The Everlasting Covenant

by Allen Smith

Adapted from message given at the annual Conference of Continental Baptist Churches July 22, 1997

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Heb. 13:20-21

Over the years I have attended a number of conferences to hear speakers address certain theological areas. Often they were speaking in opposition to a particular position. Sometimes I have been disappointed when realizing that the speaker did not understand what his opponents really believed. I make no pretense to have an exhaustive knowledge about this immense subject but I have given some consideration to what has been taught by some of the schools of theology. We may never know the answer to some questions, but it is good to at least know what some of the questions are. The subject is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant. What is this Covenant and what is the law of the covenant? The term Everlasting Covenant appears sixteen times in the KJV of the New Testament. If you look at all the appearances of the term there is a progression of thought in how it is used. From the reference to the Rainbow in Genesis 9:16 to the last reference which is the verse we are considering here in Hebrews 13:20. The words everlasting in the Hebrew and Greek are often translated eternal. They have the thought of out of sight, and may refer to the beginning and also to the idea, with out end. The context is often the defining principle of the meaning. Eternal life is life that has no beginning nor end. Everlasting Covenant may have beginning but imply no end as in Isaiah 55:3 "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Note that this reference to an everlasting covenant is long after the one promised to Abraham and the one promised to David. It is a conditional statement with the promise that he would make an everlasting covenant with them but that promise is related to the sure mercies of David.  The approach I intend to take is that the blood of the Everlasting  Covenant of Hebrews 13:20 is the New Covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8. The nemesis of presenting such a view is that there are two major theological systems that impose on this text different and contrary views. These are Covenant and Dispensational Theology. For the most part they are separate and cohesive systems. Because there are similarities between them there is currently some discussion and publishing regarding the areas of agreement between the Covenant theologians and the Dispensational theologians. There are three major views among the dispensationalist. The Classic Dispensationalist, seen in the notes of the Scofield Bible. Progressive Dispensationalism, a modified plan that has been developed by some professors from Dallas Theological Seminary and some other schools of Bible and Theology. A third division is in the area of the rapture as to whether it is pre-, mid- or post-tribulation. All three Dispensational groups would see the major implementation of the New Covenant relating to a future restoration of Israel as God's covenant nation. The central distinguishing premise of Dispensational theology, teaches that the seventieth week of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9 is still in the future.

Covenant Theology has a cohesive system that relates the Everlasting Covenant, in its various expressions, to one central Covenant relation of God to men. This is called the Covenant of Grace a covenant that God made with Adam and it has a number of administrations or dispensations. One covenant many administrations. This one covenant of grace is the central distinguishing premise of Covenant Theology. Covenant theology is held by a wide range of Calvinistic groups, but the greater part includes the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches and the Reformed Baptists.

Since each of these groups are made up of Bible believing Christians who have accepted differing presuppositions, I do not want to make an attack on individual Christians nor merely to attack their systems. To present a fair exposition though, I feel I must answer some of the problems that arise in the interpretations that have been placed upon the texts before us.

In doing so I will mainly consider the covenant view. This should raise questions and give some answers regarding Dispensational theology. I am not contending with the fact that God has a redemptive plan that God is carrying out in the salvation of his people. Nor, that the plan of redemption has existed from all eternity. We are told in Scripture that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1:4. The scriptures also tell us that Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13:8.

Nor, am I contending that there is no moral duty required of man by God. Moral duty existed before the law was given at Sinai. I also acknowledge that God has dealt with man in Covenants.

The question is are all the covenants just different administrations of one covenant or is there a difference in these covenants? Is the New Covenant separate from the Mosaic?

Is there a connection between the Everlasting Covenant and the New Covenant? Is the New Covenant in force in the Church age? Is Israel and the Church separate entities?

The immediate question that arises is how did theologians come to the conclusion that there is one covenant of grace and all the others are a part of that one covenant.

Actually they have more than one covenant. Hodge in explaining a seeming contradiction of terms in the Westminister Confession says, "confusion is avoided by distinguishing between the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, and the Covenant of grace between God and his people." (Systematic Theology Vol. 2 p. 358).

Francis Turrentin (1623-87) says, "Although properly and strictly speaking, there can be no covenant between God and man because there is no room for a contract (which takes place between equals), nor any obligation of God, but a spontaneous communication of himself ...still God by singular grace willed to enter into a covenant with man, in the sense of what lawyers call a "quasi-contract." [Webster defines a quasi-contract as "imposed by law independently of the will of the person obliged." Quasi is something less than the real thing.]

"He entered into a twofold covenant with men: first, a legal covenant (or one of works) with innocent man; another of faith and evangelical with fallen and sinful man.

By the former, God promised eternal life to the man perfectly fulfilling the law and threatened the sinner with death according to the clauses, do this and live' and ursed is he who continueth not.' By the latter, he promises to the believer safety in Christ and on account of Christ. The former was made with Adam before the fall and in him with all men....The latter was entered into with the elect in Christ after the fall. (Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, vol 2, p. 174)

Turretin makes the legal covenant made with man the "law." In the Genesis account there is no mention of this legal contract or law but he draws a "consequence" from Gen 2:17 that because there was punishment the promise of life "should not be excluded, both from the sacrament of the tree of life (by which it was sealed) and from the threatening of death (which by reason of contraries had the implied promise of life and from the various passages of Scripture which express more clearly the nature and sanction of the law, as Lev. 18:5...") etc. The only concrete passage of scripture, usually given, for a covenant of works is the Hosea 6:7 verse "they like men have transgressed the covenant". Turretin admits that this verse "may be explained of the inconstancy of men" but he insist it could also refer to Adam. (Turretin, vol 1 p. 575-6).

Herman Witsius (1636-1708) writes, "In order...to understand the nature of the covenant of grace, two things are above all to be distinctly considered. 1st. The covenant which intervenes between God the Father and Christ the Mediator. 2dly. That testamentory disposition, by which God bestows by an immutable covenant, eternal salvation, and every thing relative thereto, upon the elect. The former agreement is between God and the Mediator: the latter, between God and the elect. This last pre-supposes the first, and is founded upon it." In speaking of Christ being "a surety of a better covenant or testament" in Hebrews 7:22 he says, "His suretiship consists in this, that he himself undertook to perform that condition, without which, consistently with the justice of God, the grace and promises of God could not reach unto us: but being once performed, they were infallibly to come to the children of the covenant: unless then we would make void the suretiship of Christ, and gratify the Socinians, the very worst perverters of scripture, it is necessary, we conceive of some covenant, the conditions of which Christ took upon himself; engaging in our name with the Father, to perform them for us; and that, having performed them, he might engage to us for the Father, that we should certainly have grace and glory bestowed upon us. (The Economy of the Covenants between God and Man, Vol. 1 p. 165-6). Emphasis added.

Turretin and Witsius are the standard for Covenant Theology. (Another major contributor was Johannes Cocceius (1603-69) one of William Ames's students in Holland.) They were contemporaries. Turretin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology in the Latin was the text for theology studies at Princeton Seminary until the latter part of the last century. J. P. Boyce would have studied him when in Seminary. Witsius was reprinted by John Gill and others in England and has had a major influence among the Particular Baptist until the present day.

The introduction to the current edition was written by Tom K. Ascol, who is active in the Southern Baptist Founders Conference. This helps to explain the emphasis being placed on Covenant Theology by the Founder's Conference.

The question should be asked when did the teaching that there is a covenant of grace in a two or threefold form arise ie., covenant of works, redemption and New Covenant. J. I. Packer in the introduction to Witsius writes, "Historically, covenant theology is a Reformed development: Huldreich Zwingli, Henry Bullinger, John Calvin, Zacharias Ursinus, Caspar Olevianus, Robert Rollock, John Preston, and John Ball, were among the contributors to its growth, and the Westminister Confession and Catechisms gave it confessional status. (Introd. V) 20 Regrettably I have access to the writings of only two of these men John Calvin and John Preston. 20

John Calvin in his Institutes uses the term Covenant of Grace two times (Bk 3, Ch. 17, par. 15; Bk 4, ch. 13, par 6). He uses some other forms of the same thought, "covenant of his grace", "evangelical covenant" but in none of these areas does Calvin make a covenant of grace that is manifest in the three different administrations. He without doubt lays a foundation for what would later be developed agreeing with Augustine "that the children of the promise, from the beginning of the world, who have been regenerated by God, and under the influence of faith working by love have obeyed his commands, belong to the New Testament." (v. l p 356) The eleventh chapter of Book two on "The difference of the two Testaments" has little with which a New covenant Theologians would differ. Yet he does lay here the foundation of Covenant theology, "What, then? you will say, Is there no difference between the Old and the New Testaments? What is to become of the many passages of Scripture in which they are contrasted as things differing most widely from each other? I readily admit the differences which are pointed out in Scripture, but still hold that they derogate in no respect from their established unity, ... I hold and think I will be able to show, that they all belong to the mode of administration rather than to the substance. In this way, there is nothing in them to prevent the promises of the Old and New Testament from remaining the same, Christ being the foundation of both." (Logos ed. Bk 2 ch.11 par 1)Emphasis added.

Although Packer does not mention William Ames (1576-1633) in the above list, he has to be considered in the development of Covenant Theology. At Christ's College Ames was exposed to the teaching of one of the most noted Puritans, William Perkins. Upon graduation in 1607 he became a fellow of the College. Amesian theology would "rework" much of the Puritan theology in England the Continent and America. He would be forced to flee England in 1610 and would spend the remainder of his life on the continent. He was not an official member of the Synod of Dort but would be present as a clerk to one of the other official members.

Being as astute in theology as he was he must certainly had an influence in that body. He produced two major works that were influential in the Reformed bodies, The Marrow of Theology and Conscience: Its Law or Cases. Ames produced a number of polemical works and often uses a form of Aristotelian syllogism in presenting his cases. He was highly influenced by the French Philosopher Peter Ramus (1515-72) and developed his own form of logic based on the Ramesian logic. Ames's theology based on Ramesian logic was well received by the New England Puritans and would eventually become the foundation of the New England School of theology. At the time of his death Ames was making preparations to move to New England and teach.

When a study is made of Covenant Theology it is impossible to come to the conclusions they do with out the use of non-biblical terms. The only explanation I have for how they can come up with some of these "necessary consequences" is through a logical process of reasoning. You can see Ames use of logic throughout his writings. To give an illustration in the Marrow chapter 8 "Creation," he uses the following,  The particular is the proper use which anything serves in its own nature. . The universal is the use of one thing with others for the perfection of the universe, Psa 104 and 148; Isa.40:12. I wish someone would do a through study on the influence of Ames and Ramus on the development and changes in Covenant Theology. In his booklet Imputation of Righteousness & Covenant Theology Walter Chantry traces the Ramus philosophy from the French Protestant Theological School through the Amyraldanian theology and ultimately to Jonathan Edwards and the great awakening. George Ella in his book on Andrew Fuller indicates Fuller was influenced by Edwards and the New England Schools. Time does not permit a study of the influence of this development in Puritan Theology, had on the changes between the 1646 First London Confession and the 1689 Confession, that became the basis of much of our Baptist history and the Confessional standard of the present day Reformed Baptist. The mid 17th Century saw the rise of the "Marrow Controversy". This revolved around the Covenant of Works, the Covenant of Grace and the Ten Commandments. It led to the publishing of a book The Marrow of Modern Divinity. This would be an area of study in itself. When the Covenant Theologian goes to prove the covenant of works made with Adam we see he uses verses such as Leviticus 18:5 "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD," (which is taken from the Mosaic Code) instead of a text specifically referring to a covenant of works with Adam. The reasoning behind this is based on certain "necessary consequences" that since God told Adam not to eat and there was a penalty, therefore the command that he broke was in essence the Mosaic Law.  

The command that God made with Adam was not in anyway connected with the Commandments given to Moses. Adam was told that if he ate of the tree of Good and Evil he would die. The implication being he would die spiritually and physically. Beyond this we cannot go scripturally. In the book of Deuteronomy Moses specifically says that the Covenant had not been made prior to Sinai. Deuteronomy 4:12 "And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.  And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it." To me it is clear from this text that the covenant (the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant) is the ten words. In the next chapter Moses goes on to remind them that this was unique to them.

Deuteronomy 5:1 "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire." Now I do not see how we can say this was made with Adam in the garden when Moses under the inspiration of God says it was not made with their fathers. Everyone there had descended from Adam.  

The Covenant Theologians see this covenant as both a covenant of grace and a covenant of works. It certainly was a do and live covenant. Moses says that obedience to this covenant was to be the basis of their righteousness. Deuteronomy 6:24-25; 7:9-12 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. 25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.  

9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.  

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 20

There is no grace here it was do and be blessed. This is that righteousness of the law that Paul speaks of in Romans 10:5 and Philipians 3:9. It is inculcated in the answer given by Christ to the rich man in Matthew 19:16-17 16 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Now this is in keeping with the Old Covenant which Christ, as Lord of the Covenant and "made under the law," has the right to interpret and as the redeemer, has come to fulfill . After the fall God made a promise of a redeemer in the proevangel of Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Covenant Theology calls this the Covenant of Grace based upon the Covenant of Redemption. There is certainly the promise of the redeemer in this verse.

To imply a covenant of grace is to go beyond the text. The promise is the seed of the woman. We see the plan for that seed to come into the world in the promise of the seed to Abraham. It will be the one descended from Abraham that will ultimately become the worlds only redeemer. It was four hundred thirty years after this promise made to Abraham that we have the Covenant made with the nation of Israel the descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. Instead of the Law being a new "administration", or as some call it a "transaction" of an original agreement with Adam, it is something that had not been given before. Paul says it came in along side of the promise. In Dispensational charts (and I have some of them in my files) Israel is shown at the present time as a side track to the continuing plan of God. I would suggest that it would be better to show Israel on the side track during the period of Israel as a nation under the law. The law having come in along side of the promise. It was the law given to Israel at Sinai that constituted Israel a nation not the promise made to Abraham. The Abrahamic promise is fulfilled in Christ and Paul says if we be Christ's then are we Abraham's seed (Gal 3:29). The law entered along side of the promise. Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" The word entered might be translated "came in alongside". Thus the law came along side of the promise.

In Galatians 3:19 Paul says the law was added. The law did not make us sinners, our disobedience in Adam made us sinners. Paul says in Romans 5:13 "until the law sin was in the world." The law made sin more offensive. "It entered that the offence might abound" Rom 5:20. Knox Chamblin (Reformed Seminary) and a covenant theologian says, "As soon as the law is given, sin commandeers it for its evil purpose;" "Such is sin's influence that knowing the law induces a person to break it rather than to keep it;" "Paul goes further still: God gives his law so that the trespass might increase." Though Chamblin and I would differ in our theological outcome, we agree on the basic effect of law. We see how the command increases the offense in the illustration of telling a child that he is not to eat any of the cookies in the jar on the counter. Huh, he didn't even know there were any cookies in the jar! There is a succinct statement in John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. This is one of those clear distinctives that Calvin was referring to and it can't be made to double speak. That is to say law is grace and grace is law as covenant theology is prone to do. This verse tells us that any grace in the Old Covenant is wrapped up in the person and work of Christ. Israel having violated the Covenant before Moses came down from Mount Sinai, fell under its curse and demonstrates what Paul says in Romans 8:3 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" 20

After many years of rebellion and religious infidelity God sent the Nation of Israel away into captivity and gave Jeremiah the prophecy of the New Covenant and this is the basis of our text. In the fulness of time Christ came and established that Covenant. Gal 4:4 "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." Christ as the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16), being made under the law, and becoming a curse under it for his people, he was raised as the seed of David and is seated at the right had of God until his foes are made to be his footstool (Acts 2:34, 35). Under the old covenant the law was a "law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2), it made the Gentiles aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

(Eph 2:12) The Gentiles having been excluded under the old covenant Christ by his obedience to that Covenant has obtained salvation for Jew and Gentile. Galatians 3:13-14 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." This salvation of Jew and Gentile was impossible with out the demands of the Mosaic Law being fulfilled. Not the smallest part of a letter in the Hebrew alphabet that was included in the law can be permitted to stand unfulfilled, with out all of us being under its curse (Mat. 5:17,18; James 2:10) We see this truth set forth in the Lord bearing in his own body that which we deserved.

Ephesians 2:15, 16.  15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:  The word "abolished" here is a strong word. It means to cease etc. The covenant theologian wants to make the law here the "ceremonial law" but let me ask you a question. Was the enmity abolished in his flesh here caused by the ceremonial law or the violation of the covenant. Beloved Christ has accomplished something for his people that is very, very, real.

Until we understand this we will never fully learn to appreciate what Christ has accomplished. We will keep going back to Moses for a rule of life or looking at Kazars gathering in old Palestine for a guide for our hope.  

In closing this part of our study I want to say that the Old wasn't the new in a weaker form but the New is that which Christ has established by his own obedience in our behalf, Jew and Gentile. He has sealed it with his own blood and is now our High Priest par excellence.

Hebrews 9:14-15 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 20

15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." -- What more do we need. 20

In the next message I will look in more detail at the law of the New Covenant believer.

The Law of the Covenant

Read - - Hebrews 5:7,10; 8:1-13; 9:11-15; 12:18-24; 13:20-22

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation:" Hebrews 13:20-22

"The word of exhortation" how fitting. I believe that if it were not for the vision impairment caused by the prison bars of our theological presuppositions it would be plain to all that the Everlasting covenant is the new covenant and cannot be abridged by imposing upon it various interpretations of the Mosaic covenant. In this case the word everlasting is literally the eternal covenant. Christ was made under the Mosaic law and suffered in His death under the penalty of that law. Since he was under that penalty there was need that he have an authority to come forth from the dead as he had promise. John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." We are told in Heb 13:20 that he was "brought again from the dead...through the blood of the everlasting covenant." The power and authority for his resurrection is the blood of the eternal covenant. "The blood of Christ satisfied divine justice, and so procured Christ's release from the prison of the grave, as having paid our debt, according to an eternal covenant or agreement between the Father and the Son..." (M. Henry, v.6 p. 966) This covenant was not made with men, (Adam, Israel or even with us here today--although M. Henry makes that application) but this was between the members of the Trinity in our behalf. Our salvation is of the Lord and the Lord alone. Hebrews 6:13 "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself." There is an interesting quotation from Psalm 40 in Hebrews 10:5 "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure." In bringing this over from the Septuagint the word body has been substituted for the words "mine ears hast thou opened" or digged - pierced. Various explanations are given for the meaning. Let me give my understanding of the application. At Sinai Israel agreed to the Covenant. Before Moses came down from the mount they had violated it and built molten idols to worship. God sent Moses their mediator down from the mount for the Lord was furious with them. When Moses saw what they had done he cast the covenant down and broke it. The Mosaic covenant was a covenant of works made with Israel in the wilderness (the covenant theologian says it was a gracious covenant). That covenant being broken it became a curse to them. They failed because of the weakness of the flesh Rom 8:3. In Psalm 40 we have two things that are illustrations of the law covenant and its ceremonies that give us understanding of the passages in Hebrews. Christ had a prepared body. A body with an ear that had been "digged", opening it to the hearing of the will of God. "Lo I come to do thy will O' God." His ear was also pierced as the true bond servant of God. Isaiah presents him as the servant. When a slave was freed he could choose to continue as a bondservant, the servant of the pierced ear. Paul refers to himself as such a servant of Christ. Moses as the servant mediator between God and Israel lost his "cool" on a number of occasions and missed getting to enter the promised land. Christ as the true servant never failed but was obedient even unto death, thus in the last hours of his earthly life he said, "not my will but thine be done." He fulfilled every demand of that law upon us. He bore our penalty, He paid our debt, by His obedience he obtained for us the righteousness which was of the law. The sacrifices and offerings of that broken law could not take away sin, thus he said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:8-10) The only offering that could take away sin was the blood of the eternal covenant, even the blood of our saviour. This sacrifice was not after the pattern but is the better sacrifice for the "heavenly things." Heb. 9:23 We can say, that in fulfilling the Old Covenant Christ has now obtained Salvation for his elect in whatever tribe or nation they may be found. The law of that Covenant was literally a garrison wall so to speak. Paul relates it to a military garrison by which they were kept away from the outside world. Galatians 3:23 "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed." (NKJV) The word kept under guard is the word for a military garrison. A place where there was not liberty to go and come as one may please. Any of you who served in the military may remember times when the base was "locked down" no one could go or come without special permission. This is the scene Gal 3:23 is setting for us. Paul goes on to say the law was their schoolmaster unto Christ. There is much misunderstanding regarding the reading and translation of this verse. It revolves around the word "schoolmaster" and "unto." If the word unto is seen as describing the time element and is translated "until" it will help us understand Paul's thought. (This is possible with this Greek preposition according to some scholars.) Schoolmaster is usually thought of as a teacher or tutor as it is translated in the NKJV. The word in the Greek is pedagogue and the Greek pedagogue was not the teacher but the child conductor. He would be the one who would take the underage child to the teacher and supervise him at other times. "Paedagogus has no equivalent in the English language; 'pedagogue,' 'schoolmaster,' 'tutor,' 'guardian,' are all inadequate, covering each one an area of thought more or less quite different, 'Tutor,' as the masculine of 'governess,' comes perhaps nearest; but a tutor to a gentleman's children is generally an educated man, and often of like rank in life with those he is with; where as a paedagogus was usually a slave--. An illustration in Plato from the writings of Socrates gives insight. Socrates is questioning a young friend. "They let you have your own ruling of yourself: or do they not trust you with this either? 'Trust me with it, indeed!' he said. But as to this who has the ruling of you? This man here, he said 'a tutor.' Being a slave eh? 'But what of that?' said he; 'yes; only, a slave of our own...' An awfully strange thing this, I said, that you, freeman that you are, should be under the ruling of a slave. But further, what does this tutor of yours, as your ruler, do with you? 'He takes me,' said he, 'to a teacher's house, of course.' Do they rule you too, the teachers? 'Certainly, of course.' A mighty number it seems of masters and rulers does your father think proper to set over you." (Pulpit Com. Vol 20 p. 142) This is the setting that was probably in Paul's mind when he wrote, not that which arises in the mind of the average person who hears the word "schoolmaster." When the child of minority reached maturity he was no longer under the pedagogue. It is under the grace of the New Covenant that we have received this liberty of sons, and is the context of what Paul writes in Galatians 4:1-6. Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

The New Covenant has something better.

A mediator with a better name -- Son. Hebrews 1:4-5 "Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? " Philippians 2:9-11 "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Read the passage on through v. 18. Its good.

A Priest with a better hope -- Hebrews 7:14-19 "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. 17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. 19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God." Christ was the anti-type of those sacrifices of that covenant but not of its priesthood. His priesthood is that after an endless life.

A better covenant with a better surety and better promises -- Hebrews 7:22 "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." Hebrews 8:6-7 "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." Keep in mind that Deuteronomy 4:13 establishes the ten commandments as the covenant.

A better mountain at which to worship -- Hebrews 12:22-24 "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Abel's "blood cried from the ground for vengeance, with the accusing voice of primeval sin; Christ's speaks only of reconciliation and peace." (Pulpit)

Surely we see here that in the blood of the Everlasting (New Covenant) there is something better than what was given at Sinai. Yet the Covenant Theologians want to take us back to Sinai for our rule of life and sanctification. Patrick Fairbairn in The Revelation of Law in Scripture is norm for this attitude of the Law being greater than Grace. "...the imperfections too commonly cleaving to the work of grace in the redeemed, call for a certain coercive influence of law even for them. If it has not the function to discharge for such which it once had, it still has a function, there being so little of that perfect love which casteth out fear, and fear being needed to awe where love has failed to inspire and animate." (Page 290-1) Another has said "The law's relation to God's promise, to God's grace, and to God himself provides powerful incentives for law-keeping. On the one had, keeping the law offers a way to express love for the lawgiver and thanksgiving for his salvation (Psalm 119). On the other hand, precisely because the law is of grace, those who violate its demands stand under threat of Yahweh's curse. One who cannot obey out of love should do so out of fear." (Cont. Discont. P.185) These and statements of other covenant theologians gives validity to what the Scottish writer James B. Torrance said, "...we see...the assertion of the priority of law over gospel." (quoted in Continuity & Discontinuity p. 55-6) To regress back to the Old Covenant to finish what is involved in our redemption and sanctification whether it be under the guise of going back to the ten words as Fairbairn or to rebuild the temple and reinstitute the Jewish sacrifices is to take away the words of our Lord "it is finished."

What is the guide of the New Covenant believer? It is the words of our Lord and the Apostles as established in the New Covenant. "You have heard it said, ...but I say unto you." This is the basis of the New Covenant as expressed in Hebrews 8:8,13 "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." There is just not any scriptural ground to say that the New Covenant, or the Everlasting Covenant, is just a different administration of the Mosaic covenant or Adamic covenant. Now Dispensationalist must also recognize that the basis of this covenant is not that which made the Nation Israel a nation. There has been a change. In this case I think there is a misunderstanding by both schools of theology. For the remainder of my time I would like to consider what is involved in some of these New Covenant statements and how we see it implemented in the New Testament.

I. It would not be according to the covenant he made when he led them out of the land of Egypt Heb 8:9. This point I believe has been well established.

II. He would put the law in their inward parts. He would put his law in their minds and write it in their hearts. Hebrews 8:10. This is in accordance with what Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." The entire third chapter of 2 Cor. sets the contrast between the tables of stone and that written by the Spirit of God upon the hearts of the regenerate. We believe that Christ's law is now written on the hearts of regenerate men. We are not advocating lawlessness nor antinomianism as some say. Paul says "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:9-11) Men by nature know what is right. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another" Romans 2:14-15. What's the difference between these and the New Covenant believer. Christ is operating in the believer by the "power of an endless life" Hebrews 7:16.

III. He is to be their God and they are to be his people. (Heb. 8:10) We see the beauty of this expressed earlier in Hebrews 2:10-15 "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. 13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." These words speak not of being in fear and bondage but being delivered into the liberty of victory in Christ. The Captain of our salvation was victorious. He has begun in us a work that he is certain of finishing.

IV There is a difference in our means of instruction. The law Covenant had established Israel as a nation. They were to teach all the commandments and statutes to their children. The outside world of the nations could look on but they could not participate with the nation. Israel was forbidden to make alliances with the nations around them. Their existence was a witness to the nations, not their participation with them, or in them. But according to Paul they as a nation were not all true Israelites. Romans 9:6 "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" But they were God's Theocratic nation. Today there is a tendency to bring civil law under the "church" or the "church" under civil law. This is based on the need to teach the law of God. But in the New Covenant we are told "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." Hebrews 8:11 This depicts to us the New Covenant Church as made up of those who are regenerate and who know the Lord. They are not of the circumcision of the flesh or (as some think)its replacement baptism, but the true circumcision of the heart. We see much discussion today over "Lordship Salvation" but the problem is that we must realize that when the Lord saves someone, He becomes their God and he will continue that work of salvation until the end. Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Much of the professing "church" is just that, professing but not possessing. The Scripture is clear that to know Christ requires a special revelation of the Holy Spirit and that the work begun will continue by the Spirit. You are not going to improve their spirituality by telling them Moses said you should not have any other God's than Jehovah. I believe that men know there is a God. Even the most primitive worship something. The problem is "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness..." Romans 1:28,29a.

The New Testament does not drive us back to Sinai. The knowledge of Christ is a revelation of God and those to whom he is revealed love him and follow him because of this revelation of himself to them. He abides in us by his Spirit and continues to teach us. Matthew 11:25-26 "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." For reason's reserved to himself the Lord does not reveal himself to all men. But he has revealed himself to some. To these to whom he is revealed they are enabled to know him and he is manifest to them. We are not taught to direct people to Moses so that they may find Christ nor are we to direct them to Moses so that they can learn how to live for Christ. Note our Lord's words. John 14:19-23 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. [Paul says Christ in you the hope of glory Col. 1:27] 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: [There is an emphasis on "my commandments" here, Moses commandments permitted divorce but Christ Commandment doesn't] and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. There is a divine presence with the believing New Covenant saint that was not experienced under the Old Covenant. Those who are the Lord's are taught of him. John 6:45 -- It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. When were you taught of God? How much did you know when you came to Christ? I heard a man tell of how he went down to a street corner in NY City to heckle a gospel preacher. He left that place a converted soul. When was he taught of God? I suspect the teaching started when God put it in his heart to go and heckle the preacher. When ever it takes place it is because we are taught of God. I am not speaking just of intuitive knowledge. God uses his word to teach us truth. The unregenerate can learn the scripture academically but spiritual understanding must be by revelation from God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 -- But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Christ told his disciples in John 13:34,35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Christ summed up the second table of the law in the words "love your neighbor as your self." When the pagan world observed how Christ disciples "loved one another" they were observing this new covenant life. Felix - "They love one another even before knowing one another." Lucion - "Their master has made them believe they are all brethren." How did these disciples know to love one another. Was it because the apostles had told them. Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonia; 1 Thessalonians 4:9 "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." One commentary says this: "We are not to think here of the new commandment of brotherly love given by the Saviour, nor on the Divine compassion exciting us to love; but 'taught of God' by the influences of the Spirit on their hearts and consciences to love one another." (Pulpit v.21 p. 75) This is a rebuke to what I often see take place among the Saints. I have observed some of this among those who press upon the saints the Old Covenant teaching of the Law. Many who do not agree with them are designated as "lawless", "antinomian" etc. (See Plummer's Law, esp Chapter on Antinomianism.) The Apostle John, the Apostle of love in 1 John 2:20,21,27,28 teaches: 20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

The change that takes place at regeneration is so great that Paul speaks of it as becoming a new creation in Christ. The Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to enliven, to enlighten, and to empower, the saints to live under the New Covenant. The law was weak through the flesh, and Christ has now fulfilled it and written his law upon our hearts and given the Holy Spirit to convict and correct us in our daily walk with the Lord. All the 10 commands are in some form or other in the New Testament except the Sabbath. (Even the Covenant Theologians do not observe the Sabbath yet they certainly make much of it.) We all in some way come short of that glory we should be bringing to the Lord. But I believe that if you are one of the Lord's children you cannot go out and sin with out there being some conscience awareness that you are walking disorderly. Though we often fail He will convict and console us in our repentance. If someone who has "professed Christ" continues down the path of the world, the flesh and the devil, it is sure that they have gone out from us because they were not of us. We must ever look to Christ for it is there that there is power to live for God.

Conclusion: Romans 8:2-4 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The law of the New Covenant believer is wrapped up in the person and work of Jesus Christ and his commands to us. Hear ye Him follow Him, serve Him.

Amen!