Sound of Grace, Issue 189, July-August 2012

It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9
I s s u e 18 9 Ju l y - Au g u s t 2 012
Christ, Our New Covenant Prophet, Priest and King Introduction

John G. Reisinger
The Old Testament Scriptures set forth Moses, Aaron (and Melchizedek)1 and David as types of Christ in his work as Prophet, Priest and King. In each case, the New Testament Scriptures demonstrate exactly how Christ fullls all three of these ofces. One, Christ is that Prophet who fullls the promise God made to Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.2 Two, Christ is the Priest after the order of Melchizedek as promised in
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In This Issue Christ, Our New Covenant Prophet, Priest and King Introduction John G. Reisinger Cruciform Love VII: Ephesians 5:22-33, Part 1 A. Blake White Postmodernism and Christianity, Enemies? Part 3, The Heart of the Matter Steve West Identity, Responsibility, and Destiny: The Implications of the New Covenant for the Christian Walk Dr. J. David Gilliland Rewards John G. Reisinger 17
1 Both Aaron and Melchizedek are types of Christ. We will note the essential difference between the two later in this series when we consider Christ as our Priest. 2 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the NIV.
Cruciform Love VII: Ephesians 5:22-33, Part 1

A. Blake White
In this series of articles, I have been saying that cruciform love is essentially a commitment of the will to give of self for the good of another. Cruciform love is crossshaped love. First John 3:16 says, By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers (ESV). Love is dened by the cross of Christ. Neighbor-love is taught throughout the New Testament. For those of us who are married, our nearest neighbor is obviously our spouse. If you are married, you are a walking, talking sermon. Through your marriage, you are constantly preaching a gospel; the question is whether or not these sermons are biblical. The book of Ephesians is easily outlined. Chapters 1-3 describe the creation of the new humanity while chapters 4-6 describe the conduct of the new humanity. So in Ephesians 4:1, we read, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (my italics). Notice the therefore; Paul is saying, based upon the gospel theology I have laid out, therefore live this way. In Ephesians 5:18, the Holy Spirit through Paul commands the Ephesians to be lled with the Spirit. He then unpacks that command with ve activities: speaking, singing, making music, giving thanks, and submitting. Part of being lled with the Spirit then is submitting to divinely ordered relationships.1 Hear the words of Ephesians 5:22-33:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the
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1 Peter T. OBrien, The Letter to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 398-99.
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Psalm 110:4. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Christ is also the high priest who replaces Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. Three, Christ is Davids greater Son who established the everlasting kingdom promised to David and now sits on the throne in fulllment of the Davidic covenant made in 2 Samuel 7:12, 13. When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Commentators and preachers of all persuasions have set forth these truths concerning the three ofces of Christ. The Westminster Larger Catechism is typical.
Question 42: Why was our Mediator called Christ? Answer: Our Mediator was called Christ, because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the ofces of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both of his humiliation and exaltation.
July - August 2012 of a priest, in his once offering himself a sacrice without spot to God to pay for the sins of his people, and in making continual intercession for them. Question 45: How does Christ execute the ofce of king? Answer: Christ executes the ofce of a king, in calling out of the world a people to himself
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Sound of Grace is a publication of Sovereign Grace New Covenant Ministries, a tax exempt 501(c)3 corporation. Contributions to Sound of Grace are deductible under section 170 of the Code. Sound of Grace is published 10 times a year. The subscription price is shown below. This is a paper unashamedly committed to the truth of Gods sovereign grace and New Covenant Theology. We invite all who love these same truths to pray for us and help us nancially. We do not take any paid advertising. The use of an article by a particular person is not an endorsement of all that person believes, but it merely means that we thought that a particular article was worthy of printing. Sound of Grace Board: John G. Reisinger, David Leon, John Thorhauer, Bob VanWingerden and Jacob Moseley. Editor: John G. Reisinger; Phone: (585)3963385; e-mail: reisingerjohn@gmail.com. General Manager: Jacob Moseley: info@newcovenantmedia.com Send all orders and all subscriptions to: Sound of Grace, 5317 Wye Creek Drive, Frederick, MD 21703-6938 Phone 301473-8781 Visit the bookstore: http://www. newcovenantmedia.com Address all editorial material and questions to: John G. Reisinger, 3302 County Road 16, Canandaigua, NY 14424-2441. Webpage: www.soundofgrace.org SOGNCM.org or
The New Testament Scriptures clearly show that: 1) Christ is the true and nal Prophet who replaces Moses; 2) Christ is the true and successful Priest who replaces the Aaronic priesthood; 3) Christ is the true and everlasting King who fullls the covenant promise to David. We will look at the passages setting forth these truths. The men who held these three ofces under the old covenant controlled, in one way or another, the entire life, worship and morality of the theocratic nation of Israel, the old covenant people of God. Christ, as the new covenant Prophet, Priest and King, controls the entire life, worship and morality of the church, the new covenant people of God. The Holy Spirit, in the New Testament Scriptures, used powerful object lessons to show, in each case, how Christ is the fulllment of all three of these types. 1) The Mount of Transguration (Matt. 17:1-6) is the object lesson that shows the new Prophet has replaced Moses as prophet and lawgiver. The new Prophet also replaced all of the old covenant prophets as Gods spokespersons. The message from heaven saying, Listen to my Son is the Father showing the change from the old authority to the new and nal authority. This is the same message proclaimed in the book of Hebrews (1:1-3). Christ is the last and nal prophet. He has given us the full and nal message of God. God has said all he has to say in his Son. 2) The rending of the veil of the
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by Permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by Permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Catechism then proceeds to clearly explain the three ofces of Prophet, Priest, and King.
Question 43: How does Christ execute the ofce of a prophet? Answer: Christ executes the ofce of a prophet, in revealing to his church, in all ages, by his Spirit and Word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edication and salvation. Question 44: How does Christ execute the ofce of a priest? Answer: Christ executes the ofce
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Christianity and Postmodernism: Part 3 The Heart of the Matter

Steve West
In my previous two articles on this topic I drew attention to some points of agreement and disagreement between Christianity and postmodernism. One important point of agreement between the two is that the Enlightenment quest for the discovery of all truth by autonomous human agents is a dismal failure. Postmodernism is quite apt at pricking the pretensions of those making objective truth claims and Enlightenment epistemology is a tremendous eld of such intellectual pretensions and hubris. Consequently, when postmodernity makes the case that all human thinking and objective knowledge is really situated, relative, and subjective, the Christian must agree. But the Christian does not agree in total; the Christian agrees that if people are autonomous, then their claims to objectively knowing truth must be false. In this article I want to explore another connection between postmodernism and Christianity, which has been very stimulatingly presented in Merold Westphals book Suspicion & Faith: The Religious Uses of Modern Atheism.1 Westphal contends that Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud share in common a hermeneutics of suspicion. (Marx and Freud are not postmodernists, and it would be anachronistic to describe Nietzsche in fully-orbed postmodern categories. But the idea of suspicion as a tool for interpretation is very ingrained in the postmodern ethos.) Westphal explains that for Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud: What unites them in spite of important and
1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993) Rather than piling up a large number of footnotes using Ibid I will place page numbers in parentheses in the text when referring to this book.
possibly irreconcilable differences is their joint practice of the hermeneutics of suspicion, the deliberate attempt to expose the self-deceptions involved in hiding our actual operative motives from ourselves, individually or collectively, in order not to notice how and how much our behavior and our beliefs are shaped by values we profess to disown (p. 13; emphasis in original). This is an extremely important idea, and postmodernism is virtually unintelligible without it. Why do postmoderns reject claims to objectivity with such a passion? It is not simply because such objectivity is illusory. It is not simply because autonomous humans have failed in their quest to secure absolute knowledge. It is because what motivates people to lay claim to absolute truth is not the result of intellectual objectivity, but the force of personal biases, pride, and desire for control. This is why postmodernity cannot stand for meta-narratives (i.e., overarching stories which explain all other stories). All such meta-narratives, according to postmodernism, are totalitarian and authoritarian, not because they are true, but because the subjective person who believes it is motivated by a will which desires totalitarian, authoritarian power. As Westphal describes the role of the hermeneutics of suspicion, the reader of human beings has to read between the lines. The reader knows that people as individuals often act for motives other than what they profess. More than that, the reader knows that people so deeply deceive themselves that they dont even understand their true motivations: it is not that they lie to others, it is that they lie to them-
selves. In fact, many times people are motivated by the very attitudes which they consciously reject and abhor. Sigmund Freuds construct of the id, ego, and superego revolve around unconscious forces determining our thoughts, rationalizations, actions, and psychological problems. He formulated his theory of psychoanalysis on the framework of desires being repressed into the subconscious, where they were not allowed to be entertained by the conscious mind, but they nevertheless inuenced all behavior. The reason Freud thought interpreting dreams was so important was because dreams expressed our wishes that were hidden in the subconscious (although the dreams were encoded in symbols which had to be properly interpreted) (p. 45-50). At the level of ego and conscious thought, a person could claim they did x for reason y, although the truth was that they did x for reason z, a reason they would never accept as the motivation for their own behavior. Nietzsche, among other things, argued that everything is will to power. If you look at the universe, everything is exerting what force it has. People, according to Nietzsche, are also nothing more than will to power. Every person wants to express their force to its maximal extent, and every person seeks the best way to do so. Some people are very, very powerful, and could simply force others to do what they want. These people would be bold, strong, and unfazed by the concerns of others. They, in Nietzsches vocabulary, would be masters. Others, those who are weaker, would inevitably be slaves. But the slaves want to exercise their will to power as much
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Temple from top to bottom at the moment of Christs death (Matt. 27:5051) is the object lesson showing that the new Priest has replaced Aaron and fullled the Melchizedek prophecy. Again, this message is explicit in Hebrews (9:1-10; 10:19-22). The message that we may now come boldly to the throne of grace by the new and living way now opened through Christs work on the cross (Heb. 10:19, 20) could never have been preached as long as the Levitical priesthood was in effect and the veil in the temple was hanging in place. 3) The gift of tongues on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1- 36) is the object lesson showing that the resurrection and ascension of Christ to sit on the throne of David has established the kingdom promised to David and prophesied in both Joel 2 and 2 Samuel 7. The message is bow in repentance, faith and assurance before the newly crowned Lord (Phil. 2:5-8), or as the Psalmist said, Kiss the Son (Psalm 2:12). Dispensationalism clearly sees the ministry of Moses as prophet and Aaron as priest as clear pictures foreshadowing the work of Christ in behalf of the church. Some of the most heart warming and Christ exalting teaching that I have ever heard or read was from the ministry of men from the Brethren Assemblies preaching on the typology of the Tabernacle. They rightly saw Christs work as Priest on behalf of the church in everything. However, when they came to the prophets all they could see was Israel and an earthly millennium. Christs present Kingship over the church was not to be found in any of the Prophets. The church was a hidden mystery until rst revealed to Paul and set forth in Ephesians. The message of the prophets only involved a future earthly and Jewish millennium. In this theology, Christ is Prophet and Priest over the church but not a present King
over the church. He is only a coming King over a future redeemed Israel and not a present King over a present redeemed church made up of both saved Jews and Gentiles. Some of my Dispensational brethren insist that Christ is Lord over the church and King over Israel. His kingly rule was postponed until a future date. Covenant Theologians see Christ as Davids son already established on Davids throne in heaven. He is presently King just as much as he is Prophet and Priest. They also have no trouble seeing Aaron being replaced as High Priest by the Lord Jesus. However, they will not allow Christ to be a Lawgiver who replaces Moses as lawgiver. They will acknowledge Christ is the Prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18:15, but insist his prophetic work was to merely give the true interpretation of the Law that God gave to Moses. Our Lord does not change in any way any moral law given by Moses nor does he add any new laws to those given through Moses. In other words, our Lord is the last and greatest exegete, or interpreter, of the Law given to Moses, but he is only an interpreter, he is not a lawgiver in his own right. He gives no new moral laws or in any way changes those laws Moses taught. Christ is the last and greatest exegete of Moses but Moses is the full and nal lawgiver! Christ does not replace Moses as lawgiver in the same sense that he replaces Aaron as priest. We will expand on this when we cover Christ as Prophet.3 In Covenant Theology, the socalled moral law,4 meaning the Ten
3 For a detailed defense of this position, see In Defense of the Decalogue, by Dr. Richard Barcellos. For a detailed criticism of Barcellos book, see In Defense of Jesus, the New Lawgiver, by John G. Reisinger. 4 I use the words so called because nowhere does Scripture teach the law can be divided into three codes of law. There are laws that are civil, laws that are moral and laws that are ceremonial but there are
Commandments, cannot be changed in any way, even by the Son of God himself. Moses ministry as lawgiver over the conscience is just as much in effect for a Christian today as it was for an Israelite under the old covenant. Those who hold this theology would never think of sending a believer back under the old covenant to have Aaron offer a lamb for them, and yet those same people insist that we must send believers back to Moses to learn morality and ethics. We must treat Moses as the full and nal lawgiver and Christ as merely the true interpreter of Moses. It is our belief that Christ fullls all three ofces, Prophet, Priest and King in this dispensation and in the church. We believe Christ replaces Moses as Lawgiver in exactly the same sense that he replaces Aaron as Priest. We also believe that Christ is presently seated on Davids promised throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Several things are essential in this discussion in helping us with the knotty question of continuity/discontinuity. The ministries of all three ofces, prophet, priest and king, were tied up with the old covenant. Moses was the mediator of the old covenant that established Israel as the special nation of Gods uniquely chosen people. Aaron was the high priest who administrated the whole system of sacricial offerings. David was the king given the special kingdom prophecy that one of his sons would sit on his throne in an eternal kingdom. The New Testament Scriptures showing the fulllment of the three ofces prophesied in Old Testament Scriptures clearly demonstrate the failure and end of the old covenant and all it brought into being. A totally new covenant has fullled the promises of the old covenant and completely replaced it. The church has a new Prophet, a new Priest, and a
not three codes of law where two are done away with in Christ and one, the moral, is retained with no changes.
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Identity, Responsibility, and Destiny: The Implications of the New Covenant for the Christian Walk
J. David Gilliland, M.D.
Presented at the Providence Theological Seminary Doctrinal Conference 2009 Generally speaking, this message will fall to the side of discontinuity with respect to the Old and New Testaments. At the 2011 PTS doctrinal conference I gave a message entitled, New Covenant Theology: Is There Still a Role for the Imperatives? (Published in Sound of Grace, Issues 183 and 184) that I would place to the side of continuity. So let me suggest that at some point these two presentations be considered as a unit. I want to paint with a very wide brush the practical signicance of the priorities of the New Covenant. In doing so I am going to make some rather stark and extreme contrasts between the Christian walk under the rubric of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant perspective. And it is worth pointing out that for some there may not be sufcient context for what I am going to write, as it necessitates some familiarity with the full-edged legal approach. My main thesis is this: as regarding the Mosaic Law as a covenantal construct or taken as a whole, the fundamental issue is not the righteousness of the law (for Paul says that it is holy, just, and good), but rather, that in the light of the commandments of our Lord and his apostlesif we let the New Testament speak for itself it is simply insufcient. Why do I make that qualication regarding the hermeneutical approach to the New Testament? All Christian theologians will extol the value of Christs salvivic work, but when it comes to the application of what Christ and his apostles command us to do, it is difcult for the consistent classic covenant theologian to allow them to mean anything more than they would have under the judicial framework of the Mosaic Law. Note here, that when I use the term classic covenant theology I am referring to the One Covenant of GraceTwo Dispensations model as used in the Westminster Confession of Faith. And furthermore, I can honestly say, speaking of the evangelical church in America in generaleven many sovereign grace churchesthat most of us, most of the time, will not readily embrace what I am going to present. For when we rightly understand the nature and extent of the responsibility we have to reect in our actions the reality of Christs redemptive work in our hearts, is it any wonder that our natural inclination (whether perceived as such or not) might be to put ourselves back under an exhaustive legal code? We must face the fact that we are not simply dealing with a theological problem, but a hamartological problem. We are not entirely unlike Israel, who when faced with the reality of living in light of Gods deliverance clamored to return to the bondage of Egypt. For some that are recently new to the theological discussions on the New Covenant, you may be asking why these distinctions are really so important. For many, your heroes in the faith have been or are classic covenant theologians: John Calvin, John Owen, many of the Puritan authors, and more recently men like John Murray, R.C. Sproul, and J.I. Packer to name a few. But it is important to remember, and thankfully so, that God gives his people grace, mercy, and biblical understanding, in spite of our theological errors and inconsistencies. I would argue further that what is so commendable in their writings and lives, is so commendable because they actually do conform to New Covenant priorities rather than the logical consequences of classic covenant theology. In other words, praise God for their logical inconsistencies! Take for example, Jonathan Edwards. As I have argued elsewhere, his answer to the advocates of the Half-Way Covenant was far more consistent with believers church presuppositions than the classic covenant model. Let me suggest that you read John Calvins treatise on The Christian Life and see if it does not t the framework of New Covenant Theology better than the classic covenant model. In fact, let me begin with a quotation by John Calvin. Now, I know what you are thinking: this man must be out of his mindhe is quoting John Calvin at a Baptist conference on New Covenant Theology. It gets worse; we are actually going to use Calvin as one of our primary guides in considering this matter. Calvin wrote, You will do the thing of greatest value, if with all your zeal and ability you devote yourself to godliness (pietasor piety). Godliness is the beginning, middle, and end of Christian living for once we have attained it, God requires no more of us.
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new King. This truth is set forth in a much misunderstood text.

Therefore if any be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; and behold all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17 KJV
The NIV is a far better translation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!5 2 Cor 5:17 NIV.
permanent? This text is not talking about sanctication but justication. It is not describing our day to day state but our eternal standing before God in Christ. Every Christian can say, Many, even possibly most, things are in the process of becoming new, but no Christian can say, all things without exception have once and for all become new. That would be tantamount to saying, I have become a sinless, perfect person. The book of Hebrews is the commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:17. If a man is in Christ, he has been crucied with Christ, dead, buried and raised with Christ, and at this very moment is seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is part of two different creations at the same time. He is part of a physical creation and also part of a spiritual creation. To be in Christ is to be a part of the new creation, or the new man mentioned in Ephesians 2:15. The new creation is the church viewed as the body of Christ that was created on the day of Pentecost. To be in Christ is to be under grace and baptized into the body of Christ. It is to be under the new covenant or in the new creation. In the new creation, everything is totally, radically and permanently new. John MacArthur has stated it clearly: BETTER EVERYTHING: In this epistle [Hebrews], contrasts reigns. Everything is presented as better: a better hope, a better testament, a better promise, a better sacrice, a better substance, a better country, a better resurrection, a better everything. Jesus Christ is presented here as the supreme Best. And we are presented as being in him and as dwelling in a completely new dimension the heavenlies. We read of the heavenly Christ, the heavenly calling, the heavenly gift, the heavenly country, the heavenly Jerusalem, and our names being written in the heavenlies. Everything is new. Everything is better. We
dont need the old.6 It is not recorded in Scripture but the Jews may well have taunted the early Christians on several fronts. The rst one would have gone something like this: You guys cannot have a true religion since you do not have any of the things essential to a religion. You have no prophet, no priest, no temple, no sacrice, no covenant or any of the things that are an essential part of a religion. The writer to the book of Hebrews answers such a taunt by stressing that the Christian has everything the Jews have and in every instance what the Christian has is something better. The church has a better prophet, a better priest, a better temple, a better sacrice, a better covenant, etc. All things are not only totally new under the new covenant, they are also better than anything under the old covenant. The old is totally fullled and has vanished away. The new has come and established everything new and complete. There are two very important principles established in a correct understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:17 and the book of Hebrews. First, everything in the old covenant has been fullled and has permanently passed away. Everything in the new covenant is radically, totally new and nothing will pass away except faith will give way to sight. However, even though everything under the new covenant is new, all of these new things were all prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures as future realities to come in Messiahs reign. As we will see when we develop the truth of Prophet, Priest and King, the new merely fullls what was promised in the old. Our Lord fullls the expectations that grew out of the promises that God gave in the Old Testament Scriptures. In one sense, the new makes no sense without the
6 The MacArthur New Testament , Hebrews, by John MacArthur, Moody Press, Chicago, 1983, p. xix
Paul is not saying, If a person becomes a Christian, his whole life is changed. His old sinful habits are all gone and he lives a totally different life. It is certainly true that Biblical conversion radically changes the life style of the person converted. This truth is a major theme of the New Testament Scriptures. However, that is not Pauls point in this text. Paul is not dealing with sanctication in this text; he is dealing with the new creation brought in by Christ through the new covenant. The contrast is not with how radically different lost and saved people live, but with describing a person being under the new covenant as opposed to being under the old covenant. The apostle is contrasting the old Adam creation with the new Christ creation. Both the old things that have passed away and the new things that have become new in this text are in aorist tense. That means that the old things spoken of have all, with no exceptions, once for all passed away in totality. Likewise, the things that have become new mean all things without exception have become, once and for all, totally new. If this is describing the change in a Christians life, then Christians are sinless and totally holy. Who among us can say that every single bad thing in their life has forever gone away and everything, without a single exception, has become totally new, different and
5 A.W. Pink has an excellent treatment of this text in a booklet called Pink Jewels.
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Now, before we go any further let me make one nal qualication. By merely referring to the term piety, I know that there will be some who will accuse me of promoting some form of mystical pietism. Because it makes for an all too convenient ad hominem, let me take a few moments to dene that term. Pietism is to the doctrine of sanctication what legalism is to the doctrine of justication and presents itself in two main forms: (1) The deliberate trivialization of the God-given responsibilities of this world or age in an attempt to authenticate those of the spiritual realm or the age to come, (2) The use of ecclesiastical trappings or language in order to create an air of spirituality at the expense of true progress in the fruits of the Spirit and biblical holinesswithout which, the writer of Hebrews says, no one will see the Lord. Additionally, the focus of pietism is introspective and anthropocentric and asks the question, How will my actions and the opinion of others make me feel about myself? True piety on the other hand is theocentric and asks the question, How will my actions and the opinion of others reect on Gods character and His purposes? So I trust that what I am going to say has everything to do with biblical piety or godliness not pietism. The all-important question then is this, What does biblical piety or godliness look like? For the purpose of organizing our thoughts, I would like to consider this thesis under 3 headings: our Identity (who we areor more appropriately whos we are), our Responsibility (what we are called to do), and what they both say about our Destiny. Rather than focus on a single text, I would like to leave you with a more panoramic view, and perhaps there is no better place to start than the perspective we get from the book of Revelation. John often emphasizes the com-
monality or essential union between two concepts or entities by contrasting what he is told or hears with what he sees. In Revelation 5:4-6, John draws our attention to the essential identity of what he is told or hears of the Messiah in the Old Testament the Lion of Judahand what he saw regarding Christ in the New Testament a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain. In Revelation 7, verses 4 and 9 he employs the same literary device to help dene the relationship between what he hears regarding the Old Covenant people of God, the Nation of IsraelI heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israeland what he sees regarding the New Covenant people of GodBehold, a great multitude from every nation. Finally, in Revelation 1:10-12 he points to the essential union between Christ and his covenant people, the Church. In verse 10 John anticipates the Lord, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, but what is the rst thing that he sees? In verse 12 he turns and sees 7 golden lampstandsa picture of the light and witness of the Church (Rev 1:20). When the world hears of Christ, it turns, looks, and sees the people of God; we are Gods witnesses. What we see here is a dramatic picture of who we areour identity from Gods perspective. Identity Lets look rst at this concept of identity. One of the words used most commonly throughout Scripture to speak to this concept is the English word witness. Of all the categories involved in this discussion, this is the most critical. If we can, in even a small measure, come to appreciate this aspect of our identity, our responsibilities and destiny will be so much clearer. Unfortunately, people with painted hair holding up John 3:16 signs at a football game, or the abuse of a system comprised of four spiritual laws has tainted our view of
this word witness. The term witness in the Scriptures refers to that composite picture of who we are and everything that we do. Furthermore, this aspect of our identity refers not only to our role as witnesses to the world, but to our role as witnesses against the world. We are not only witnesses to the reality of heaven, but witnesses in the courts of heaven as to how the world treats us. And this judicial nature of our witness is often missed or ignored in the church today. Our blessings in heaven are tied not only to the accuracy of our message, but also to the patient endurance in bearing up under the worlds response. In the progress of Christs kingly rule, of which we are an active and vital part, both of these roles are crucial. There are many privileges and blessings that ow to us by virtue of our obedience to his word and our relationship with him. But the highest expression or ultimate end of Christs work in us is seen in our role as witnesses. Now of course that begs the question, Just what are we to be witnesses to? I will answer this as we go along, but what is paramount in this role is what John referred to in the Book of Revelation as the name and testimony of Jesus. It is not simply the verbal proclamation of the gospel message, but the very life of Jesus lived out in his people. It is what Paul meant when he told the Corinthians that their lives were epistles read by men. The concept of the witness is a well-dened thread that is weaved through the fabric of progressive revelation: from Isaiahs reference to the covenant people of God as my witnesses (chapters 45-48), to the rst promise made to the apostles in expectation of Pentecostand you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and to the end of the earthto one
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as the masters. The slave cant ght the master in a fair and open encounter, because they will be overwhelmed and lose. What can the slaves do? According to Nietzsche, the slaves must change the rules of the game. If youre going to get beat up by someone stronger than you, you might decide that mercy is a virtue, and try to convince your assailant of the truth of your claim. If you are weak, force, power, and self-centeredness are threatening, and as threats they are termed vices. If you are weak, then mercy, compassion, altruism, and love become virtues. But make no mistake, thunders Nietzsche, the only reason the weak prefer these virtues over the vices is because the virtues help them survive. Those who are weak claim objective moral norms, but only because of their selsh will to power (p. 235). What is fascinating about Nietzsche and Freud is that they both claim (for different reasons) that human beings operate out of a set of motivations very different from what they consciously claim about themselves. Marx argued that the same principle applies to government and economic structures: whole societies operate from different motivations than they like to think. Those who claim they are capitalists because it is the best system for a nation claim to be acting from altruistic, utilitarian motives, but they are really operating out of crass selshness and material gluttony. Arch-postmodern thinker Michel Fou-
cault relentlessly tries to show how social structures are thin veneers for domination, and how the competition between such structures is a barely disguised power struggle. What is true of the individual is true of society: our noble platitudes notwithstanding, very often we are motivated by truths that we wish to hide, individually or collectively. What is the connection between these positions and the Bible? Beyond just stating that the human heart is dreadfully wicked, beyond all cure and understanding, the Scriptures show that Gods prophets (and therefore God himself), and Jesus Christ were very much practitioners of the hermeneutics of suspicion. Westphal says that the Old Testament prophets were the rst masters of suspicion (p. 110). Think of Isaiah, Amos, and Malachi. The people in Isaiahs day are fasting, but not for Gods sake. Amos has to tell people that God hates their religious festivities, their sacrices and songs. Malachi enters into dialogue, telling the people that they are robbing God, which the people nd incredible to believe. Why such a disconnect between their actions and their motives? Clearly they are doing good things, and yet God is not pleased. Without specifying particular examples, stop and think about the ministry of Jesus Christ when he was on earth. How many times does he speak against hypocrisy? How many times does he point out that people believe they are worshipping God, but they re-
ally are not? In fact, the critical cases of self-deception are comfortably located in religion; and not a false religion either (it was, after all, Gods revelation and instituted covenantal practices that the hypocrites were following). The frightening reality is that people thought they were doing what they did to please God because they loved him, but they really loved themselves, and hated God (which is why they crucied God incarnate). So when postmodernism accuses meta-narratives of being totalitarian and authoritarian, we must concur that this is indeed often true. When postmoderns reject objectivity as impossible for autonomous human beings we must agree wholeheartedly. And when they are suspicious of our motives, and point out that people hide their true motivation under cloaks of piety, we must agree. We must agree humbly and search our own hearts (for only self-contented Pharisees have no fear of their own hearts). But we must also be faithful to point out that the Bible, long, long before our postmodern philosophies and insights, provides a more subtle, blistering, and far-reaching critique of the suspicious motives of the human heart than postmodernism ever has or will. In fact, we should thank postmoderns for following on the work of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, and destroying Enlightenment pretensions that claim objective neutrality, as if our intellects were not in any way affected by our fallen hearts and wills. Besides
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Abide in Him: A Theological Interpretation of John's First Letter A. Blake White John G. Reisinger says, If I were to pick one section of this commentary that gives the heartbeat of both the commentary and of New Covenant Theology, it would be the following: "As should be clear by now, love for John is not an emotion but is always practical and active. Love of fellow Christians expresses itself with actions and in truth. Love and obedience go hand in hand. Jesus made this clear in the Upper Room Discourse. John 14:15 says, 'If you love me, you will keep my commandments.' In John 14:21, Jesus said that the one who has and keeps his commandments is the one who loves him. John is a faithful interpreter of the mind of Jesus.
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of the nal pictures of the ministry of the Church symbolized in Revelation 11the two witnesses. And of course, it is not surprising that as the covenant head of His people the rst thing predicated of the exalted Christ in Revelation is Jesus Christ, the faithful witness (Rev 1:5). Jesus could not have made the point any clearer when He said to His apostles, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear (Mark 4:21-23). It is important to note that this last phrase If anyone has ears to hear, let him hearis repeated at the end of each of the letters to the 7 Churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In those chapters the lampstands are symbolic of the light and witness of the Church. Like Israel of old, failure at this point draws a strong warning: I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place (Rev 2:5). Our ResponsibilityPatient Endurance Although all aspects of our behavior and personality relate in some way to our effectiveness as witnesses, the ones that stand out are patient endurance and self-denial or sacrice. In fact, the word godliness or godly (pietas) is virtually always seen in the context of one of these words or concepts. It should not be a surprise that something that looks like or is meant to remind us of Christ would be associated with the concept of sacrice. When we look at those texts where we are commanded or exhorted to identify with one of Gods leaders or Jesus himself, it is virtually always in this context. For example, in Philippians 2:5 we read, Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we read, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. In a discussion on the concept of self-denial in his treatise On the Christian Life, John Calvin wrote, it has seemed proper to our divine Master to train his people by a more accurate method than to the rule which is enjoined in the Law (emphasis mine); and the leading principle in the method is, that it is the duty of believers to present their bodies a living sacrice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service. Hence he draws the exhortation: Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For some, knowing his position on the importance of the Mosaic Law in the life of the believer, the fact that this quotation comes from John Calvin may be surprising. Calvin here makes a clear distinction between the focus of the Old Covenant and that of the New Covenant. While we emphasize that in the New Covenant we are free from the law, that doesnt mean that we are simply free to do whatever we want. We often forget that we are now enslaved to Christ. The term Paul most frequently applied to himself was doulos or bondslave, and he expressed the reality of that relationship in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucied with Christ, nevertheless I live. And the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. We now have a higher motivation and responsibility, one that Jesus said could not be contained by the old wine skins of the Mosaic Law,
but one motivated by the grace and sacrice of Christ. What Calvin recognizedalbeit inconsistently in my viewwas that the Old Covenant (the Mosaic Law) had a stronger focus on the concepts of justice and judgment, and the judicial framework is most conducive to that purpose. This was necessary in part because Moses was dealing with a predominantly unregenerate people, and in part because the unfolding of Gods redemptive program still awaited the reality that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). The New Covenant, however, moves us theologically from the priority of earthly dominion to the priorities of the Great Commissionpropitiation, redemption, and reconciliation. We can see a model of this in the way that God worked with the Old Testament prophets, a process that was a harbinger of the New Covenant. It was the process of moving them from the perspective of Lord, How long? or When will you judge? to be able to pray, In wrath remember mercy. Micah chapter 7 is a good example. In that chapter the Lord moves Micah from an anticipation of Gods judgmentbeginning with the phrase Woe is meto the anticipation of his mercy, compassion, and deliverance. After a lengthy recitation of Israels transgressions in verses 1-6, Micah is suddenly made aware of his own sinfulness and need for mercy, But for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation because I have sinned against him (vs. 7-9). He then concludes in verses 18-20: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all
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our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Note carefully Calvins comments on this text: This passage teaches us that the glory of God principally shines in this,that he is reconcilable, and that he forgives our sins. God indeed manifests his glory both by his power and his wisdom, and by all the judgments which he daily executes; his glory, at the same time, shines forth chiey in this,that he is propitious to sinners, and suffers himself to be pacied; yea, that he not only allows miserable sinners to be reconciled to him, but that he also of his own will invites and anticipates them. Hence then it is evident, that he is the true God. That religion then may have rm roots in our hearts, this must be the rst thing in our faith,that God will ever be reconciled to us; for except we be fully persuaded as to his mercy, no true religion will ever ourish in us, whatever pretensions we may make. In light of these realities, we should not be surprised at the way the apostle Paul describes himself and his ministry. For example, in II Timothy 4:6, 7 he wrote, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good ght, I have nished the race, I have kept the faith. And to what end was Paul willing to be poured out? In I Timothy 1:15,16 he wrote, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life He is saying that he is willing to let the mercy and patient endurance of Christ be lived out in his life, not for the purpose of a false piety or
pietism, but aware that his example would issue forth in the salvation of Gods elect. Note that the last phrase Paul usesan example to those who were to believe in him for eternal lifeis virtually identical to the one Luke uses in Acts 13:48 to refer to the growth of the early churchand as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Is Paul not pointing to the reality that Gods decree of the ultimate salvation of his people includes the means of his (Pauls) own suffering and witness? This negates the idea that we are free to live as we choose as long as it is not prohibited because God is going to save His people anyway. That is a most despicable form of hyper-Calvinism. We say that we love Gods people. How about Gods people who are not yet Gods people? In fact, one of the main reasons for Yahwehs rejection of the Nation of Israel as a covenantal theocracy was their failure in this crucial rolethe role of displaying Gods name and glory to the nations. They were so focused on their own agenda that they refused the role of witness. This was true for even some of their prophets. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh he said in effect, I have my own agenda! These people deserve Gods judgment! And God said in effect, Jonah, lets go shing for a few days and then we will talk. And I think the discussion went something like, Jonah, about this witness thing, it was not just a suggestion! What, then, are some of the practical implications of our responsibility to be faithful in this role? The willingness to sacrice or suffer loss in order to preserve this witness is expected in every area of our livesfrom our reputation (what the Roman world referred to as dignitas), to our possessions and ultimately our lives. For example, when Paul rebuked the Christians at Corinth for their poor witness he says, But brother goes to law against brother, and that before
unbelievers. I say this to your shame! Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? Is this our natural inclination? At this point is it not easier to default back to a civil law code that clearly denes and asserts the rights of the victim and the precise role and responsibilities of the civil magistrate? However, Paul says because of your witness before unbelievers it is better to be defrauded. In his letter to the Church at Colossae Paul gives us another example: Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prisonthat I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious. (Col. 4:3-5). In this prayer the apostle prays for two things: (1) opportunitythat God may open to us a door for the word, and (2) claritythat I might make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Perhaps what is most striking in this passage is what Paul does not specically ask forprayer on his own behalf. The phrase on account of which I am in prison is a subordinate clause; it is not in the main trajectory of his prayer. Truly astounding! Paul is asking the Colossians to pray to the God he knows has created and controls all things, and he doesnt even bother to ask Him to free him from prison? This is not some form of pietistic pacism. Rather, Paul appears simply to be pre-occupied; more concerned with his mission and the message of the gospel than his personal plight. Look carefully at the words of the apostle Paul in Acts 20:22-24, the Holy Spirit testies to me in every city that imprisonment and afictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may nish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify (literally to give witnessa form of the word marturia) to the gospel of
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the grace of God. Paul concludes with an exhortation to pursue a lifestyle that is consistent with this mission and message, walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Similarly, in Colossians 1:10 he wrote, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Why is this so critical? Because we are His witnesses! Of all the aspects of our conduct or speech that Paul could have chosen, he chose the word gracious. In this one word, you have a tting summary of the man, his methods, and his message. The concept of grace goes beyond what is lawful or justwhich is giving each man his due. It goes beyond the concept of mercywhich is withholding what someone justly deserves. It is speaking or treating them in a way that they do not deservebecause that is the way that God has treated us. This is the essence of our responsibility as Gods witnessesand the primary focus of the New Testament and the New Covenant. Again, I would argue that the judicial format and the extensive legal requirements of the Old Covenant are insufcient for this task. The apostle Peters comments go to the heart of the matter:
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
July - August 2012 righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (I Peter 2:18-24).
Page 11 receive what is promised (Heb 10:3236).
And of course, it is not surprising that the ultimate sacriceour own livesbecame synonymous with that of the word witness by the time we come to the end of the rst century. For as you no doubt know, the English word martyr is the transliteration of the Greek word for witnessmarturia. This reality drew the exhortation from the risen Christ to the believers at Smyrna in Revelation 2:10, 11, Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life and the one who overcomes will not be hurt by the 2nd death. Destiny! And nally, one of the most important things about our witness and our patient endurance is what they say about our destiny. At the end of the II Timothy 4 passage that we read from earlier, Paul gives part of the explanation for his patient endurance: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing (II Tim 4:8). And furthermore, this is not just a perspective unique to the apostolic ofce, but, as the author of the Book of Hebrews records, was one of the characteristics of the church at large in the rst Century:
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and afiction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your condence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may
The importance of this perspective lies not only in what it says about the heavenly state, but what it reveals regarding the realities of the spiritual dimension in the here and now. Look for a moment at what the apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy, But as for you, O man of God Pursue righteousness, godliness (piety), faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good ght of faith (I Tim 6:11). Faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness: thems not exactly ghtn words in our neck of the woods. But these are the weapons that Paul says are mighty for the tearing down of strongholdssomething for which the world has no answer. By way of illustration, I am reminded of a famous old movie, The Count of Monte Cristo. There is a scene at the end of the movie where the Count of Monte Cristo, in a sword ght to the death, mortally wounds the evil Count Mondego. In his last words the evil count asks, Where now is your mercy? to which the Count of Monte Cristo gives his famous response, I am a Count, not a Saint! Certainly there is a biblical role for the count or civil authority, but the world is in desperate need of more saints, not counts. This raises the important question, Where do the priorities of the count give way to those of the saint? When do the weapons of this age give way to those of the spiritual realm and the age to come? This will be an increasingly important question for the church in our nation. We will have to ask the question, Is our main priority Christs kingdom or national interest? They are not mutually exclusive, but when a decision must be made what will our priorities be? The great seventeenth century Puritan theologian John Owen came face to face with this reality when serving as chaplain to Cromwells army. One can appreciate his anguish of soul when,
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head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,7 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own esh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one esh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Paul begins with the wives: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. He commands the wives to submit to their husbands. Wives are called to submit to their husbands because they are the head of the home. The Bible does not teach that women should submit to men but that wives should submit to their husbands. God is God. Gods Word is Gods Word. In our current cultural situation, submission is a bad word, but it mustnt be among the people of God. He has spoken. He has established certain leadership and authority roles within the family, and submission is a humble recognition of that divine ordering.2 This is not a suggestion.
2 Ibid., 411.
This is the Christian view of the home. First Corinthians 11:3 says that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God; First Corinthians 11:7-9 reads, For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man; First Peter 3:1 reads, Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands; First Peter 3:5-6: For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening; Colossians 3:18 reads, Wives, submit to your husbands, as is tting in the Lord; Titus 2:5 says women should learn to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. John Piper denes submission as the divine calling of a wife to honor and afrm her husbands leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.3 He goes on to say what submission is not:
It does not mean agreeing with everything your husband says. It does not mean leaving your will or your brain at the wedding altar. It does not mean avoiding every effort to change a husband. It does not mean putting the will of the husband before the will of Christ. It does not mean that a wife gets her personal, spiritual strength primarily through her husband. It does not mean that a wife is to act
Submission does not imply that the wife is inferior in dignity to the husband. The analogy of the Trinity is helpful here. The persons of the Trinity are equal in authority but have differing roles. The Son is fully God, but submits to the Father. The Son always does the things that are pleasing to the Father (John 8:28-29). The Son does nothing on his own authority. The Sons food is to do the Fathers will.5 Wives are called to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. How does the church submit to Christ? By looking to Christ her head for benecial rule, living by his norms, experiencing his loving presence, receiving from him gifts that will enable growth, and responding to him in gratitude and awe.6 Wives are called to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. Wife, your discipleship is now bound up with your husband. To submit to him is to submit to the Lord. Wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Submission must occur in every area of life. This means that now there is no area of your life where you say to your husband, Back off, this is mine. Verse 33 says, However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. The wife is called to submit to and respect her husband. Wife, does your husband feel respected by you? This is one of his most important needs. I hope you are deeply familiar with the Proverbs 31 woman. Have you ever noticed that it says that her husband is respected at the city gate? All too often husbands are pitied at the city gate because their
4 Ibid., 99-101. 5 See Bruce Wares helpful book, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005). 6 OBrien, Ephesians, 416.
3 John Piper, This Momentary Marriage (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), 80.
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after witnessing the savagery of the Irish campaign, he wrote, How is it that Jesus Christ is in Ireland only as a lion, staining all his garments with the blood of his enemies; and none to hold Him out to His friends as a Lamb sprinkled with His own blood. The apostle Paul continues in I Timothy 6:12, Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. What does it mean to take hold of eternal life? In part it means living as a witness to the values of the next agethe life to come. It doesnt mean ignoring our responsibilities on this earth or in this age, but when the trials and suffering comeand they mustand the tools and priorities of this age come into conict with those of the next, then we must be witnesses to the reality of the heavenly city. That is part of what it means to be a sojourner or exile! Those who have as their primary focus a realized eschatologyChristian Reconstructionism for examplemay tell you that this type of lifestyle is unrealistic and not
the path to ruling or dominion. That is only true if you cannot see beyond the realities of this earthly realm. A perspective on the Christian life that focuses on the realities of the spiritual realm is for the Christian what it means to be a true realist. This world does not see these things; they take eyes of faith. Remember what the writer of Hebrew said about Abraham, the father of the faithful, by faith he was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God! CONCLUSION: This then is something of our identity, our responsibility, and our destiny! Again, as Calvin said, there is a more accurate method than to the rule which is enjoined in the Law. The old ranchers out West have a saying, justice means that the horse gets to ride half the time! Do we really want a legal framework and the justice of God to be our primary emphasisother than in the nished work of Christ on our behalf? We need to stay focused on walking in a manner that more accurately displays Christs
saving work for his people. When we make our daily decisionshow we speak, how we dress, how we treat the saints of God as well as our neighborsdo we ask, What are the legal stipulations? I can only warn you that it often leads in one of two directions: (1) on the one hand to an arrogant legalism, (2) on the other hand, to a judicial form of antinomianism that declares, If it is not strictly forbidden I can do whatever I wantI am free. But the apostle Paul would respond, It is not an issue of what is permissible but what is protable (I Cor 6). What we have been given freedom to ask is not, what are my legal rights? but How will my actions most clearly reect what Christ has done for me? We have been called to be what the world cannot be, to do what the world cannot do, that they may see something of the reality of heaven. I trust that we might, by Gods grace, grow in our ability to live in the light of these things, and that we would be used mightily in the progress of the gospel of Christs kingdom. m
Interspersed with the historical recital that makes up much of the early chapters of Deuteronomy are bursts of exhortation. One of the most moving is found in Deuteronomy 10:12-22. Its magnificent themes include: A sheer God-centeredness that embraces both fearing God and loving God (10:12-13). In our confused and blinded world, fearing God without loving him will dissolve into terror, and thence into taboos, magic, incantations, rites; loving God without obeying him will dissolve into sentimentalism without strong affection, pretensions of godliness without moral vigor, unbridled lust for power without any sense of impropriety, nostalgic yearnings for relationships without any passion for holiness. Neither pattern squares with what the Bible says: "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD you God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him . . . ? " D.A. Carson, For the Love of God (Crossway Books, Wheaton, ILL 1998) June 6
Blake White has written a wonderfully accessible primer on new covenant theology This is the ideal book to give to someone who wants a brief and convincing exposition of new covenant thought. I recommend this work gladly. Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary In a very readable, accurate, and succinct manner, Blake White covers the basics of New Covenant Theology I highly recommend this work for those who want to know more about NCT, for those who want to think through how "to put the Bible together," and mostly for those who want to rejoice in Jesus Christ our Lord, our glorious mediator and head of the new covenant. Stephen J. Wellum, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
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wife complains and talks behind their back rather than praises him there. Wives, do not complain about your husband; respect him. Husbands, you are the head of the home. Again, verse 23 says, For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Piper denes headship as the divine calling of a husband to take primary responsibility for Christ-like, servant leadership, protection, and provision in the home.7 This is how God ordered things. Genesis 3 says that Eve took the fruit, ate it, and gave it to Adam but God comes and says to the man, Where are you (Gen. 3:9)? The husband is the head. He is the responsible leader. Husband, you are called to lead your home. Husband, as head of the home, you are called to be the spiritual leader. This is your God-given responsibility. Are you leading your wife in prayer? Are you leading her in reading and understanding Gods Word? In First Corinthians 14, Paul says that women should remain silent in the churches and that if they have questions, they should ask their husbands at home (14:35). Are you prepared to answer those questions? Do you lead in reading God-centered books? Start simple. You dont have to know Greek and Hebrew to lead your wife in learning and following Gods Word. I challenge you: today after dinner read a chapter of the Bible and pray with your wife before you go to bed. It is a very easy way to start. She will love you for it. Husband, are you the chief repenter? You are obviously not called to be sinless. You will fail, but when you fail, you are called to lead in confession and repentance. Let me share my latest mess-up. Recently the elders of our church went to a mens
7 Piper, This Momentary Marriage, 80.
conference to learn about biblical masculinity. We were getting settled in our seats, ready to be wrecked afresh by the Holy Spirit. As I was sitting, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a number I did not recognize, and the service was about to start, so I ignored it, or at least attempted to. The same number called again. I decided I better answer it in case something was wrong. Sure enough, it was my wife Alicia. She had accidentally locked her keys in her trunk. I was thirty minutes away. Her cell phone was locked in the car so I gave her some numbers of our church members so she could get a ride home. She called some ladies and called me back. Now, we had talked about this before. We had a rule: never, ever put the keys in the trunk because if you never put the keys in the trunk, you will never have to worry about locking them in there. At this point, my idiot self thought it would be helpful to remind her that if she had never put the keys in the trunk, this would not have happened. She gently responded, I understand that, Blake. I wish I could have seen her heart at that moment. I imagine she was giving me a roundhouse karate kick to the throat. As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I was in the wrong. We got off the phone, and then I called her back to repent. I confessed that that was a stupid, unhelpful, and needless comment. Why do I share that story? I do so to show that I am a work in progress, but also to make the point that what is important is confession and repentance. I should have never made that comment. I also should have never gotten off the phone. I shouldve repented on the spot. Fights will happen. Conict is inevitable. What is important is constant and continual confession and repentance. Husband, you should be the rst to confess and repent of your sin. Paul Tripp writes, Enough of pointing the nger. Enough of listen-
ing to your inner lawyer defend your cause. Enough of carrying around a record of your spouses wrongs. Enough of judging, criticizing, and blaming. Enough of holding the other to a higher standard than the one you hold for yourself. Enough of complaining, arguing, withdrawing, and manipulating. Enough of the self-righteous standoff that never leads to change. Enough of hurt and acrimony. Enough of painting yourself as the victim and your spouse as the criminal. Enough of demanding and entitlement. Enough of threat and guilt. Enough of telling the other how good you are and how thankful she should be to live with a person like you. Enough of going to bed in angry, self-righteous silence. Enough of hyper-vigilantly watching him to see if he is delivering. Enough of looking to him to be your personal messiah, satisfying the longings of your heart. Enough. It is time to quit pointing the nger and to start confessing how deep and pervasive your weakness is. Change in your marriage begins with confessing your need.8 If you are single, if you want to be married, what are you doing now to prepare to be a husband? We spend 12-16 years preparing for our profession or occupation but often just jump blindly into our more fundamental calling: husband and father. Redeem the time: read good marriage books, be mentored, ask questions of those who are a few steps ahead of you. Randy Stinson provides 9 areas for you to lead with intention:
Vision: this is where we are going Direction: this is how we get there Instruction: let me show you how Imitation: watch me Inspiration: isnt this great Afrmation: youre doing great
8 Paul David Tripp, What Did You Expect? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 122-23.
Issue 189 Evaluation: how are we doing Correction: lets make a change Protection: Ill take care of you9
July - August 2012
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Verse 25 of Ephesians 5 says, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. We are called to love like Christ. We are called to servant leadership. Woman, give me my chips! is a far cry from servant leadership. This love is not simply an emotion but an act of the will. The character and description of love is the phrase and gave himself up for her.10 Ephesians 5:1-2 similarly says, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrice to God. Paul Tripp denes love as willing selfsacrice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.11 How did Christ exercise his authority? He took the initiative. He loved with self-giving sacrice for the church. He washed feet! This love gives of self. This is pouring yourself out for your wifes good. This is working late to come home to work. This is bending over backwards to
9 Randy Stinson and Dan Dumas, A Guide to Biblical Manhood (Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2011), 80-83. 10 OBrien, Ephesians, 419. 11 Tripp, What Did You Expect?, 188.
serve her. Her good should be on your mind at all times. C.S. Lewis writes, This verse [5:25] is most embodied in the husband whose wife receives most and gives the least, its the one whose wife is most unworthy of him, is in her own mere nature least lovable. For the church has no beauty but what the bridegroom gives her; he does not nd, but makes her lovely.12 First Peter 3:7 reads, Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Colossians 3:19 says, Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Christ intercedes for his church. Do you pray for your wife regularly? I think you should do it every day. Also, anytime she has a concern, stop then and there and pray with her and for her. Husband, study your wife. Do you know what blesses her? Where does she need encouragement? Whats weighing on her heart today? Do you romance her? You should. Date her. Take initiative. Plan. Surprise her. Focus on connection. Work through challenges. Save and spend on big getaways occasionally. Cultivate your marriage! Verses 28-31 say, In the same way, husbands should love their wives
12 C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Harcourt Brace, 1991), 105-06.
as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own esh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one esh. Husbands are called to love their wives like they love themselves. Paul is not saying we rst need to have self-love to love our wife, but he is referring to the fact that all people look after their own interests and welfare instinctively. We are now one esh, one entity. You dont need anyone to tell you to get a drink when you are thirsty or grab a bite when hungry. You take care of yourself instinctively, and you need to take care of your wife instinctively as well. A key problem for many marriages is laziness. We want to just sit back, put it in cruise, and hopefully things will get better or at least maintain, but not in this world. Satan is on a crusade to wreck marriages. He hates marriage because it points to Christ and his bride. We must wake up and pay attention. Dont drift. Dont be rocked to sleep by the regularity. Dont be numbed by the normalness of it. Can you say that your relationship is the best it has ever been and that it is getting better all the time? Are you growing deeper in unity, love, and understanding? Do you have deeper affection, a more intimate friendship,
A Christian should so live that he would not be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. Anon The real test of your Christianity is not how pious you look at the Lord's table on Sunday, but how you act at the breakfast table at home. Vance Havner If family religion were duly attended to and properly discharged, I think the preaching of the Word would not be the common instrument of conversion. Richard Baxter
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old and in another sense the old is not even close to complete without the new. Many people quote Augustines famous statement, The new is in the old concealed and the old is in the new revealed, but they really dont consistently carry that through in detail. They either read the New Testament back into the Old Testament and try to Christianize Judaism, or else they read the Old Testament into the New Testament and try to Judaize Christianity. The question of continuity/discontinuity is not the primary subject of this series. However, it should be clear that the subject does directly impinge on the relationship of the old and new covenants. Understanding how much better Christs ministry of Prophet, Priest and King is when compared with Moses, Aaron and David clearly involves continuity and discontinuity. Aaron and Davids ministries are clear examples of discontinuity expressed in terms of promise and fulllment. It is essential that the comparison of the old and new covenants, especially in the book of Hebrews, be seen as a comparison of Judaism and Christianity and not baby versus mature Christians. Again, John MacArthur has said it far better than we could. By the way, MacArthurs commentary on Hebrews is one of the best treatments of Hebrews in print. The Contrast between Christianity and Judaism.
Throughout the book of Hebrews, the many comparisons and contrasts are basically between Christianity and Judaism. This truth is essential to a proper interpretation of the epistle the Old, that is, of Christianity to Judaism. Within this theme are the sub themes of the superiority of the new priesthood to the old, the new sacrices to the old ones, the new Mediators to the old ones, and so on. This is
July - August 2012 the key that unlocks every section of Hebrews, and to use any other key is, I believe, to make forced entry. In the book of Hebrews the Holy Spirit is not contrasting two kinds of Christianity. He is not contrasting immature Christians and mature ones. He is contrasting Judaism and Christianity. He is contrasting the substance and the shadow, the pattern and the reality, the visible and the invisible, the facsimile and the real thing, the type and the anti-type, the picture and the actual. The Old Testament essentially is Gods revelation of pictures and types, which are fullled in Christ in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews, therefore, compares and contrasts the two parts of Gods revelation that our division of the Bible reects.7
Issue 189 For Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. When God raised up his servant, he sent him rst to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. Acts 3:22-26 NIV
We will see this contrast as we compare the ministry of Moses, Aaron and David with the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will see three great and godly men who, despite their faithfulness and godliness, nonetheless had to be replaced. None of them, or all of them put together, could accomplish the goal of Gods sovereign grace. That great work took a new Prophet, a new Priest and a new King. A fellow pastor, Chad Bresson, wrote the following:
One way in which this telos has been achieved in the fullness of the gospel is the way in which Jesus fullls all the mediatorial ofces of Messiah: He is more than just the Prophet, Priest and King of his people: He is Prophet, AND the message; Priest AND the sacrice; King AND the law. All things, indeed, have joined in him. He is the perfection of Gods purpose.
The New Testament sets forth Christ as the very kind of priest that sinners need to adequately represent them before God. He can bring all for whom he died into the presence of God fully justied.
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in ofce; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our needone who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrices day after day, rst for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacriced for their sins once for all when he offered himself. Heb. 7:2327
The New Testament sets forth Christ as King. He not only rules as King, he guards and protects all his subjects. The government is upon His shoulders (Isa. 9:6, 7).
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings Rev. 17:14 NIV
The New Testament sets forth Christ as the true and nal Prophet. God has said all that he has to say in his Son (Hebrews 1:1-3). He is the new covenant Prophet.
7 ibid, p. 127, 128
In our next article we will start looking at Christ as our new covenant Prophet. m John Calvin
Ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy.
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Rewards
John G. Reisinger
No one who understands the Bible questions that salvation is by grace through faith. They are convinced that our works, pre- or postconversion, have nothing to do with our going to heaven. The Bible could not possibly be any clearer that salvation cannot be earned but is given by free grace. However, Christians are divided over whether faithfulness and obedience in this life, after conversion, will be rewarded in heaven. One of the problems involved in believing there will be rewards in heaven is this: how can heaven be better than heaven? I believe the Scriptures are clear that there are rewards in eternity for the saved. Christians will give an account and be held responsible for their use or abuse of grace and will be rewarded accordingly. Likewise, agrant sinners will be beaten with many stripes. Notwithstanding the problems involved in this view, we believe the Scriptures teach a judgment of the Christians works that is totally unrelated to their salvation. Just as the Scripture teaches it is impossible for a Christian to come before God as a judge and be condemned (Romans 8:1 and John 5:24), so it also teaches there will be a review of the deeds done in the esh by the Christians. Texts like Matthew 20:1-15 are often used to attempt to prove all Christians will be treated totally equally in heaven, but there is a far better explanation of that parable. Matthew 5:11, 12 denitely states that persecution for Christs, and the gospels, sake will be rewarded in heaven. The laying up treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20) certainly implies rewards in heaven, and II Corinthians 10:5 is emphatic on the subject. Several things must be remembered when we discuss rewards in
heaven. First of all, there can be no jealousy or pride in heaven. No believer who receives more rewards than other believers can be proud, and the believer who receives fewer rewards cannot in any sense be envious. No believer will spend eternity reminding themselves of all they missed by their unfaithfulness, and no believer will ever either boast or look down his nose at another believer. No matter what reward a believer receives, or does not receive, he will be 100% content with his lot. This is an important point. Every person who goes to heaven will be as happy as it is possible to be. One individual may be twice as happy as another person but neither person could possibly be happier than he actually is. You are asking, How can that be? I mulled that over and nally gured out a possibility. I make no claim for divine authority for my thoughts and you may well have a better explanation. Suppose our obedience as Christians in this life gave us the ability to enjoy Gods blessing in eternity. Imagine we were like a spiritual vessel that held Gods joy. Some peoples capacity is a pint, anothers is a quart, anothers capacity is a gallon and still anothers is 50 gallons. The pint holder is as full as he can possibly be and therefore could not even be aware of how much less joy he had than the person with the 50 gallon capacity. No matter what capacity an individual had, he would be lled up to the brim. He could not possibly contain any more joy and satisfaction. No one could in any sense be envious and no one in any sense could be proud. Everyone would have all it was possible for them to possess. We must keep reminding ourselves we are not talking about earning salvation or in any way contributing to our salvation. The same principle is at work on the subject of crowns. The Bible talks about believers literally
earning a crown. When we receive these crowns we will probably cast them at the feet of our Lord and gladly own that it was his grace alone working in us that enabled us to win these crowns. The principle of equality among Gods people is embodied in both the Old and New Testaments. First Corinthians 12 emphasizes the fact that every believer has a God-given purpose and function in the body of Christ and each member is vital to the whole body. The principle of sharing equally in the blessing of Gods gifts was practiced by David. First Samuel 30 records an incident in Davids life where he defeated the Amalekites in battle. He returns home with much spoil and proceeds to divide it among his men. Some of his men who had gone to battle objected to David giving an equal share to the men who stayed behind and guarded the stuff. David insisted on the principle of share and share alike.
20 And David took all the ocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said, This is Davids spoil. 21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them. 22 Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. 23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company
RewardsContinued on page 19
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greater admiration and appreciation, and more tenderness toward your spouse than you did 5 years ago? These things are not a way of life you wander into. They are blessings from living together with cruciform love. As Paul Tripp writes, A healthy marriage is a healthy marriage because, by Gods grace, the people in that marriage never stop working on it!13 We must be committed to doing the moment-by- moment, day-by-day things that keep our marriages healthy. Whats the point of such love? Verses 26-27 say that Christ loved the church by giving himself for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. With these words, Paul is probably referring to the picture painted in Ezekiel 16. There we have a beautiful picture painted for us:
Again the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open eld, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! I made you ourish like a plant of the eld. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, 13 Tripp, What Did You Expect?, 108.
July - August 2012 you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with ne leather. I wrapped you in ne linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of ne linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate ne our and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD. (Ezek. 16:1-14)
Issue 189
WestContinued from page 8
Christianity, postmodern thought provides perhaps the best exposition of the fallen human heart in any Western school of thought. The risk is to rush ahead and show that postmodernism itself must be read with the hermeneutics of suspicion, and to turn the tables and demonstrate that postmodernism itself is a disguised will to power, or just as illicitly and deceptively motivated as anything else. That is all very true. But I am inclined to agree with Westphal when he says: My central thesis is that from a religious point of view the atheism of Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche should be taken seriously as a stimulus to selfexamination, rather than refuted as an error, (p. x). Now, of course it should be refuted as an error (thats what we Christians do with everything against the Gospel!). But attacking their arguments may be our rst move to wave off the penetrating truth in their criticism. Does my heart wish to a false position for Gods glory, or because my self-deceptions do not want to be exposed? Are we rejecting Nietzsches attacks or the Holy Spirits conviction? These three articles have explored a few links of positive agreement between Christianity and some facets of postmodernism. As such they do not represent (or pretend to provide) anything approaching a balanced assessment of the relationship between the two. It would certainly be unwise to discard truth because we dont like where it is found. But more to the point, the truth found in postmodernism is biblical truth! It is, in Cornelius Van Tils phrase, borrowed capital. Postmodernism provides a fascinating critique of the limited nature of the human mind and the weakness of the human heart. To both of those truths I can only say Amen! But I must also point out that the Bible acknowledged it rst, and I must claim these truths not as postmodern, but as Christian. m
Husbands, our calling is to love our wives like Christ loved the church. Are we an agent of sanctication in her life? Are we cleansing her with the word? Are we inuencing her towards Christ-likeness? Verse 32 gives us the divine intention behind the institution of marriage: This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Married couple, what kind of sermon are you preaching? Do people look at your marriage and see resemblances of Christ and his church? Wife, do people see you submitting to his leadership and showing him respect? Husband, does your wife feel the peace, security, and joy that she will when she meets Christ for eternity? Does her union with you make her excited about her union with Christ in eternity? What a challenge! God, give us grace to bring you glory in our marriages! m
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that came against us into our hand. 24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. (I Sam 30)
more than the spellbinding preacher; the widows mite may equal a ton, and the preachers great sermons may be chaff blown by the wind. I remember a man who was the chairman of the board of the Bible school I attended. He was extremely wealthy and practically supported the entire budget of the school. He could not speak in public. He could not even pray publically. If called on to pray in a meeting, he just froze and remained silent. Here was a godly man who could do nothing but give money and this he did joyfully. His ministry of giving made a Bible school possible. I remember an elderly woman saying to me, I am just an ordinary
Christian. She had made 25 quilts for a mission hospital. I told her there was no such thing as an ordinary Christian. Her 25 quilts may have more value in the kingdom than a hundred thousand dollar check from a millionaire. I sincerely hope that all of the people who love the Doctrines of Grace and New Covenant Theology and who faithfully support our efforts to make those truths known will feel that your part of taking care of the stuff is just as important in the heavenly bookkeepers record as is our writing the books and articles. We will all share together and our Lords words of Well done, thou faithful servant will equally include us all. m
This is the same truth as I Corinthians 12 except it is dealing with rewards. Under the new covenant there are no kings and commoners, every believer is both a king and a priest. All serve the same Lord and all will equally share in the rewards for the work of the kingdom. The key ingredient will not be rewards for the type of work done but for faithfulness in the use of what gift we have been given. The janitor may be rewarded much
The Grace of Our Sovereign God John G. Reisinger Most of the material in this book was originally printed in booklet form. The chapter titled The Sovereignty of God in Providence has been translated into four languages. There are three known people who were on the verge of suicide and were brought to bow in faith, hope, and love to our sovereign God through God using this message in their life. The chapter on limited atonement has helped many so-called four and one-half point Calvinists see limited atonement as the foundation and linchpin of the Doctrines of Grace. One of the constant comments about John Reisingers teaching in both the pulpit and writing is his ability to make difficult subjects easy to understand. Someone said, He puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. John says, We are called to feed sheep, not giraffes. This book is not written primarily for seminary students; it is written for the man in the pew. It is aimed at introducing Gods people to what has been called the Doctrines of Grace that cluster around the sovereignty of God. We know of no better book to introduce fellow believers in basic Reformed Theologys view of sovereign grace than this book. Hermeneutical Flaws of Dispensationalism Gary George This book addresses the biblical hermeneutic that gives the New Testament its proper hearing and allows the student of Scripture to be consistent with biblical revelation. Whatever the post-advent period looks like, it will be frosting on the cake, rather than returning the cake to the oven and rebaking it. New Covenant Theology, above all other theological systems available to modern scholarship, comes closest to giving Christ his glorious preeminence and his Holy Spirit-inspired New Testament authors their decisive place in biblical interpretation. This is a nicely bound reprint of Gary's Prophetic Fulfillment, Spiritual, Natural or Double? Union with Christ: Last Adam and Seed of Abraham A. Blake White To be "in Christ" means everything! To be a Christian is to be in Christ. This is why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that he knew a man in Christ. He could have said, I know a Christian. In Romans 16:7, Paul says that Andronicus and Junia were in Christ before he was. In other words, they were Christians before he was. Christians are those who are in the Messiah.
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It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9

Christ, Our New Covenant Prophet, Priest and King Introduction

Cruciform Love VII: Ephesians 5:22-33, Part 1

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Christianity and Postmodernism: Part 3 The Heart of the Matter

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new King. This truth is set forth in a much misunderstood text.

The NIV is a far better translation.

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Page 11 receive what is promised (Heb 10:3236).

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Issue 189 out of fear.4

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Ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy.

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