how wrong I was. Anyone usingNew Covenant principles of exegesis

will come to the same conclusions as

this writer to the book of Hebrews.

That is why the rabbinical writ-

ers are not interested in discussing

Melchizedek. They can see where it

leads and how clearly and thoroughly

it ends the Old Covenant religion of

Judaism it had established. We will

come back to this after we demon-

strate the importance of this mysteri-ous person called Melchizedek.

Melchizedek Is a Type of Christ

First of all, we must realize that

Melchizedek is a biblicaltype of

Christ. A type is an Old Testament

person or event that gives us a picture

of a New Testament truth. A type

usually foreshadows the person or

work of Christ. The bronze serpent

that Moses had placed on a pole was

a type of Christ being lifted up on thecross to bear our guilt. This is not just

our idea, but it is specically set forth

in the New Testament Scriptures:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent

in the wilderness, even so must the Son

of man be lifted up (John 3:14).

As we read the Old Testament

Scriptures we will often see things

that clearly remind us of something


3/24

Issue 199 July-August 2013 Page 3

WhiteContinued on page 8

them, and upon the Israel of God.

This rule (kann) here is the rule

of the new creation: neither circum-

cision nor uncircumcision matters

only the new creation matters. The

verb for walk (stoich) here is the

same one used in Galatians 5:25 for

keeping in step with the Spirit. To

keep in step with the Spirit is to keep

in step with the rule of the new cre-

ation.3This is not surprising since, as

we have seen, the Spirit is the gift of

the new age. Isaiah 32:12-18 says,Beat your breasts for the pleasant

elds, for the fruitful vine, for the soil

of my people growing up in thorns

and briers, yes, for all the joyous

houses in the exultant city. For the

palace is forsaken, the populous city

deserted; the hill and the watchtower

will become dens forever, a joy of wild

donkeys, a pasture of ocks; until the

Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and the wilderness becomes a fruitful

eld, and the fruitful eld is deemeda forest. Then justice will dwell in the

wilderness, and righteousness abide

in the fruitful eld. And the effect of

righteousness will be peace, and the

result of righteousness, quietness and

trust forever. My people will abide in a

peaceful habitation, in secure dwell-

ings, and in quiet resting places.

When the Spirit is poured out from

on high, the wilderness will become a

fruitful eld. The old creation will be-

come new. It will be a place of justice,righteousness, and peace. Israel will

abide in a peaceful habitation on the

new earth.

Peace and mercy be upon those

who follow this(houtos) rule. The

phrase, and (kai) upon the Israel of

God has proved to be controversial,

but it shouldnt be. Is Paul referring to

two different groups here? So it would

3 Ibid.

For neither circumcision counts

for anything, nor uncircumcision, buta new creation.

Verse 15 grounds verse 14. We

should boast only in the cross because

(gar) neither circumcision nor uncir-

cumcision counts for anything but

new creation counts for everything.1

In this verse, we nd the reason for

Pauls writing.

We have an inclusiohere with Ga-

latians 1:4. Christ delivered us from

the old age (creation) and inauguratedthe new creation (age). The cross,

as the pivot-point of the ages, and

the new creation are bound together.

Circumcision, as part of the old cov-

enant, is part of the old age. Schreiner

writes, Eschatology, then, plays a vi-

tal role in Galatians, for the Judaizers

were attached to the old age and failed

to see that the new had come.2

The phrase neither circumcision

nor uncircumcision counts for any-thing occurs earlier in Galatians as

well as in 1 Corinthians:

For in Christ Jesus neither cir-

cumcision nor uncircumcision counts

for anything, but only faith working

through love. (Gal. 5:6)

For neither circumcision counts

for anything nor uncircumcision, but

keeping the commandments of God.

(1Cor. 7:19)

The old distinctions no longer holdup. What matters is faith working

through love, keeping the command-

ments of God, and the new creation!

16 And as for all who walk by

this rule, peace and mercy be upon

1 The TNIV translates this verse as Nei-

ther circumcision nor uncircumcision

means anything; what counts is the

new creation.

2 Schreiner, Galatians, 350.

read, Peace be upon the new creation

people (i.e., the church) and peace

also be upon ethnic Israel. Not a

chance. This would turn the argument

of the entire letter on its head. He

has labored over the last six chapters

to show that there is no distinction

between Jew and Gentile in Christ.Tobring a distinction into the letter at its

close would utterly confuse his read-

ers. The NIV is better on this verse,

translating the kaias explicative:

Peace and mercy to all who follow

this rule to the Israel of God.

Clearly he is referring to the

church here, which consists of Jews

and Gentiles who trust Christ.4We

have seen this perspective in Pauls

other letters:Romans 2:28-29- For no one is a

Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor

is circumcision outward and physical.

But a Jew is one inwardly, and circum-

cision is a matter of the heart, by the

Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is

not from man but from God.

Philippians 3:3- For we are the

circumcision, who worship by the

Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus

and put no condence in the esh.

We also see this theology else-

where in Galatians:

3:7- Know then that it is those of

faith who are the sons of Abraham.

3:29- And if you are Christs, then

you are Abrahams offspring, heirs

according to promise.

4:28- Now you, brothers, like

Isaac, are children of promise.

4:31- So, brothers, we are not

children of the slave but of the freewoman.

6:16- And as for all who walk by

this rule, peace and mercy be upon

them, and upon the Israel of God.

4 John Barclay, Obeying the Truth, 98;

Longenecker, Galatians, 297-99; O.

Palmer Robertson, The Israel of God

(Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing,

2000), 40-46.

Galatians 6:15-16

A. Blake White


4/24


Levitical priest, then Christ is totally

different than the Levitical priest-

hood, and he is like the Melchizedek

priesthood. If this verse is comparing

Melchizedek the manto Jesus the

manthen the words cannot possibly

describe our Lord. Jesus, the man,

had a mother, and his beginning ofdays or birth is one the most clearly

established facts in historywe cel-

ebrate it at Christmas time. His end

of days is a public event that actually

took place in history. Besides all of

that, the two genealogies of Christ are

carefully traced in the New Testament

Scriptures. The man, Jesus, has a

clear and recorded genealogy. Lets

look at the things in the text one at

time.

First of all, ancestry was a big deal

at that point in history. It meant every-

thing in the Levitical order of priests.

An event in the time of Ezra proves

this point.

And of the children of the priests:

the children of Habaiah, the children

of Koz, the children of Barzillai;

which took a wife of the daughters

of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was

called after their name: These sought

their registeramong those that werereckoned by genealogy, but they were

not found:therefore were they, as

polluted,put from the priesthood.And

the Tirshatha said unto them, that they

should not eat of the most holy things,

till there stood up a priest with Urim

and with Thummim (Ezra 2:61-63).

These priests were considered

polluted and were not allowed to

function until a testimony from God

veried their heredity.

Secondly, the whole tribe of Levi

was assigned to do the work of the

Tabernacle. They alone were allowed

into the Holy Place. Everyone else

was shut out, or they would be put to

death.

And thou shalt give the Levites

unto Aaron and to his sons: they are

wholly given unto him out of the chil-


about Christ, and we call this a type

of Christ. However, a biblicaltype

of Christ will always have a reference

in the New Testament Scriptures that

informs us what the type in the Old

Testament Scriptures means. John

3:14 proves that Numbers 21:8 is to beunderstood as a type of Christs aton-

ing work. Jonah being in the whales

belly is specically mentioned in the

New Testament Scriptures as a type

of Christs burial and resurrection.

The lambs slain by the Old Covenant

priests were types of Christ, the true

Lamb of God. John 1:29 states this

clearly. Hebrews 7:1-3 tells us that the

Melchizedek mentioned in Genesis

and Psalms is a type of Christ as our

High Priest.

Types are very limited in their usein that they give us only a very small as-pect of the thing which they typify. Forinstance both Aaron and Melchizedekare types of different aspects of Christshigh priestly work, but in Hebrews7:1-10 the writers whole point is toshow how totally inferior Aaron is toMelchizedek even though Aaron is atrue type of Christ. Sometimes a typeof Christ will only show one particular

thing about him or his saving work.

The rst thing to understand is

that Hebrews 7:3 is clearly stating that

Melchizedek is a type of Christ.

Melchizedeks Identity - Who, or

What, Is He?

Some commentators believe

Melchizedek was an angel, others that

this was a pre-incarnate appearance of

Christ on earth, and still others insist

that Melchizedek was a real historicalman. The evidence of the latter seems

to me to be conclusive.

First of all, Melchizedek is said to

be made like the Son of God (Heb

7:3). The writer would not say that if

Melchizedek was in realitythe Son of

God but merely like him. Secondly,

one of the specic requirements for

anyone being a high priest was that

the individual had to be a true human

being.

For every high priest takenfrom

among menis ordained for men in

things pertaining to God, that he may

offer both gifts and sacrices for sins

(Heb.5:1).

The whole argument of Hebrews

4:14-16 is designed to prove that thehumanity of Christ is the foundational

truth that gives us the courage to

come to him with absolute assur-

ance that he understands us and

can help us. It can be argued that

if Melchizedek is not a real human

being, then he lacks the essential

qualications of being a high priest.

If Melchizedek is in reality Christ

himself, then there is no legitimate

human priesthood after the orderof Melchizedek. However, the most

important reason for believing

Melchizedek is a real human being

is the point the writer is proving by

associating Melchizedek with Christ

as a High Priest. We will have to

wait until later to lay this point out

in detail. For now, remember that the

writer of Hebrews is showing that the

New Covenant believer not only has a

real High Priest, but our high priest is

of an order that predates the Leviticalpriesthood. In fact, both Aaron and

Abraham, the patriarch himself, paid

tithes to a priest in the same order as

our High Priest. More later!

I am sure many will ask, But how

do you understand the language used

in Hebrews 7:3. Those things can only

apply to Christ. Let us look at the

text carefully.

Without father, without mother,

without descent, having neither begin-

ning of days, nor end of life; but made

like unto the Son of God; abideth a

priest continually (Heb 7:3).

The writer is not comparing two

menbut two kinds ofpriesthood.

This fact unlocks the meaning of the

passage. All of the things said about

Melchizedek are exactly opposite

of the Levitical priests. When we

compare Melchizedek as a priest to a ReisingerContinued on page 6


5/24


through Jesus Christ. It is compellingand thrilling to all Gods children and

leaves them rejoicing in worship.

Since there is so much that could

be said about these chapters, I am go-

ing to constrain myself to three major

points spread out over two articles,

each of which corresponds to one of

the rst three songs offered in the

heavenly throne room. It is also worth

noting that each of the points made

concerns worship. The focus is in-tentionally on what these three songs

teach us about worshipping God. Be-

fore addressing these points, however,

a light sketch of the chapters will be

helpful. (Of course, it is really neces-

sary that you read these chapters in

full before nishing this ar ticle. You

would also benet from reading Isaiah

6, Ezekiel 1, and Revelation 1.)

John is in exile on the island of

Patmos. He has had a most amazing

vision of the risen Christ (Rev. 1) and

is now being called up in the Spirit to

see what is happening in heaven itself

(4:1-2). The rst thing he sees is a

throne: the signicance of this cannot

be exaggerated. Gods sovereign king-

ly reign is the rst thing pressed upon

John. Around the throne there is a

storm, indescribable light, a rainbow,

the Spirit, cherubim, angelic rulers,

and a great sea of glass. The overall

picture is a composite of Isaiah 6 andEzekiel 1 (which themselves carry

lots of connections with other biblical

motifs and passages).

Even though John has been invited

to come up to heaven by Jesus and his

vision is in the Spirit, the throne room

of God is not an inviting place. It is

surrounded by obstacles and mighty

guardians who see everything. The

One who sits on the throne cannot be WestContinued on page 14

The fourth and fth chapters of

Revelation are as beautiful as any

work of literature ever written. They

are exquisite in literary quality and

dramatic presentation. Revelation 4

and 5 reaches a high stylistic ideal and

yet also contains incredible substance.

It delights and satises intellectually,

emotionally, and spiritually. Like any

true artistic masterpiece, it does not

get exhausted by careful study and

meditation; on the contrary, it inspires

greater wonder.

These two chapters are so loaded

with theological and biblical riches

that it is hard to know where to begin.

Reading them is not like going to a

quarry to dig out some hidden gems:

it is more like being thrown into a

kings treasure room where you are

instantaneously surrounded by so

much wealth you dont know where to

focus rst. Systematic theology nds

in Revelation 4 and 5 statements aboutGods character, the nature of Christ,

soteriology, and much more. When

viewed through the lenses of biblical

theology and canonical development,

these chapters present the fulllment

of so many themes they can hardly

begin to be stated. For pastors, these

chapters provide a host of practical

opportunities in church ministry. To

name just a few: giving people ex-

posure to the atmosphere of Gods

throne room; showing people how tospot biblical allusions and how impor-

tant antecedent Scriptures are; intro-

ducing the apocalyptic genre; helping

people see they can understand at

least some parts of Revelation; in-

structing people about worship (and

much more). In my judgment, these

chapters can be used to get people to

think about Revelation properly. It is

a celebration of the victory of God

ippantly approached, or the penalty

will be death. All the attendants of his

court exist to ceaselessly praise him,

honoring him and worshiping him

with all they are and have.

John notices that there is a scroll

in the right hand of him who sits on

the throne, but nobody is worthy totake it or open it (opening it actual-

izes its contents and brings them to

pass). John is so moved by this that

he weeps and weeps. But an angel

tells him to stop weeping; there is one

worthy, promised in Scripture, the

Messiah, the Lion, and the Lamb. He

takes the scroll (in going to the throne

he does what no other being can do)

and the heavenly court explodes in

worship. The worship of the Lamb ra-diates out in concentric circles, mov-

ing to include all angels, then further

extending to include all of creation. It

is beyond jubilant.

In the sequence of the vision, be-

fore John notices the scroll and before

the appearance of Christ, the Father

is still being continuously praised

in glory. The rst song we hear is in

4:8c: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

God Almighty, who was, and is, andis to come. This particular hymn is

chanted by the four living creatures.

The rst part, of course, is the same

thing that was being said to God in

Isaiah 6:3. Revelation 4 tells us that

the creatures praise God this way day

and night, and given that John lives

centuries after Isaiah, this chorus of

praise has been offered to God over

and over and over again.

Although a great deal could be

said about the signicance of the

specic content of this hymn, only a

general point will be made. Holiness

and Gods existence (who was, and

is, and is to come) refers to his very

essence or nature. To ascribe tran-

scendence to God (i.e., holy) and to

praise his everlasting, eternal nature

is to simply praise God for who he is.

I believe that is very simple yet deeply


6/24



never born, or that he never died

(Jesus was born and he died); rather,

Melchizedeks priesthood had no

time or age restrictions. He abideth

apriest(not a man) continually(not

eternally) which means his priesthood

did not, like the elliptical priest-

hood, end when he was fty yearsold. Melchizedek became a priest by

Gods sovereign appointment with no

reference at all to genealogy, and he

continued in a perpetual priesthood

as long as he lived. So does our High

Priest, and since he truly does live

forever to make intercession for us,

we too will live forever.

It is signicant that Melchizedek

was both a king and a priest. Under

the Law of Moses this was not al-lowed. But Christ, like Melchizedek,

is both King and Priest. Zechariah

6:12-13 clearly foretold that the

Messiah would be both King and

Priest.

It is also clear from the titles given

to Melchizedek that he is a type of

Christ. He is King of Righteousness

and King of Peace. It is only at the

cross that these two things meet (see

Psalm 85:10). John 3:16 is text thatdeclares both Gods holy love and

his holy wrath. His holy love gave

his Son up to the death on the cross.

Gods giving his Son up to death on

the cross made his love possible. The

cross satised Gods righteousness.

Understanding the fact that God is

satised with Christs atonement

is what gives us assurance that we

are acceptable in Gods sight. We

are just as acceptable to God as is

his son. Notice the correct order.Righteousness is the only foundation

for true peace. We can only be satis-

ed when we are acceptable with God

as we see ourselves united to Christ in

his death, burial and resurrection.

In one sense, it is surprising that

Jewish writers say so little about

Melchizedek. You would think they

would love to be intrigued with the

obvious obscurity of these few verses.

dren of Israel. And thou shalt appoint

Aaron and his sons, and they shall

wait on their priests ofce: and the

stranger that cometh nigh shall be put

to death (Num.3:9-10).

Jesus himself could not have min-

istered in the priestly temple servicesince he was not a Levite. Remember

that God killed Nadab and Abihu,

the two sons of Aaron, for daring to

perform unauthorized ceremonies in

the Holy Place.

Thirdly, all priests were Levites

but not all Levites were priests. Most

of the Levites waited on the sons of

Aaron. Only the sons of Aaron were

priests, and the rest of the Levites

took care of the Tabernacle, the

grounds, and any other work associ-

ated with the Tabernacle. The priests

began their priestly functions at age

thirty, and they retired at age fty.

From thirty years old and upward

even until fty years old, all that enter

into the host, to do the work in the tab-

ernacle of the congregation. This shall

be the service of the sons of Kohath

[the linage of Aaron] in the tabernacle

of the congregation, about the most

holy things(Num. 4:3-5).Aarons sons did not begin their

lifeat age thirty, but they did begin

their priestly work at age thirty, and

they ended that work at age fty.

The signicance of the words in

the beginning of Hebrews 7:3 is not

that Melchizedek, like Jesus,had

no father, no mother, and no human

descent. That could not be true as we

have just demonstrated. The writer

is saying, Melchizedek is a priest ofan order where natural descent has

nothing at all to do with his being

a priest. Melchizedek is a priest by

virtue of his own person and by Gods

sovereign calling. The Levitical

restrictions have no more to do with

Melchizedek than they have to do

with Christ.

The later part of the verse is

not saying that Melchizedek was

The writer of the book of Hebrews

builds the whole authority for Christs

ministry as High Priest on the three

verses from Genesis and the one verse

in the Psalms.

Why Is Melshizedek So

Important?

Hebrews 7:4 raises and answers

that very question. The main purpose

of this section in Hebrews is not to

show that Melchizedek is greater than

Aaron. It does that very clearly, but

it does it in a way designed to show

that Melchizedek is also greater than

Abraham himself. The main purpose

of the writer of Hebrews in this sec-

tion is to show that the gospel of grace

not only predates both Moses and

Aaron, but it also predates the patri-arch Abraham himself. The religion

that we espouse was in existence long

before Israel and Judaism existed. The

gospel of sovereign grace is not inte-

grally connected to anything that is

Jewish. This is a masterful argument,

and we will come back to it later.

What is essential to see at this point is

that everything in the Old Covenant,

including the basic covenant docu-

ment itself, is nished, and in eachcase something much better has taken

its place.

1:1 Christ is superior to all of

the Old Testament prophets - 1:1-3

1:4 Christ is superior to the Angels

- 1:4-2:18

3:3 Christ is superior to Moses -

3:1-6

4:8, 9 Christ is superior to the Sab-

bath - 4:1-11

4:8, 9 Christ is superior to Joshua

- 4:1-11

8:6 Christ is superior to Aaron -

4:14-10:25

The Jew might be ready to re-

spond, Yes, but what about our father

Abraham? Where is it claimed that

Christ was greater than Abraham?



7/24


McAloonContinued on page 9

PROLEGOMENA: PROGRES-

SIVE REVELATION AND NEW

COVENANT HERMENEUTICS

The rst aspect of NCT that is im-

portant for understanding its approach

to all of these matters is its source

of authority. Although all believers

within the true Protestant tradition

profess tosola scriptura,NC theolo-

gians stress the fact that the specic

texts of Scripture are the one sourceof absolute truth upon which to build

all presuppositions.1It is also impor-

tant to keep in mind that this special

revelation of God has been revealed

progressively.2The Bible was progres-

sively revealed over a period of time

culminating in the ultimate revelation

of Jesus Christ, who then sent his rep-

resentatives to preach his gospel and

write his nal word to man.3This is

the emphasis throughout the inspiredletter to the Hebrews, whose author

introduces his letter by saying, God,

who at various times and in various

ways spoke in time past to the fathers

by the prophets [Old Testament], has

in these last days spoken to us by his

Son [New Testament], whom he has

appointed heir of all things, through

whom also he made the world (Heb.

1:1-2 NKJV). This is the heart of

NCT, whose theologians argue that if

1 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, i-iv,

110; and Wells and Zaspel, 22.

2 Interestingly, this includes Gods

moral law as well. See section III:

The Law.

3 Among the plethora of arguments from

both NC and non-NC theologians, see

Fred Zaspel, A Brief History of Di-

vine Revelation, in Wells and Zaspel;

and chapters 2, 3, and 5 in Tom Wells,

The Priority of Jesus Christ(Freder-

ick, MD: New Covenant Media).

Jesus Christ and his New Testament

are the apex of Gods revelation, then

we ought to read the earlier parts of

Scripture in their light.4Although

not generally encouraged by many

Old Testament academics, this is just

one of many principles we hold in

common with Carson, who could not

agree more with this position when

he says: those who come to the OT

with a hermeneutical key that fails tolook for Christ everywhere are to that

extent unbelievers. Whether it is in

the name of quite literal interpretation

or in the interest of having a complete

ethical system beforehand, it is an act

of blindness not to allow the Lord Je-

sus to have the nal word. He fullls

it all.5

This being the case, NCT begins

with the New Testament texts and

looks back to prior revelation un-derneath their light. We believe that

approaching Scripture vice versa will

lead to unnecessary errors such as

those aforementioned in the introduc-

tion. For instance, Reisinger points

out that neither the Covenantal nor

Dispensational systems can faithfully

take Paul seriously in his discussion

regarding Abrahams true spiritual

heirs in Romans 9:6-8. They both

take Genesis 17:7-8 at face value and

apply the promise to a tangible physi-cal seed, resulting in either making

unregenerate children of Christian

parents part of the Abrahamic Cov-

enant, or a sharp separation between

the plans of God with Israel and the

4 Wells and Zaspel, 1.

5 D.A. Carson, The Gospel According

to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,

1991), 263; in Wells,Priority of Jesus

Christ, 70.

church. In reality, both systems end

up with a hermeneutic that makes the

OT interpret the NT.6

This is just oneexample of how such a method is both

unapostolic and dangerous. Wells

agrees, reiterating that we must not

create problem texts in the New Testa-

ment by giving the Old Testament

logical priority over the New. On the

contrary, we must read the Old in ligh

of the New, so that the Lord Jesus has

the rst and the last word.7

Although I have not seen many NC

theologians use the term, we hold to

a form ofsensus plenior, in that with

newer revelation we are now able to

look back and nd deeper and fuller

meanings of various texts. Reisinger

says that we can only know what

Abraham understood by what the

Holy Spirit has revealed to us in the

6 Reisinger, Ibid., 99.

7 Wells, Ibid., 71.

A STUDY OF

NEW COVENANT THEOLOGY

Part 2 of 4

Kevin P. McAloonKevin recently graduated from

Southeastern Baptist TheologicalSeminary, and is currently meetingwith some believers seeking Godto raise a church in Carmel, NY.His heart is for the further reforma-tion of Christ's Church back to NewCovenant power and purity, andtruly believes that New CovenantTheology and many of the churchesespousing it are God's blessing in

this generation towards that end.

While avoiding formal denomi-national afliation, Kevin cravesand welcomes all open heartedfellowship with devout brothers andsisters in Christ. He and his groupcovet your prayers. You are invitedto contact him at [email protected]


8/24


As Luther put it, In effect Paul is

saying, The Israel of God are those

who, along with faithful Abraham,

believe the promises of God offered

in Christ, whether they are Jew or

Gentiles, and not only those who are

physically descended from Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob.5Long before

Luther, Justin Martyr (100-165) wrote,

We have been led to God through

this crucied Christ, and we are the

true spiritual Israel, and the descen-

dants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and

Abraham.6

It is important to note, though, that

this vision of Gentiles being included

in Israel is not new to the New Testa-

ment. Paul isnt making this up. Forinstance, Isaiah 19:16-25 says,

In that day the Egyptians will be

like women, and tremble with fear

before the hand that the LORD of

hosts shakes over them. And the land

of Judah will become a terror to the

Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is

mentioned will fear because of the

purpose that the LORD of hosts has

purposed against them. In that day

there will be ve cities in the land

of Egypt that speak the language ofCanaan and swear allegiance to the

LORD of hosts. One of these will be

called the City of Destruction. In that

day there will be an altar to the LORD

in the midst of the land of Egypt, and

a pillar to the LORD at its border.

It will be a sign and a witness to the

5 Luther, Galatians, 303.

6 Justin Martyr,Dialogue with Trypho,

trans. Thomas B. Falls, ed. Michael

Slusser(Washington D.C.: The

Catholic University of America Press,2003), 21.

LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt.

When they cry to the LORD because of

oppressors, he will send them a savior

and defender, and deliver them. And

the LORD will make himself known

to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians

will know the LORD in that day and

worship with sacrice and offering,

and they will make vows to the LORDand perform them. And the LORD will

strike Egypt, striking and healing,

and they will return to the LORD, and

he will listen to their pleas for mercy

and heal them. In that day there will

be a highway from Egypt to Assyria,

and Assyria will come into Egypt, and

Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians

will worship with the Assyrians. In

that day Israel will be the third with

Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the

midst of the earth, whom the LORD of

hosts has blessed, saying, Blessed be

Egypt my people, and Assyria the work

of my hands, and Israel my inheri-

tance.

As Christopher Wright remarks,

The shock of reading Egypt im-

mediately after my people (instead

of the expected Israel) and of putting

Israel third on the list is palpable. Yet

there it is. The archenemies of Israel

will be absorbed into the identity,

titles and privileges of Israel andshare in the Abrahamic blessing of the

living God, YHWH.7Paul saw this

reality coming into existence after the

resurrection of the Messiah.

This perspective is found through-

out the Old Testament. Psalm 22:27-28

says, All the ends of the earth shall

remember and turn to the LORD, and

7 Christopher Wright, The Mission of

God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2006),493.

all the families of the nations shall

worship before you. For kingship

belongs to the LORD, and he rules

over the nations. Psalm 67:1-3 says,

May God be gracious to us and bless

us and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.Let the peoples praise you, O God; let

all the peoples praise you!

In Amos 9:11-12, we read, In that

day I will raise up the booth of David

that is fallen and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins and rebuild it

as in the days of old, that they may

possess the remnant of Edom and

all the nations who are called by my

name, declares the LORD who does

this. All the nations will be called bythe Lords name! In Deuteronomy

28:9-10, we read that it is Israel that

is called by the Lords name: The

LORD will establish you as a people

holy to himself, as he has sworn to

you, if you keep the commandments

of the LORD your God and walk in

his ways. And all the peoples of the

earth shall see that you are called

by the name of the LORD, and they

shall be afraid of you.8In the latter

days, Gentiles will be included in theIsrael of God.

Zechariah 2:10-11 says, Sing

and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for

behold, I come and I will dwell in

your midst, declares the LORD. And

many nations shall join themselves

to the LORD in that day, and shall be

my people. And I will dwell in your

midst, and you shall know that the

LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

8 Ibid.,496.

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9/24


Again, Wright says, This is not Isra-

el plus the nations but the nations as

Israel, one people belonging to God.9

As usual, Pauls theology here has its

roots in the Hebrew Scriptures.

New Testament scholar Greg Beale

argues that Galatians 6:15-16 should

be understood in light of Isaiah 54:10

and the surrounding context, which

is very likely seeing as how many

times Isaiah 40 and following has

been referenced by Paul throughout

the letter thus far.10Isaiah 54:10 says,

For the mountains may depart and

the hills be removed, but my steadfast

love (elos LXX)shall not depart

from you, and my covenant of peace

(rnLXX)shall not be removed,

says the LORD, who has compassion[or mercy, so KJV](hils LXX)

on you.Galatians 6:16 says, peace

(rn) and mercy(elos) be uponthem. The context of Isaiah 54 has

already been noted. Verse 10 speaks

of the covenant of peace which will

fulll the previous covenants, which

are alluded to all throughout chapter

54. Verses 11-12 of Isaiah 54 allude

to the new creation, which is the New

Jerusalem: I will set your stones in

antimony, and lay your foundationswith sapphires. I will make your pin-

nacles of agate, your gates of car-

buncles, and all your wall of precious

stones.

These Isaianic promises of a new

exodus, new covenant, and new cre-

ation have come to pass in the resur-

rection of Jesus. New creation is here.

Peace and mercy be upon the eschato-

logical Israel, who follows the rule of

the new creation: neither circumcisionnor uncircumcision matters.

9 Ibid., 498.

10 Gregory K. Beale, Peace and Mercy

Upon the Israel of God. The Old

Testament Background of Galatians

6:16b.Bib 80 (1999): 204-23.

NT. We could read about the life of

Abraham in the OT a million times

and never nd what is revealed in

Hebrews 11:8-10.8This lines up with

what seems to be the intuitive herme-

neutic of many godly men throughout

history such as the patristic fathers,Augustine, Matthew Henry, Jonathan

Edwards, etc. It also resembles the

interpretative methods of the early

Antiochian school, which held to both

a denite historical reality and proper

spiritual intent of a text set within the

clear picture of the development of

revelation. Peterson believes that this

method has the advantage of offering

a more integral understanding of the

unity of the Bible.9NC theologians

would agree, and a thorough reading

and weighing of the arguments is nec-

essary in order to determine whether

or not such a method is faithful to the

apostolic practice.10

This is not to say that NC theo-

logians are Marcionites, nor do we

neglect or deemphasize the impor-

tance of the revelation God has given

his Church within the Old Testament.

On the contrary, Lehrer writes: I

believe it is invaluable not only to the

maturity of believers, but also to the

growth of our appreciation of Gods

work in orchestrating all of history,

and particularly the history of Israel,

for his elect people living in the New

Covenant era: These things hap-

pened to them as examples and were

written down as warnings for us, on

whom the fulllment of the ages has

come (1 Corinthians 10:11).11The

difference is that we insist this isonly the case when done in light of

the believers revelation of salvation


9 Rodney Peterson, Continuity and

Discontinuity: The Debate Through-

out Church History; in Feinberg, ed.

Continuity and Discontinuity.

10 See the rst four chapters in Wells,

Priority of Jesus Christ; and Wells and

Zaspel, 1-43.

11 Lehrer, 201.

in Jesus Christ. One possible ob-

jection critics may raise to such a

position is Pauls statement in his

letter to Timothy, where he says that

all of the Old Testament is inspired

and sufcient for making one wise

unto salvation through Christ Jesus

(2 Tim. 3:15-17). NC theologians

would not disagree, but believe that

here Paul is assuming the inuence

of the doctrine of Christ on Timothy

so that all of his experience with the

OT text is now colored by the light

of Christs coming.12Again, Jesus

Christ is the ultimate revelation of

God to man and all prior revelation

must be submitted to and read in

light of him. Thus within its her-

meneutic we nd the ultimate goalof NCT, which is the the joining

together of three things: the logi-

cal priority of the NT over the Old;

the logical priority of Jesus Christ

over his godly predecessors; and the

logical priority of the theology of

the text over our own theologies and

those of others.13

THE COVENANTS

Before summarizing NCTs

views regarding the biblical cov-enants, especially the contrast

between the Old and New, it is vital

to iterate the distinction between

the Old Testamentand the Old

Covenant. Although assumed to be

a basic accepted truth, it is surpris-

ing how many conversations of this

sort go awry because of a failure to

recognize it. NC theologians em-

phasize a harmony and continuity

between the Old and New Testa-

ment Scriptures, and that the OT

Hebrew Scriptures are just as much

an authoritative part of the word

of God as they were before Christ;

however, we also stress that there

is an antithesis and discontinuity

12 Wells,Priority of Jesus Christ, 69;

and Wells and Zaspel, 202.

13 Wells and Zaspel, 22.

McAloonContinued from page 7



10/24


between the Old and New Covenants,

where the Old Mosaic Covenant has

passed away and has been replaced

by the New (1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:6-

13).14Time and time again this fact

seems to escape notice, thus hindering

discussions such as the one to follow;therefore, it is pertinent to rmly es-

tablish it as the backdrop upon which

the rest of this discussion is laid.

NC theologians generally recog-

nize six covenants found in Scripture:

1. Covenant with Creation (Gen. 1-3);

2. Noahic Covenant (Gen. 6-9); 3.

Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12, 15,

17); 4. Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 19:3-8,

20-24); 5. Davidic Covenant (2 Sam.

7; Ps. 89); 6. New Covenant (Jer.31:31-34, Ezek. 33:29-39:29).15We are

also united in our rejection of a single

and unied Covenant of Grace made

with Adam after the fall which runs

throughout history. Instead, we prefer

to use the phrase purpose of grace

which we derive from texts such as

Ephesians 1; therefore, instead of one

covenantof God with two adminis-

trations, we hold to onepurpose or

planof God which includes a contrast

between the covenants.16Also, al-

14 Reisinger,In Defense of Jesus,33; A.

Blake White, Galatians: A Theologi-

cal Interpretation (Frederick, MD:

New Covenant Media, 2011), 184.

15 Peter Gentry, Kingdom Through

Covenant: Humanity as the Divine Im-

age, The Southern Baptist Journal of

Theology12, no. 1 (Spring 2008), 16;

from White, The Newness of the New

Covenant, 4. On page 9, White uses

Hos. 6:7 and Jer. 33:19-26 to analyze

Genesis 3 and establish a Covenant

with Creation, although I am not sure

that he is being entirely consistent

with NCTs hermeneutic and thus

making the same mistakes of Cov-

enantalism that he is trying to correct.

16 See White, Galatian, 37, 84; Wells

though the other covenants are in no

way belittled by NCT, its main focus

and distinguishing emphases revolve

around the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and

New Covenants.17Because these are

the three covenants around which

NCT revolves, they will be the subject

of the rest of this section of the study.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Other than Jesus Christ, around

whom the entire corpus of Scripture

revolves and testies to (Luke 24:27),

for NCT no single character is as

important for understanding redemp-

tive history as Abraham. To quote

Reisinger:

Next to Christ himself, Abraham

is one of the most signicant men inall the Scriptures. No two people are

related to each other as it concerns

their seed as are Abraham and

Christ. The whole history of redemp-

tion revolves around Abraham and

his seed. There is no information that

will help us to see the one unifying

message of redemption through our

and Zaspel, 22, where they acknowl-

edge, In opposition to the idea of

a single covenant that runs throughhistory, most Christians have seen

the history of redemption center-

ing around two major covenants: the

Old and the New.; and Reisinger,

Abrahams Four Seeds,39, where in

regards to Gods promise to Adam,

he says thatproclaiming the gospel

of grace to a person is not the same

thing as putting that person under a

covenant of grace. This is a very im-

portant distinction of our position.

17 One desperately wishes that an in-

depth New Covenant treatise on the

Davidic Covenant would be written.

I have not come across any sufcient

material on the subject, although

White briey gives a sound rundown

inNewness of the New Covenant,

17-22.

Lord Jesus Christ in both the OT and

the NT Scriptures as much as know-

ing exactly what was promised to

Abraham and his seed and who that

seed is to whom the promises were

made. This is a signicant difference

that separates Dispensationalism and

Covenant Theology at their basicstarting point.18

What is most distinguishing to our

position is our belief that contained

within the Abrahamic Covenant is a

spiritual promise which is accompa-

nied by a physical pledge and testimo-

ny.19That is, in a sense, the Abraha-

mic Covenant contained within it both

the Old and New Covenants, where

together they serve as the physical

and spiritual fulllments of the onecovenant with Abraham. Under the

Old Covenant, God saves the physical

descendants from the Egyptians and

brings them to the Promised Land,

which is Palestine. Under the New

Covenant, God spiritually saves the

spiritual descendants of Abraham

from the world, sin, and condemna-

tion, and brings them into the spiritual

Promised Land, which is salvation

rest in the new heavens and new

earth.20

In light of Pauls statements in Ga-

latians 3:16, we hold that the true and

ultimate Seed promised to Abraham is

Christ, and that the true promise and

its inheritance are given to Abraham

as the father of Christ,not to Abra-

ham as the direct father of Jews or

18 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds,

2; so agrees Blaising and Bock, see

Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock,

Progressive Dispensationalism (GrandRapids, MI: Baker Books, 1993), 135.

19 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, 8.

20 Most of this is taken from Lehrer, 29.

Also, many Covenantal theologians

such as Henry and Edwards held to

similar views.


The highest sin and the deepest despair together cannot bafe the power of Jesus.

C. H. Spurgeon


11/24


the church. Thus Reisinger goes on to

say, Union with Christ that is pro-

duced by the regenerating work of the

Holy Spirit by electing grace is the

only ground for any person being the

object of the spiritual promise given

to Abraham and his seed (Rom. 9:11,

23, 24).21In other words, Christ is theonly Heir, and the elect only partake

of these Abrahamic promises by vir-

tue of their being a part of his body.

I believe that this language which

advocates an intimate union of Christ

with his elect church can also be seen

throughout numerous passages in the

OT, such as 2 Sam. 7:14 where the son

of David is said to be punished by suf-

ferings brought on by human hands

when he does wrong. His physical

body suffered at the hands of men for

his peoples sins at Calvary, and his

spiritual body has been disciplined for

its sins by means of the hands of men

throughout its history. NC theologians

believe both Covenantalism and Dis-

pensationalism err by not taking this

sort of language into account. They

contradict Pauls statement in Gala-

tians 3:16 by holding that the promise

to Abraham and his seed (singular)

involves either Jews and their physicalchildren (plural), or Christian par-

ents and their children (plural). Any

seemingly small error we make when

it comes to these foundational mat-

ters has far reaching consequences on

church life and unity. As Reisinger

points out, the real difference between

a historic Baptist and a Paedobaptist

is not the mode of baptism, but rather

who they believe to be the true heir of

Gods promise to Abrahams seed.22

NCT also interprets the land prom-

ises in light of New Testament revela-

tion. In Joshua 21:43-45, we read that

the Lord gave Israel all of the land

along with rest on every side, and

that every one of the Lords promises

to Israel was fullled; however, the

author of Hebrews explicitly says that

21 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, 7-8.


Joshua had not given them rest, and

there still remains a Sabbath-rest for

the children of God (Heb. 4:8-11).

The physical fulllment of the land

promise was merely typological. The

wilderness generation was not allowed

to enter Gods rest, viz. the real

Promised Land. This is understoodin Hebrews 3 to mean that they did

not obtain salvation; however, Joshua

did indeed take the Israelites into the

Promised Land and they were given

rest. NC theologians reconcile this by

seeing the author of Hebrews as point-

ing past a physical fulllment con-

cerning a physical land and rest from

war to spiritual rest. The promise

of Canaan as an everlasting posses-

sion is nally and ultimately fullled

with the everlasting possession ofthe elects eternal salvation.23There-

fore, just as the Abrahamic Covenant

included within it a spiritual seed with

a physical type and testimony, even

so did it contain a spiritual Promised

Land with a physical type and testi-

mony which foreshadows and nds its

fulllment in the New Covenant.

The Mosaic Covenant

In regards to the Mosaic Covenant,NCT takes a position that depends

heavily on the writings of Paul and

has much in common with Reformed

Theology. The Old Covenant came in

as a picture and means to bring about

the fulllment of the Abrahamic

Covenant and the redemption of those

who belonged to it. Its direct pur-

pose was not for the salvation of the

ethnic Israelites of that time.24On the

contrary, the Old Covenant and Gods

dealings with Israel pictured the needof forgiveness of sins through sacri-

ce, examples of disobedience and

apostasy, and even the redemption of

the Israelites out of physical bondage;

all of which were intended ultimately

not for their spiritual salvation, but

23 Most of this paragraph is from Lehrer,

35-36, which includes a great discus-

sion.

24 Wells and Zaspel, 278; and Lehrer, 62.

for ours. This is supported by Pauls

statement that these things happened

to them as examples and were writ-

ten down as warnings for us, upon

whom the fulllment of the ages

has come (1 Corinthians 10:11). God

orchestrated the birth and multiplica-

tion of the physical nation of Israel;delivered them from the Egyptians;

had them rebel and die in their sins in

the wilderness; and placed them under

the Old Covenant until the coming of

the Messiah. Lehrer says that this was

all to teach the elect, and that one of

Gods primary purposes in orches-

trating the history of Israel as he did

was for us to learn from it and have a

richer understanding of the serious-

ness of our sin and the glory of our

redemption, similar to Pauls state-ments regarding the reprobate in Ro-

mans 9:21-24.25This is very similar to

the Anabaptists interpretation of the

relationships between the covenants

and their laws, in that the difference

was between shadows and gures

and light and fulllment. These

gures consisted of physical signs

and manifestations, whereas their ful-

llment consisted of spiritual realities

they pointed to.26

Furthermore, NCT afrms that

the Mosaic Covenant was a Covenant

of Works made with a nation that

was mostly unregenerate. The major-

ity of Israelites throughout history

were in some way recipients of grace

and blessing in that they werephysi-

callyredeemed, but not spiritually.27

The Mosaic Covenant came in as a

works-based arrangement to make

25 Lehrer, 62-63; Andrew Murray alsodeals with this topic very well in

chapters II-III in his book, The Two

Covenants (Old Tappan, NJ: Spite

Books, n.d.).

26 See David. M. Moft, Anabaptists

and the New Covenant,Kindred

Minds Ministries http://www.kin-

dredminds.org/Articles/anabaptists_

nc.html(accessed July 29, 2011).

27 Lehrer, 50.



12/24

Page 12 July-August 2013 Issue 199ReisingerContinued from page 6

This writer responds to this possible

objection. Have you not read how

Abraham was blessed by a priest after

the order of our High Priest? Surely

you agree that the lesser is always

blessed by the greater. You also know

that Aaron, your High Priest, actu-

ally paid tithes, because he was in

Abrahams loins at the time, to a priest

named Melchizedek. The crown-

ing argument of this section is that

Melchizedeks blessing of Abraham

and receiving tithes from him is posi-

tive proof that Melchizedek is greater

than Abraham himself, and Christ is

greater than Melchizedek.We must

see this master stroke in the argument

of the book of Hebrews.

Before we come down too hard on

these people who are dull of hear-

ing, must we not admit we are the

same way? It is a very short step to

move from traditions to traditional-

ism.Some people do not feel they

have really worshipped if either the

music or worship format was differ-

ent from their Church. It is amazing

how dull of hearing we become

when we hear something that isnt

part of our particular creed or that ourfavorite preacher has never men-

tioned. It was a failure to keep look-

ing to Jesus alone that created the

problem of dullness in these Hebrews.

The Setting and Context

Before we look at these verses

about Melchizedek in detail, let

me remind you of the setting and

purpose of the letter to the Hebrews.

Many Jews believed that Jesus was

the Messiah and that he had died

and risen again from the dead. They

believed he had ascended into heaven.

They had accepted these facts as

true. The problem with many of these

believers was their refusal to accept

the clear implications and certain

consequences that owed from those

facts. If Calvary was the true and nalDay of Atonement, and if Christ had

indeed risen from the dead and as-

cended into the true Most Holy Place,

and if the rending of the veil was the

voice of God from heaven ending the

Old Covenant and all of its attendants,

then it follows that Christ is our true

Great High Priest in Gods presence,

and Aaron and Judaism are nished.

Aaron has been replaced, and Judaism

and all it stood for is gone.

If all of this is true, then Aaron,

the Prophets, the temple worship,

the sacrices, the holy days and holy

places have all been done away and

been replaced with the reality that

they were only a shadow or type.

A.W. Pink has said it better than I

could:

In Hebrews 5:11 the apostle

declared, Of whom we have many

things to say and hard to be uttered,

seeing ye are dull of hearing. Thedifcultylay in the strong disinclina-

tion of man to relinquish that which

has long been cherished, which

nowhere appears more evident that

in connection with religious things.

To say that Christ was a High Priest

after the order ofMelchizedek

was tantamount to afrming that the

aaronicorder was divinely set aside,

and with it, all the ordinances and

ceremonies of the Mosaic law. This,

as we said in an earlier article, was

the hardest thing of all for a Hebrew,

even a converted one, to bow to, for it

meant repudiating everything that was

seen, and cleaving to that which was

altogether invisible. It meant forsaking

that which their fathers had honored

for fteen hundred years, and espous-

ing that which the great majority of

their brethren according to the esh

denounced as Satanic.1

It is interesting that Pink, an ardent

covenant theologian, cannot bring

himself to say, The Mosaic Law

(or even the Old Covenant) is set

aside. It was not only the ordinances

and ceremonies that were done

away at the cross, but the whole Law

Covenant, including the Tables of the

Covenant, or Ten Commandments,

were all done away and replaced with

a better covenant (Heb 8:6). Christcanceled the written code(Tablets of

Stone), with its regulations,(whole

Law of Moses) that was against us

and that stood opposed to us. He took

it(the written code that was against

us) away, nailing it to the cross (Col.

2:14). The text clearly distinguishes

between the written code(Tables of

the Covenant) and the regulations

that administered that covenant. See

the same truth set forth in Hebrews

9:1-4.

The Greatness of Our High

Priest

In Hebrews 2:17 the writer intro-

duces Christs priesthood. He empha-

sizes the merciful and sympathetic

character of our Priest. It is this that

1 A. W. Pink,An Exposition of Hebrews,

vol. 1 (Swengel, PA.: Baker Book

House, 1954), 357.


If you cannot bear with your imperfect brother, take it for certain that you are very imperfect yourself... [and] being soimperfect we ought not to condemn. Remember also that if we are not patient and forbearing there is clear proof thatwe are more imperfect than we thought we were. Those who grow in grace grow in forbearance. He is but a merebabe in grace who is evermore saying, I cannot put up with such conduct from my brother.

C.H. Spurgeon


13/24


guilty people even guiltier (Rom.

5:20), and it is a blessing to us and the

elect believers under the old dispensa-

tion because it teaches both of us of

our need for a Savior.28That is not to

say that there were not any justied

believers during the Mosaic dispensa-tion; however, they did not receive

forgiveness based upon any Mosaic

promises or provisionsindeed the

only ones one seem to nd are do

this and live (Deut. 4:1)rather they

were justied on the basis of their

faith, and their sins were passed over

because they would eventually be paid

for by the Savior who would come

and die for them (Rom. 3:25).29Again,

this is only in reference to the Old

Covenantwhich Moses revealed inthe Pentateuch; not the Old Testament

which includes the promises to the

patriarchs, the writings, and prophets.

This Covenant was a blessing to Israel

in that within it God revealed himself

to themalthough because of their

own depravity they were unable to

fulll itand it was and is a blessing

to Gods elect because it teaches us

the futility of trying to earn salvation

by obedience to the law, and exposesour need for a Savior.30

The New Covenant

For NCT, all of redemptive history

is designed for and points towards the

fulllment of Gods purpose of grace

and his promises made to Abraham

and his seed. This fulllment is found

in the death and resurrection of his

Son and his establishment of a New

Covenant. To begin with, the New

Covenant actually is a better covenantmade with better promises (Heb. 8:6-

7). It is better because it is not likethe

28 Ibid., 53-55; this is also the main

emphasis in Murrays, The Two Cov-

enants, where he says that the Mosaic

Covenant served to convey our need

both in the objective (justication) and

subjective (sanctication) sense.

29 Ibid., 50.

30 See Ibid., 55.

Mosaic Covenant which God made

with Israel, in that under the New

Covenant God has promised to put his

law into all of his covenant peoples

hearts and forgive them of their sins

(Jer. 31:31-34). This contrast proves

that the Old Covenant was indeed

a covenant of works and ministra-tion of death (2 Cor. 3:7). The Old

Covenant said, If you obey, then you

will be blessed (Ex. 19:5, 6, Deut.

4:1), but the New Covenant says, I

have obeyed for you, believe and live

(Heb. 10:14-22).31Not only does this

New Covenant provide the forgive-

ness and grace that the Old lacked

(John 1:17), but also unlike Mosaic

dispensation, it provides the desire

and power to carry out its laws. To

quote Reisinger, The Old Covenantcarried a footnote that said, Batter-

ies not included. The New Covenant

remedies this deciency by the gift of

the Holy Spirit.32

Furthermore, it must be noted that

Jeremiah could not be more explicit

that all those under the New Covenant

will know God and have their sins

forgiven(v. 34). This is why all NC

theologians hold to Baptistic eccle-

siologies and ordinances. Paul couldsay in reference to the Old Covenant

people not all Israel is Israel, but the

same situation cannot be true under

the New Covenant. Under the Mosaic

Covenant, circumcision was a physi-

cal picture of regeneration signifying

that a person was physically born into

the physical covenant people of God:

Israel. Under the New Covenant, bap-

tism is the outward sign that regenera-

tion has occurred, signifying that a

31 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, 74;

also see A. Blake White, Indicative/

Imperative Gospel Logic, in The Law

of Christ: A Theological Proposal

(Frederick, MD: New Covenant Me-

dia, 2010).

32 John G. Reisinger,But I Say Unto You

(Frederick MD: New Covenant Media,

2006), 14; quoted in White,Law of

Christ, 70; this is the primary empha-

sis in Murray, The Two Covenants.

person has been spiritually born into

the spiritual people of God: the church

which is comprised of both Jew and

Gentile.33In the words of beloved pas-

tor Charles Leiter when responding to

Paedobaptist theology, We do baptize

infants, except they arespiritual

infants.34

More will be said regarding these

distinctions and the contrast between

life under the Old and New Cov-

enants. What is most important to

take away from this section is the vita

importance of the relationship be-

tween the covenants in NCT, and how

they are different and distinct means

which serve towards the end of one

continuous and unied goal. We will

conclude and summarize this sectionwith a quote from Wells:

[The relationship is a teleological]

unity in which each covenant con-

tributed something to the fulllment

of redemption history, but what each

contributed could be quite different

from the contributions of the other

covenants. For example, the Noahic

Covenant (Gen. 9:8-17) provided a

continuing earthly scene on which

redemption could take place. TheAbrahamic Covenant with its prom-

ises outlines the course of redemptive

history, while setting forth two kinds

of redemptions and two peoples to ex-

perience them. Then the Mosaic Cov-

enant regulated the course of redemp-

tive history by producing the people

who would write the Scriptures and

bring forth the Messiah. Each of these

covenants, if they did no more than I

have suggested here, would serve the

same ultimate purpose, to bring gloryto God in the salvation of a people

that no man can number.

33 Taken from Lehrer, 108.

34 Charles Leiter, Law of Christ (Part

2),Granted Ministries http://www.

grantedministries.org/products/Law-

of-Christ-%7C-Charles-Leiter.html

(accessed August 18, 2011).



14/24


WestContinued from page 5

profound. God is intrinsically worthy

of praise. He is literally amazing.

The creatures that are closest to him,

who see him most often, and who are

themselves incredible beings can-

not help but be moved to cry out his

praise. They look at him and exclaimabout his superlative holiness (holy

repeated three times). As time passes,

they marvel at his aseity and eternal

existence. There is none like him.

Biblical worship, then, recognizes

the inherent worth of God. This is

where it begins. Gods greatness

needs to be acknowledged: the heart

of sin is not considering this God

worth knowing which results in fail-

ing to give him thanks and praise (cf.Romans 1). Even though Gods tran-

scendent holy nature and eternal es-

sence is the subject matter of the song,

all of Gods attributes should inspire

praise. We should worship God for

his omnipresence and love. We should

let our minds be boggled by his

omniscience. Our weakness should

compel us to glorify the One who can

actualize any noncontradictory, good

state of affairs (i.e., omnipotence).

Systematic theology is not merely anacademic discipline: if pursued in a

spiritually sensitive way, it is an exer-

cise in worship.

The second song proclaims: You

are worthy, our Lord and God, to re-

ceive glory and honor and power, for

you created all things, and by your

will they were created and have their

being (Rev. 4:11). The rst line seems

to ascribe to God properties that he

already has. We do not enrich hisglory by perceiving it, nor do we give

him more power than he already has.

What the beings are doing is recog-

nizing that all glory, honor, and power

in the universe is derived from God

and properly belongs to him. They are

not attempting to give him something

he is lacking; rather, they are tracing

these elements back to their eternal

source.

In that sense the rst line of the

second song has a very similar point

to the rst song: God is innitely

worthy of praise and worship accord-

ing to his eternal essence and divine

nature. There is a new development,

however, in the focus of the second

line. This innitely worthy God hascreated. The One who exists in ab-

solute perfection has brought into

existence other beings (and a home for

them to live in). God has created all

things. He is not like Platos demiurge

whose craftsmanship is limited by the

raw materials he has to work with.

Matter is not coeternal with God. On

the contrary, all things are created by

God. The logical implication of this

is that God has, in fact, created ex ni-

hilo. The power, wisdom, knowledge,and sheer imagination of this act of

creation are enough to elicit shouts of

praise.

Beyond this the creatures recog-

nize that God not only created all

things but he also sustains them. The

initial act of creation and its ongo-

ing existence is entirely dependent

on nothing more or less than Gods

volition. He wills all things to exist.

(Small wonder the created beings cryout for him to have power! His power

and good pleasure is all that keeps

them in existence.) When we consider

that our lives are entirely dependent

on the will of our creator, we must

confess to him that we literally owe

him all that we are and have. Any

reective adults from good homes

should be profoundly thankful to their

parents for caring for them and bring-

ing them up: this thankfulness andgratitude should be innitely higher

towards God.

Thinking about this line of praise,

however, reveals another general

category in which we are to honor

the living God. He is to be praised

because of the works of his hand. God

has acted; he is doing; he is accom-

plishing. He has seen t in the counsel

of his will to bring the universe into

existence and to sustain all creatures

in it. These are acts of the living God.

When we clap after a concert or cheer

during a virtuoso sports performance,

we do so in recognition of the value

of the achievement and the skill of the

achiever. Naturally enough, there is

nothing in creation that is nearly asimpressive as creation! What God has

done and is doing should inspire songs

of praise.

Part of our problem (which is one

reason why we need to constantly

meditate on Scripture) is that we are

so acclimatized to living in Gods

universe that we scarcely notice it. We

are like sh who are so used to being

in water we dont even know were

wet. Our environment is so familiarto us that we barely register the fact

that we are in an environment. We

are so used to breathing that we do

not reect very often on the fact that

we need air to breathe. Yet even all of

the necessities of life (air, water, sun,

nutrients, heat, bodies, other people,

gravity, etc.) on which we depend are

only efciently necessary, not ulti-

mately necessary. In other words, they

are means God has ordained to enable

us to survive. But their existence, inturn, depends on him. Ultimately our

dependency traces back through all

mediate entities to God himself. If C

depends on B and B depends on A,

then ultimately C depends on A.

Yet this second song of praise is

ascribing more to God than the fact

that he is the head of the causal chain

of our dependence. Everything is

equally and immediately dependent

on him at all times. His mind fath-omed this world, his will actualized

it, and his pleasure sustains it. The

grandeur of the universe with its in-

tricate unity and astounding diversity

should cause us to praise the Lord.

The fact that we are part of Gods

creation should thrill us and move us

to praise. God, The One Who Sits on

the Throne, cares about us. It seems

entirely backwards that God cares


15/24


more for us than we care about him,

given that we are sinners and he is the

Lord of glory. He actively sustains our

very existence at every moment, but

we tend to ignore him. Indeed, what is

man that God is mindful of him?

Part of the greatness of God is

that his love and compassion are so

innitely rich that he cares for beings

that are so far beneath him. This isnot to denigrate humans; we are the

image bearers of God and above all

other creatures of the earth. But we

are innitely below God himself. He

is incomprehensible and incomparable

in his majesty. And it is out of his rich

intrinsic perfection that God delights

in his people.Hisvalue is completely

bound up in who he is, and ourvalue

is completely dependent on who he is

also. All value, purpose, and mean-

ing are rooted in his being, but they

overow to his creation. Our value is

derivative; his is innate.

God could have existed in utter

harmony and innite love as the tri-

une God without making anything

else. Nothing forced him to create.

He is praised for creating by the

sheer force of his will and his ownintentions. Since he is so internally

fullled and lacking nothing, our

creation is literally gratuitous (i.e., of

grace). He brings conscious beings

into existence to share and exalt in

his perfection. Revelation 4 shows the

proper response when beings real-

ize the eternal, independent God has

brought them into existence so they

can participate and delight in his life.

Gods life is necessary, and our life

is notsince God chooses to will us

into existence, this means life is truly

a gift.

These two songs in Revelation 4

teach us that true worship honors the

essential value of the gift-giver and

also thanks him for the gifts he gener-

ously gives. God is to be worshiped

and praised both for who he is andwhat he has done. As believers know

through both revelation and personal

experience, there is one particular

thing that God has done through

Christ which elicits our highest

praises of his name. That, of course, is

Christs work of redemption which is

the subject of the new song in Revela-

tion 5 and will be the subject of our

article next month.

No one can appreciate the size or shape of a forest without ying overtop to view thebig picture. The Bible is like a forest and individual books are similar to trees. Study-

ing small portions of Scripture is worthwhile and necessary. Nevertheless one of therst steps of discipleship after salvation should be an understanding of the big picturein the Bible. God's Unfolding Story of Salvation teaches believers that the biblicalstoryline is Christ-centered.

Often people think of redemptive history only in terms of its promises in the Old Tes-tament and its fulllment in the New Testament. There is much more to the story thanthat. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit also points to Christ through preparation forhis birth, pictures or types, and anticipation. Since God's story ultimately affects eachone of us, it is worth the time and effort required to understand it. If you do this, you

will discover a pearl of great value.

Forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God are the greatest needs of everyone past, present, and future. Thisredemption story brings glory to God and benets believers.

God's Unfolding Story of SalvationThe Christ-Centered Biblical Storyline

HEATHER A. KENDALL

Orders: Contact your favorite bookseller or order directly from the publisher via phone (541) 344-1528,

fax (541) 344-1506 or e-mail us at [email protected]

"If you are looking for a personal or group study with lessons that cover the whole Bible, and have a concern for goodtheology, comprehensiveness, and practical usefulness, then this book will meet your expectations. Heather Kendallhas carefully selected the highlight sections of Scripture and, chapter by chapter, utilizes the fabric of New and OldTestament passages to weave together the grandiose picture of the whole redemptive story. Heather demonstratesa great grasp of God's Word and astutely puts forth all the key elements of the biblical storyline with a Christocentrictheme that pervades all of Scripture. You won't be disappointed."

Gary George, Pastor, Sovereign Grace Chapel, Southbridge, Massachusetts


16/24

Page 16 July-August 2013 Issue 199GillilandContinued from page 1

GillilandContinued on page 17

as good and as faithful as some would

suggest, God would have sent a book

instead of his Son.1But what does

this suggest about the role of the writ-

ten word? Has the Word not always

been efcacious to the end for which

it was intended? For as Isaiah record-ed, It shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which

I purpose, and shall succeed in the

thing for which I sent it (Isa. 55:11).

And Browns perspective is certainly

not consistent with what the apostle

Paul writes in Romans 10:17 regard-

ing the means of our justication:

So faith comes from hearing, and

hearing by the word of Christ.And

neither does is comport with what

the Lord Jesus prayed in John 17:17regarding the means of our sanctica-

tion, Sanctify them in the truth; your

word is truth. Brown continues, The

greatest cause for our not getting bet-

ter is our obsession with not getting

better. Sanctication becomes a

reality in those believers who dont

obsess over their own sanctication.2

While agreeing that the pejorative

term obsessmisses the mark, there is

certainly an intentional earnestnessreected in Pauls statement in Philip-

pians 2:12, Work out your salvation

with fear and trembling. Brown, on

the other hand, seems to be asserting

that any intentionality in the process

is a characteristic of the esh! If that

is the case, his personal philosoph

Sound of Grace, Issue 199, July-August 2013

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