I think the first thing a new disciple should ask themselves or be taught is “what am I to do with the Old Testament and all of those laws”. In some churches the Old Testament is used as an inspirational manual, in others certain laws are used to curb subjective morality (clothes, tattoos) in some denominations the law is supposedly strictly adhered to (until you get to the stoning, real obedience to the sabbath, having mixed fabric clothing), some more solid brothers cancel 2/3rds of it and only uphold the Decalogue, some say those laws aren’t binding but borrow much from it to make certain points and then comes New Covenant Theology. I am of this persuasion and we teach that “All Old Testament Laws are Cancelled” thus consistently pitting the two covenants, the two mediators and work and grace against one another.
Mr Gibson does a really good job giving us a brief and decoded “theologically speaking” work on New Covenant Theology. The thesis of the book is simple and clear:
All Old Testament laws are cancelled, and all New Testament laws are for our obedience. But, you don’t have to agree with me to fellowship with me. If you know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s good enough for me. pg. 7
The book is laid out quite simply. The author provides 24 reasons why. In simple number format, supported with charts, scriptures, ending with a couple of appendices and scripture index.
Mr. Gibson provides numerous verses which describe the Old Covenant commandments and the attitude of these laws by the New Covenant writers. One of the simplest but most important distinctions is found on page 62 in where he shows the distinction between Regressive and Progressive Revelation. New Covenant Theologians believe that “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed”
Mr . Gibson also does a brief overview of Christ’s statement “I did not come to abolish the law” in pages 41-55. This is a very brief discussion and would really take a few hundred pages to deal with extensively. Mr. Gibson does however try to squeeze a bunch of truth into those 15 pages, but again this is not the intent of the book so it is treated with as many pages as the book allows.
In pages 81-89, he deals with defining and discussing the 10 Commandments as the Decalogue which really can’t be separated from the rest of the Old Covenant Law. Regardless of what my Covenant brothers say the Ceremonial, Civil and Moral are not biblical terms. John Reisinger in his work “The Tablets of Stone” does an unbelievable job thoroughly working through the definitions and exposing the false dichotomies of the Law.
Mr. Gibson finishes with what I think to believe Covenant Theology’s weakest point. That is the law and sanctification. Sanctification for a Christian is Christ Centered. That is because the power is from Christ and the ability to obey is intertwined within the New Covenant while the Old Covenant is what it is “a ministry of death”. Mr. Gibson also shows that the 10 Commandments are thoroughly insufficient in how we are to love one another (the one another’s) while the New Covenant Law of Christ gives us direct commands on how to live this out and the power to do it.
There are a few setbacks. For an introduction Mr. Gibson spends very little time contrasting Dispensationalism, though this is not the intent of the book it would have been good to see how we differ. Mr. Gibson also does very little exposition on the many verses he provides. Because the book is more illustrative I believe this is why this occurs. But it would be good to have provided some good exposition on some of the key verses (Hebrews 8, the Sermon on the Mount, Romans 7, 2 Corinthians 3).
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know briefly what New Covenant Theology believes and why we have a radical discontinuity with the Old Covenant as a “gracious covenant” as many of my Covenant Theologian brothers would say.
Lionel-
Looks like a good book, I’ll check it out.
The amazing thing is that not only are Christians not under the Mosaic Law, but that the Law was something we had to be delivered from and that those who are under the Law are under a curse.
Praise the Lord for we have been freed from the Law of Sin, Death and Condemnation to serve by the Royal Law of Love, the Law of Liberty, The very Law of Christ.
What a huge liberating difference!
ROM. 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are NOT UNDER THE LAW but under grace.
1 COR. 9:19-21: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are UNDER THE LAW, as one UNDER THE LAW,though not being myself UNDER THE LAW, so that I might win those who are UNDER THE LAW; to those who are without law, as one without law, (though not being without God’s law, but being under Christ’s law), so that I might win those who are without law.
GAL. 3:21-25: Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody UNDER THE LAW, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our guardian, to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are NO LONGER UNDER THE GUARDIAN.
* GAL. 2:14: But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
GAL. 4:1-7: Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born UNDER THE LAW, to redeem those who were UNDER THE LAW, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
GAL. 4:21-5:1: Tell me, you who desire to be UNDER THE LAW, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise — and these things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar–for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children–but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all…. Now we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty for which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
GAL. 5:16-18: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if you are led of the Spirit, you are NOT UNDER THE LAW.
* Acts 15:7-11: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our forefathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
ROMANS 7:1-6: Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to her husband. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is not an adulteress, even though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become DEAD TO THE LAW through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been DELIVERED FROM THE LAW, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Romans 8:1-4: Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus [the next clause– “who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit”. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has SET YOU FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. For what the law was powerless to do, since it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did, by sending His own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering, thus condemning sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Romans 4:4-5: Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted as a gift, but as what is due. BUT — to the one who does NOT work, but instead BELIEVES in him who justifies the ungodly, his FAITH is credited to him as righteousness.
Romans 9:30-32: What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not even pursue righteousness, have obtained it — that is, the righteousness that comes by faith — but Israel, while pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain it. Why not? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but by works.
GAL. 2:11-14: But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
GAL. 2:18-21: For through the law I DIED TO THE LAW, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.
* ROM. 7:4: Therefore, my brethren, you also have become DEAD TO THE LAW through the body of Christ.
GAL. 3:10-13: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”
Good post. I want to know what does New Covenant Theology teach about the tithe. Thats a hot button issue for many Christians. I have heard preachers cite from the book of Micah that if you fail to give your tithes you will be punished by God while I hear that Jesus never mentions tithing as a rule for believers. It not mentioned in the book of Acts or Paul’s letters as a rule either except for offerings. I’m all for giving to God out of cheerfulness but is tithing a rule for believers?
Ed,
We put tithing next to pigs!
Ed-
I’m with Lionel.
One hundred percent of an individual’s possessions and resources belongs to God.
Under the New Covenant there is no set amount or percentage that a believer is required to give.
The New Testament is the clearest guide for the Christian. We can find everything we need for life and godliness in the things written to us, without having to dredge up rules for other people for other purposes. This does not denigrate or set aside the Old Testament at all, it simply places it in proper perspective, the perspective the New Covenant gives it.
Law preachers must go back to the Old Testament and even back to the uncertain institutions of the patriarchal age for their clearest authority on thing as there is no evidence for “Christian tithing” in the New Testament. That is why the tithing teachers must go back to the Old Testament, they usually avoid the New Testament entirely or worse they distort the New Testament to try to make it fit their theory. There is no command for a Christian to tithe anywhere in the New Testament.
BTW those there is not a single individual who teaches tithing or practices what passes for tithing in churches that teach such, who actually tithe as commanded under the Old Covenant.
Remember that the 3 tithes mentioned under the Mosaic system was designed to support the upkeep of the temple and the temple service (now we are the temple of God) to support the priesthood and national theocratic government(now all believers are priests with Christ Himself being our Great High Priest).
The two main motivations for Law Preachers/Tithing Teachers in teaching NT Storehouse tithing are: 1) to fund unbiblical projects with the congregation’s money such as paying for huge constructions loans and interest as well as “staff” salaries. Some churches waste almost all (up to 90%) of a congregations “giving” on buildings and staff salaries. 2) In order for unbiblical leadership to exercise “control” or “authority” over the funds “given” by a congregation that God’s Word does not give to them.
Believers are admonished to give regularly, as one has been prospered, cheerfully and sacrificially (2 Corinthians 9:17, I Corinthians 16:1-4, Romans 12:8,).
Giving in the New Covenant scriptures is used mainly to alleviate legitimate physical needs for ones own family (1 Timothy 5:8) especially widows (1 Timothy 5:3-4) then for those within the congregation and greater Christian community/help the poor (1 Corinthians 16:1-4), to support those who travel away from their homes on a legitimate/qualified missionary journey/church planting trip. 1 Corinthians 9:1-15.
The idea of paying a church staff to “do ministry” is alien and unheard of in the New Testament scriptures.
The work of the ministry including the teaching is to be done by the congregation of which the older and more spiritually mature brothers/elders are a part.
Elders like the rest of believers are to have their own gainful employment as to not be a burden to the congregation as patterned by the Apostle Paul.
All believers are to exercise their spiritual gifts within the congregation as their spiritual or reasonable act of worship to God and not for financial compensation (Romans 12:1-2).
The amount and place that a believer gives towards the work of Christ are between him and his Lord alone.
Ed,
I would like to add to what Hutch said about tithing.
Check out this site as it is very informative.
http://www.bible-truths.com/tithing.html
The title is Tithing is unscriptural under the New Covenant
I just happened to be reading Hebrews today during my study.
Check out Hebrews 7:5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who recieve the priesthood, have a commandment to recieve tithes from the people according to the law, that is from their brethren….”
According to that tithing was of the law. And for the Levites.
We no longer have levites we have a savior. And so there is no need to pay the Levites.
I wholeheartedly agree with what Hutch said above and to say more would be to just repeat what he already expressed.
Steven
Thank you very much. Very enlightening amd interesting.
Lionel, thank you for taking the time to review my book.
P.S. Your comment relating tithing and pigs was worth the price of admission!
Anytime brother,
I am going to check your other works also. Keep it going. I love this, now you only have to answer the critics who want you to give a theological treatise on it. I believe this work is being done.