sound of grace, issue 202, november 2013
TRANSCRIPT
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government of the Roman Empire had an emperor who
himself held all the reins of government in his hands. All
the ofcials of the empire answered—directly or indi-
rectly—to him. And, along with other gods, he was to be
worshiped.
If you look into the OT under the Mosaic law you can
see the three main elements of sacral society spelled outclearly. First, God told Israel in no uncertain terms that
they must worship him and him alone. The command ap-
pears in Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before
me.” It is repeated in 23:13: “Do not invoke the names of
other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.” (Cf.
Deut.5:7; Jud. 6:10; Hosea 13:4.) The penalty for ignoring
this law was spelled out in Exodus 22:20: “Whoever sacri-
ces to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed.”
Leviticus 20:1-5 reects the same attitude with specic
reference to the god
Recently two items mentioning Pope Francis, the newly elected Pope,
caught my eye. The rst item was a newspaper ar ticle that announced PopeFrancis had taken the rst step in the canonization of the late Pope John Paul II.
The second item was an article promoting ecumenism among all “Christians”
including evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. The appeal I read
was made by John Armstrong, the founder and present head of Act 3, an
organization dedicated to bringing about this unity (http://johnharmstrong.
com). I have known John Armstrong for many years. I have not always agreed
with his views, but I have always found him to be very open about what he
believes and sincerely committed to practicing what he believes. All bolding in
this article is mine.
The modern ecumenical movement is only
Issue 202 Nov e mbe r 2013
… It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace … Hebrews 13:9
Missional-Ecumenism
John G. Reisinger
There are many implications in the passage of the Old
or Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant. In this article
we will take up the change that has to do with the Lord
Jesus’ abandonment of sacral society.
Let me rst explain what we mean by sacral society.
(It is also called theocracy.) A sacral society has three
elements. First, every citizen of a nation that is a sacralsociety must worship the same god or gods as his fellow
citizens do. Second, they must do so publicly so that their
fellow citizens may see them worshiping. Third, the failure
to do so comes with a severe penalty, usually death.
When Jesus came into the world, Israel was a sacral so-
ciety, as were most of the nations of the world at that time.
Republics, in which citizens elected their governments,
may have existed also, but they were few and far between.
Rome had previously been a republic. However at the time
the Lord Jesus was born it had abandoned that status. The
Sacral Society
Tom Wells
Reisinger—Continued on page 2
Wells—Continued on page 12
In This Issue
Missional-Ecumenism
John G. Reisinger 1
Sacral Society
Tom Wells1
Shepherding the New CovenantFlock: Part 1 of 6, Introduction
Steve West
3
Law, Wisdom and Christ, A Studyin Biblical Theology, Part 1, Law
Stan F. Vaninger
5
The Practicality of Judgement
A. Blake White7
A Review of "New CovenantTheology: An Introduction" by A.Blake White
Dave Dunham
11
His Care
A. Blake White15
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Page 2 November 2013 Issue 202
Sound of Grace is a publication of Sovereign
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Reisinger—Continued from page 1
Reisinger—Continued on page 4
about one hundred years old. This is
really a short period of time in God’s
economy. We should patiently keep
praying and laboring for unity and
see where the Holy Spirit leads us as
God’s pilgrim people. Pope Francis
seems to deeply understand this
perspective thus I rejoice in him as a
global Christian leader and pray for
him every single day!1
This quotation represents a
movement today that is seeking to
bring all Christians and churches
together in an ecumenical unity
for the purpose of worshipping and
working together in evangelism while
temporally laying aside our different
doctrines. If we see working and
worshipping together to further thekingdom of God as our paramount
duty, we can see the prayer of Jesus in
John 17 fullled. We will then be able
to discuss and work on our differences
in an atmosphere of unity.
This new movement is deeply
committed to working out its beliefs.
It believes that it is the duty of all
Christians to share the “missional-
ecumenism” beliefs and join with
them in their efforts. A failure to seethis movement as inspired by the Holy
Spirit earns us the label of holding
“a radical form of sectarianism.”
Such a serious charge leaves us with
no alternative but to answer it. My
reluctance to endorse this movement
in no way means that I am a “radical
sectarian.” I am not prepared to view
the Reformation as a mistake that
should be rectied by seeking to be
in unity with the Roman Catholic
Church. I reject the followingaccusation by Armstrong against
anyone who refuses to get involved
is his efforts to unite with Roman
Catholicism.
… please note that Pope Francis
wants us to begin our quest for the
1 John H. Armstrong, “How Can Unity
be Beyond All Conict?” johnharm-
strong.com/?p=4973, (Accessed July
24, 2013.)
experience of Christian unity precisely
where I have placed the stress in my
own life and mission. This is why I
am so thrilled to l isten and pray for
this global Christian leader, a man
who clearly loves the same Christ
that I love and prays for what I pray
for each and every day.
One must embrace a radical
form of sectarianism to be blind to
what is really happening here. If you
miss the uniqueness of this moment
in history you will remain outside of
the Spirit-given pursuit of real unity
in Christ’s mission. The loss will
be great, to you and to your church
family. I encourage you to embrace
this moment by faith and then to pray
for the entire Christian Church that we
might experience divine oneness in
Christ’s mission for the whole world.2
The more I thought about the two
items mentioned above concerning
Pope Francis, the more it occurred
to me that they were related to each
other. They both dene “unity” in a
way that the end product is not unity
but union. Unity and union are not
the same things. If you tie a dog and
a cat together by their tails you have
union, but you do not have unity. If
you put an evangelical Protestanttogether with a Roman Catholic
for the purpose of joint worship
or evangelism you have union, but
you do not have unity. Unity in an
evangelistic effort must carefully
dene what the message is that you
are going to preach. A true sincere
evangelical Protestant and a true
sincere Roman Catholic cannot agree
on the biblical content of the Gospel
message. Biblical unity does not
begin with a sincere desire to worshiptogether, but it begins with truth.
I do not believe that Pope Francis
is a “global Christian leader.” I do
not pray for him every day, but I
do pray for him when God calls
2 John H. Armstrong, “Living in Je-
sus is Unity,” johnharmstrong.
com/?p=4964, (Accessed July 24,
2013.)
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 3
West—Continued on page 9
and sent out into the bush with the
threat that if he didn’t leave perma-nently he would be killed. He returned
and continued to serve his church and
community. In my ministry I have
been slandered, but I have never been
threatened with death.
Perhaps we should also bear in
mind that many of the rst pastors in
the early church lived during times of
Jewish and Roman persecution. When
the authorities crack down, they
invariably target leaders (not least because leaders are the most likely
to be prominent enough to attract at-
tention). Many of the church’s leaders
in the generations immediately after
Jesus’ earthly life did not worry about
parsonages, health benets, retire-
ment, church budgets, or anything of
the sort: many of them were trying to
shepherd the church with no guaran-
tee that anyone in the church would
still be free—or even alive—in the
morning.
None of the preceding is to be
taken to mean that there are no chal-
lenges facing pastors in Western
churches today. As a pastor and pro-
fessor I personally face the strains of
ministry and am also in a position to
hear about all kinds of different situa-
tions ministers nd themselves in. No
matter what a particular society’s at-
titude towards the church happens to
be, pastors are sinners serving peoplewho are sinners. This is one reason
it is a massive mistake to think that
one particular time in church history
was idyllic for pastoral ministry—
unfortunately, people have always
been people. Fashions can change
and cultures differ, but the human
heart is frighteningly the same cross-
culturally, cross-generationally, and
throughout every historical period.
There has never been a time when
being a pastor was easy. Although pastors in the contemporary Western
world have a litany of challenges to
face in their ministries, it is quite mis-
taken to think pastoring was easier in
previous eras. Today pastors complain
of shrinking attention spans amongst
their congregations but any reading of
church history will reveal preachers
have almost always thought their con-
gregations didn’t pay enough attention
to sermons! Granting that there is a
rising hostility towards Christian-
ity in general in our society, and that
the pastoral profession is not nearly
as well respected in the community
as was once the case, nevertheless
it is not difcult to nd eras when
gospel-preaching pastors were quite
literally in danger of their lives, to
say nothing of facing open mocking
or imprisonment. It should not escape
our memory that John Bunyan wrote
The Pilgrim’s Progress in the Bedford jail, where he was imprisoned for
years because he could not in con-
science stop preaching the gospel or
join the establishment of the Church
of England.
It would furthermore be a mistake
to equate normal pastoral practice
with the last 100 years or so of church
ministry in North America. Ask
pastors of house churches in China
about the difculties attending theirministries—their answers make many
of the concerns of pastors in the West
seem slightly trivial. What about
those ministering in closed countries
under the control of militant Islamic
rulers? What about those in war-torn
lands? I vividly remember one night
in Uganda eating and drinking with a
pastor who told of a time he had liter-
ally been stripped naked by soldiers
No matter what the context, the most
overwhelming challenge in pastoralministry is learning how a sinful pas-
tor can help a sinful people. And we
have not yet even mentioned Satan’s
opposition.
I hope it is obvious that the situa-
tion is actually impossibly hopeless
apart from the grace of God. And,
thankfully, grace is what he has given
us in abundance. Yes, we are still
sinners, but we are redeemed, we are
sealed with the Holy Spirit, and weare God’s treasured possession. We
still sin but we are holy; we are totally
new but ghting the old; we love God
but are attracted and accustomed to
sin. Nevertheless we have victory in
Jesus (objective) and through him of -
ten experience victory over sin in our
daily lives (subjective). So the pastor
is a strange creature leading strange
creatures—God’s adopted children on
the sure road to heaven but still strug-
gling with the esh.
Pastoral practice emerges out of
a complex intersection of theological
points. We need to understand the
biblical material that directly ad-
dresses what the pastor is to be and
do. But we also need to understand
what the church is. Since the church
is the new covenant community, we
need to know what that means. What
are the people like who belong to this
community? To know that, of course,requires knowing about Jesus and
the plan of salvation. It also requires
knowing about the nature and work
of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, proper
pastoral practice requires a general
comprehension of the whole counsel
of God.
I believe that many pastors get
Shepherding the New Covenant Flock:
Part 1 of 6 Introduction
Steve West
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Page 4 November 2013 Issue 202
him to my mind; however, when I
pray for him, I pray that God would
convert him and make him a true
child of God. I believe Pope Francis
is a “global religious leader”, but he
does not understand and believe in
biblical justication. If he believedthe biblical teaching of justication
by grace through faith alone, his
own church would have grounds
to excommunicate him. The unity
Pope Francis is really interested in is
uniting all Christians under the roof
of the Roman Catholic Church.
Let us remember this well: being
part of the Church means being united
to Christ and receiving from him the
divine life that makes us to live asChristians. It means remaining united
to the Pope and bishops who are
instruments of unity and communion
… 3 (emphasis mine)
I do not in the least question the
pope’s sincerity nor do I question
the sincerity of the evangelical
Protestants who are ready to unite
with him. However, I also believe
Pope Francis is playing with a
different deck of cards. At the end
of the day, Pope Francis is goingto have all the goodies, and the
evangelical Protestants who have
successfully attained a union with
Roman Catholicism may well discover
their cupboard is bare. They may well
discover that they gave away all of the
cookies.
One of the most basic doctrines
we must lay aside in any attempt to
have a unity with Roman Catholics is
dening how we become Christians.How do we get into heaven? The
article I read about Pope Francis
notes that he is taking the rst step
in “canonizing” Pope John Paul II.
3 “Pope Francis: How can we have unity
among Christians if we as Catholics
aren’t united?” Independent Catholic
News, www.indcatholicnews.com/
news.php?viewStory=22778, (Ac-
cessed 9/28/2013.)
“Canonizing” is the word Roman
Catholics use to describe how one
becomes a saint and goes to heaven.
Only saints, those who are canonized
by the Catholic Church, go to heaven
when they die. Unbelievers go to hell
and ordinary members of the Roman
church, those not canonized, go to purgatory. The canonization process
is a blanket distortion and denial of
the gospel of sovereign grace. The
steps to canonization are available on
the internet4.
Here is a comparison of how the
Roman Catholic theology of Pope
Francis is going to make John Paul II
a saint and get him into heaven with
how God makes saints and assures
them that they will go to heaven.The rst difference: Rome says
you must be dead for at least ve
years before you can be made a
saint. Pope John Paul II waived this
requirement in Mother Teresa’s case
and Pope Francis waived it for John
Paul II.
God has never made a single dead
(physically) person a saint. God only
makes living people to be saints, and
he makes all Christians saints whenthey believe the Gospel. Whatever
state you are in when you die, that
is the state you will remain in for all
eternity (Rev. 22:11). Biblical saints
are very much alive. Paul was not
telling the Christians at Philippi to
salute people in the graveyard when
he said, Salute every saint in Christ
Jesus … All the saints salute you …
(Phil. 4:21-22). The word “saint” and
the word “Christian” are synonymous
terms in the Bible. Every living
Christian is a saint the moment he
trusts in Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Both canonization and purgatory are
pure rubbish and clear denials of the
4 Beccari, C. (1907). “Beatication and
Canonization ,”. The Catholic Ency-
clopedia. New York: Robert Apple-
ton Company. www.newadvent.org/
cathen/02364b.htm. ( Accessed July
24, 2013.)
all-sufcient power of the cross-work
of Christ.
Following are the steps that
lead to becoming a saint in Roman
Catholicism. Supposedly this is how
Pope John II is going to get into
heaven. Note that this has nothing to
do with becoming a Christian. In the
Roman Catholic system you become
a Christian when you are baptized.
Baptism washes away original sin
but not other sins. It is enough to get
you into the Church but is not enough
to get you into heaven. You must
spend time in purgatory to pay for
the sins you committed subsequent
to conversion. You must add to the
sufferings of Christ before you can go
to heaven. Christ’s atoning work aloneis not sufcient to get you into heaven.
Step one in becoming a saint:
the local congregation puts forth
a candidate. A Bishop is placed in
charge of the initial investigation of
the person’s life. If it is determined
that the candidate is deemed worthy
of further consideration, you move to
step two.
This second step involves a careful
and thorough examination of theindividual’s life. The purpose of this
step is to be certain the individual
under scrutiny was holy enough to
deserve becoming a saint. Becoming
a saint in Roman Catholicism is based
on works from beginning to end.
The Catholic Church canonizes or
beaties only those whose lives have
been marked by the exercise of heroic
virtue … whose holy lives have made
them worthy of His special love.
5
I would never pass either the rst
or second test nor would any person I
know. The thief on the cross and the
woman at the well in John 4 would not
even get their big toe in the door. The
Roman Catholic Church does not have
5 “Beatication and Canonization,” www.
newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm
(Accessed July 24, 2013.)
Reisinger—Continued from page 2
Reisinger—Continued on page 6
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 5
“Now we know that the law is
good…” (1 Tim. 1:8). The apostle Paul
afrms that the Law of Moses is good.
In order to fully appreciate this
statement, we have to see, as Paul
did, the law from the perspective
of redemption history. The Law of
Moses was a national covenant given
to Israel at a particular point in her
history but only until the coming ofChrist (Gal. 3:17-20). Taking Paul’s
letters as a whole, it is best to interpret
the intent of the above statement as
being: in its proper time and place, the
law is good.
The OT certainly teaches the
‘goodness’ of the law. The Penta-
teuch states that the law was intended
to benet Israel in earthly matters.
Deuteronomy 6:24 says, ‘The Lord
commanded us to do all these stat-utes, to fear the Lord our God, for our
good always, that he might preserve
us alive, as we are this day’ (cf Deut.
10:13).
There are many examples in Mo-
saic law of statutes that were good for
Israel. The ‘enslavement’ of a fellow
Israelite was of limited duration being
much closer to the concept of inden-
tured servitude.1 Sanitation laws and
regulations for dealing with disease promoted public health.2 Fences on
roofs protected children (and care-
less adults) from dangerous falls from
houses where the roof served in the
capacity of a deck.3 Individuals were
given recourse against oxen that had
a history of goring those who passed
1 Exod. 21:2; Lev. 25:39-43; Deut. 24:7.
2 Lev. 13-15; Deut. 23:12-14.
3 Deut. 22:8.
by.4 Restitution was awarded for
stolen property, breach of trust or neg-
ligence.5 Widows and orphans were
given special privileges and protection
due to their vulnerability; foreign-
ers dwelling in Israel were likewise
protected from abuse.6 Generosity
to the poor, in general, was strongly
encouraged.7 Even slaves had certain
rights and privileges.8 Everyone was
protected from excessive punishment
and unlawful death merited the death
of the guilty party.9 The year of jubi-
lee prevented the permanent transfer
of land ownership out of a family
thus preventing a widening division
between the rich and the poor. ‘Curi-
ously, nothing like these laws has so
far been found in other ancient law
codes.’10 The Law of Moses promoted
justice, fairness, and the general well-
being of everyone in the nation. Itdiscouraged crime, abuse, and irre-
sponsibility. The law is good!
The law was given to Israel for
their spiritual benet. The prohibi-
4 Exod. 21:28-36.
5 Exod. 22:1-15.
6 Exod. 22:22-24; Deut. 14:28-29; 24:19-
21; 26:12-13; 27:19.
7 Deut. 15:7-11.
8 Exod. 12:44; 21:20-27.
9 Exod. 21:22-25; Lev. 24:17-22. R.
Laird Harris points out that the ‘eye
for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ passages
were instructions to the judges in
Israel and he interprets these instruc-
tions as conveying the principle of
making the punishment t the crime,
R. Laird Harris, Man - God’s Eternal
Creation (Chicago, IL: Moody Press,
1971), 117-118.
10 Harris, Man – God’s Eternal Creation,
139.
tions of the law revealed important
aspects of God’s character to the
ancient Hebrews. God is holy, just and
righteous and requires the same of
his human subjects. The study of the
law reveals important aspects of the
character and nature of God.
The ceremonial laws also taught
Israel much about the character of
God from a different angle. They
taught that sin must be atoned for,
that God will recognize the proper
sacrice as a payment for sin, and that
the individual must approach God in
faith and trust to receive the forgive-
ness provided through the sacricial
system. The Levitical ritual taught
Israel that God had taken the initia-
tive in providing a way of redemptionand that he was ready and willing to
forgive sin. The law is good!
The law was given to separate Is-
rael from the pagan nations, to protect
them from the spiritual and moral cor -
ruption that would result from close
contact with other peoples, to make
them a peculiar people.11 Various laws
from all three categories (moral, civil
and ceremonial) contribute to this.12
11 Lev. 18:24-30; Deut. 18:9-14.
12 Not all of the individual precepts in
the Law of Moses t neatly in one of
these three categories but the catego-
ries can at times be useful despite be-
ing somewhat fuzzy. Some Covenant
theologians take this categorization
a step too far and assert that the civil
and ceremonial laws were abrogated
with the coming of Christ but that the
moral laws contained in the Law of
Moses were not abrogated being the
eternal and unchanging moral law of
God. This line of thought goes beyond
what is taught in Scripture and has
created some thorny problems for
Covenant Theology. Karlberg, himself
a Covenant theologian, afrms that the
Law of Moses is best thought of as a
unit: ‘Division of the Mosaic law into
distinct categories - such as civil, cer -
emonial and moral - was unknown to
the OT Israelite. Within the theocracy
Law, Wisdom and Christ
A Study in Biblical Theology
Part 1–Law
By Stan F. Vaninger
Vaninger—Continued on page 10
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Page 6 November 2013 Issue 202
Reisinger—Continued on page 8
does warn against preaching “another
Jesus.”
I am more than happy to stand
shoulder to shoulder with Roman
Catholics in the ght against abortion
and some other issues. I am not going
to get involved in any kind of service
that involves praying,” Holy Mary,Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.”
I will not be part of any missionary
effort that tells men and women that
they can only become a saint and
go to heaven by living a holy life. I
will appreciate and encourage every
effort by churches involved in biblical
missions but will insist the message
preached is the biblical gospel.
Pope Francis may declare thatPope John II is a saint, but Pope
Francis really has no say in the matter.
Many evangelicals may agree to union
with Pope Francis, but it will be a one-
way street. If any real change takes
place, it will be by concessions by the
evangelical Protestants.
We often hear news people
talking about “poison pills.” They are
referring to something deliberately
added to a pending bill that willguarantee it will not be passed. There
are some poison pills that either a
Roman Catholic or an evangelical
Protestant could use to make a
discussion of union impossible. All
the evangelic Protestant has to do is to
suggest a discussion of the infallibility
of the Pope or praying to Mary. Those
subjects are off the table and not open
to discussion to a Roman Catholic.
All the evangelical Protestant has to
suggest is a discussion of the doctrine
of justication by grace through
faith alone. That is a poison pill to
the Catholic. Justication, or how a
sinner is put right with God, was at
the heart of the Reformation. The
Roman Catholic position was set forth
by the Council of Trent, and any and
all objections to their position put
the individual holding it to be under
God’s curse. The position set forth
a Gospel for sinners; it has a system
of rewards for holy people. The
individual’s works earn sainthood.
The biblical Gospel is exactly the
opposite. It begins with Christ and
ends with Christ. It is directed to
sinners of every stripe. God loved us“while we were yet sinners” (Rom
5:8). God “justies the ungodly” not
good (self-righteous) people.
Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but
of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justies
the ungodly , his faith is counted for
righteousness. (Rom 4:4-5)
Luther called these verses, “the
death knell to work mongers.”
The third step is proving the
individual had two miracles occur as
a result of their prayers.
The fourth step is the reigning
Pope’s proclaiming the individual a
saint.
Donald Grey Barnhouse was
having a difcult time with one of
his elders. They had lunch together.
Barnhouse said, “Before we discuss
our differences, let’s remind ourselvesof how much we have in common.”
He then proceeded to list those
things. They never did get to discuss
their differences, and the differences
continued to create problems. They
again had lunch together. Before
Barnhouse had a chance to say
anything, the elder said, “I know we
agree on a lot of things, but let’s start
with where we disagree.” There is
a time to lay aside secondary issuesand see the big picture. There is also
a time to remember there are some
issues that have to be put on the
table at the beginning of an honest
discussion. They are absolutes that
are not negotiable. It is a waste of
time to discuss them. I remember
someone urging one of our deacons
to “lay aside our doctrinal differences
and just preach Jesus.” The deacon
said, “Which one?” The Scripture
in the Council of Trent was ratied
by an infallible dogma of the Pope.
Pope Francis, and no other Pope can
change it even if they would like to.
Salvation by grace through faith alone
without works is a permanent poison
pill to the Roman Catholic. Salvation
by the joint efforts of faith and goodworks is a poison pill to the evangelic
Protestant.
The advocates of striving to
establish a working unity between
Roman Catholics and evangelical
Protestants would like to ignore these
poisons pills; however, justication,
or how a sinner is put right with God,
is not in any sense a secondary issue.
We are talking about the one and
only Gospel. We are discussing thedifference between the one and only
Biblical Christianity and a counterfeit
system. A biblical understanding of
justication is indeed a poison pill,
and we do no one a favor by trying
to hide it. Most people do not realize
what is involved. They do not realize
what Rome is actually saying or
that Rome cannot change the dogma
of an ‘infallible’ Pope. Following
are several Canons of the ofcial,
unchanging view of Roman Catholic justication. This view of justication
will be in force as long as there
is a Roman Catholic Church. The
following dogmas of Rome’s view of
justication are set in stone.
Canon 9: “If any one saith, that by
faith alone the impious is justied; in
such wise as to mean, that nothing else
is required to co-operate in order to
the obtaining the grace of Justication,
and that it is not in any way necessary,
that he be prepared and disposed by
the movement of his own will; let him
be anathema.”6
This is saying that if you believe
that you are justied by grace through
6 Council of Trent: Canons on Justi-
cation , ,Christian Apologetics and
Research Ministry. carm.org/council-
trent-canons-justication (Accessed
July 24, 2013.)
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 7
Judgment is a very unpopular
teaching. This should not be thecase among Christians however as
the doctrine of judgment is very
practical. In the Scriptures, we are
called to entrust ourselves to God’s
judgment. Our judgment is always
crooked. God alone is the just judge.
When wronged in the small ways,
do you trust God’s judgment or take
it into your own hands? How do you
respond when someone wrongs you?
What about when they wrong you butask for forgiveness? Do you forgive
and move on? Or do you continue
to punish them in various ways? Do
you have trouble letting it go? Do you
hold on to anger and replay the story
over and over in your mind? We never
lose those arguments, do we? Do you
reenact the ght and think about how
right you are and how wrong they are?
If so, you are not trusting God’s judg-
ment. For the believer, that particular
sin has been judged in the cross.
You see, Christianity provides
unique resources for dealing with
injustice. I recall one time my mother
was beat up by her boyfriend. I knew
he did it and was furious. I was not a
Christian when this happened so what
was I to do? It was up to me to make
this right. I was too small to beat him
up, so I threw rocks at his truck and
vandalized his house. That doesn’t
work.
I also recall watching a show
documenting a father whose daughter
had been raped and murdered. They
found the criminal and sentenced himto life, but this was not enough for
this father. He found out which airport
the state would use to transfer him to
prison, hid by a phone booth until the
cuffed man was in range, then stepped
out, shot the man in the head, dropped
the gun, and surrendered to the very
guards who were escorting the mur -
derer. What was this man left to do?
Let the one who took his daughter
away sit in a cell and live? Apparently,he would not have that so he took
justice into his own hands. This is not
an option for Christians. We are called
to non-violence. Jesus calls us to love
– not kill – our enemies (Luke 6:27).
The practice of non-violence
requires belief in divine vengeance.
Without nal judgment, we are left
with one of two options: let injus-
tice reign or take it upon ourselves
– neither of which work. We simplycan’t live with only those options.
Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave it to the wrath
of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”
(Rom. 12:19 ESV). Peter wrote, “For
to this you have been called, because
Christ also suffered for you, leaving
you an example, so that you might fol-
low in his steps. He committed no sin,
neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revilein return; when he suffered, he did
not threaten, but continued entrusting
himself to him who judges justly” (1
Peter 2:21-23, cf. 1 Cor. 4:5).
Thankfully, many of us will not
be wronged in any major way, but
we still need to ask ourselves how
we react in the small things. It is in
the small moments where it matters
because life is life is lived in the little
moments. Paul Tripp writes, “Day
after day, week after week, and year
after year, these little moments set
the character of a person’s life.” It is
the small things that form a person’scharacter over time. When a car cuts
you off and then gives you the bird,
how do you respond? Do you tailgate
them all the way to their drive way to
give them a scare, or do you let God
sort all things out?
If you have not been deeply
wronged, then arm yourself with this
thinking. Put in place the necessary
“mental fences” so that when the
drunken teenager runs your fam-ily over because he was texting, you
won’t strangle him. Instead you pray
that God would deal with his sin at the
cross or in judgment. He always does
right. God will settle all accounts just-
ly and temporary injustice will not be
swept under the rug. Do you believe
this? You will be wronged. You may
not pull a gun out on your co-workers,
but when they slander you, will you
seek to justify self and ght back? Or
will you trust his judgment? Our faith
teaches radical forgiveness now or
radical judgment then.
The Practicality of Judgment
A. Blake White
One of a Preacher's First Duties!
"A man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ's sake—until he gives up striving to attract
people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ!" Robert Murray M'Cheyne
"To efface one's self is one of a preacher's rst duties!" Alexander Maclaren
Courtesy of: Grace Gems www.GraceGems.org
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 9
themselves into trouble because they
do not give enough thought to what
the church is. Too often we start by
thinking abstractly about what it
means to have authority, or we read
about leadership principles used by
corporate America, etc. But pastorsare not called to shepherd an unspeci-
ed group: they are called to shepherd
the ock of God. Or, to say the same
thing in different words, pastors are
responsible to lead and care for the
new covenant community. And this
naturally raises the question, What is
the new covenant community?
Thankfully the Bible provides a
rich and exciting answer to this ques-
tion. Perhaps the easiest way to thinkabout the nature of the new covenant
community is to contrast it with the
old covenant community. The follow-
ing points are not exhaustive of the
differences nor are they presented in
any great depth. Consider this list as
a primer. It follows a straightforward
reading of the major new covenant
passage from Jeremiah 31:31-34
(quoted in full in Hebrews 8:8-12).
1. Those in the new covenant com-munity are under a new covenant that
is not identical with the old covenant
nor even like the old covenant (Heb.
8:8-9). This is an extraordinarily im-
portant point. When the Lord reveals
to Jeremiah that he is going to make
a new covenant with his people he
immediately points out that the two
covenants are dissimilar. Of course
there are some similarities too, but
the rst thing God wants his people
to know is that there is a fundamentaldiscontinuity between the old and new
covenants.
2. The new covenant is put into ef -
fect because the people were unfaith-
ful to the terms of the old (Heb. 8:9).
God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt,
yet they rebelled against him.
3. In the old covenant the law was
external. There were tablets of stone
where the law was recorded. But
having God’s law engraved in stone,
or written on a scroll, or printed in a
book, or digitally archived does not
affect the heart. As long as God’s law
was external some of its elements
could be imposed by force, but the
orientation of the heart was unaltered.In the new covenant community
people have the law of God written on
their hearts and put into their minds
(Heb. 8:10). There is an interiority
here where the law is enshrined on the
inner most part of our true selves. The
law of God operates deep down in
our beings. In the old covenant God’s
ways were external and might not
have been absorbed into any given in-
dividual’s heart—in the new covenant
every member of the community hasthe law of God internalized.
4. Every single person in the new
covenant community knows God
(Heb. 8:11). This is wonderful. In the
old covenant community, many didn’t
know God; they hated him, rebelled
against him, worshiped other gods,
and died in hard-hearted, unrepentant
states. In the new covenant com-
munity there is nobody who needs to
be taught to know the Lord. Now ofcourse this doesn’t mean that in the
new covenant there is no room for
teachers or preachers or learning or
growth—but it does mean that there
is zero need for evangelism in the new
covenant community. Every single
person under that covenant is saved;
everyone knows the Lord. Not an ex-
clusive high priestly caste or a special
class of spiritual saints know him,
but everybody from the least to thegreatest. There is a complete egalitari-
anism in terms of salvation in the new
covenant community.
5. Every single person in the new
covenant community has been forgiv-
en for their sins (Hebrews 8:12). God
has forgiven their wickedness and
remembers (covenantally) their sin
no more. In the old covenant, people
were punished for their sins and died
guilty before God because they never
repented. In the new covenant, every
member has had their sins forgiven.
Nobody in the new covenant com-
munity will experience eternal death.
All members of the new covenant
community are justied in the sight of
God. Different members will be moreor less obedient, more or less ethically
pure, and more or less subjectively
righteous, but none is ultimately un-
saved, unforgiven, and lost. The his-
tory of Israel under the old covenant
clearly reveals that such was not the
case for the members of its commu-
nity, many of whom died unreconciled
to God.
6. Although this slightly departs
from the new covenant passage wehave been considering, it is clear that
the nature of entering into member -
ship is very different between the old
and new covenants. The old covenant
was a national, political, religious
covenant—the new covenant is purely
religious (although of course it has im-
plications for wider social structures).
You could convert to the old covenant
system if you were a foreigner, but
the vast majority of people in the old
covenant community were ethnicJews who were born into it. That’s
why circumcision was applied to
male infants—they received the sign
of the covenant because they were
literally born into it the way a baby
born in Canada is literally born into
the privileges of Canadian citizen-
ship. But nobody is born into the new
covenant because of physical birth.
Even children who are born to Chris-
tian parents who are church members
are born without knowing the Lord:
the very reason they need to put their
faith in Jesus to be saved is because
they are not born justied. Children
could be born physically into old cov-
enant membership but all people must
be born again (i.e. spiritually reborn)
into membership in the new.
It would be hard to overstate the
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Deuteronomy 8:2-3 suggests that
the people of Israel were to think of
the law as spiritual nourishment:
The LORD your God has led you
these forty years in the wilderness,
that he might humble you, testing
you to know what was in your heart,whether you would keep his command-
ments or not. And he humbled you
and let you hunger and fed you with
manna, which you did not know, nor
did your fathers know, that he might
make you know that man does not live
by bread alone, but man lives by every
word that comes from the mouth of the
LORD.
The well-known passage in
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a powerful
expression of the Lord’s desire thatIsrael be preoccupied with and totally
devoted to the law. Psalm 119 and
many other places in the OT express a
great love for and commitment to the
law of God. This sentiment prevailed
throughout Israel’s history, at least in
the minds of those who wrote the OT
Scriptures and the believing remnant.
This same sentiment prevailed even
into the NT era among the scribes and
Pharisees, as witnessed by the gos-
pels, and is still found in our own day
among more devout Jews.
A notable NT example of devotion
to the law is in Luke 1:5-6, 59 where
Zechariah and Elizabeth were com-
mended for practicing what Richard
Longenecker calls nomism, 13 that is,
for ‘walking blamelessly in all the
commandments and statutes of the
Lord.’ The parents of John the Baptist
were ordering their lives according to
the law of Moses was a unied entity.’
Mark W. Karlberg, Covenant Theology
in Reformed Perspective (Eugene, OR:
Wipf and Stock, 2000), 198.
13 Richard N. Longenecker, Paul,
Apostle of Liberty (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 1964), 79-83.
the Law of Moses not in a legalistic
fashion but out of love and devotion to
one true God, which was exactly what
they were supposed to be doing as
part of the believing remnant of Israel
during the Old Covenant era. The
same was true of the parents of Jesus
(Luke 2:27, 39).
Although the law was given to
Israel for their good, there were penal-
ties for non-compliance. The dreadful
curses enumerated in Deuteronomy
27-28 immediately come to mind. The
fact that Israel suffered virtually all of
these curses multiple times shows that
the nation as a whole did not share the
love for God’s law that we see ex-
pressed in the OT writings.
Actually, penalties for offenseswere assessed on two levels. In addi-
tion to the curses imposed upon the
nation as a whole, individuals were
punished for offenses against their fel-
lows and sins against God.
Similar to 1 Timothy 1:8 cited
earlier, we read in Romans 7:12, ‘So
the law is holy, and the commandment
is holy and righteous and good.’ This
verse leaves us scratching our head
when we compare it with other NT passages (and especially elsewhere in
Paul’s letters) where the law is spoken
of in more negative terms. It will be
helpful to reect on what Paul is seek -
ing to convey by this statement. The
immediate context (Romans 7) shows
that Paul has in view the truth that
the law exposed the people of Israel
to the reality of sin in their lives and
thus their need for redemption from
outside of themselves. The law was
‘righteous and good’ because it was
(painfully) benecial to the Israelites
spiritually. The law provided not only
a rule of life for the people of Israel
but also made them very much aware
of their need for redemption from sin.
The negative references to the law
in Paul’s letters, for the most part, per -
tain to the inability of the Law of Mo-
ses to justify man in the eyes of God
(Rom. 3:19-20; 5:20; 7:7; Gal. 2:16, 21;
3:11; etc.). There is actually no real
discrepancy between the positive vs.
the negative views of the law in the NT. Paul makes it very clear that the
purpose of the law was not to justify
man before God but drive home to
man the reality of sin in his life and
the need for God’s forgiveness.
Those familiar with New Covenant
Theology understand that the law was
a national covenant that applied only
to Israel and then only for that 1500
year interval from Sinai to the rst
coming of Christ (Gal. 3:19).14
The precepts of Mosaic law were imple-
mented and enforced by the rulers,
judges and priests of Israel and it is
clear throughout the OT that these ap-
plied specically to Israel. The Law of
Moses (or any sub-unit of it) was not
a universal moral code that applied to
all mankind in every era but part and
parcel of a national covenant between
God and Israel for a specied interval.
Reformed theology has empha-
sized this positive and gracious aspect
of law frequently speaking of the
Mosaic covenant as ‘a Covenant of
Works and a Covenant of Grace at the
same time.’15
14 This view is also held by most Cov-
enant Theologians. Mark Karlberg
writes, ‘If we are to do justice to the
unity and integrity of the law of Moses
we must consider the law in its proper
historical setting and function as that
peculiar legal instrument, instituted
and ordained by God and regulative
of life within the ancient theocracy.’
Karlberg, Covenant Theology in Re-
formed Perspective, 198.
15 Karlberg, Covenant Theology in Re-
formed Perspective, 29.
T o s e a r c h f o r w i s d o m a p a r t f r o m C h r i s t m e a n s n o t s i m p l y f o o l h a r d i n e s s b u t u t t e r i n s a n i t y .
J o h n C a l v i n
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Dunham—Continued on page 18
I have a rebellious streak in me.
It runs fairly deep and often works
against any type of conformity. So
when many of my friends began to
share that they were adopting the
position of New Covenant Theology
I was not merely reluctant, I was op-
posed to it. I had accepted Covenant
Theology as a young man and haddetermined not to study any contrary
position, mostly out of spite but I
could never fully embrace Covenant
Theology. There were aspects of it
that, over time, I had modied to t
better how I read the Bible and how
I thought of baptism. As it turns out,
much of what I was doing was already
being done and t better in the NCT.
So, when I read a book on the sub-
ject, I discovered that much of whatwas called New Covenant Theology
is what I already believed. A. Blake
White’s small book What is New Cov-
enant Theology?: An Introduction is a
simple and therefore helpful clarica-
tion on the subject.
The problem with so many books
on the subject of the covenants is that
they wind up being very dense. For
those somewhat unfamiliar with the
territory the size of the book, the den-
sity of the content, and the style of the
prose can be intimidating. This is the
kind of subject where a helpful, con-
cise, introduction to the major distinc-
tion and major developments of the
system can be extremely helpful. As I
had already bought into CT, I wanted
to know what the distinct differences
and contributions of NCT were. A.
Blake White does an astounding job
of clarifying those differences without
losing anything important in the de-
velopment of the system. That makes
this a rare book indeed.
The author was unknown to me. In
fact the lack of familiarity would have
likely caused me to pass right over
this little booklet, but the endorse-
ments on the back are quite astound-ing. Blake’s writing garnered support
from the likes of Gary Long, Tom
Schreiner, Stephen and Kirk Wellum,
Tom Wells, John Reisinger, Jim Elliff,
and Jason Meyer. In each endorsement
we read the same sentiment: White
has written a very accessible primer
on a very important subject.
The book covers seven different
aspects of NCT. White explains in the
introduction that he will not unpack
all of the thorny issues related to this
system; after all it is only an intro-
duction. But he will cover the major
differences between NCT, CT, and
Dispensationalism. He also aims to
highlight the major contributions of
NCT to Biblical Theology.
Much of the discussion around
these three systems has to do with
how each of them views the continu-
ity and discontinuity between the two
testaments. White begins with the
familiar distinction between systems.
He states:
Generally speaking Covenant The-
ology emphasizes the unity between
the covenants to the expense of the
discontinuity…Dispensationalism, on
the other hand, tends to emphasize
discontinuity between the covenants
at the expense of continuity…New
Covenant Theology accommodates
both continuity and discontinuity. It
holds that the New Covenant is con-
nected to what went beforehand, but it
is new. (1-2)
In this sense, then, NCT acts as a
via media between Dispensationalism
and Covenant Theology. It offers a
middle road to consider more care-
fully the totality of the Biblical data.
None of this will be particularly new
to students of the covenants. And, in
fact, White’s introduction read with a
bit of pretension as he proclaims NCT
is “a system of theology that seeks to
let the Bible inform our theology” (1).
After all, don’t all systems seek to do
this? The more one continues to read,
however, the more one will see that
in fact this is indeed a real distinctfeature of NCT.
In chapters 1-7 White covers, then,
the various major issues related to the
continuity and discontinuity between
the Testaments. He starts by declaring
that there has been only ever one plan
of God to redeem the world, and this
plan was Jesus. But this one plan, he
states, beginning in the Old Testament
is fullled in the New Testament in
Jesus. So, chapter 2 turns our atten-tion to reading the OT through the
“Jesus-lens,” as I call it. Chapters 3,
4, and 5 help us then understand the
role of the Old Covenant, and particu-
larly the law, in relation to the person
and work of Christ. Christians are
not under the Law of Moses, the Old
Covenant was temporary, and now in
Christ there is, in fact, a NEW cov-
A Review of “What is New Covenant Theology?:
An Introduction” by A. Blake White1
September 2, 2013
By Dave Dunham1 “A Review of What is New Covenant Theology?: An Introduction by A. Blake White,” pastordaveonline.org/2013/09/02/, (Ac-
cessed September 26, 2013.) Used by permission of Dave Dunham.
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Page 12 November 2013 Issue 202
1, 1660.2
Note also the following quotation
concerning the Puritans in America:
Although they were victims of
religious persecution in Europe, the
Puritans supported the Old World
theory that sanctioned it, the need for
uniformity of religion in the state.
Once in control in New England, they
sought to break “the very neck of
Schism and vile opinions.” The “busi-
ness” of the rst settlers, a Puritan
minister recalled in 1681, “was not
Toleration, but [they] were professed
enemies of it.” Puritans expelled dis-
senters from their colonies, a fate that
in 1636 befell Roger Williams and in
1638 Anne Hutchinson, America’s rst
major female religious leader. Those
who deed the Puritans by persistentlyreturning to their jurisdictions risked
capital punishment, a penalty imposed
on four Quakers between 1659 and
1661. Reecting on the seventeenth
century’s intolerance, Thomas Jef -
ferson was unwilling to concede to
Virginians any moral superiority to the
Puritans. Beginning in 1659 Virginia
enacted antiQuaker laws, including the
death penalty for refractory Quakers.
Jefferson surmised that “if no capital
execution took place here, as it did in
New England, it was not owing to themoderation of the church, or the spirit
of the legislature.”
How Jesus Abandoned Sacral
Society
I have made the point above that
Israel was a sacral society. All three
points that identify such societies are
found in the law of Moses centuries
before the Lord Jesus came to earth.
During his years here Israel remained
a sacral nation. Jesus himself lived outhis life here as any member of Israel
would have. As he grew up he partici-
pated in its celebrations. He lived by
its rules. But he also indicated coming
changes in it. Nevertheless it seems
that he changed very little about it
during his lifetime here. However, in
2 Courtesy of The Granger Collection,
New York as retieved from the inter -
net.
Molech. We nd the same penalty
spelled out at length in Deuteronomy
17:2-7.
The worship in the Mosaic Cov-
enant was public. A frequent daily
part of it was the offering of animal
sacrices. They were not to be wild
animals, but domestic animals. We
see this by the repetition of the phrase
“from the herd or ock” (e.g. Exod
34:19; Lev 1:2; Num 15:3; Deut 16:2).
It was the duty of the priests to offer
these animals to the Lord. How that
was to be done is spelled out in vari-
ous texts. For example such offerings
accompanied the three annual festi-
vals as seen in Exodus 23:14-19:
Three times a year you are tocelebrate a festival to me. Celebrate
the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for
seven days eat bread made without
yeast, as I commanded you. Do this
at the appointed time in the month of
Aviv, for in that month you came out of
Egypt. No one is to appear before me
empty-handed. Celebrate the Festival
of Harvest with the rstfruits of the
crops you sow in your eld. Celebrate
the Festival of Ingathering at the end
of the year when you gather in your
crops from the eld. Three times a
year all the men are to appear before
the Sovereign LORD. Do not offer the
sacrice to me along with anything
containing yeast. The fat of my festival
offerings must not be kept until morn-
ing. Bring the best of the rstfruits of
your soil to the house of the LORD
your God. Do not cook a young goat
in its mother’s milk.
You can see immediately that none
of this was done privately. It was open
to inspection by any citizen that cared
to watch it. And, of course, it could
not be done carelessly. All the instruc-
tion had to be followed carefully.
Again, sacral society can be rec-
ognized in any nation that does three
things. First, demands that all citizens
serve the same god or gods. Second,
demands that the service of such a
god or gods be done publicly. Third,
pronounces a severe penalty—usu-
ally death—on those who are not seen
doing the rst two things. There are
many such nations or societies today.
Muslim nations and Buddhist nations,
with few if any exceptions, are two
examples.
Many other nations have beensacral societies in the past. Great Brit-
ain was such a nation. When it sought
to plant colonies in the New World, it
aimed to make them be such societies
as well. To illustrate this fact we may
look at some early legal actions of
New England:
Expelled from Massachusetts
in the dead of winter in 1636, for -
mer Puritan leader Roger Williams
(16031683) issued an impassioned plea for freedom of conscience. He
wrote, “God requireth not an unifor -
mity of Religion to be inacted and
inforced in any civill state; which
inforced uniformity (sooner or later) is
the greatest occasion of civill Warre,
ravishing of conscience, persecution
of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of
hypocrisy and destruction of millions
of souls.” Williams later founded
Rhode Island on the principle of reli-
gious freedom. He welcomed people
of every shade of religious belief,even some regarded as dangerously
misguided, for nothing could change
his view that “forced worship stinks in
God’s nostrils.”1
Mary Dyer rst ran afoul of Mas-
sachusetts authorities for supporting
theological dissenter Anne Hutchin-
son. As a result Dyer and her family
were forced to move to Rhode Island
in 1638. Converted to Quakerism in
England in the 1650s, Dyer returned
to New England and was three times
arrested and banished from Massa-
chusetts for spreading Quaker prin-
ciples. Returning to Massachusetts a
fourth time, she was hanged on June
1 The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution,
for cause of Conscience, discussed
in a Conference between Truth and
Peace…Roger Williams, 1644, Rare
Book and Special Collections Divi-
sion, Library of Congress (19)
Wells—Continued from page 1
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 13
Wells—Continued on page 14
the conversation he had with a Sa-
maritan woman in John 4:19-24, he
predicted his abandonment of it. He
did so in a response to her statement
she made. “Sir,” she said, “I can see
that you are a prophet. Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, but you
Jews claim that the place where wemust worship is in Jerusalem.” The
woman was correct in what she said.
She recognized that the mountain she
mentioned and Jerusalem were ex-
tremely important as public elements
of both sacral nations. Her remark
showed that in her view each was
what we now call “a sacral society.”
Jesus replied to what she said by
defending the Jewish position (“salva-
tion is from the Jews,” v21), but also by saying an important change was
about to take place. “Yet a time is
coming and has now come when the
true worshipers will worship the Fa-
ther in spirit and truth, for they are the
kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must
worship in spirit and truth” (23-24).
By describing his people as those
who worship in spirit and truth, he
is saying that the New Covenant will bring with it a major change from
the past. But what is that change?
Although it seems true that true
believers under the Old Testament
were born again, all members of the
New Covenant will have the new
birth. That was not true under the
Old (Mosaic) Covenant. That cov-
enant was given to a mixed multitude
because it included all Israelites,
including infants and children. Many
of these children showed that they hadnot been born again by their actions
throughout their lives.
In Mark 10:1-9 Jesus shows that
the Moses gave a divorce law for un-
godly people. The heart of the passage
is in verses two through ve:
2. Some Pharisees tested him
by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife?”
3.”What did Moses command
you?” he replied.
4. They said, “Moses permitted a
man to write a certicate of divorce
and send her away.”
5.” It was because your hearts
were hard that Moses wrote you this
law,” Jesus replied.
Verse ve makes Jesus’ point.
Though there were many godly Israel-
ites, the nation as a whole was charac-
terized by ungodliness.
The Passing Away of Israel as
Such a Society and the Formation of
a New Society.
Present-day Israel is a secular
nation, though the Orthodox would
like to change this. Has the church,then, simply replaced Israel? No, as I
see it, the godly in Israel from every
generation have become a subset of
the church. When Jeremiah addresses
Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31 he
and his contemporaries would have
taken the words “Israel and Judah” in
their most literal form. We should take
them that way as well. Why? Because
the church as the body of Christ was
not formed until Jesus lived and died.
Those who examined the OT beforeChrist had no other way to read those
words. But the NT shows that the
church includes a number of subsets.
They include Jews, Gentiles and the
godly who lived before the distinction
between Jews and Gentiles existed—
men like Melchizedek and Job. If we
look at Jeremiah 31:31-33 we can see
the promise of future change:
The time is coming,” declares the
LORD, “when I will make a new cov-enant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah. It will not be like
the covenant I made with their forefa-
thers when I took them by the hand to
lead them out of Egypt, because they
broke my covenant, though I was a
husband to them,” declares the LORD.
This is the covenant I will make with
the house of Israel after that time,”
declares the LORD. “I will put my law
in their minds and write it on their
hearts. I will be their God, and they
will be my people.
Jesus’ new society, the church,
would be loyal to God and Christ.
And as far as society is concerned
the church has a subsidiary loyalty
to give to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar, while continuing to giveto God what belongs to God (Mk
12:17). Paul conrms this in Romans
13:1: “Let everyone be subject to the
governing authorities, for there is no
authority except that which God has
established.” Here the relation be-
tween God and governments is made
plain. Each has authority. However,
the governments may not contradict
the demands of God whose authority
is nal.To show that the period of change
had arrived, Jesus drew a strong con-
trast with Mosaic law when he said,
“Nothing outside a man can make him
‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it
is what comes out of a man that makes
him `unclean’” (Mark 7:15; the discus-
sion continues through v23.) By con-
trast Leviticus 11 describes in detail
what can be eaten and what cannot be
eaten under the Mosaic covenant. As
we have seen, Jesus promised a great
change from the past.
The OT has strict rules about
worship. The NT has almost no
outward rules about our personal acts
of worship beyond participation in
baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the
relatively vague command to join with
others in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not
give up meeting together.” Why do I
make this point? Because, unlike the
Mosaic covenant, the New Covenant
approaches the question of our wor -
ship in quite a different way than the
Mosaic covenant generally does. The
New Covenant focuses on our motives
and intentions, the attitudes we hold
in our minds.
Why did the Lord Jesus bring
about this change by dissolving his
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Page 14 November 2013 Issue 202
Wells—Continued from page 13 things that pique our curiosity. Cer -
tainly the end of sacral society falls
among those things.
Laying aside, then, our thirst for
immediate satisfaction on the tempo-
ral future for such nations, let us turn
to eternity. Here we have both less
and more knowledge than we wouldlike. On the “less” side we realize
that we cannot master the immediate
world that is around us. How much
less do we know of eternity and what
it will bring?
Nevertheless, it is clear that eterni-
ty for believers will look a good deal
like a sacral society in one respect.
Review with me once more the basic
element of sacral society. It is the fact
that all citizens of such nations wor -ship the same god or gods. Will that
be true in the new heavens and earth?
Absolutely! Every born-again citizen
of paradise will worship the Trin-
ity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That
is the one God that we all will bow
down to.
If we ask how we will worship
him, it seems clear that our worship
will involve all that we are and do. Put
simply, that would seem to mean that both our minds and our bodies will
be fully focused on the Living God.
However, what form that will take in
detail is beyond us.
Will sacral society pass away? It
will as we know it. But in a certain
sense if we have a memory of it, it
will seem like an element of typol-
ogy. In eternity every citizen of God’s
kingdom will worship the same God,
the King of Kings and the Lord ofLords.
close ties to Israel and establishing the
church? We can suggest three rea-
sons. First, the failures of Israel and
especially its leaders. It seems from
reading the OT that the leaders, kings
and priests, always had the eventual
fate of Israel in their hands. Second,the prophecies that anticipated such
changes. For instance, the promise
to Abraham as Paul expounds it of
Christ and the church in Galatians
4:21-31.
However, the third and overrid-
ing reason was God’s interest in and
love for the world. That led him to
reach all the nations of the earth. A
sacral society tends to keep its people
together. However Jesus’ plan was toscatter his people among the nations.
Two things furthered this purpose.
The rst was his command, “Go and
make disciples of all nations.” (Matt
28:19). The second was his promise
that his followers would be perse-
cuted wherever they went. Here are
two warnings of persecution made in
Jesus’ own words:
I am sending you out like sheep
among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd
as snakes and as innocent as doves…
Brother will betray brother to death,
and a father his child; children will
rebel against their parents and have
them put to death. All men will hate
you because of me, but he who stands
rm to the end will be saved (Matt
10:16, 21-22).
If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me rst. If you be-
longed to the world, it would love you
as its own. As it is, you do not belong
to the world, but I have chosen youout of the world. That is why the world
hates you. Remember the words I have
spoken to you: “No servant is greater
than his master.” If they persecuted
me, they will persecute you also (John
15:18-20).
In trying to escape persecution
they would travel to one country after
another. And they would carry the
gospel of Christ with them.
The Future of Sacral Societies
We will look at the future of sacral
societies from two perspectives. First
we’ll ask the question, what is the
prospect for sacral societies in the
immediate future? Second, what is the
prospect for sacral societies in eter -
nity?
As far as any of us can see, sacral
societies will be with us until the
Lord returns. As I wrote earlier bothMuslim nations and Buddhist na-
tions are sacral societies. If there
are any exceptions in these groups
they must be very few. Could this
change? Perhaps. A Muslim doctor
told me recently that he and some of
his friends are very impressed by the
religious liberty we have in the United
States. However, relatively few of the
millions of the followers of Islam will
have the experience of seeing this
rsthand. More than that, there is noassurance that a great number of them
who might experience it would react
to it positively. Those who are married
to other religions are not usually seek -
ing divorce.
On the other hand, we must not
forget the sovereignty of God in our
projections of the future. In the last
analysis he will direct the course that
Islam takes in the coming years. Not
only are all men and women in theLord’s hands, but all events and all
destinies are there as well. To this
moment the Lord has not told us many
In all the Word of God there is no doctrine which, if properly applied, is more conducive to godly living than is
the doctrine of salvation by grace, and by grace alone.
R. B. Kuiper
The saved are singled out not by their own merits, but by the grace of the Mediator.
Martin Luther
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 15
eat their cereal, drink their milk, hop
in the van and wait for one of us to buckle them in since their mini-arms
aren’t yet buff enough to snap the seat
belts in place. Then we go, and they
begin to ask if we have arrived. I say,
“No buddy, I just put it in reverse. Sit
tight.”
What these little raccoons aren’t
even aware of is how much work
their Momma and I have been do-
ing while they cuddle with soft furry
animals and dream about trains. Ourroad trip started the night before. Put
the clothes out. Bath stuff. Snacks.
Cups. Diapers. Wipes. Elmo. Sound
Machine. Curious George. Brown
blanket. Pack ‘n Play. Now what about
us? Razor, clothes, books. We were up
an hour before them, folding clothes,
packing bags, loading strollers, and
skimming our imaginary check-lists.
They think we just wake up, and, lo
and behold, the van is lled to the
brim. Let’s go! No “Thanks Momand Dad for all your hard work!” No
“Blessed be me for my seless par -
ents.” Just “I need some fruit snacks.
Then some goldsh. With juice. Red.”
The care of parents for their little
ones is signicant, but their care is
gnat-like in comparison to God’s
everyday care for his creation. In-
dependence is a satanic myth. Justthink of how dependent we are on the
omni-generous God at all times. God
upholds the chair I’m sitting in. The
breath I’m breathing. The eyes I see
with. The ngers on this keyboard.
The creativity needed to produce such
a machine to type on (even if it is a
PC). The balance to walk. The ability
to exercise. The brain cells to think.
The insides to digest food. The taste
buds to enjoy this most necessary
process (He didn’t have to do that, you
know?). How many thousands of ways
am I dependent on the Lord every
day? Sadly, like oblivious children, I
fail to thank Him nearly as often as
I should. Perhaps this is one of the
reasons why in the dreadful picture
of life outside of God in Romans 1,
Paul says, “For though they knew
God, they did not glorify Him as God
or show gratitude” (Rom 1:21). They
did not show gratitude. Join me. Joinme in repenting of our toddler-like
ignoring of the countless ways our
Father has taken care of us. He spares
nothing for us, even his own Son. Join
me in cultivating a heart brimming
with gratitude. His care knows no
limits.
Being a father always teaches
us more about our Heavenly Father.Before we had kids, people would al-
ways tell Alicia and me how we have
never felt the love we would feel for
our kids. They were right. I stinking
love the dog out of my boys. I love
them just because they are who they
are. They haven’t earned my love. It is
freely given. They just have to walk
into the room and – most days – my
heart lls with joy. My heart melts
like butter on hot toast when my
one year old squeezes his little arms
around my neck. To think that my
Heavenly Father has similar thoughts
toward his children is hard to fathom.
My love is far from perfect. Far far.
His love is perfect. Amazing love,
how can it be?
This summer, we have been on the
road a ton. Vacation, funeral, lake,
grandparents, preaching, and so on.
Becoming parents also teaches one
gratitude for your own padres. Forexample, when it comes time for a
road trip, my boys simply have to
wake up. At this stage in their little
lives, they are exhaustion-inducing
dependent on us. They can barely put
on – much less tie – their own shoes.
My three year old is lucky if his shirt
isn’t on backwards. So they wake up,
His Care
Blake White
Hey [Blake] just wanted to pass on a word of encouragement to you:
I was guest preaching for an pastor who is nearing retirement this weekend. As I spent the day with him on
Sunday he mentioned how he has read Sound of Grace for years. He mentioned how he has really grown in his
understanding of theology and referenced articles you wrote and other NCT stuff. I told him I went to seminary with
you and his reply was "You know Blake White!" So he wanted me to pass on how much he appreciates your work. He
has served a Baptist church for 20 years in small town Pennsylvania. He is one of the guys like Carson's dad who are
"ordinary pastors." So just be encouraged that your writing ministry is blessing ordinary pastors, some of whom you
may never meet this side of eternity.
Blessings, RP
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Page 16 November 2013 Issue 202
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Dunham—Continued from page 11West—Continued from page 9
importance of the truths contained in
this short sketch. Let me add just a
few additional truths taught in Scrip-
ture about those in the new covenant
community. Since the new covenant
community is coextensive with the
redeemed and the true church ofJesus Christ (today we could simply
say “Christians”), everything that is
universally true of Christians is true
of members of the new covenant. So,
every member has been baptized in
the Spirit, has gifts, is part of God’s
spiritual temple, has a new heart, is
justied, is adopted as God’s heir,
loves Jesus, and is destined for eternal
glory. Of course more could be said,
but for our purposes this is sufcient.
What implications follow for
pastoral ministry? It seems to me that
every one of the previous points is
pregnant with meaning. The theoreti-
cal underpinnings are glorious and the
practical application to church life and
pastoring are not only profound, but
they must be grasped if the ock of
Jesus Christ is going to be shepherded
and cared for properly. In the rest of
the articles in this series we will ex-
amine how these foundational truths
provide a context in which new cov-
enant pastoral ministry takes place.
Any shepherd must know the nature
of their sheep if they are to provide
proper care for the ock. The same is
true of shepherds in the church. It is
essential that pastors and elders un-
derstand the nature of the people they
are dealing with.
Before arriving at the dawn of the
redemptive-historical epoch when
the new covenant community was
birthed, the shepherd metaphor was
already a key image in the old cov-
enant community. It was used in a
variety of contexts to communicate
a cluster of related but differentiable
truths. Figurative language about
shepherds and sheep was often used
in Israel and in other nations in the
Ancient Near East to refer to dei-
ties, leaders (political, military, and
religious), and the populace. This
means that when we come to the New
Testament documents and read about pastors/shepherds, there is not only
an immediate context for the words,
there is an incredibly important
background context that needs to be
understood if the metaphor is to be
unpacked properly. Lord willing, I in-
tend to write a short series of articles
that deal with the shepherd imagery
in the Old and New Testaments so
that we can better understand the role
and responsibility of pastors in the
new covenant community. It is myhope that God will help us come to a
better understanding of the nature of
the ock, the role of the shepherd, and
the implications for practical pastoral
ministry.
enant. “The New Covenant really is
new,” writes Blake (19). In a breath-
taking use of Scripture he shows how
the authors of the New Testament saw
this newness. This was, in particular,
where I began to see my own frustra-
tions with CT crystallized. It doesseem to me now that CT attens the
covenants, whereas NCT follows
the language of the Scriptures more
carefully and closely. This is what I
have always believed and here it was
spelled out in a helpful systematic
way within NCT. Chapters 6 and 7 fo-
cus on the New Covenant community,
particularly the giving of the Holy
Spirit and the nature of the church as
the eschatological Israel. Here I foundhelpful support for positions I had
already afrmed. It seems to me, after
reading this little book, that I am ac-
tually closer akin to this system than I
ever was to CT.
It’s not that I am fully convinced
of all that NCT says. All systems have
aws and weaknesses. I have always
been reluctant to go by any label,
and yet most of us fall, more or less,
within the boundaries of some system.
It appears that I fall more within the
boundaries of NCT and less within
the boundaries of CT. This simple
book – 50 pages – gives an incredibly
concise and yet theologically robust
explanation and defense of New Cov-
enant Theology. It is well worth your
time as you wrestle with how best
to read the unity and discontinuity
between the Testaments.
Senior Pastor Needed
Spurgeon Heritage Church, an independent, Calvinistic, Baptist, New Covenant Church
is looking to fill the position for Senior Pastor. Candidate must be bi-vocational and
willing to move to the West Michigan area. For questions, to request an informational
packet, or to send your resume, email: [email protected]
Website: www.spurgeonheritage.org
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Issue 202 November 2013 Page 19
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Annual John Bunyan Conference
May 5 ̶7, 2014Reformed Baptist Church, Lewisburg, PA
Speakers:
Peter Gentry, Larry McCall, Stephen Wellum, Steve West,
and A. Blake WhiteSchedule and registration to follow.
Mark your calendar--NOW
The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians
by A. Blake White
One of the fundamental hermeneutical tenets of New Covenant Theology is that we
should learn how to approach the Old Testament from Jesus and the Apostles. This
basic principle needs to be worked out and demonstrated by examining text aftertext. This little book is offered to that end. It examines the promises given to Abra-
ham in light of the book of Galatians. I hope and pray it is illuminating and points the
reader to the marvelous work Jesus Christ has accomplished.
A. Blake White (M.Div, SBTS; Th.M candidate, SWBTS) is currently pastor of Spice-
wood Baptist Church in Spicewood, Texas. He is the author of eight other books,
including What is New Covenant Theology? He is married to Alicia and they have
two sons, Josiah and Asher. They are currently expecting their rst daughter, Karis.
8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 202, November 2013
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sound-of-grace-issue-202-november-2013 20/20
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Council on Biblical TheologyJuly 22-25, 2014
Grace Church at Franklin
4052 Arno Rd., Franklin, TN 37065
Theme: God’s Eternal Kingdom Purpose:
NCT—Time for a More Accurate Way
Morning & Evening Speakers
Tony Costa, Ph.D. Christian Apologist & Adjunct Professor, Providence Theological Seminary (PTS)
Peter Gentry, Ph.D. Professor of OT Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Gary George, Pastor Evangelist & Pastor, Sovereign Grace Chapel, Southbridge, MA; Bd. Member PTS
Frank Gumerlock, Ph.D. Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, PTS
Zach S. Maxcey, M.Div. Graduate of PTS and Blog Administrator for PTS
W. W. Sasser, M.Div. Pastor, Grace Church at Franklin and Board Member PTS
Greg Van Court, Ph.D.* Pastor, Dayspring Fellowship Church, Austin, TX & Adjunct Professor PTS
Kirk Wellum, Ph.D.* Principal , Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Canada
Stephen Wellum, Ph.D. Professor of Christian Theology, Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryA. Blake White, Th.M* Pastor, Spicewood Baptist Church, Spicewood, TX *candidate
Afternoon Doctrinal Workshop Moderator
Gary D. Long, Th.D. Faculty President, Providence Theological Seminary, Colorado Springs, CO www.ptsco.org
Registration Contact & Doctrinal Conference Host for the Council on Biblical Theology
Providence Theological Seminary: [email protected]. (719) 572-7900
Administrative Host of Council on Biblical Theology
Grace Church at Franklin, Pastor W. W. Sasser, Church Ofce: (615) 694-2829
Message Topics and Registration & Lodging Information to Follow after the First of the Year