Sound of Grace, Issue 202, November 2013

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government of the Roman Empire had an emperor who

himself held all the reins of government in his hands. All

the ofcials of the empire answered—directly or indi-

rectly—to him. And, along with other gods, he was to be

worshiped.

If you look into the OT under the Mosaic law you can

see the three main elements of sacral society spelled outclearly. First, God told Israel in no uncertain terms that

they must worship him and him alone. The command ap-

pears in Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before

me.” It is repeated in 23:13: “Do not invoke the names of

other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.” (Cf.

Deut.5:7; Jud. 6:10; Hosea 13:4.) The penalty for ignoring

this law was spelled out in Exodus 22:20: “Whoever sacri-

ces to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed.”

Leviticus 20:1-5 reects the same attitude with specic

reference to the god

Recently two items mentioning Pope Francis, the newly elected Pope,

caught my eye. The rst item was a newspaper ar ticle that announced PopeFrancis had taken the rst step in the canonization of the late Pope John Paul II.

The second item was an article promoting ecumenism among all “Christians”

including evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. The appeal I read

was made by John Armstrong, the founder and present head of Act 3, an

organization dedicated to bringing about this unity (http://johnharmstrong.

com). I have known John Armstrong for many years. I have not always agreed

with his views, but I have always found him to be very open about what he

believes and sincerely committed to practicing what he believes. All bolding in

this article is mine.

The modern ecumenical movement is only

Issue 202 Nov e mbe r 2013

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

Missional-Ecumenism

John G. Reisinger

There are many implications in the passage of the Old

or Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant. In this article

we will take up the change that has to do with the Lord

Jesus’ abandonment of sacral society.

Let me rst explain what we mean by sacral society.

(It is also called theocracy.) A sacral society has three

elements. First, every citizen of a nation that is a sacralsociety must worship the same god or gods as his fellow

citizens do. Second, they must do so publicly so that their

fellow citizens may see them worshiping. Third, the failure

to do so comes with a severe penalty, usually death.

When Jesus came into the world, Israel was a sacral so-

ciety, as were most of the nations of the world at that time.

Republics, in which citizens elected their governments,

may have existed also, but they were few and far between.

Rome had previously been a republic. However at the time

the Lord Jesus was born it had abandoned that status. The

Sacral Society

Tom Wells

Reisinger—Continued on page 2

Wells—Continued on page 12

In This Issue

Missional-Ecumenism

John G. Reisinger 1

Sacral Society

Tom Wells1

Shepherding the New CovenantFlock: Part 1 of 6, Introduction

Steve West

3

Law, Wisdom and Christ, A Studyin Biblical Theology, Part 1, Law

Stan F. Vaninger

5

The Practicality of Judgement

A. Blake White7

A Review of "New CovenantTheology: An Introduction" by A.Blake White

Dave Dunham

11

His Care

A. Blake White15



November 2013 Issue 202

Sound of Grace is a publication of Sovereign

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Reisinger—Continued from page 1


about one hundred years old. This is

really a short period of time in God’s

economy. We should patiently keep

praying and laboring for unity and

see where the Holy Spirit leads us as

God’s pilgrim people. Pope Francis

seems to deeply understand this

perspective thus I rejoice in him as a

global Christian leader and pray for

him every single day!1

This quotation represents a

movement today that is seeking to

bring all Christians and churches

together in an ecumenical unity

for the purpose of worshipping and

working together in evangelism while

temporally laying aside our different

doctrines. If we see working and

worshipping together to further thekingdom of God as our paramount

duty, we can see the prayer of Jesus in

John 17 fullled. We will then be able

to discuss and work on our differences

in an atmosphere of unity.

This new movement is deeply

committed to working out its beliefs.

It believes that it is the duty of all

Christians to share the “missional-

ecumenism” beliefs and join with

them in their efforts. A failure to seethis movement as inspired by the Holy

Spirit earns us the label of holding

“a radical form of sectarianism.”

Such a serious charge leaves us with

no alternative but to answer it. My

reluctance to endorse this movement

in no way means that I am a “radical

sectarian.” I am not prepared to view

the Reformation as a mistake that

should be rectied by seeking to be

in unity with the Roman Catholic

Church. I reject the followingaccusation by Armstrong against

anyone who refuses to get involved

is his efforts to unite with Roman

Catholicism.

… please note that Pope Francis

wants us to begin our quest for the

1 John H. Armstrong, “How Can Unity

be Beyond All Conict?” johnharm-

strong.com/?p=4973, (Accessed July

24, 2013.)

experience of Christian unity precisely

where I have placed the stress in my

own life and mission. This is why I

am so thrilled to l isten and pray for

this global Christian leader, a man

who clearly loves the same Christ

that I love and prays for what I pray

for each and every day.

One must embrace a radical

form of sectarianism to be blind to

what is really happening here. If you

miss the uniqueness of this moment

in history you will remain outside of

the Spirit-given pursuit of real unity

in Christ’s mission. The loss will

be great, to you and to your church

family. I encourage you to embrace

this moment by faith and then to pray

for the entire Christian Church that we

might experience divine oneness in

Christ’s mission for the whole world.2

The more I thought about the two

items mentioned above concerning

Pope Francis, the more it occurred

to me that they were related to each

other. They both dene “unity” in a

way that the end product is not unity

but union. Unity and union are not

the same things. If you tie a dog and

a cat together by their tails you have

union, but you do not have unity. If

you put an evangelical Protestanttogether with a Roman Catholic

for the purpose of joint worship

or evangelism you have union, but

you do not have unity. Unity in an

evangelistic effort must carefully

dene what the message is that you

are going to preach. A true sincere

evangelical Protestant and a true

sincere Roman Catholic cannot agree

on the biblical content of the Gospel

message. Biblical unity does not

begin with a sincere desire to worshiptogether, but it begins with truth.

I do not believe that Pope Francis

is a “global Christian leader.” I do

not pray for him every day, but I

do pray for him when God calls

2 John H. Armstrong, “Living in Je-

sus is Unity,” johnharmstrong.

com/?p=4964, (Accessed July 24,

2013.)



Issue 202 November 2013

West—Continued on page 9

and sent out into the bush with the

threat that if he didn’t leave perma-nently he would be killed. He returned

and continued to serve his church and

community. In my ministry I have

been slandered, but I have never been

threatened with death.

Perhaps we should also bear in

mind that many of the rst pastors in

the early church lived during times of

Jewish and Roman persecution. When

the authorities crack down, they

invariably target leaders (not least because leaders are the most likely

to be prominent enough to attract at-

tention). Many of the church’s leaders

in the generations immediately after

Jesus’ earthly life did not worry about

parsonages, health benets, retire-

ment, church budgets, or anything of

the sort: many of them were trying to

shepherd the church with no guaran-

tee that anyone in the church would

still be free—or even alive—in the

morning.

None of the preceding is to be

taken to mean that there are no chal-

lenges facing pastors in Western

churches today. As a pastor and pro-

fessor I personally face the strains of

ministry and am also in a position to

hear about all kinds of different situa-

tions ministers nd themselves in. No

matter what a particular society’s at-

titude towards the church happens to

be, pastors are sinners serving peoplewho are sinners. This is one reason

it is a massive mistake to think that

one particular time in church history

was idyllic for pastoral ministry—

unfortunately, people have always

been people. Fashions can change

and cultures differ, but the human

heart is frighteningly the same cross-

culturally, cross-generationally, and

throughout every historical period.

There has never been a time when

being a pastor was easy. Although pastors in the contemporary Western

world have a litany of challenges to

face in their ministries, it is quite mis-

taken to think pastoring was easier in

previous eras. Today pastors complain

of shrinking attention spans amongst

their congregations but any reading of

church history will reveal preachers

have almost always thought their con-

gregations didn’t pay enough attention

to sermons! Granting that there is a

rising hostility towards Christian-

ity in general in our society, and that

the pastoral profession is not nearly

as well respected in the community

as was once the case, nevertheless

it is not difcult to nd eras when

gospel-preaching pastors were quite

literally in danger of their lives, to

say nothing of facing open mocking

or imprisonment. It should not escape

our memory that John Bunyan wrote

The Pilgrim’s Progress in the Bedford jail, where he was imprisoned for

years because he could not in con-

science stop preaching the gospel or

join the establishment of the Church

of England.

It would furthermore be a mistake

to equate normal pastoral practice

with the last 100 years or so of church

ministry in North America. Ask

pastors of house churches in China

about the difculties attending theirministries—their answers make many

of the concerns of pastors in the West

seem slightly trivial. What about

those ministering in closed countries

under the control of militant Islamic

rulers? What about those in war-torn

lands? I vividly remember one night

in Uganda eating and drinking with a

pastor who told of a time he had liter-

ally been stripped naked by soldiers

No matter what the context, the most

overwhelming challenge in pastoralministry is learning how a sinful pas-

tor can help a sinful people. And we

have not yet even mentioned Satan’s

opposition.

I hope it is obvious that the situa-

tion is actually impossibly hopeless

apart from the grace of God. And,

thankfully, grace is what he has given

us in abundance. Yes, we are still

sinners, but we are redeemed, we are

sealed with the Holy Spirit, and weare God’s treasured possession. We

still sin but we are holy; we are totally

new but ghting the old; we love God

but are attracted and accustomed to

sin. Nevertheless we have victory in

Jesus (objective) and through him of -

ten experience victory over sin in our

daily lives (subjective). So the pastor

is a strange creature leading strange

creatures—God’s adopted children on

the sure road to heaven but still strug-

gling with the esh.

Pastoral practice emerges out of

a complex intersection of theological

points. We need to understand the

biblical material that directly ad-

dresses what the pastor is to be and

do. But we also need to understand

what the church is. Since the church

is the new covenant community, we

need to know what that means. What

are the people like who belong to this

community? To know that, of course,requires knowing about Jesus and

the plan of salvation. It also requires

knowing about the nature and work

of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, proper

pastoral practice requires a general

comprehension of the whole counsel

of God.

I believe that many pastors get

Shepherding the New Covenant Flock:

Part 1 of 6 Introduction

Steve West




him to my mind; however, when I

pray for him, I pray that God would

convert him and make him a true

child of God. I believe Pope Francis

is a “global religious leader”, but he

does not understand and believe in

biblical justication. If he believedthe biblical teaching of justication

by grace through faith alone, his

own church would have grounds

to excommunicate him. The unity

Pope Francis is really interested in is

uniting all Christians under the roof

of the Roman Catholic Church.

Let us remember this well: being

part of the Church means being united

to Christ and receiving from him the

divine life that makes us to live asChristians. It means remaining united

to the Pope and bishops who are

instruments of unity and communion

… 3 (emphasis mine)

I do not in the least question the

pope’s sincerity nor do I question

the sincerity of the evangelical

Protestants who are ready to unite

with him. However, I also believe

Pope Francis is playing with a

different deck of cards. At the end

of the day, Pope Francis is goingto have all the goodies, and the

evangelical Protestants who have

successfully attained a union with

Roman Catholicism may well discover

their cupboard is bare. They may well

discover that they gave away all of the

cookies.

One of the most basic doctrines

we must lay aside in any attempt to

have a unity with Roman Catholics is

dening how we become Christians.How do we get into heaven? The

article I read about Pope Francis

notes that he is taking the rst step

in “canonizing” Pope John Paul II.

3 “Pope Francis: How can we have unity

among Christians if we as Catholics

aren’t united?” Independent Catholic

News, www.indcatholicnews.com/

news.php?viewStory=22778, (Ac-

cessed 9/28/2013.)

“Canonizing” is the word Roman

Catholics use to describe how one

becomes a saint and goes to heaven.

Only saints, those who are canonized

by the Catholic Church, go to heaven

when they die. Unbelievers go to hell

and ordinary members of the Roman

church, those not canonized, go to purgatory. The canonization process

is a blanket distortion and denial of

the gospel of sovereign grace. The

steps to canonization are available on

the internet4.

Here is a comparison of how the

Roman Catholic theology of Pope

Francis is going to make John Paul II

a saint and get him into heaven with

how God makes saints and assures

them that they will go to heaven.The rst difference: Rome says

you must be dead for at least ve

years before you can be made a

saint. Pope John Paul II waived this

requirement in Mother Teresa’s case

and Pope Francis waived it for John

Paul II.

God has never made a single dead

(physically) person a saint. God only

makes living people to be saints, and

he makes all Christians saints whenthey believe the Gospel. Whatever

state you are in when you die, that

is the state you will remain in for all

eternity (Rev. 22:11). Biblical saints

are very much alive. Paul was not

telling the Christians at Philippi to

salute people in the graveyard when

he said, Salute every saint in Christ

Jesus … All the saints salute you …

(Phil. 4:21-22). The word “saint” and

the word “Christian” are synonymous

terms in the Bible. Every living

Christian is a saint the moment he

trusts in Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Both canonization and purgatory are

pure rubbish and clear denials of the

4 Beccari, C. (1907). “Beatication and

Canonization ,”. The Catholic Ency-

clopedia. New York: Robert Apple-

ton Company. www.newadvent.org/

cathen/02364b.htm. ( Accessed July

24, 2013.)

all-sufcient power of the cross-work

of Christ.

Following are the steps that

lead to becoming a saint in Roman

Catholicism. Supposedly this is how

Pope John II is going to get into

heaven. Note that this has nothing to

do with becoming a Christian. In the

Roman Catholic system you become

a Christian when you are baptized.

Baptism washes away original sin

but not other sins. It is enough to get

you into the Church but is not enough

to get you into heaven. You must

spend time in purgatory to pay for

the sins you committed subsequent

to conversion. You must add to the

sufferings of Christ before you can go

to heaven. Christ’s atoning work aloneis not sufcient to get you into heaven.

Step one in becoming a saint:

the local congregation puts forth

a candidate. A Bishop is placed in

charge of the initial investigation of

the person’s life. If it is determined

that the candidate is deemed worthy

of further consideration, you move to

step two.

This second step involves a careful

and thorough examination of theindividual’s life. The purpose of this

step is to be certain the individual

under scrutiny was holy enough to

deserve becoming a saint. Becoming

a saint in Roman Catholicism is based

on works from beginning to end.

The Catholic Church canonizes or

beaties only those whose lives have

been marked by the exercise of heroic

virtue … whose holy lives have made

them worthy of His special love.

5

I would never pass either the rst

or second test nor would any person I

know. The thief on the cross and the

woman at the well in John 4 would not

even get their big toe in the door. The

Roman Catholic Church does not have

5 “Beatication and Canonization,” www.

newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm

(Accessed July 24, 2013.)






“Now we know that the law is

good…” (1 Tim. 1:8). The apostle Paul

afrms that the Law of Moses is good.

In order to fully appreciate this

statement, we have to see, as Paul

did, the law from the perspective

of redemption history. The Law of

Moses was a national covenant given

to Israel at a particular point in her

history but only until the coming ofChrist (Gal. 3:17-20). Taking Paul’s

letters as a whole, it is best to interpret

the intent of the above statement as

being: in its proper time and place, the

law is good.

The OT certainly teaches the

‘goodness’ of the law. The Penta-

teuch states that the law was intended

to benet Israel in earthly matters.

Deuteronomy 6:24 says, ‘The Lord

commanded us to do all these stat-utes, to fear the Lord our God, for our

good always, that he might preserve

us alive, as we are this day’ (cf Deut.

10:13).

There are many examples in Mo-

saic law of statutes that were good for

Israel. The ‘enslavement’ of a fellow

Israelite was of limited duration being

much closer to the concept of inden-

tured servitude.1 Sanitation laws and

regulations for dealing with disease promoted public health.2 Fences on

roofs protected children (and care-

less adults) from dangerous falls from

houses where the roof served in the

capacity of a deck.3 Individuals were

given recourse against oxen that had

a history of goring those who passed

1 Exod. 21:2; Lev. 25:39-43; Deut. 24:7.

2 Lev. 13-15; Deut. 23:12-14.

3 Deut. 22:8.

by.4 Restitution was awarded for

stolen property, breach of trust or neg-

ligence.5 Widows and orphans were

given special privileges and protection

due to their vulnerability; foreign-

ers dwelling in Israel were likewise

protected from abuse.6 Generosity

to the poor, in general, was strongly

encouraged.7 Even slaves had certain

rights and privileges.8 Everyone was

protected from excessive punishment

and unlawful death merited the death

of the guilty party.9 The year of jubi-

lee prevented the permanent transfer

of land ownership out of a family

thus preventing a widening division

between the rich and the poor. ‘Curi-

ously, nothing like these laws has so

far been found in other ancient law

codes.’10 The Law of Moses promoted

justice, fairness, and the general well-

being of everyone in the nation. Itdiscouraged crime, abuse, and irre-

sponsibility. The law is good!

The law was given to Israel for

their spiritual benet. The prohibi-

4 Exod. 21:28-36.

5 Exod. 22:1-15.

6 Exod. 22:22-24; Deut. 14:28-29; 24:19-

21; 26:12-13; 27:19.

7 Deut. 15:7-11.

8 Exod. 12:44; 21:20-27.

9 Exod. 21:22-25; Lev. 24:17-22. R.

Laird Harris points out that the ‘eye

for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ passages

were instructions to the judges in

Israel and he interprets these instruc-

tions as conveying the principle of

making the punishment t the crime,

R. Laird Harris, Man - God’s Eternal

Creation (Chicago, IL: Moody Press,

1971), 117-118.

10 Harris, Man – God’s Eternal Creation,

139.

tions of the law revealed important

aspects of God’s character to the

ancient Hebrews. God is holy, just and

righteous and requires the same of

his human subjects. The study of the

law reveals important aspects of the

character and nature of God.

The ceremonial laws also taught

Israel much about the character of

God from a different angle. They

taught that sin must be atoned for,

that God will recognize the proper

sacrice as a payment for sin, and that

the individual must approach God in

faith and trust to receive the forgive-

ness provided through the sacricial

system. The Levitical ritual taught

Israel that God had taken the initia-

tive in providing a way of redemptionand that he was ready and willing to

forgive sin. The law is good!

The law was given to separate Is-

rael from the pagan nations, to protect

them from the spiritual and moral cor -

ruption that would result from close

contact with other peoples, to make

them a peculiar people.11 Various laws

from all three categories (moral, civil

and ceremonial) contribute to this.12

11 Lev. 18:24-30; Deut. 18:9-14.

12 Not all of the individual precepts in

the Law of Moses t neatly in one of

these three categories but the catego-

ries can at times be useful despite be-

ing somewhat fuzzy. Some Covenant

theologians take this categorization

a step too far and assert that the civil

and ceremonial laws were abrogated

with the coming of Christ but that the

moral laws contained in the Law of

Moses were not abrogated being the

eternal and unchanging moral law of

God. This line of thought goes beyond

what is taught in Scripture and has

created some thorny problems for

Covenant Theology. Karlberg, himself

a Covenant theologian, afrms that the

Law of Moses is best thought of as a

unit: ‘Division of the Mosaic law into

distinct categories - such as civil, cer -

emonial and moral - was unknown to

the OT Israelite. Within the theocracy

Law, Wisdom and Christ

A Study in Biblical Theology

Part 1–Law

By Stan F. Vaninger

Vaninger—Continued on page 10





does warn against preaching “another

Jesus.”

I am more than happy to stand

shoulder to shoulder with Roman

Catholics in the ght against abortion

and some other issues. I am not going

to get involved in any kind of service

that involves praying,” Holy Mary,Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.”

I will not be part of any missionary

effort that tells men and women that

they can only become a saint and

go to heaven by living a holy life. I

will appreciate and encourage every

effort by churches involved in biblical

missions but will insist the message

preached is the biblical gospel.

Pope Francis may declare thatPope John II is a saint, but Pope

Francis really has no say in the matter.

Many evangelicals may agree to union

with Pope Francis, but it will be a one-

way street. If any real change takes

place, it will be by concessions by the

evangelical Protestants.

We often hear news people

talking about “poison pills.” They are

referring to something deliberately

added to a pending bill that willguarantee it will not be passed. There

are some poison pills that either a

Roman Catholic or an evangelical

Protestant could use to make a

discussion of union impossible. All

the evangelic Protestant has to do is to

suggest a discussion of the infallibility

of the Pope or praying to Mary. Those

subjects are off the table and not open

to discussion to a Roman Catholic.

All the evangelical Protestant has to

suggest is a discussion of the doctrine

of justication by grace through

faith alone. That is a poison pill to

the Catholic. Justication, or how a

sinner is put right with God, was at

the heart of the Reformation. The

Roman Catholic position was set forth

by the Council of Trent, and any and

all objections to their position put

the individual holding it to be under

God’s curse. The position set forth

a Gospel for sinners; it has a system

of rewards for holy people. The

individual’s works earn sainthood.

The biblical Gospel is exactly the

opposite. It begins with Christ and

ends with Christ. It is directed to

sinners of every stripe. God loved us“while we were yet sinners” (Rom

5:8). God “justies the ungodly” not

good (self-righteous) people.

Now to him that worketh is the

reward not reckoned of grace, but

of debt. But to him that worketh not,

but believeth on him that justies

the ungodly , his faith is counted for

righteousness. (Rom 4:4-5)

Luther called these verses, “the

death knell to work mongers.”

The third step is proving the

individual had two miracles occur as

a result of their prayers.

The fourth step is the reigning

Pope’s proclaiming the individual a

saint.

Donald Grey Barnhouse was

having a difcult time with one of

his elders. They had lunch together.

Barnhouse said, “Before we discuss

our differences, let’s remind ourselvesof how much we have in common.”

He then proceeded to list those

things. They never did get to discuss

their differences, and the differences

continued to create problems. They

again had lunch together. Before

Barnhouse had a chance to say

anything, the elder said, “I know we

agree on a lot of things, but let’s start

with where we disagree.” There is

a time to lay aside secondary issuesand see the big picture. There is also

a time to remember there are some

issues that have to be put on the

table at the beginning of an honest

discussion. They are absolutes that

are not negotiable. It is a waste of

time to discuss them. I remember

someone urging one of our deacons

to “lay aside our doctrinal differences

and just preach Jesus.” The deacon

said, “Which one?” The Scripture

in the Council of Trent was ratied

by an infallible dogma of the Pope.

Pope Francis, and no other Pope can

change it even if they would like to.

Salvation by grace through faith alone

without works is a permanent poison

pill to the Roman Catholic. Salvation

by the joint efforts of faith and goodworks is a poison pill to the evangelic

Protestant.

The advocates of striving to

establish a working unity between

Roman Catholics and evangelical

Protestants would like to ignore these

poisons pills; however, justication,

or how a sinner is put right with God,

is not in any sense a secondary issue.

We are talking about the one and

only Gospel. We are discussing thedifference between the one and only

Biblical Christianity and a counterfeit

system. A biblical understanding of

justication is indeed a poison pill,

and we do no one a favor by trying

to hide it. Most people do not realize

what is involved. They do not realize

what Rome is actually saying or

that Rome cannot change the dogma

of an ‘infallible’ Pope. Following

are several Canons of the ofcial,

unchanging view of Roman Catholic justication. This view of justication

will be in force as long as there

is a Roman Catholic Church. The

following dogmas of Rome’s view of

justication are set in stone.

Canon 9: “If any one saith, that by

faith alone the impious is justied; in

such wise as to mean, that nothing else

is required to co-operate in order to

the obtaining the grace of Justication,

and that it is not in any way necessary,

that he be prepared and disposed by

the movement of his own will; let him

be anathema.”6

This is saying that if you believe

that you are justied by grace through

6 Council of Trent: Canons on Justi-

cation , ,Christian Apologetics and

Research Ministry. carm.org/council-

trent-canons-justication (Accessed

July 24, 2013.)





Judgment is a very unpopular

teaching. This should not be thecase among Christians however as

the doctrine of judgment is very

practical. In the Scriptures, we are

called to entrust ourselves to God’s

judgment. Our judgment is always

crooked. God alone is the just judge.

When wronged in the small ways,

do you trust God’s judgment or take

it into your own hands? How do you

respond when someone wrongs you?

What about when they wrong you butask for forgiveness? Do you forgive

and move on? Or do you continue

to punish them in various ways? Do

you have trouble letting it go? Do you

hold on to anger and replay the story

over and over in your mind? We never

lose those arguments, do we? Do you

reenact the ght and think about how

right you are and how wrong they are?

If so, you are not trusting God’s judg-

ment. For the believer, that particular

sin has been judged in the cross.

You see, Christianity provides

unique resources for dealing with

injustice. I recall one time my mother

was beat up by her boyfriend. I knew

he did it and was furious. I was not a

Christian when this happened so what

was I to do? It was up to me to make

this right. I was too small to beat him

up, so I threw rocks at his truck and

vandalized his house. That doesn’t

work.

I also recall watching a show

documenting a father whose daughter

had been raped and murdered. They

found the criminal and sentenced himto life, but this was not enough for

this father. He found out which airport

the state would use to transfer him to

prison, hid by a phone booth until the

cuffed man was in range, then stepped

out, shot the man in the head, dropped

the gun, and surrendered to the very

guards who were escorting the mur -

derer. What was this man left to do?

Let the one who took his daughter

away sit in a cell and live? Apparently,he would not have that so he took

justice into his own hands. This is not

an option for Christians. We are called

to non-violence. Jesus calls us to love

– not kill – our enemies (Luke 6:27).

The practice of non-violence

requires belief in divine vengeance.

Without nal judgment, we are left

with one of two options: let injus-

tice reign or take it upon ourselves

– neither of which work. We simplycan’t live with only those options.

Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge

yourselves, but leave it to the wrath

of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance

is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”

(Rom. 12:19 ESV). Peter wrote, “For

to this you have been called, because

Christ also suffered for you, leaving

you an example, so that you might fol-

low in his steps. He committed no sin,

neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revilein return; when he suffered, he did

not threaten, but continued entrusting

himself to him who judges justly” (1

Peter 2:21-23, cf. 1 Cor. 4:5).

Thankfully, many of us will not

be wronged in any major way, but

we still need to ask ourselves how

we react in the small things. It is in

the small moments where it matters

because life is life is lived in the little

moments. Paul Tripp writes, “Day

after day, week after week, and year

after year, these little moments set

the character of a person’s life.” It is

the small things that form a person’scharacter over time. When a car cuts

you off and then gives you the bird,

how do you respond? Do you tailgate

them all the way to their drive way to

give them a scare, or do you let God

sort all things out?

If you have not been deeply

wronged, then arm yourself with this

thinking. Put in place the necessary

“mental fences” so that when the

drunken teenager runs your fam-ily over because he was texting, you

won’t strangle him. Instead you pray

that God would deal with his sin at the

cross or in judgment. He always does

right. God will settle all accounts just-

ly and temporary injustice will not be

swept under the rug. Do you believe

this? You will be wronged. You may

not pull a gun out on your co-workers,

but when they slander you, will you

seek to justify self and ght back? Or

will you trust his judgment? Our faith

teaches radical forgiveness now or

radical judgment then.

The Practicality of Judgment

A. Blake White

One of a Preacher's First Duties!

"A man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ's sake—until he gives up striving to attract

people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ!" Robert Murray M'Cheyne

"To efface one's self is one of a preacher's rst duties!" Alexander Maclaren

Courtesy of: Grace Gems www.GraceGems.org




themselves into trouble because they

do not give enough thought to what

the church is. Too often we start by

thinking abstractly about what it

means to have authority, or we read

about leadership principles used by

corporate America, etc. But pastorsare not called to shepherd an unspeci-

ed group: they are called to shepherd

the ock of God. Or, to say the same

thing in different words, pastors are

responsible to lead and care for the

new covenant community. And this

naturally raises the question, What is

the new covenant community?

Thankfully the Bible provides a

rich and exciting answer to this ques-

tion. Perhaps the easiest way to thinkabout the nature of the new covenant

community is to contrast it with the

old covenant community. The follow-

ing points are not exhaustive of the

differences nor are they presented in

any great depth. Consider this list as

a primer. It follows a straightforward

reading of the major new covenant

passage from Jeremiah 31:31-34

(quoted in full in Hebrews 8:8-12).

1. Those in the new covenant com-munity are under a new covenant that

is not identical with the old covenant

nor even like the old covenant (Heb.

8:8-9). This is an extraordinarily im-

portant point. When the Lord reveals

to Jeremiah that he is going to make

a new covenant with his people he

immediately points out that the two

covenants are dissimilar. Of course

there are some similarities too, but

the rst thing God wants his people

to know is that there is a fundamentaldiscontinuity between the old and new

covenants.

2. The new covenant is put into ef -

fect because the people were unfaith-

ful to the terms of the old (Heb. 8:9).

God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt,

yet they rebelled against him.

3. In the old covenant the law was

external. There were tablets of stone

where the law was recorded. But

having God’s law engraved in stone,

or written on a scroll, or printed in a

book, or digitally archived does not

affect the heart. As long as God’s law

was external some of its elements

could be imposed by force, but the

orientation of the heart was unaltered.In the new covenant community

people have the law of God written on

their hearts and put into their minds

(Heb. 8:10). There is an interiority

here where the law is enshrined on the

inner most part of our true selves. The

law of God operates deep down in

our beings. In the old covenant God’s

ways were external and might not

have been absorbed into any given in-

dividual’s heart—in the new covenant

every member of the community hasthe law of God internalized.

4. Every single person in the new

covenant community knows God

(Heb. 8:11). This is wonderful. In the

old covenant community, many didn’t

know God; they hated him, rebelled

against him, worshiped other gods,

and died in hard-hearted, unrepentant

states. In the new covenant com-

munity there is nobody who needs to

be taught to know the Lord. Now ofcourse this doesn’t mean that in the

new covenant there is no room for

teachers or preachers or learning or

growth—but it does mean that there

is zero need for evangelism in the new

covenant community. Every single

person under that covenant is saved;

everyone knows the Lord. Not an ex-

clusive high priestly caste or a special

class of spiritual saints know him,

but everybody from the least to thegreatest. There is a complete egalitari-

anism in terms of salvation in the new

covenant community.

5. Every single person in the new

covenant community has been forgiv-

en for their sins (Hebrews 8:12). God

has forgiven their wickedness and

remembers (covenantally) their sin

no more. In the old covenant, people

were punished for their sins and died

guilty before God because they never

repented. In the new covenant, every

member has had their sins forgiven.

Nobody in the new covenant com-

munity will experience eternal death.

All members of the new covenant

community are justied in the sight of

God. Different members will be moreor less obedient, more or less ethically

pure, and more or less subjectively

righteous, but none is ultimately un-

saved, unforgiven, and lost. The his-

tory of Israel under the old covenant

clearly reveals that such was not the

case for the members of its commu-

nity, many of whom died unreconciled

to God.

6. Although this slightly departs

from the new covenant passage wehave been considering, it is clear that

the nature of entering into member -

ship is very different between the old

and new covenants. The old covenant

was a national, political, religious

covenant—the new covenant is purely

religious (although of course it has im-

plications for wider social structures).

You could convert to the old covenant

system if you were a foreigner, but

the vast majority of people in the old

covenant community were ethnicJews who were born into it. That’s

why circumcision was applied to

male infants—they received the sign

of the covenant because they were

literally born into it the way a baby

born in Canada is literally born into

the privileges of Canadian citizen-

ship. But nobody is born into the new

covenant because of physical birth.

Even children who are born to Chris-

tian parents who are church members

are born without knowing the Lord:

the very reason they need to put their

faith in Jesus to be saved is because

they are not born justied. Children

could be born physically into old cov-

enant membership but all people must

be born again (i.e. spiritually reborn)

into membership in the new.

It would be hard to overstate the

West—Continued from page 3

West—Continued on page 18



November 2013 Issue 202Vaninger—Continued from page 5

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 suggests that

the people of Israel were to think of

the law as spiritual nourishment:

The LORD your God has led you

these forty years in the wilderness,

that he might humble you, testing

you to know what was in your heart,whether you would keep his command-

ments or not. And he humbled you

and let you hunger and fed you with

manna, which you did not know, nor

did your fathers know, that he might

make you know that man does not live

by bread alone, but man lives by every

word that comes from the mouth of the

LORD.

The well-known passage in

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a powerful

expression of the Lord’s desire thatIsrael be preoccupied with and totally

devoted to the law. Psalm 119 and

many other places in the OT express a

great love for and commitment to the

law of God. This sentiment prevailed

throughout Israel’s history, at least in

the minds of those who wrote the OT

Scriptures and the believing remnant.

This same sentiment prevailed even

into the NT era among the scribes and

Pharisees, as witnessed by the gos-

pels, and is still found in our own day

among more devout Jews.

A notable NT example of devotion

to the law is in Luke 1:5-6, 59 where

Zechariah and Elizabeth were com-

mended for practicing what Richard

Longenecker calls nomism, 13 that is,

for ‘walking blamelessly in all the

commandments and statutes of the

Lord.’ The parents of John the Baptist

were ordering their lives according to

the law of Moses was a unied entity.’

Mark W. Karlberg, Covenant Theology

in Reformed Perspective (Eugene, OR:

Wipf and Stock, 2000), 198.

13 Richard N. Longenecker, Paul,

Apostle of Liberty (Grand Rapids, MI:

Baker, 1964), 79-83.

the Law of Moses not in a legalistic

fashion but out of love and devotion to

one true God, which was exactly what

they were supposed to be doing as

part of the believing remnant of Israel

during the Old Covenant era. The

same was true of the parents of Jesus

(Luke 2:27, 39).

Although the law was given to

Israel for their good, there were penal-

ties for non-compliance. The dreadful

curses enumerated in Deuteronomy

27-28 immediately come to mind. The

fact that Israel suffered virtually all of

these curses multiple times shows that

the nation as a whole did not share the

love for God’s law that we see ex-

pressed in the OT writings.

Actually, penalties for offenseswere assessed on two levels. In addi-

tion to the curses imposed upon the

nation as a whole, individuals were

punished for offenses against their fel-

lows and sins against God.

Similar to 1 Timothy 1:8 cited

earlier, we read in Romans 7:12, ‘So

the law is holy, and the commandment

is holy and righteous and good.’ This

verse leaves us scratching our head

when we compare it with other NT passages (and especially elsewhere in

Paul’s letters) where the law is spoken

of in more negative terms. It will be

helpful to reect on what Paul is seek -

ing to convey by this statement. The

immediate context (Romans 7) shows

that Paul has in view the truth that

the law exposed the people of Israel

to the reality of sin in their lives and

thus their need for redemption from

outside of themselves. The law was

‘righteous and good’ because it was

(painfully) benecial to the Israelites

spiritually. The law provided not only

a rule of life for the people of Israel

but also made them very much aware

of their need for redemption from sin.

The negative references to the law

in Paul’s letters, for the most part, per -

tain to the inability of the Law of Mo-

ses to justify man in the eyes of God

(Rom. 3:19-20; 5:20; 7:7; Gal. 2:16, 21;

3:11; etc.). There is actually no real

discrepancy between the positive vs.

the negative views of the law in the NT. Paul makes it very clear that the

purpose of the law was not to justify

man before God but drive home to

man the reality of sin in his life and

the need for God’s forgiveness.

Those familiar with New Covenant

Theology understand that the law was

a national covenant that applied only

to Israel and then only for that 1500

year interval from Sinai to the rst

coming of Christ (Gal. 3:19).14

The precepts of Mosaic law were imple-

mented and enforced by the rulers,

judges and priests of Israel and it is

clear throughout the OT that these ap-

plied specically to Israel. The Law of

Moses (or any sub-unit of it) was not

a universal moral code that applied to

all mankind in every era but part and

parcel of a national covenant between

God and Israel for a specied interval.

Reformed theology has empha-

sized this positive and gracious aspect

of law frequently speaking of the

Mosaic covenant as ‘a Covenant of

Works and a Covenant of Grace at the

same time.’15

14 This view is also held by most Cov-

enant Theologians. Mark Karlberg

writes, ‘If we are to do justice to the

unity and integrity of the law of Moses

we must consider the law in its proper

historical setting and function as that

peculiar legal instrument, instituted

and ordained by God and regulative

of life within the ancient theocracy.’

Karlberg, Covenant Theology in Re-

formed Perspective, 198.

15 Karlberg, Covenant Theology in Re-

formed Perspective, 29.

T o s e a r c h f o r w i s d o m a p a r t f r o m C h r i s t m e a n s n o t s i m p l y f o o l h a r d i n e s s b u t u t t e r i n s a n i t y .

J o h n C a l v i n




Dunham—Continued on page 18

I have a rebellious streak in me.

It runs fairly deep and often works

against any type of conformity. So

when many of my friends began to

share that they were adopting the

position of New Covenant Theology

I was not merely reluctant, I was op-

posed to it. I had accepted Covenant

Theology as a young man and haddetermined not to study any contrary

position, mostly out of spite but I

could never fully embrace Covenant

Theology. There were aspects of it

that, over time, I had modied to t

better how I read the Bible and how

I thought of baptism. As it turns out,

much of what I was doing was already

being done and t better in the NCT.

So, when I read a book on the sub-

ject, I discovered that much of whatwas called New Covenant Theology

is what I already believed. A. Blake

White’s small book What is New Cov-

enant Theology?: An Introduction is a

simple and therefore helpful clarica-

tion on the subject.

The problem with so many books

on the subject of the covenants is that

they wind up being very dense. For

those somewhat unfamiliar with the

territory the size of the book, the den-

sity of the content, and the style of the

prose can be intimidating. This is the

kind of subject where a helpful, con-

cise, introduction to the major distinc-

tion and major developments of the

system can be extremely helpful. As I

had already bought into CT, I wanted

to know what the distinct differences

and contributions of NCT were. A.

Blake White does an astounding job

of clarifying those differences without

losing anything important in the de-

velopment of the system. That makes

this a rare book indeed.

The author was unknown to me. In

fact the lack of familiarity would have

likely caused me to pass right over

this little booklet, but the endorse-

ments on the back are quite astound-ing. Blake’s writing garnered support

from the likes of Gary Long, Tom

Schreiner, Stephen and Kirk Wellum,

Tom Wells, John Reisinger, Jim Elliff,

and Jason Meyer. In each endorsement

we read the same sentiment: White

has written a very accessible primer

on a very important subject.

The book covers seven different

aspects of NCT. White explains in the

introduction that he will not unpack

all of the thorny issues related to this

system; after all it is only an intro-

duction. But he will cover the major

differences between NCT, CT, and

Dispensationalism. He also aims to

highlight the major contributions of

NCT to Biblical Theology.

Much of the discussion around

these three systems has to do with

how each of them views the continu-

ity and discontinuity between the two

testaments. White begins with the

familiar distinction between systems.

He states:

Generally speaking Covenant The-

ology emphasizes the unity between

the covenants to the expense of the

discontinuity…Dispensationalism, on

the other hand, tends to emphasize

discontinuity between the covenants

at the expense of continuity…New

Covenant Theology accommodates

both continuity and discontinuity. It

holds that the New Covenant is con-

nected to what went beforehand, but it

is new. (1-2)

In this sense, then, NCT acts as a

via media between Dispensationalism

and Covenant Theology. It offers a

middle road to consider more care-

fully the totality of the Biblical data.

None of this will be particularly new

to students of the covenants. And, in

fact, White’s introduction read with a

bit of pretension as he proclaims NCT

is “a system of theology that seeks to

let the Bible inform our theology” (1).

After all, don’t all systems seek to do

this? The more one continues to read,

however, the more one will see that

in fact this is indeed a real distinctfeature of NCT.

In chapters 1-7 White covers, then,

the various major issues related to the

continuity and discontinuity between

the Testaments. He starts by declaring

that there has been only ever one plan

of God to redeem the world, and this

plan was Jesus. But this one plan, he

states, beginning in the Old Testament

is fullled in the New Testament in

Jesus. So, chapter 2 turns our atten-tion to reading the OT through the

“Jesus-lens,” as I call it. Chapters 3,

4, and 5 help us then understand the

role of the Old Covenant, and particu-

larly the law, in relation to the person

and work of Christ. Christians are

not under the Law of Moses, the Old

Covenant was temporary, and now in

Christ there is, in fact, a NEW cov-

A Review of “What is New Covenant Theology?:

An Introduction” by A. Blake White1

September 2, 2013

By Dave Dunham1 “A Review of What is New Covenant Theology?: An Introduction by A. Blake White,” pastordaveonline.org/2013/09/02/, (Ac-

cessed September 26, 2013.) Used by permission of Dave Dunham.




1, 1660.2

Note also the following quotation

concerning the Puritans in America:

Although they were victims of

religious persecution in Europe, the

Puritans supported the Old World

theory that sanctioned it, the need for

uniformity of religion in the state.

Once in control in New England, they

sought to break “the very neck of

Schism and vile opinions.” The “busi-

ness” of the rst settlers, a Puritan

minister recalled in 1681, “was not

Toleration, but [they] were professed

enemies of it.” Puritans expelled dis-

senters from their colonies, a fate that

in 1636 befell Roger Williams and in

1638 Anne Hutchinson, America’s rst

major female religious leader. Those

who deed the Puritans by persistentlyreturning to their jurisdictions risked

capital punishment, a penalty imposed

on four Quakers between 1659 and

1661. Reecting on the seventeenth

century’s intolerance, Thomas Jef -

ferson was unwilling to concede to

Virginians any moral superiority to the

Puritans. Beginning in 1659 Virginia

enacted antiQuaker laws, including the

death penalty for refractory Quakers.

Jefferson surmised that “if no capital

execution took place here, as it did in

New England, it was not owing to themoderation of the church, or the spirit

of the legislature.”

How Jesus Abandoned Sacral

Society

I have made the point above that

Israel was a sacral society. All three

points that identify such societies are

found in the law of Moses centuries

before the Lord Jesus came to earth.

During his years here Israel remained

a sacral nation. Jesus himself lived outhis life here as any member of Israel

would have. As he grew up he partici-

pated in its celebrations. He lived by

its rules. But he also indicated coming

changes in it. Nevertheless it seems

that he changed very little about it

during his lifetime here. However, in

2 Courtesy of The Granger Collection,

New York as retieved from the inter -

net.

Molech. We nd the same penalty

spelled out at length in Deuteronomy

17:2-7.

The worship in the Mosaic Cov-

enant was public. A frequent daily

part of it was the offering of animal

sacrices. They were not to be wild

animals, but domestic animals. We

see this by the repetition of the phrase

“from the herd or ock” (e.g. Exod

34:19; Lev 1:2; Num 15:3; Deut 16:2).

It was the duty of the priests to offer

these animals to the Lord. How that

was to be done is spelled out in vari-

ous texts. For example such offerings

accompanied the three annual festi-

vals as seen in Exodus 23:14-19:

Three times a year you are tocelebrate a festival to me. Celebrate

the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for

seven days eat bread made without

yeast, as I commanded you. Do this

at the appointed time in the month of

Aviv, for in that month you came out of

Egypt. No one is to appear before me

empty-handed. Celebrate the Festival

of Harvest with the rstfruits of the

crops you sow in your eld. Celebrate

the Festival of Ingathering at the end

of the year when you gather in your

crops from the eld. Three times a

year all the men are to appear before

the Sovereign LORD. Do not offer the

sacrice to me along with anything

containing yeast. The fat of my festival

offerings must not be kept until morn-

ing. Bring the best of the rstfruits of

your soil to the house of the LORD

your God. Do not cook a young goat

in its mother’s milk.

You can see immediately that none

of this was done privately. It was open

to inspection by any citizen that cared

to watch it. And, of course, it could

not be done carelessly. All the instruc-

tion had to be followed carefully.

Again, sacral society can be rec-

ognized in any nation that does three

things. First, demands that all citizens

serve the same god or gods. Second,

demands that the service of such a

god or gods be done publicly. Third,

pronounces a severe penalty—usu-

ally death—on those who are not seen

doing the rst two things. There are

many such nations or societies today.

Muslim nations and Buddhist nations,

with few if any exceptions, are two

examples.

Many other nations have beensacral societies in the past. Great Brit-

ain was such a nation. When it sought

to plant colonies in the New World, it

aimed to make them be such societies

as well. To illustrate this fact we may

look at some early legal actions of

New England:

Expelled from Massachusetts

in the dead of winter in 1636, for -

mer Puritan leader Roger Williams

(16031683) issued an impassioned plea for freedom of conscience. He

wrote, “God requireth not an unifor -

mity of Religion to be inacted and

inforced in any civill state; which

inforced uniformity (sooner or later) is

the greatest occasion of civill Warre,

ravishing of conscience, persecution

of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of

hypocrisy and destruction of millions

of souls.” Williams later founded

Rhode Island on the principle of reli-

gious freedom. He welcomed people

of every shade of religious belief,even some regarded as dangerously

misguided, for nothing could change

his view that “forced worship stinks in

God’s nostrils.”1

Mary Dyer rst ran afoul of Mas-

sachusetts authorities for supporting

theological dissenter Anne Hutchin-

son. As a result Dyer and her family

were forced to move to Rhode Island

in 1638. Converted to Quakerism in

England in the 1650s, Dyer returned

to New England and was three times

arrested and banished from Massa-

chusetts for spreading Quaker prin-

ciples. Returning to Massachusetts a

fourth time, she was hanged on June

1 The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution,

for cause of Conscience, discussed

in a Conference between Truth and

Peace…Roger Williams, 1644, Rare

Book and Special Collections Divi-

sion, Library of Congress (19)

Wells—Continued from page 1




Wells—Continued on page 14

the conversation he had with a Sa-

maritan woman in John 4:19-24, he

predicted his abandonment of it. He

did so in a response to her statement

she made. “Sir,” she said, “I can see

that you are a prophet. Our fathers

worshiped on this mountain, but you

Jews claim that the place where wemust worship is in Jerusalem.” The

woman was correct in what she said.

She recognized that the mountain she

mentioned and Jerusalem were ex-

tremely important as public elements

of both sacral nations. Her remark

showed that in her view each was

what we now call “a sacral society.”

Jesus replied to what she said by

defending the Jewish position (“salva-

tion is from the Jews,” v21), but also by saying an important change was

about to take place. “Yet a time is

coming and has now come when the

true worshipers will worship the Fa-

ther in spirit and truth, for they are the

kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

God is spirit, and his worshipers must

worship in spirit and truth” (23-24).

By describing his people as those

who worship in spirit and truth, he

is saying that the New Covenant will bring with it a major change from

the past. But what is that change?

Although it seems true that true

believers under the Old Testament

were born again, all members of the

New Covenant will have the new

birth. That was not true under the

Old (Mosaic) Covenant. That cov-

enant was given to a mixed multitude

because it included all Israelites,

including infants and children. Many

of these children showed that they hadnot been born again by their actions

throughout their lives.

In Mark 10:1-9 Jesus shows that

the Moses gave a divorce law for un-

godly people. The heart of the passage

is in verses two through ve:

2. Some Pharisees tested him

by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to

divorce his wife?”

3.”What did Moses command

you?” he replied.

4. They said, “Moses permitted a

man to write a certicate of divorce

and send her away.”

5.” It was because your hearts

were hard that Moses wrote you this

law,” Jesus replied.

Verse ve makes Jesus’ point.

Though there were many godly Israel-

ites, the nation as a whole was charac-

terized by ungodliness.

The Passing Away of Israel as

Such a Society and the Formation of

a New Society.

Present-day Israel is a secular

nation, though the Orthodox would

like to change this. Has the church,then, simply replaced Israel? No, as I

see it, the godly in Israel from every

generation have become a subset of

the church. When Jeremiah addresses

Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31 he

and his contemporaries would have

taken the words “Israel and Judah” in

their most literal form. We should take

them that way as well. Why? Because

the church as the body of Christ was

not formed until Jesus lived and died.

Those who examined the OT beforeChrist had no other way to read those

words. But the NT shows that the

church includes a number of subsets.

They include Jews, Gentiles and the

godly who lived before the distinction

between Jews and Gentiles existed—

men like Melchizedek and Job. If we

look at Jeremiah 31:31-33 we can see

the promise of future change:

The time is coming,” declares the

LORD, “when I will make a new cov-enant with the house of Israel and with

the house of Judah. It will not be like

the covenant I made with their forefa-

thers when I took them by the hand to

lead them out of Egypt, because they

broke my covenant, though I was a

husband to them,” declares the LORD.

This is the covenant I will make with

the house of Israel after that time,”

declares the LORD. “I will put my law

in their minds and write it on their

hearts. I will be their God, and they

will be my people.

Jesus’ new society, the church,

would be loyal to God and Christ.

And as far as society is concerned

the church has a subsidiary loyalty

to give to Caesar what belongs to

Caesar, while continuing to giveto God what belongs to God (Mk

12:17). Paul conrms this in Romans

13:1: “Let everyone be subject to the

governing authorities, for there is no

authority except that which God has

established.” Here the relation be-

tween God and governments is made

plain. Each has authority. However,

the governments may not contradict

the demands of God whose authority

is nal.To show that the period of change

had arrived, Jesus drew a strong con-

trast with Mosaic law when he said,

“Nothing outside a man can make him

‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it

is what comes out of a man that makes

him `unclean’” (Mark 7:15; the discus-

sion continues through v23.) By con-

trast Leviticus 11 describes in detail

what can be eaten and what cannot be

eaten under the Mosaic covenant. As

we have seen, Jesus promised a great

change from the past.

The OT has strict rules about

worship. The NT has almost no

outward rules about our personal acts

of worship beyond participation in

baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the

relatively vague command to join with

others in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not

give up meeting together.” Why do I

make this point? Because, unlike the

Mosaic covenant, the New Covenant

approaches the question of our wor -

ship in quite a different way than the

Mosaic covenant generally does. The

New Covenant focuses on our motives

and intentions, the attitudes we hold

in our minds.

Why did the Lord Jesus bring

about this change by dissolving his




Wells—Continued from page 13 things that pique our curiosity. Cer -

tainly the end of sacral society falls

among those things.

Laying aside, then, our thirst for

immediate satisfaction on the tempo-

ral future for such nations, let us turn

to eternity. Here we have both less

and more knowledge than we wouldlike. On the “less” side we realize

that we cannot master the immediate

world that is around us. How much

less do we know of eternity and what

it will bring?

Nevertheless, it is clear that eterni-

ty for believers will look a good deal

like a sacral society in one respect.

Review with me once more the basic

element of sacral society. It is the fact

that all citizens of such nations wor -ship the same god or gods. Will that

be true in the new heavens and earth?

Absolutely! Every born-again citizen

of paradise will worship the Trin-

ity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That

is the one God that we all will bow

down to.

If we ask how we will worship

him, it seems clear that our worship

will involve all that we are and do. Put

simply, that would seem to mean that both our minds and our bodies will

be fully focused on the Living God.

However, what form that will take in

detail is beyond us.

Will sacral society pass away? It

will as we know it. But in a certain

sense if we have a memory of it, it

will seem like an element of typol-

ogy. In eternity every citizen of God’s

kingdom will worship the same God,

the King of Kings and the Lord ofLords.

close ties to Israel and establishing the

church? We can suggest three rea-

sons. First, the failures of Israel and

especially its leaders. It seems from

reading the OT that the leaders, kings

and priests, always had the eventual

fate of Israel in their hands. Second,the prophecies that anticipated such

changes. For instance, the promise

to Abraham as Paul expounds it of

Christ and the church in Galatians

4:21-31.

However, the third and overrid-

ing reason was God’s interest in and

love for the world. That led him to

reach all the nations of the earth. A

sacral society tends to keep its people

together. However Jesus’ plan was toscatter his people among the nations.

Two things furthered this purpose.

The rst was his command, “Go and

make disciples of all nations.” (Matt

28:19). The second was his promise

that his followers would be perse-

cuted wherever they went. Here are

two warnings of persecution made in

Jesus’ own words:

I am sending you out like sheep

among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd

as snakes and as innocent as doves…

Brother will betray brother to death,

and a father his child; children will

rebel against their parents and have

them put to death. All men will hate

you because of me, but he who stands

rm to the end will be saved (Matt

10:16, 21-22).

If the world hates you, keep in

mind that it hated me rst. If you be-

longed to the world, it would love you

as its own. As it is, you do not belong

to the world, but I have chosen youout of the world. That is why the world

hates you. Remember the words I have

spoken to you: “No servant is greater

than his master.” If they persecuted

me, they will persecute you also (John

15:18-20).

In trying to escape persecution

they would travel to one country after

another. And they would carry the

gospel of Christ with them.

The Future of Sacral Societies

We will look at the future of sacral

societies from two perspectives. First

we’ll ask the question, what is the

prospect for sacral societies in the

immediate future? Second, what is the

prospect for sacral societies in eter -

nity?

As far as any of us can see, sacral

societies will be with us until the

Lord returns. As I wrote earlier bothMuslim nations and Buddhist na-

tions are sacral societies. If there

are any exceptions in these groups

they must be very few. Could this

change? Perhaps. A Muslim doctor

told me recently that he and some of

his friends are very impressed by the

religious liberty we have in the United

States. However, relatively few of the

millions of the followers of Islam will

have the experience of seeing this

rsthand. More than that, there is noassurance that a great number of them

who might experience it would react

to it positively. Those who are married

to other religions are not usually seek -

ing divorce.

On the other hand, we must not

forget the sovereignty of God in our

projections of the future. In the last

analysis he will direct the course that

Islam takes in the coming years. Not

only are all men and women in theLord’s hands, but all events and all

destinies are there as well. To this

moment the Lord has not told us many

In all the Word of God there is no doctrine which, if properly applied, is more conducive to godly living than is

the doctrine of salvation by grace, and by grace alone.

R. B. Kuiper

The saved are singled out not by their own merits, but by the grace of the Mediator.

Martin Luther




eat their cereal, drink their milk, hop

in the van and wait for one of us to buckle them in since their mini-arms

aren’t yet buff enough to snap the seat

belts in place. Then we go, and they

begin to ask if we have arrived. I say,

“No buddy, I just put it in reverse. Sit

tight.”

What these little raccoons aren’t

even aware of is how much work

their Momma and I have been do-

ing while they cuddle with soft furry

animals and dream about trains. Ourroad trip started the night before. Put

the clothes out. Bath stuff. Snacks.

Cups. Diapers. Wipes. Elmo. Sound

Machine. Curious George. Brown

blanket. Pack ‘n Play. Now what about

us? Razor, clothes, books. We were up

an hour before them, folding clothes,

packing bags, loading strollers, and

skimming our imaginary check-lists.

They think we just wake up, and, lo

and behold, the van is lled to the

brim. Let’s go! No “Thanks Momand Dad for all your hard work!” No

“Blessed be me for my seless par -

ents.” Just “I need some fruit snacks.

Then some goldsh. With juice. Red.”

The care of parents for their little

ones is signicant, but their care is

gnat-like in comparison to God’s

everyday care for his creation. In-

dependence is a satanic myth. Justthink of how dependent we are on the

omni-generous God at all times. God

upholds the chair I’m sitting in. The

breath I’m breathing. The eyes I see

with. The ngers on this keyboard.

The creativity needed to produce such

a machine to type on (even if it is a

PC). The balance to walk. The ability

to exercise. The brain cells to think.

The insides to digest food. The taste

buds to enjoy this most necessary

process (He didn’t have to do that, you

know?). How many thousands of ways

am I dependent on the Lord every

day? Sadly, like oblivious children, I

fail to thank Him nearly as often as

I should. Perhaps this is one of the

reasons why in the dreadful picture

of life outside of God in Romans 1,

Paul says, “For though they knew

God, they did not glorify Him as God

or show gratitude” (Rom 1:21). They

did not show gratitude. Join me. Joinme in repenting of our toddler-like

ignoring of the countless ways our

Father has taken care of us. He spares

nothing for us, even his own Son. Join

me in cultivating a heart brimming

with gratitude. His care knows no

limits.

Being a father always teaches

us more about our Heavenly Father.Before we had kids, people would al-

ways tell Alicia and me how we have

never felt the love we would feel for

our kids. They were right. I stinking

love the dog out of my boys. I love

them just because they are who they

are. They haven’t earned my love. It is

freely given. They just have to walk

into the room and – most days – my

heart lls with joy. My heart melts

like butter on hot toast when my

one year old squeezes his little arms

around my neck. To think that my

Heavenly Father has similar thoughts

toward his children is hard to fathom.

My love is far from perfect. Far far.

His love is perfect. Amazing love,

how can it be?

This summer, we have been on the

road a ton. Vacation, funeral, lake,

grandparents, preaching, and so on.

Becoming parents also teaches one

gratitude for your own padres. Forexample, when it comes time for a

road trip, my boys simply have to

wake up. At this stage in their little

lives, they are exhaustion-inducing

dependent on us. They can barely put

on – much less tie – their own shoes.

My three year old is lucky if his shirt

isn’t on backwards. So they wake up,

His Care

Blake White

Hey [Blake] just wanted to pass on a word of encouragement to you:

I was guest preaching for an pastor who is nearing retirement this weekend. As I spent the day with him on

Sunday he mentioned how he has read Sound of Grace for years. He mentioned how he has really grown in his

understanding of theology and referenced articles you wrote and other NCT stuff. I told him I went to seminary with

you and his reply was "You know Blake White!" So he wanted me to pass on how much he appreciates your work. He

has served a Baptist church for 20 years in small town Pennsylvania. He is one of the guys like Carson's dad who are

"ordinary pastors." So just be encouraged that your writing ministry is blessing ordinary pastors, some of whom you

may never meet this side of eternity.

Blessings, RP




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Dunham—Continued from page 11West—Continued from page 9

importance of the truths contained in

this short sketch. Let me add just a

few additional truths taught in Scrip-

ture about those in the new covenant

community. Since the new covenant

community is coextensive with the

redeemed and the true church ofJesus Christ (today we could simply

say “Christians”), everything that is

universally true of Christians is true

of members of the new covenant. So,

every member has been baptized in

the Spirit, has gifts, is part of God’s

spiritual temple, has a new heart, is

justied, is adopted as God’s heir,

loves Jesus, and is destined for eternal

glory. Of course more could be said,

but for our purposes this is sufcient.

What implications follow for

pastoral ministry? It seems to me that

every one of the previous points is

pregnant with meaning. The theoreti-

cal underpinnings are glorious and the

practical application to church life and

pastoring are not only profound, but

they must be grasped if the ock of

Jesus Christ is going to be shepherded

and cared for properly. In the rest of

the articles in this series we will ex-

amine how these foundational truths

provide a context in which new cov-

enant pastoral ministry takes place.

Any shepherd must know the nature

of their sheep if they are to provide

proper care for the ock. The same is

true of shepherds in the church. It is

essential that pastors and elders un-

derstand the nature of the people they

are dealing with.

Before arriving at the dawn of the

redemptive-historical epoch when

the new covenant community was

birthed, the shepherd metaphor was

already a key image in the old cov-

enant community. It was used in a

variety of contexts to communicate

a cluster of related but differentiable

truths. Figurative language about

shepherds and sheep was often used

in Israel and in other nations in the

Ancient Near East to refer to dei-

ties, leaders (political, military, and

religious), and the populace. This

means that when we come to the New

Testament documents and read about pastors/shepherds, there is not only

an immediate context for the words,

there is an incredibly important

background context that needs to be

understood if the metaphor is to be

unpacked properly. Lord willing, I in-

tend to write a short series of articles

that deal with the shepherd imagery

in the Old and New Testaments so

that we can better understand the role

and responsibility of pastors in the

new covenant community. It is myhope that God will help us come to a

better understanding of the nature of

the ock, the role of the shepherd, and

the implications for practical pastoral

ministry.

enant. “The New Covenant really is

new,” writes Blake (19). In a breath-

taking use of Scripture he shows how

the authors of the New Testament saw

this newness. This was, in particular,

where I began to see my own frustra-

tions with CT crystallized. It doesseem to me now that CT attens the

covenants, whereas NCT follows

the language of the Scriptures more

carefully and closely. This is what I

have always believed and here it was

spelled out in a helpful systematic

way within NCT. Chapters 6 and 7 fo-

cus on the New Covenant community,

particularly the giving of the Holy

Spirit and the nature of the church as

the eschatological Israel. Here I foundhelpful support for positions I had

already afrmed. It seems to me, after

reading this little book, that I am ac-

tually closer akin to this system than I

ever was to CT.

It’s not that I am fully convinced

of all that NCT says. All systems have

aws and weaknesses. I have always

been reluctant to go by any label,

and yet most of us fall, more or less,

within the boundaries of some system.

It appears that I fall more within the

boundaries of NCT and less within

the boundaries of CT. This simple

book – 50 pages – gives an incredibly

concise and yet theologically robust

explanation and defense of New Cov-

enant Theology. It is well worth your

time as you wrestle with how best

to read the unity and discontinuity

between the Testaments.

Senior Pastor Needed

Spurgeon Heritage Church, an independent, Calvinistic, Baptist, New Covenant Church

is looking to fill the position for Senior Pastor. Candidate must be bi-vocational and

willing to move to the West Michigan area. For questions, to request an informational

packet, or to send your resume, email: [email protected]

Website: www.spurgeonheritage.org




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Annual John Bunyan Conference

May 5 ̶7, 2014Reformed Baptist Church, Lewisburg, PA

Speakers:

Peter Gentry, Larry McCall, Stephen Wellum, Steve West,

and A. Blake WhiteSchedule and registration to follow.

Mark your calendar--NOW

The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians

by A. Blake White

One of the fundamental hermeneutical tenets of New Covenant Theology is that we

should learn how to approach the Old Testament from Jesus and the Apostles. This

basic principle needs to be worked out and demonstrated by examining text aftertext. This little book is offered to that end. It examines the promises given to Abra-

ham in light of the book of Galatians. I hope and pray it is illuminating and points the

reader to the marvelous work Jesus Christ has accomplished.

A. Blake White (M.Div, SBTS; Th.M candidate, SWBTS) is currently pastor of Spice-

wood Baptist Church in Spicewood, Texas. He is the author of eight other books,

including What is New Covenant Theology? He is married to Alicia and they have

two sons, Josiah and Asher. They are currently expecting their rst daughter, Karis.



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Council on Biblical TheologyJuly 22-25, 2014

Grace Church at Franklin

4052 Arno Rd., Franklin, TN 37065

Theme: God’s Eternal Kingdom Purpose:

NCT—Time for a More Accurate Way

Morning & Evening Speakers

Tony Costa, Ph.D. Christian Apologist & Adjunct Professor, Providence Theological Seminary (PTS)

Peter Gentry, Ph.D. Professor of OT Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Gary George, Pastor Evangelist & Pastor, Sovereign Grace Chapel, Southbridge, MA; Bd. Member PTS

Frank Gumerlock, Ph.D. Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, PTS

Zach S. Maxcey, M.Div. Graduate of PTS and Blog Administrator for PTS

W. W. Sasser, M.Div. Pastor, Grace Church at Franklin and Board Member PTS

Greg Van Court, Ph.D.* Pastor, Dayspring Fellowship Church, Austin, TX & Adjunct Professor PTS

Kirk Wellum, Ph.D.* Principal , Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Canada

Stephen Wellum, Ph.D. Professor of Christian Theology, Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryA. Blake White, Th.M* Pastor, Spicewood Baptist Church, Spicewood, TX *candidate

Afternoon Doctrinal Workshop Moderator

Gary D. Long, Th.D. Faculty President, Providence Theological Seminary, Colorado Springs, CO www.ptsco.org

Registration Contact & Doctrinal Conference Host for the Council on Biblical Theology

Providence Theological Seminary: [email protected]. (719) 572-7900

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Grace Church at Franklin, Pastor W. W. Sasser, Church Ofce: (615) 694-2829

Message Topics and Registration & Lodging Information to Follow after the First of the Year

Sound of Grace, Issue 202, November 2013

Documents

Transcript of Sound of Grace, Issue 202, November 2013