Tag Archives: theology

Jeremiah 31: New Covenant in Christ

Below is a verse-by-verse explanation of Jeremiah 31 (ESV), where the New Covenant was foretold.

Jeremiah 31:1 – “At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

God reaffirms His covenant relationship with His people. In Reformed theology, this anticipates the New Covenant, where God’s people are not just ethnic Israel, but all in Christ (Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 3:29). The phrase “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” is the heart of covenant promise, ultimately fulfilled in Christ and the Church.

Jeremiah 31:2 – “Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,”

God’s grace is extended to the remnant. Reformed theology sees the “remnant” as those preserved by God’s sovereign election (Rom. 11:5), and the “wilderness” as a place of dependence on God, pointing forward to the spiritual rest found in Christ (Heb. 4:9-10).

Jeremiah 31:3 – “the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

God’s everlasting love and faithfulness are the foundation of the covenant. In New Covenant theology, this love is supremely demonstrated in Christ’s redemptive work (Eph. 1:4-5).

Jeremiah 31:4 – “Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.”

Restoration is promised. The “virgin Israel” language points to renewal and purity, fulfilled in the Church, the bride of Christ, made pure by His sacrifice (Eph. 5:25-27).

Jeremiah 31:5 – “Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.”

Blessing and fruitfulness are restored. In Reformed thought, this is typological of the spiritual fruitfulness of the New Covenant community (John 15:5).

Jeremiah 31:6 – “For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”

Unity in worship is anticipated. In the New Covenant, Gentiles and Jews are called together to worship God in Christ (Eph. 2:14-18).

Jeremiah 31:7 – “For thus says the LORD: ‘Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, “O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.”’”

Salvation and praise are central. The “remnant” is the elect, and the call to praise is fulfilled in the worship of the Church (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Jeremiah 31:8 – “Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

God’s gathering is inclusive and gracious. In New Covenant theology, this foreshadows the ingathering of all nations into the people of God (Rev. 7:9).

Jeremiah 31:9 – “With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

Repentance and restoration are God’s work. The “brooks of water” symbolize spiritual refreshment in Christ (John 7:37-39). God as Father is realized in the New Covenant (Gal. 4:6).

Jeremiah 31:10 – “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’”

God’s faithfulness extends to the nations. The shepherd imagery is fulfilled in Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), and the Church’s global mission.

Jeremiah 31:11 – “For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.”

Redemption is by God’s initiative. In Reformed theology, this points to Christ’s atoning work (Mark 10:45; Eph. 1:7).

Jeremiah 31:12 – “They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.”

Abundant blessing and joy are promised. In the New Covenant, the Church enjoys spiritual abundance in Christ (John 10:10).

Jeremiah 31:13 – “Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.”

Transformation from sorrow to joy is a New Covenant reality (John 16:20-22; Rev. 21:4).

Jeremiah 31:14 – “I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.”

Spiritual satisfaction is found in God. In Christ, all believers are priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9) and are satisfied in Him.

Jeremiah 31:15 – “Thus says the LORD: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.’”

This verse is cited in Matthew 2:17-18, fulfilled in the slaughter of the innocents, showing that even in sorrow, God’s redemptive plan is unfolding.

Jeremiah 31:16 – “Thus says the LORD: ‘Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.’”

Hope is promised beyond sorrow. In Christ, resurrection and restoration are assured (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Jeremiah 31:17 – “There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.”

God’s promises are future-oriented. The ultimate return is to God Himself, fulfilled in Christ (Heb. 11:16).

Jeremiah 31:18 – “I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the LORD my God.’”

Repentance is God’s gracious work in the heart (Phil. 2:13). Restoration is by God’s initiative.

Jeremiah 31:19 – “For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”

True repentance involves shame over sin and a return to God, a fruit of the Spirit’s work (2 Cor. 7:10).

Jeremiah 31:20 – “Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the LORD.”

God’s fatherly compassion is central in the New Covenant (Luke 15:20; 1 John 3:1).

Jeremiah 31:21 – “Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.”

God calls for intentional repentance and return. In Christ, the way back to God is open (John 14:6).

Jeremiah 31:22 – “How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man.”

This enigmatic phrase points to something radically new—interpreted by some as a prophecy of the virgin birth (see Calvin, Matthew Henry), or the reversal of roles in redemption.

Jeremiah 31:23 – “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!”’”

Restoration brings renewed blessing and holiness. In the New Covenant, Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).

Jeremiah 31:24 – “And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.”

All God’s people are included in the restoration, pointing to the unity of the Church (Eph. 2:19-22).

Jeremiah 31:25 – “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Christ fulfills this as the One who gives rest to the weary (Matt. 11:28).

Jeremiah 31:26 – “At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.”

Jeremiah’s vision brings hope and comfort, a foretaste of the peace found in Christ (Phil. 4:7).

Jeremiah 31:27 – “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.”

God promises new life and growth. In the New Covenant, the Church multiplies and flourishes (Acts 2:47).

Jeremiah 31:28 – “And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.”

God’s sovereignty in both judgment and restoration is emphasized. He builds His Church (Matt. 16:18).

Jeremiah 31:29 – “In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’”

Personal responsibility is highlighted. In the New Covenant, each is accountable for their own response to God (Ezek. 18:20).

Jeremiah 31:30 – “But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

Individual sin and accountability are underscored, fulfilled in the New Covenant’s emphasis on personal faith and repentance.

The forthcoming New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah

Jeremiah 31:31 – “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

This is the great promise of the New Covenant, fulfilled in Christ (Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:8-12). The New Covenant is not a mere renewal, but a fundamentally new arrangement.

Jeremiah 31:32 – “not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”

The Mosaic covenant was broken; the New Covenant is unbreakable because Christ’s obedience and sacrifice establish it.

Jeremiah 31:33 – “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The heart of New Covenant theology: inward transformation by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:3), intimate relationship with God, and the law written on the heart.

Jeremiah 31:34  – “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Universal knowledge of God and full forgiveness are New Covenant blessings, realized in Christ (Heb. 8:10-12).

Jeremiah 31:35-40 – Hover over these verses, which declare the certainty and permanence of God’s covenant promises, using the stability of creation as a guarantee. God’s promises are as unbreakable as the created order. The New Covenant is eternally secure in Christ (John 10:28-29).


Sources

  • Enduring Word Bible Commentary Jeremiah 31
  • Precept Austin Jeremiah 31 Commentary
  • Ligonier Ministries: The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34)
  • Theology of Work: Jeremiah 30–33
  • Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Jeremiah 31

Key Doctrinal Heresies of the SDA Church

As we seek to follow only the wisdom and enlightenment of our Lord, I want to note that we love Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs), and hereby ponder the Word of Christ by whom Truth alone is known: In John 17:19, Jesus states, “For their sakes I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Generally, SDAs individually love the Lord, worship Christ joyfully, and the majority do not understand the concept of Truth versus heresy because they are not trained in theology nor study their doctrines comparatively with the bible only. Many are influenced by the early pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, primarily Ellen G. White, and the General Conference leadership that continues to rely on her interpretations rather than reform. After reading this, check out how Groupthink influences our paradigm.

Seventh-day Adventism (SDA) holds several doctrines that are considered heretical by both Reformed and Orthodox Christian traditions. Truth made known by Christ’s Spirit offers us purification — Sanctification by His Truth – Scripture without compromise. All true doctrine is delineated and cross-referenced only by The Sharper and most Active Word of God. Praise be to Jesus Christ our Lord! Glory alone be to Him as we weigh the Truth.

Doctrinal Heresies of Seventh-day Adventism Rejected by Reformed and Orthodox Christianity

Seventh-day Adventism (SDA) holds several doctrines that are considered heretical by both Reformed and Orthodox Christian traditions. Many of these teachings are rooted in, or were confirmed by, the prophetic claims and writings of Ellen G. White, who is regarded within Adventism as having divinely inspired authority.

Key Doctrinal Heresies

  1. Justification by Faith Plus Works (Denial of Sola Fide)
  • SDA teaches that salvation is not by faith alone but requires obedience to the law, particularly the Ten Commandments, for final justification. This is a hybrid system where one’s works play a role in determining ultimate salvation, which contradicts the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide).
  • Ellen G. White’s writings, especially in The Great Controversy, reinforce the necessity of perfect obedience and suggest that only those who demonstrate this will be saved. She also falsely stated that we must be able to perfectly obey God, in a sinless condition, able to stand in the Final Judgment without our Mediator 3 — Christ the Lord — who is our High Priest– continually intercedes on our behalf! (Romans 8:34, 27; Hebrews 7:25)
  1. Investigative Judgment
  • SDA uniquely teaches that since 1844, Christ has been conducting an “investigative judgment” in heaven, reviewing the lives of believers to determine their worthiness for salvation. This doctrine is absent from historic Christianity and is rejected as unbiblical by both Reformed and Orthodox traditions.
  • Ellen G. White was instrumental in confirming and promoting this doctrine through her visions, which were used to settle doctrinal disputes among early Adventists.
  1. The Nature and Person of Christ
  • Adventist theology has historically taught that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, a created being exalted to equality with God, and that Christ took on a fallen, sinful human nature and could have sinned (peccability). These views deviate from orthodox Christology, which affirms the eternal deity and impeccability of Christ.
  • Ellen G. White’s writings have contributed to these views, especially the identification of Jesus with Michael the Archangel. 
  1. The Trinity
  • While contemporary SDA statements use the term “Trinity,” their understanding often diverges from the orthodox doctrine. Adventist teaching sometimes presents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate beings united in purpose rather than being one in essence, which is closer to Tritheism or Monarchianism than orthodox Trinitarianism.
  • The Adventist view of the Holy Spirit as a conscious person developed only decades after the movement’s founding, partly under the influence of Ellen G. White.
  1. Soul Sleep and Conditional Immortality
  • SDA teaches “soul sleep” (the dead are unconscious until the resurrection) and “conditional immortality” (the wicked are annihilated rather than eternally punished). Both views are rejected by Reformed and Orthodox Christianity, which affirm the conscious existence of the soul after death and the eternal punishment of the wicked. 10  
  1. Satan as the Scapegoat
  • Adventism teaches that Satan, not Christ, will ultimately bear the sins of the redeemed as the “scapegoat” (Azazel) in the final judgment. This contradicts the biblical teaching that Christ alone bore our sins. 11  
  1. Sabbath Observance as a Test of Salvation
  • SDA elevates Saturday Sabbath observance to a test of faith and a sign of the true church, implying that Sunday worship is a mark of apostasy. This is contrary to the New Testament teaching that regards Sabbath observance as a matter of Christian liberty. 12 

The Influence of Ellen G. White

Ellen G. White was the principal founder and prophetic authority of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. Her visions and writings were considered the final arbiter in doctrinal disputes and were used to confirm or correct the movement’s teachings when consensus could not be reached. And from this perspective, Ellen G. White, though long-deceased, has stood in the way of SDA reform through her perpetuating delusional influence; moreover her insistence that her views were advancing Scriptual understanding, like no other denomination was privy to. 13 Her book, The Great Controversy, is central to Adventist theology, shaping its unique doctrines, such as the investigative judgment, perfectionism, and the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. 14 

White’s influence is evident in the following ways:

  • She provided prophetic validation for doctrines not found in Scripture or historic Christianity, such as the investigative judgment and the role of Satan as scapegoat. 15
  • Her teachings on perfectionism and obedience to the law as necessary for salvation underpin the SDA rejection of justification by faith alone. 16 
  • Her identification of Jesus as Michael the Archangel and her evolving views on the Trinity influenced Adventist Christology and theology of God.17 

Summary Table

Doctrinal Issue SDA Teaching (with Ellen G. White’s Influence) Orthodox/Reformed Position
Justification Faith + works (perfectionism) Faith alone (sola fide)
Investigative Judgment Christ reviews believers since 1844 No such doctrine
Christology Jesus is Michael the Archangel, could have sinned Jesus is eternal God, impeccable
Trinity “Heavenly Trio,” sometimes tritheistic One God in three coequal persons
Soul Sleep/Annihilation Dead are unconscious; wicked are annihilated Conscious afterlife; eternal hell
Satan as Scapegoat Satan bears sins of the redeemed Christ alone bears our sins
Sabbath Observance Saturday is a test of faith Sabbath observance not salvific

Ellen G. White’s prophetic authority was the linchpin for these doctrinal developments, and her influence remains central to Adventist identity and theology. 18 These teachings are why Reformed and Orthodox Christianity reject Seventh-day Adventism as outside the bounds of historic Christian orthodoxy.

1 Answering Adventism

2 Ibid

3 Life Assurance Ministries

4 GotQuestions.org

5 Answering Adventism

6 Ibid

7 GotQuestions.org

8 Answering Adventism

9 Ibid

10  Grace Church (John MacArthur)

11  Ibid

12 GotQuestions.org

3 Answering Adventism

14 Life Assurance Ministries

15 Answering Adventism

16 Life Assurance Ministries

17 Answering Adventism

18 Ibid

Three Romans Chapters: 6, 7, and 8

St. Paul’s three chapters in Romans 6–8 emphasize the believer’s union with Christ, the tension between justification and ongoing sanctification, and the transformative power of grace. His analysis integrates forensic justification with the practical reality of spiritual warfare, culminating in the assurance of victory through the Spirit. Below is a verse-by-verse breakdown of his theological framework:

Romans 6: Death to Sin, Life in Christ

This chapter establishes believers’ definitive break with sin through their union with Christ’s death and resurrection. Key elements include:

  • Freedom from sin’s legal dominion: Justification frees believers from sin’s penalty and power. The text “he who has died has been freed from sin” (Rom 6:7) signifies that Christ’s death legally dissolves sin’s claim over the believer, rendering them no longer bound to its consequences.

  • Baptism as a symbolic union: Baptism represents the believer’s identification with Christ’s death (Rom 6:3–4), marking a transfer from Adam’s lineage to Christ’s new creation..

  • Ethical imperative: Freedom from sin is not license for indulgence but a call to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Grace empowers obedience, rejecting the notion that justification permits licentiousness (Rom 6:15).

Romans 7: The Struggle with Indwelling Sin

This chapter as a spiritual autobiography of the believer’s tension between their justified status and the lingering presence of sin. Key insights:

  • The law’s role: While the law is holy (Rom 7:12), it exposes humanity’s incapacity to achieve righteousness through works. The “wretched man” (Rom 7:24) embodies the Christian’s struggle against the flesh, even after regeneration.

  • Dual service: Believers serve God’s law with their minds but battle the “law of sin” in their flesh (Rom 7:25). This paradox reflects the “simultaneously righteous and sinful” reality.

  • No condemnation in Christ: The chapter’s despair resolves in the doxology of Romans 7:25a—“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ!”—pointing ahead to the assurance of Romans 8:17.

Romans 8: Victory Through the Spirit

This chapter is the climactic resolution of the preceding struggles, centered on the Spirit’s work:

  • No condemnation: The declaration “there is now no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) reaffirms justification’s security, grounding believers in Christ’s finished work rather than their fluctuating spiritual performance.

  • Spirit-led transformation: The Spirit empowers believers to fulfill the law’s righteous requirements (Romans 8:4), replacing the “mindset of the flesh” with life and peace (Romans 8:6).

  • Eschatological hope: The “groaning” of creation (Rom 8:22–23) and the Spirit’s intercession (Rom 8:26–27) assure believers of their future glorification and eternal security in God’s love (Rom 8:38–39).

Theological Synthesis

  • Justification and sanctification: Forensic justification (legal freedom from sin’s penalty) harmonizes with transformative sanctification (ongoing renewal by the Spirit). The believer’s identity in Christ (Rom 6:11) fuels ethical living.

  • Law and grace: The law’s condemnation (Rom 7:7–12) is answered by grace’s dominion (Rom 6:14), which enables obedience without legalism.

  • Union with Christ: The entire passage hinges on the believer’s incorporation into Christ’s death and resurrection, making sanctification a participation in His victory..

Romans chapters 6 to 8 reflect St. Paul’s broader emphasis on grace-driven reformation, where doctrinal truth fuels personal holiness and societal transformation.

Transformation in Romans 6, 7, and 8

Sanctification in Romans 6–8 centers on the inseparable link between justification and sanctification, the believer’s union with Christ, and the transformative work of the Holy Spirit. The author Paul emphasizes that sanctification is a definitive reality and an ongoing process, rooted in grace rather than human effort. Below is a synthesis of his approach:

1. Sanctification as a Definitive Break with Sin (Romans 6)

Sanctification begins with the believer’s union with Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom 6:3–5). This union severs the power of sin’s dominion:

  • Freedom from slavery to sin: Justification liberates believers from sin’s penalty, while sanctification breaks its ruling power. The declaration “we died to sin” (Rom 6:2) is not merely positional but establishes a new identity, enabling believers to “walk in newness of life” (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14–15)

  • Ethical imperative: Sanctification is not optional; grace compels holiness. Paul refutes antinomianism by showing that salvation by grace necessitates a life of obedience (Rom 6:15–16). 1

  • Fourfold responsibility: Most commentators stress the believer’s role in sanctification: knowing their union with Christ, reckoning themselves dead to sin, yielding to God, and obeying His Word (Rom 6:11–19).

2. The Tension of Indwelling Sin (Romans 7)

Romans 7 is a portrayal of the Christian’s ongoing struggle with sin, even after justification:

  • The law’s role: The law exposes sin’s persistence in the flesh (Rom 7:7–12), highlighting the inadequacy of human effort. The “wretched man” (Rom 7:24) exemplifies the tension between the redeemed spirit and the lingering sinful nature as noted by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book “God the Holy Spirit,” published as Second Edition in 2002 with the first Edition in 1997. 2

  • Dependence on grace: Sanctification cannot be achieved through legalistic striving but through reliance on Christ’s finished work. The cry of despair in Rom 7:24 resolves in gratitude for deliverance through Jesus (Rom 7:25a), pointing to the Spirit’s victory in Romans 8. 3

3. Spirit-Empowered Transformation (Romans 8)

Romans 8 resolves the tension by emphasizing the Holy Spirit’s role in sanctification:

  • No condemnation: The believer’s standing in Christ (Rom 8:1) assures that sanctification flows from justification. The Spirit empowers obedience, fulfilling the law’s requirements (Rom 8:4). 4

  • Progressive renewal: The Spirit renews the mind (Rom 8:5–6), replacing a “fleshly mindset” with life and peace. This transformation is both individual and cosmic, as creation awaits final redemption (Rom 8:19–23).

  • Eschatological hope: The Spirit’s intercession (Rom 8:26–27) and God’s sovereign love (Rom 8:38–39) guarantee the believer’s perseverance, ensuring the completion of sanctification in glorification.

Key Themes in Romans Chapters 6-8

  • Union with Christ: Sanctification is grounded in participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, making holiness inseparable from gospel truth. This reveals the importance of studying true biblical doctrine and avoiding heresy.

  • Grace-driven effort: While sanctification requires active obedience, it is sustained by grace, not self-reliance. The imperative (“do not let sin reign”) flows from the indicative (“you are dead to sin”).

  • Integration of justification and sanctification: To separate them is to distort the gospel. Justification declares righteousness; Sanctification manifests it.

    1. When we believe in Christ, we do not give that glory to another, which is due only to God (Ps. 146:3-5). The confidence we place in the Redeemer is not alienated from God. Our justification is through faith in Christ, as Paul shows at great length in Romans. Yet, in the same epistle he sometimes speaks of that faith by which we are justified as if it were placed in God the Father: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:94:24). To believe in Christ as an exalted Saviour is to believe in God, who raised Him from the dead.
      • One thing is sure: our faith, if genuine, must be in exact accordance with the Word of the truth of the gospel. Hence, in Scripture, it is called obedience to the gospel or the “obedience of faith.”  As our study has indicated, faith in the Gospel of God means the Father calls us to His Son Jesus Christ to receive an inheritance of eternal salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit.
      • This exposition aligns with Reformed emphases on monergism and the Spirit’s transformative power, rejecting legalism and license. Monergerism underscores that sanctification is God’s work from start to finish, accomplished through the Word and Spirit and anchored in the believer’s union with Christ.

The Purpose of the Law in a Christian’s life

The perspective on the role of the Law in the believer’s life, as reflected in Romans 6–8, emphasizes its diagnostic purpose, its limitations in sanctification, and its fulfillment through union with Christ and the Spirit’s empowerment. Pauline theology, given to Paul by the revelation of the risen Jesus, integrates Reformed emphases on the Law’s holiness, its inability to justify or sanctify, and its enduring value in exposing sin and directing believers to grace.

1. The Law’s Diagnostic Role: Exposing Sin (Romans 7:7–12)

Paul’s assertion that the Law is “holy, righteous, and good” (Rom 7:12) reveals sin’s nature and human inability to meet God’s standards. Key points:

  • Mirror of sin: The Law acts as a spiritual mirror, exposing the “utter sinfulness of sin” (cf. Rom 7:7; 3:20). For example, the commandment against coveting (Exod 20:17) unveils the heart’s corruption, showing that sin is not merely external but rooted in desires.

  • Conviction without remedy: While the Law diagnoses sin’s presence, it offers no power to overcome it. It leaves humanity “shut up” under its condemnation until faith in Christ arrives (Gal 3:23–24).

2. The Law’s Limitations: Inability to Sanctify (Romans 7:14–25)

The Law, though good, cannot produce holiness in believers:

  • Stimulates rebellion: The Law’s prohibitions paradoxically incite sinful desires (Rom 7:5, 8), highlighting the flesh’s resistance to divine commands.

  • No power to transform: The Law commands righteousness but provides no enablement. Paul’s cry of despair—“Wretched man that I am!” (Rom 7:24)—illustrates the futility of legalistic striving. This aligns this with the believer’s need to rely on grace, not self-effort, for sanctification. 5

The Law’s Fulfillment: Life in the Spirit (Romans 8:1–4)

Romans 8 resolves the tension by showing how the Spirit fulfills the Law’s righteous requirements:

  • Freedom from condemnation: Justification secures believers’ standing (“no condemnation,” Rom 8:1), liberating them from the Law’s curse.

  • Spirit-empowered obedience: The Spirit enables believers to live out the Law’s moral essence (e.g., love, holiness) through inward renewal (Rom 8:4–6).6 This transcends external compliance, fulfilling the Law’s intent (cf. Matt 5:17).

  • Eschatological hope: The Spirit’s work guarantees final victory over sin, assuring believers of their ultimate conformity to Christ (Rom 8:29–30).

Synthesis: The Law’s Role in the Believer’s Life

Three key principles:

  1. Pedagogical function: The Law serves as a “tutor” (Gal 3:24) to drive sinners to Christ by exposing their need for grace.

  2. Moral guide: While believers are not “under the Law” (Rom 6:14), its moral principles reflect God’s character and inform ethical living. The Spirit empowers obedience, fulfilling the Law’s demands.

  3. Anti-legalism: Sanctification flows from union with Christ, not Law-keeping—the believer’s focus shifts from rule-based striving to Spirit-led transformation.

The Law remains strong in its aim of presenting a “holy” standard (Rom 7:12) but finds its telos in Christ, who liberates believers from their condemnation and empowers them to live in the “newness of the Spirit” (Rom 7:6). Thus, the Law’s role is diagnostic, not prescriptive, in progressive sanctification.

Other studies in Romans:

Romans 6: Finding Freedom from Sin

Romans 7: Defines law versus grace.

Romans 8: Defines law versus New Covenant grace.

1. Antinominalism: the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law.

2 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book “God the Holy Spirit,” published as Second Edition in 2002 with the first Edition in 1997.

3 Bible.org

4 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

5 Dr. George Grant

6 Desiring God, Dr. John Piper

The Providence of God

When the scriptural guidelines are understood, it becomes clear that all atomic movement in the universe and among his creation only occurs with Christ’s oversight and allowance. This makes sense since he is the co-creator of this world. (Col 1:15-18)

There seems to be nothing in Scripture that would indicate that some things are outside God’s providential control, or that these ways of God’s acting are unusual or unrepresentative of the ways in which he acts generally. Moreover, many of the verses that speak of God’s providence are very general: Christ “continually carries along all things by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3), and “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). He “accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). Such Scripture passages have in view more than exceptional examples of an unusual intervention by God in the affairs of human beings; they describe the way God always works in the world. 1

Notably, two historic, well-studied church leaders, John Calvin and John Wesley, agree on the importance of understanding the doctrine of Providence for our Christian encouragement, albeit their differences of view.

Ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries; the highest blessedness lies in this knowledge. – John Calvin

Among the foremost classic Christian doctrines, “there is scarce any that is so little regarded, and perhaps so little understood” as providence. – John Wesley

Here, we will begin with a the following excerpt from Wilhelm Braekel, Puritan Theologian. The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Edited by Dr Joel Beeke. 2

Consider the providence of God concerning all His creatures…that is, the immediate provision for, and dispensation of all things. This is to be observed in Genesis 22:8, “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” Providence is also referred to as ordinance (Psa. 119:91), God’s way (Psa. 77:13), God’s hand (Acts 4:28, 17:28), God’s upholding (Heb. 1:3), God’s working (Eph. 1:11), God’s government (Ps. 93:1), and God’s care (Job 12:10, 1 Pet. 5:7, Acts 17:28).

The Heidelberg Catechism clearly and devoutly describes providence as follows: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand; that we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.

Providence is a divine power. This is not merely due to providence being executed by the omnipotent One, but particularly in reference to the extrinsic execution of this power towards His creatures. It is therefore stated with emphasis, “And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him …” (Mark 5:30). Providence is an omnipotent power. When perceiving the magnitude of the work of creation; the innumerable number of creatures; the unfathomable diversity of their natures and appearance; the existence and continuation of each created object according to its own essential nature; the movement of animate, rational, and inanimate creatures; the precise order of all things both as to movement and the manner in which one object initiates the motion and progression of another object—one must lose himself in amazement regarding the infinite power and wisdom of God by which all things are maintained and governed. By this power God irresistibly executes whatsoever He wills, and no one can prevent Him from doing so. “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27); “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa. 46:10).

Providence is an omnipresent power of God. This is not merely true in reference to the omnipresent Being of God, but particularly in reference to His energizing power in all His creatures. This power of God does not merely manifest itself generally in all things. Neither does it merely affect the initial secondary causes, which in turn further initiate motion and activity in all other secondary causes. This power of God penetrates the existence of every creature, and thus, in an immediate sense and via all secondary causes, affects the ultimate outcome of all things. The power of God is therefore in all things and manifests itself in all that exists and moves. If we had clear perception, we would observe this power in everything.

1 Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 342.

2 Excerpt: Wilhelm Braekel, Puritan Theologian. The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Edited by Dr Joel Beeke.

Predestined explained by John Stott

When studying theology, theologians often see the truth differently, depending on their denominational upbringing. For example, reformed preacher John MacArthur holds to the doctrine of election, as does the reformed theologian John Stott. Stott explains predestination here, in contradistinction to the opposite view:

Predestination, often misconstrued as fostering apathy, actually maintains a delicate balance. While salvation is indeed God’s work, it does not absolve us of our responsibility before Him. Scripture’s emphasis on God’s sovereignty does not diminish our responsibility, but rather, it underscores the harmony between the two.

Instead, the two lie side by side in an antinomy, an apparent contradiction between two truths. Unlike a paradox, an antinomy is not deliberately manufactured; it is forced upon us by the facts themselves. We do not invent it, and we cannot explain it. Nor is there any way to get rid of it, save by falsifying the very facts that led us to it.

A good example is found in the teaching of Jesus, who declared both that ‘”no-one can come to me unless the Father … draws him” (John 6:44) and that “you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Why do people not come to Jesus? Is it that they cannot? Or is it that they will not? The only answer which is compatible with his own teaching is: Both, even though we cannot reconcile them.

Predestination is said to foster narrow-mindedness, as the elect people of God become absorbed only in themselves. The opposite is the case. The reason God called one man, Abraham, and his one family was not for their blessing only but that through them, all the families of the earth might be blessed. Similarly, the reason God chose his Servant, that shadowy figure in Isaiah whom we see partly fulfilled in Israel, but especially in Christ and his people, was not only to glorify Israel but to bring light and justice to the nations.

Indeed, these promises were a great spur to Paul (as they should be to us) when he courageously broadened his evangelistic vision to include the Gentiles. Thus, God has made us his own people, not that we should be his elite favourites, but that we should be his witnesses “to proclaim the glorious deeds of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9). So the doctrine of divine predestination promotes humility, not arrogance; assurance, not apprehension; responsibility, not apathy; holiness, not complacency; and mission, not privilege. 1

1 Stott, J.R.W. (2001) The Message of Romans, Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press (The Bible Speaks Today), pp. 251–252.

The Predestined Elect: Made live with Christ

We herein primarily focus on Ephesians 2:1–7. While Jesus and Peter explain regeneration through the imagery of birth, Paul explains regeneration through the imagery of resurrection from the dead. As the theologian Dr. Hoekema states, for Paul, “regeneration is the fruit of the Spirit’s purifying and renewing activity, that it is equivalent to making dead persons alive, that it takes place in union with Christ, and that it means that we now become part of God’s wondrous new creation.” 1 Paul speaks of God making dead persons alive in Ephesians 2: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1–7)

In Ephesians 2 we see a powerful picture of what takes place in regeneration. The sinner is dead but God makes him alive. The sinner is in the grave but God resurrects him from the dead. Notice that, contrary to Arminianism, there is no contingency or intermediate stage here in which God begins to make a sinner alive whereby the further outcome of that act is dependent upon the sinner’s decision. Rather, the transition is immediate, instantaneous, and unilateral as the sinner is at one moment dead and the next moment alive (Ephesians 2:10). The situation is comparable with the resurrection of Christ. Christ was dead but God in great power resurrected him bodily from the grave (Ephesians 1:19–20). Or consider Lazarus, who was dead, rotting in the tomb for days, and suddenly, at the command of Christ, was resurrected and walked out of the tomb alive (John 11). The theologian Reymond observes, “The conclusion cannot be avoided that God’s regenerating work must causally precede a man’s faith response to God’s summons to faith.”

Moreover, the sinner who is “made alive” is in a situation not only comparable to Christ’s, but also receives new life that is actually found in and with Christ. Paul states that God made us alive together with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), so that in the coming ages we would know the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ. Paul’s readers have come to life with Christ, who was dead and rose again; their new life, then, is a sharing in the new life which he received when he rose from the dead.

It is only in union with him that death is vanquished and new life, an integral part of God’s new creation, received. Because the believer’s previous condition has been spoken of as a state of death (Ephesians 2: 1, 5), there is no direct reference to Christ’s death or to the believer’s participation in it. Instead, the sharp contrast between our former condition outside of Christ and being made alive with him is presented. The theologian O’Brien is right in identifying being made alive with the resurrection of Christ. As Sinclair Ferguson states, “Regeneration is causally rooted in the resurrection of Christ” (1 Peter 1:3).

Like produces like; our regeneration is the fruit of Christ’s resurrection.” It is Christ’s resurrection which is the very basis of the sinner’s coming to life with Christ, as is further demonstrated in Ephesians 2:6 where the sinner is raised up and seated in Christ. Our spiritual resurrection to new life is made explicit by what Paul contrasts it to, namely, deadness in trespasses and sins and bondage to the world (“following the course of this world,” Ephesians 2:2); and Satan (“following the prince of the power of the air,” Ephesians 2:2); and the flesh (“once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,” Ephesians 2:3). Like the rest of mankind we were “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Therefore, being made alive, as O’Brien states, implies not only forgiveness, but also “liberation from these tyrannical forces.” Paul’s words here in Ephesians 2 closely parallel his words in Colossians: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13; cf. Rom. 6:11).

Finally, Paul also states that being made alive together with Christ is by grace (“by grace you have been saved”). O’Brien comments, “He draws attention to a mighty rescue which arose out of God’s gracious initiative, which had already been accomplished in Christ, and which has abiding consequences for them: it is by grace you have been saved.” As seen throughout Paul’s epistles, grace stands opposed to merit or any contribution on the part of man (Ephesians 2:8–10). 2

Grace is God’s favor toward sinners in spite of what they deserve (Rom. 3:21–26; 4:4; 5:15). The word “save” (“by grace you have been saved”) can and is many times used to refer to an eschatological reality, the deliverance from God’s wrath and final judgment. As Dr Thielman observes, in some passages Paul can “describe it [saved] as an ongoing event in the present (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2; 2 Cor. 2:15) and say, ‘Now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2; cf. Isa. 39:8). But Paul “normally refers to it as something believers will experience in the future, presumably at the final day (1 Thess. 2:16; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5; 10:33; Rom. 5:9–10; 9:27; 10:9; 11:26).

However, as O’Brien explains, the case differs in Ephesians 2, for “saved” refers specifically to what “has already been accomplished and experienced.” It describes a “rescue from death, wrath, and bondage and a transfer into the new dominion with its manifold blessings. In a roundabout way, the periphrastic perfect construction draws attention to the resulting state of salvation.” Paul is referring to salvation as something that is “emphatically present for believers” even though the “use of the perfect tense in Ephesians 2:5, 8 for salvation is unusual.” 3

Paul does draw our attention to the future eschatological consequences of this salvation in verse Ephesians 2:7, being seated with Christ in the coming age. However, in Ephesians 2:5–6 Paul shows that being saved by grace means that God making us alive together with Christ is also by grace. Therefore, being made alive or regenerated is neither an act that is accomplished by man’s works of righteousness nor an act conditioned upon man’s willful cooperation. Rather, being made alive is by grace and by grace alone, meaning that it is purely by God’s initiative, prerogative, and power that the sinner is resurrected from spiritual death.

Grace is not merely unmerited favor in the sense that one may choose to receive or reject a gift. Grace is the impartation of new life. Grace is a power that raises someone from the dead, that lifts those in the grave into new life. Grace is not merely an undeserved gift, though it is such; it is also a transforming power. Grace imparted life when we were dead, and grace also raises us and seats us with Christ in the heavenlies. (Ephesians 2:6)

Therefore, it will not do to say with the Arminian that God’s grace is a gift to be accepted or resisted. Yes, God’s grace is a gift, but more than that it is a powerful gift that actually and effectually accomplishes new life as God intends.

The Puritan, Matthew Henry notes: Those who have experienced the grace of Christ for a longer time are under more special obligations to glorify God; they should be strong in faith and glorify him more eminently. Yet to glorify him should be the common goal of all. We were made for this, and we were redeemed for this; this is the great intention of our Christianity and of God in everything he has done for us: it is unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14). He intends that his grace and power and other perfections will by this means become clearly visible and glorious, and that his people will exalt him.

Further Henry states: Election, or choice, respects that lump or mass of mankind out of which some are chosen, from which they are separated and distinguished. Predestination has respect to the blessings they are designed for; particularly the adoption of children, it being the purpose of God that in due time we should become his adopted children, and so have a right to all the privileges and to the inheritance of children. We have here the date of this act of love: it was before the foundation of the world; not only before God’s people had a being, but before the world had a beginning; for they were chosen in the counsel of God from all eternity. (Ephesians 1:4)

I like to summarize it this way: God predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and willnot our free will alone. Free will must be preceded by God’s will to chose us, then He opens our minds to the Spirit’s proclamation of the gospel when heard, as he in continuum also sends the teaching preacher to reveal Christ to that individual.

1 Theologian notes: The Effectual Call of Election, Ron Rhodes 

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 Ibid

 

God predestines and calls sinners unto life in Christ.

Man’s willful bondage to sin precipitated his need for God’s grace. We will examine the theological doctrine of effectual calling and regeneration and the difference between Monergism and Synergism.

The Westminster Confession, chapter 10, puts it very well:

10.1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call [Rom. 8:30; 11:7; Eph. 1:10, 11], by his Word and Spirit [2 Thess. 2:13–14; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6], out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ [Rom. 8:2; Eph. 2:1–5; 2 Tim. 1:9–10]: enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God [Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 2:10; 12; Eph. 1:17–18], taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh [Ezek. 36:26]; renewing their wills, and, by his almighty power determining them to that which is good [Ezek. 11:19; Phil. 2:13; Deut. 20:6; Ezek. 36:27], and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ [Eph. 1:19; John 6:44–45]; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace [Song of Songs 1:4; Ps. 110:3; John 6:37; Rom. 6:16–18].

10.2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man [2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:4–5; Eph. 2:4–5, 8–9; Rom. 9:11], who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit [1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:5], he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it [John 6:37; Ezek. 36:27; John 5:25].

What have we learned from these portions of the Westminster?

First, only those whom God has predestined for life are effectually, truly called and regenerated, contrary to the Arminian view which only sees God’s calling as universal going out to all people on earth. Second, God effectually calls and regenerates spiritually dead sinners to new life by his Word and Spirit and by the grace of his Son Jesus Christ. Here Westminster draws from the biblical metaphors by stating that the Spirit enlightens the mind to understand (Eph. 1:17–18), takes away the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh [as with feeling, heart-felt respondent to God’s love and the Grace offered the chosen] (Ezek. 36:26), renews the will, and effectually draws the sinner to Jesus Christ (John 6:44–45). Yet, though the Spirit’s drawing is effectual, nevertheless, man comes most freely, “being made willing by his grace.” The will, therefore, is renewed and made willing to believe.1

Moreover, notice the order in which Westminster places God’s grace in reference to man’s faith. In 10.2 Westminster states that the effectual call is purely of God’s grace so that man is absolutely passive. It is only when the sinner has been “quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.” In other words, man’s answer to the call only comes after the Spirit has “quickened and renewed” and not before. 2

Westminster’s understanding of grace—which was restated by John Owen and Thomas Goodwin’s Savoy Declaration (1658) and the Second London Confession (1677, 1689) of the Particular Baptists—once again demonstrates, as was the case with Augustine, Calvin, and Dort, that it is God’s grace which must precede any activity (faith included) on the part of the dead sinner. 3

Until God effectually calls and regenerates the sinner, no faith will be present. To reverse this order would be to exalt man’s will over God’s grace. One of the main reasons the Puritans in England detested Arminianism. In other words, it “inclines men to pride” by allowing “man’s participation in the work of his salvation.” 4

Arminianism also referred to as Wesleyanism, means that man’s will via his own volitionary will, activates his own faith in Christ by his own acceptance of the Bible’s teaching, via his reasoning faculties, and firms up the process of Salvation in cooperation with God. This opposes the above presentation of the Westminster’s scriptural proof that God alone calls and then activates man’s acceptance via His Spirit to acquiesce to His call to come to Christ.

E. Brooks Holifield…states, “The defining mark of Reformed theology was its regard for the glory of God, which entailed a pronounced insistence on divine sovereignty.” 2

Calvinists have defined and defended Monergism [meaning saved by God’s intervening Grace alone] as a necessary ingredient to the sovereignty of divine grace which alone can preserve God’s glory. What then is the implication for evangelicals today? Michael Horton answers that Arminian and Wesleyan Synergism can no longer be an option for Protestants committed to the Reformation. 3

Synergism means ‘working together’, while monergism means “one work”. Synergists believe that two forces are required to bring about the saving of a soul – the Holy Spirit and the will of man. If a person resists the Holy Spirit, then synergists believe there will be no ‘working together’ to achieve that person’s salvation, which is a convolution of scriptural truth.

ESV Scriptural Proofs on Predestined Election for Contemplation

1 Commentary excerpts: Matthew Barrett, Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration, 1st ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013), 33–36.; and The Westminster Confession

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 Ibid

God’s original plan for marriage

God’s purpose is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph. 1:10 NIV), including the marriage and family relationship (Eph. 5:21–6:4), so that, per Paul’s prayer, “to him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:21).

Concerning Jesus’ teaching, we have seen that Jesus affirmed God the creator’s original plan for marriage, quoting both Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 (Matt. 19:4–6 and paragraph.). By this, our Lord strongly and emphatically confirmed that God’s original design for marriage (with the husband as the head and the wife as the submissive, supportive partner) continued to obtain for Christians rather than being replaced by a different plan (such as an egalitarian one). Another point of interest is that Jesus indicated that he came not to bring peace, but a sword, and faith in him (or lack thereof) would divide families (Matt. 10:34–36 and pars.). Hence allegiance to Christ and his kingdom must have priority over natural family ties. This, as will be seen, injects a crucial dose of realism into any approaches to church structure that work from the ideal intact family unit where the father is the head of the household. In many nuclear families, the father is either not a believer or absent altogether.

Jesus noted that there will be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30) and explained that some even in this age would choose to remain unmarried “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12). Taken together with Paul’s discussion of singleness in 1 Corinthians 7, this sheds an important eschatological light on the question of marriage and family in the church. It shows that marriage, while divinely instituted in the beginning and continuing to be in effect until the final consummation, is part of “the present form of this world” which “is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). God’s kingdom, on the other hand, endures forever (Rev. 11:15; 22:5).

Paul, likewise, in Ephesians 5:21–6:4, directed his commands to Christian husbands, wives, and children, calling on wives to submit to their husband, on husbands to love their wife sacrificially and to nurture her spiritually, on children to obey their parents and to honor them, and on fathers to train and instruct their children in the Lord rather than exasperating them or treating them harshly.

Since work relationships also were set within the context of the extended family unit, instructions for servants and masters were issued as well (Eph. 6:5–9). Thus the household continued to be the central unit in the New Testament era, and proper allowance was made for those households where one of the members (including spouses) may not have been a Christian (e.g., 1 Cor. 7:12–16; 1 Pet. 3:1–2).

Also, the same authority structure and call on the husband and father to protect and provide , both in the Old Testament and New Testament. Paul’s teaching lays out important biblical principles for marital and familial roles.

1 Curated Study Material from my Library: David W. Jones and Andreas J. Köstenberger, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 251.

 

 

Understanding the Law and the Gospel

My interest in theology is Spirit-driven, believing that Christ leads us into all truth. I acknowledge Him mapping my itinerary in the Word, moving me to clearer doctrinal discernment, with respect for those teachers who have inspired me thus far.

Yet often, when one expands on the law of God in relation to the gospel, there is a fear exhibited by the brethren of Antinomianism (the displacement of the law with the gospel). For this reason, I want to clarify my beliefs once and for all. As a Sabbatarian, which honours the fourth commandment, it is paramount.

If a man cannot distinguish between the law and the gospel, he can never understand any penetration depth of divine truth. If we cannot appreciate the holy law as meant to convict us of sin, and guide us to believe Christ, we cannot have spiritual transformation discoverable in the gospel in the face of Christ. If our view of the gospel is wrong, it often is because the law of God is misunderstood.

That which the precept of the law requires as a duty, the promise of the gospel, offers hope to meet the duty. Whatever commands the place of duty occupies in the law, the place of privilege is experienced in obedience to the call of the gospel. Duties required in the law, call for the insight of grace as it widens faith, articulated in the language of the gospel.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (see Exodus 6:6; 20:2; 13:3; 15:13,16; 29:46) set the preface to the ten commandments as the rule of life to the faithful Israel of God, the children of Abraham, now offered to the true church among all nations. (Galatians 3:26, 29) The giving of the law at Sinai with this offering of Himself as redeemer is repeated many times in scripture!

According to the obedience of the redeemed of the Lord to the precepts of his law – the obedience is founded upon the recognition and respect of the articulator of the law, — Yahweh, Israel’s God, and redeemer.

In the laws of our redeeming God is the profound teaching in relation to his law, by which he would reform his people after many years of slavery. (Galatians 3:23-24) The offer to redeem his children and reform them in accord with his law was a type of his new covenant gospel, which he expressed and repeated to enforce our obedience to every commandment of his law as we enter and accept our duty bound to his privileged deliverance from sin in Christ.

Let us consider the law in the light of this privilege of the gospel’s offer of redemption in Christ, with help from my brother, the Puritan John Calhoun, as tightly edited herein to our current colloquium. Among my many studies on law and grace, John Calhoun excels. 1

The law is God’s curriculum that he uses to teach us the primary covenantal progressive guidance that the Holy Spirit still uses to convincingly lead us into the confession of sin and full redemptive atonement and reconciliation with Himself when we observe Christ’s righteousness as he forgives and covers us with His love witnessed in the gospel.

Every passage of scripture is divine revelation, either by administration of law or of the gospel — different in some respects but in agreement by their mutual use of leading and calling his children unto himself.

If our knowledge of the law and the gospel is superficial and indistinct, we will be in danger of mingling one with the other, potentially misunderstanding both legalism and libertarianism, both antithetical to God’s love. Luther, in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians noted, such an indistinct understanding “doth more mischief than man’s reason can conceive”.

If we blend the law with the gospel, mixing our good works with our faith to earn unmerited salvation, we may miss the fact that we are redeemed from the condemnation of the law, which we are now freed to respect, especially in the understanding of justification.

In the adherence to a lifestyle hoping for sanctification, we must allow the Spirit to work his good pleasure within us, rejoicing in and not obscuring Christ’s glory of redeeming grace, and obtain the joy and peace of his deliverance to the freedom from fear and penalty of the law to the reverence of his moral ethics found in the same law. If you can praise God when you read the Decalogue in Exodus chapter 20 or rejoice when you read Psalm chapter 119, you will understand this peace.

The self-accusatory carnal mind may blind one to the inestimable value of believing in Christ’s substitutionary death in our stead. Without the righteousness of Christ understood as imputed to us by faith, we wear the blindfold of legalism, which retards our progress in the peace and joy of aiming forward to the responsible reformation of trusting his working holiness within, from which good works follow as led by him (Proverbs 3:6; Matthew 6:33).

Conversely, if we can distinguish clearly between the covenant of law and the new covenant of the gospel and yet comprehend both being of grace, we will then come under the illuminating influences of the great light of the Holy Spirit urging us to obey our glorious Lord in all things, even as obedience pertains to His commandments which reveals our sin and our constant need of our Sovereign Lord Christ.

The understanding that the moral law of God is necessary to discern the glory of the whole progressive covenantal scheme of redemptive grace, reconciling all passages of law and grace in scripture which to some may appear contrary to each other – the gospel calming our consciences inspiring us to advance in sanctification toward holiness, which is the opposite of transgression of law (1 John 3:4; Romans 5:20).

As stated in the Decalogue, the law is summarized in the two primary royal laws to love God and our neighbour (Exodus 26:33; Matthew 22:40) — shared by Moses and later in the gospel restated by Jesus. It helps to view Christ properly as our creator (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the lawgiver at Sinai, and future judge and articulator of law (1 Corinthians 10:3; Romans 14:10).

In the Trinitarian form of His son Jesus, our Saviour-Redeemer, Yahweh, saved Israel from Egypt and further us from the world (. He advocates the same divine law yet expands the more formally articulated moral laws of the Ten Commandments, understood by those led by the Spirit in mutual synchronicity with the gospel when we are freed from the law’s penalty when we submit to Christ as Lord. The scripture attests that our salvation preceded human life on earth: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1: 3-6 ESV)

The moral law signifies God’s declared will, directing and obliging humanity to do what pleases Him and to abstain from what displeases Him.

The harmony of the law and the gospel indicates their mutual subservience to one another for securing and advancing the honour of each other, in subordination to the glory of the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as displayed in the person and work of Christ, our Redeemer.

The law was initially presented as a covenant of works, but now, without the rituals of sacrifice finalized in Christ, is an ethical rule of life, which demands of sinners only that which is offered and promised in the gospel within which everything is freely promised and offered to them, which the moral law, in any of its forms, requires.

The gospel presents to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who met every demand of the law in its old covenant form, amending it to the status of the new covenant by grace with his blood (Hebrews 8:22; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Romans 3:25; Galatians 2:16). Jesus magnified the law via the gospel making the law honourable, holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), while it offers and promises the infinite fullness of Christ, by whom Christians may be regenerated and sanctified by faith, enabled to yield obedience to the law as a rule of life as we progress in our relation to Christ in ongoing sanctification, being conformed to his image (Romans 8:29).

The gospel reveals and offers Christ’s righteousness to satisfy the law as a covenant; moreover, it promises and offers strength to obey the law as a rule. Via the Holy Spirit, written in all the divine promises of scripture, the gospel supplies the grace and strength necessary for the acceptable performance of every obedience that the law as a rule of life requires of believers (1 Peter 1:4).

Christ, as our sinless substitute, redeems a man or woman from the due penalty of disobeying God’s law, meeting the requirement of death in our stead, thereby presenting the good news of redemption, the assurance of our peace so that we may accept his substitute righteousness on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25).

The righteousness which the law as a covenant demands, the gospel affords, being imputed to believers (Philippians 3:9), as the only merits for the offence, being death; offering a continuum in holiness of heart and life, which the law as a rule requires, which the gospel promises and having accepted Christ is obtained (Romans 8:4). Thus, it is clear that the law and the gospel agree together as they mutually serve each other even now as sinners come to realize their need of a Saviour.

How does the law, as a covenant of works agree with the gospel? We cannot cordially believe the gospel without apprehending the need for obedience to the law (Romans 3:23-24). Nor can we yield obedience to the law unless we, by believing the gospel, are equipped by the Holy Spirit and scripture to fathom obedience to the law as a progressive state in the gospel (Romans 8:4). Although entirely distinct from each other, law and grace have no separate agenda, no interfering partisan interest to serve (Romans 3:31).

The principles of the law and the promises of the gospel harmoniously reflect the highest honour in each covenantal period (Galatians 3:21).

The law requires from the sinner perfect human righteousness, which the gospel affords to it— a righteousness which is perfect because it is divine (Romans 10:4; 2 Peter 1;1; Galatians 2:21; Philippians 1:1; Romans 5:21; Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9; Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians 1:30).

The grace revealed and offered in the gospel supplies a powerful motive and new disposition to “remember and turn to the Lord.” While the law commands penitential sorrow, the gospel’s grace promised by the Spirit inspires heartfelt sorrow and repentance (John 16:8- 9).

The law directs our mind to acquire all the grace offered in the gospel, while the gospel offers the precious blood of Christ all the requirements of the law (Romans 8:4). The law requires perfect and perpetual obedience as the condition of eternal life; whereas the gospel admits and asserts the necessity of such obedience by affording it to the believing sinner via the great and precious promises engaged by the Spirit in obedience (1 Peter 1:16; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 Corinthians 10:13). The condemnation of the law with its terrors of judgment, under the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit, serve, to show a convinced sinner his extreme need of the salvation which is presented to him in the gospel.

The law condemns all who reject the gospel, and the gospel, on the other, is antithetical to all who finally transgress the law (1 John 3:4). The terrors of the law frighten and impel convinced sinners to accept the offer of the atonement of Jesus Christ; with the redeeming love manifested in the gospel.

With its commanding and condemning power, the law is in harmony with the gospel as the law leads the sinner indirectly to Christ. The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ so that we might be taught our absolute need of him; the gospel presents Christ as the end of the old covenant of works whereby man sought to keep the law, offering us accountability for an imputed righteousness, never achievable before Christ’s redemption (Galatians 2:21; Hebrews 7:19; Romans 10:4).

The law magnifies the grace of the gospel by showing the sinner his need for justification and salvation by that grace, and the grace of the gospel establishes and magnifies the law. While the precepts and penalties of the law serve as a guard to the gospel, the doctrines, promises, and offers of the gospel serve to support the authority and honourable respect of the law (Romans 8:4).

The threatening of the law and the mercy revealed in the promises of the gospel meet and are bound together in Him. The righteousness manifested in the law and the peace proclaimed in the gospel, offering the righteousness of Christ, do in him embrace each other. “Mercy and judgment kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).

While the law is an infallible witness, sinners acknowledge that they indeed have no righteousness of their own, under which the offers and calls of the gospel are addressed to them (John 14:6; 6:37). The gospel exhibits in the wonderful person and work of Christ, the highest proofs of the infinite authority, and perpetual stability of the law whose demands Christ met on the cross. (John 19:30).

The righteousness of Christ offered believers the fulfilment of the law: the glory of the gospel on behalf of sinners, offering a proprietary surety of righteousness commanded in the law (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25; Romans 8:4).

We are invited in the gospel to accept the gift of it and to present it by the hand of faith to be freed from the curse of the law, which is eternal death. In answer to its high demand, Christ’s infinite satisfaction for sin and His perfect obedience as the condition of eternal life is now presented to the Father as our righteousness, which he imputes (or covers us with). Thus, the law as it is the covenant of works is fulfilled in Christ in harmony with the gospel. Christ’s atonement on our behalf is advocated on our behalf before the Father. Christ, as our High Priest in heaven before God, ministers on our behalf (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 6:19; 7:25).

When the law as a covenant presses a man forward or shuts him up to the faith of the gospel, the gospel urges and draws him back to the law as a rule. The law is his schoolmaster to teach him his need for the gospel’s grace; this grace will have his heart and his life regulated by no rule but the law (Romans 7:7-13; 1 John 2:1).

If the law commands believers, the grace of the gospel gently teaches them to love and to practice universal holiness. What the law, as a rule of life, binds us to perform, the grace of the gospel constrains and enables us to do via the Spirit in obedience (1 Peter 1:3- 5).

The commands of the law reprove believers for going wrong (Hebrews 12:10), and the promises of the gospel, so far as they are embraced, secure their walking in the right way (Ephesians 4:13, 24). The former shows them the extreme folly of backsliding; the latter is the means of healing their backslidings and restoring their souls.

The gospel or word of Christ, dwells only in those who have the law of Christ, put into their minds, and written in their hearts (1 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16,19; Psalm 51:10). The law cannot be inscribed on the heart, without the gospel, nor the gospel, without the law. Just as they are found together in the same Divine revelation, they dwell together harmoniously in the same believing soul. So great is the harmony between them that they can reside nowhere separate from each other.

While the precepts of the law show the redeemed how very grateful and thankful they should be for redeeming grace, the grace of Christ in the gospel produces praise with adoring gratitude. The law enjoins and encourages believers to receive daily by faith more and more of the grace of the gospel, qualifying them for more spiritual and lively obedience to its principles. The gospel supplies them with every motive preparative to seek this assistance, encouragement unto obedience.

The law reveals the believer’s duty, while the gospel is the focus of duty. It is by the almighty influence of the gospel, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, that the law is inscribed on the hearts of believers, and it is in consequence of having the law written on their hearts that they desire and trust in Christ for the blessings promised in the gospel.

The law enjoins the habit and exercise of faith; the gospel presents Christ, the glorious object of faith.

The law requires believers to love God with all their hearts, but it is the gospel only that presents God in such a view as to become an object of love to a sinner, namely, as the Father is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

The law enjoins mourning for sin: the gospel presents Christ as wounded for our transgressions, who, when believers view with the eye of faith, mourn for him as for an only son and are in bitterness for him as for a firstborn.

The law commands them to worship Yahweh – the Father- as their God; the gospel discloses to them both the object and the way of acceptable worship of Him through Christ.

The law is a transcript of all God’s moral perfections representative of His character, and so likewise is the gospel and the representative man, Jesus Christ, the express image of the Father. The law is the image of Yahweh’s holiness, justice, and mercy, as revealed by Christ in the gospel, and, as such, is “holy, just, and good.”

All who are renewed after Christ’s image, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, do evidence this renovation of heart by delighting in his law and by loving and admiring his gospel; by rejoicing greatly in the imputed righteousness, which, the demands of his law as a covenant are all answered, and in salvation by sovereign grace, in which, the promises of his gospel, are all performed.

If a man has attained a saving and experimental knowledge of the gospel, he will undoubtedly evidence it by obedience of heart and life to the law in the hand of Christ as a rule of duty. A man can never perform holy obedience to the law so long as he remains ignorant of the gospel, but when he begins spiritually to discern the truth of the doctrine of redeeming grace, he will then move to begin to perform spiritual and sincere obedience, to the law of Christ as a rule as led by the Spirit of Christ.

The legalist expects happiness for his duties, but the true believer enjoys it in them, and the less he expects for them, the more he enjoys in them. The more he believes the gospel with application and trusts cordially in the Lord Jesus for salvation, the more his “faith works by love,” and the more he appreciates communion with Christ.

Because the law and the gospel harmoniously agree, believers need to be cautious so that they do not set the two in hostile opposition to one another. The opposite is true; one believer ought not to accuse another of being an Antinomian (the displacement of the law with the gospel) simply because he expounds the grace of the gospel’s purpose to be elevated in the means of obeying the gospel via revealing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit’s application of loving God and his neighbour as a fine summary of the law, as revealed by Christ to Moses at Sinai and later to us.

Clear and just views, especially of the agreement between the law and the gospel, under the influences of the Spirit of truth, promote a holy and cheerful frame of mind. Under such a view, you will be able to guard against setting the law in opposition to the gospel.

1 Colquhoun, John. A Treatise on the Law and Gospel,1890.

Christ: Our High Priest of a New Covenant

Updated Theological Paper: Christ: High Priest of a New Covenant

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (Hebrews 4:14 NASB)

This study will bring to light the importance of understanding that the new covenant is not simply an addendum to or a continuum of, the old covenant. We will look at the priesthood of Christ to help us determine the differences, as Yahweh was moving Israel out of a works-based law-keeping, view of life. The previous covenant was strongly bent towards the personal disciplined use of willpower alone. God used the old covenant system, with its sacrificial typology, led by the Mosaic written law, outwardly policed by the managing Levites, as a teaching tool to constrain his people as time progressed towards the first advent of the Messiah. My aim is to help nurture the paradigm shift based on scripture. There are many Christians who do not understand the huge shift in the covenantal progression that occurred at the cross when the law was written on the hearts of believers in Jesus Christ, encouraging Spirit-led motivation unto obedience now based on love for Him; concomitant to having love for others in His church.

Without an awareness of the distinctions of the two uniquely different covenants, many of the important doctrines of the church can be terribly misunderstood, namely: Christ’s Ascension, Christ’s Atonement, Responsible Sanctification, The Call of the Elect, and the Leading of the Teaching Spirit.

The Importance of the Truth of Christ’s High Priesthood

Our enemy, Satan attacks especially the doctrine of the High Priestly ministry of Christ because it is central to Christ’s atoning work on the cross to save mankind by faith, warping it into man-made myths. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, emphasized the importance of adhering to Biblical Truth, doctrines in accord with scripture alone:

We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon the earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. (also see Ephesians 6:14, Isaiah 11:5, Revelation 1:13-14)

The Holy Spirit of Christ must give us Spiritual Eyesight to See

Hebrews 8:1–13 defines Christ’s High Priesthood on an entirely different spiritual plane, a new dimension never understood before the Messiah came to Israel. This occurred in the context of a wholly new, altogether different covenant: “in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13; 10:1).

As we study this with regard to Christ’s sacrifice which opened up a new and living way, we must seek to allow the Spirit to free our perception if it is bound to mirror the old covenant antitype of the initial priesthood of the earthly tabernacle in continuum right into heaven, moreover if it disallows the contradistinction of a new heavenly reality of the new covenant paradigm (Luke 22:20; Matt 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25).

If we place Christ as carrying on a similar old covenant priesthood in heaven, bear in mind that he could not be a priest according to the old law’s metaphorical methodology as Jesus was not of the Levitical tribe. The divine strategy to move out of the old covenant symbology into the realized actual spiritual sphere of the Holy Spirit working within the hearts of men and women encompassing the church on earth must operate in a non-symbolic new way.

Now, after the sacrifice on Calvary — a singular and final sacrifice once and for all, Jesus must be recognized as the giver of the Holy Spirit whom he breathed on, imparting the gift of the Spirit to the disciples before his ascension (John 20:22); and the church was blessed with the same receipt of the Holy Spirit after Jesus was glorified at the ascension when He sat down with His Father in heaven (John 7:39). Now we view Jesus as our “God, the Judge of all” and as we pray to him we are to know that, we are coming “to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (see Hebrews 12:23-24). And the Holy Spirit became the actualizing agent of the church of all the believers. (Galatians 3:2, 14; Acts 1:8; 2:38; 9:17; 19:2;10:47; John 14:17)

Hebrews, chapter 8, addresses the relationship between the sanctuary (or sphere of high priestly ministry) and the sacrifice. Since Christ now exercises His superior High Priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:1–2) which the Lord set up.  His sacrifice differs from and surpasses Old Testament sacrifices which previously dealt with sin, and which priests offered routinely  in the earthly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:3–6).

Hebrews 8:1 introduces this detailed argument of Hebrews 8:1–10:18. The author’s main point is that we do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Psalm 110:1 and Hebrews 4:14-16 support this assertion. Psalm 110:4 assures us that our High Priest replaces the Aaronic high priest. Psalm 110:1 assures us that this superior High Priest has sat down at the right hand of the Father. The rest of Hebrews 8:1 through to Hebrews 10:18 shows the significance of His being at the right hand and the adequacy of the sacrifice which enables Him to be there.1

These chapters demonstrate that, because of His sacrifice and heavenly position, He administers a covenant far superior to the old covenant priesthood which was entirely symbolic. Jesus was not a Levite so he could not enter history classified as one of the Aaronic priesthood who’d carry on the system established by Moses (Hebrews 8:4) installed as a system of law to lead Yahweh’s people through the use of symbols and recurring constraints, to lead them to Christ (Gal 3:24-25).

Carefully note the words, “Since then we do have” an active Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest in the Presence of the Father in heaven, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (see Hebrews 4:14–16). The epistle describes the greatness of the High Priest that Christians have so that we understand that we are free to enter into the privileges of the kingdom. From Hebrews 8:1 running through Hebrews 10:18, we sharply focus on Christ’s sacrifice. Why dial in on Christ’s sacrifice? Because through it Christ has become the effective High Priest because His past sacrifice enables Him to help us via His advocacy with the Father today.

Hebrews 8:1–2 emphasizes the “location” or magisterial sphere and the authoritative governance that Christ’s High Priestly ministry holds. Predetermined according to Psalm 110:1, God invited Him to sit at His right hand first alluded to in Hebrews 1:3 describing God’s right hand as “the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

The description in Hebrews 8:1 is even stronger: the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. With these additional words, the author of Hebrews emphasizes even more strongly the significance of this place of Christ’s ministry. He underlines the sovereign authority and glory of God the Father in whose presence Christ ministers! Can there be any doubt that this is the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, absolutely not by man?

Most good English translations follow the Greek text conjoining the word sanctuary and the true tabernacle, for example, “a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent”. I particularly like the NASB’s correct use of “and” (Hebrews 8:2 NIV; Hebrews 8:2 RSV; Hebrews 8:2 NASB; Hebrews 8:2 ESV).

Where some interpreters get lost

An old school of interpreters believed the writer of Hebrews thought that heaven, where Christ entered, has two parts of which the two parts of the earthly Tabernacle are a copy. The analogical use of language proper to the earthly sanctuary might give the impression that the heavenly sanctuary itself is envisaged as a locality, but we need not suppose that our author thought of it absolutely in local terms.

 1, 2

The outer section of the earthly Tabernacle which Moses constructed was the Holy Place where the priests customarily ministered daily. A second or inner section of this Tabernacle was the Most Holy Place where in some sense God’s Presence dwelt (see Hebrews 9:1–10).

If the writer of Hebrews believed in a two-part heavenly tabernacle, then the sanctuary of this verse must designate the inner of those two parts, the heavenly most holy place where Yahweh God dwells. And if two-part, then it might be reasonable to hold the view that the true tabernacle could be the outer of those two parts — the heavenly holy place through which one must pass to enter the holiest place to be in the presence of Yahweh. Or perhaps consider that the true tabernacle could be a reference to the entire heavenly tabernacle, encompassing both holy place and most holy place. 3  Regardless of how the various schools of thought had viewed the sanctuary: When Christ sat down at the Father’s right hand He entered “heaven itself” to appear in the presence of God (Hebrews 9:24). Therefore it is only logical, that we must see the sanctuary, the true tabernacle as one single reality because Christ immediately ascended into the presence of His Father! Heaven in this view does not have two compartments.

The earthly tabernacle had two compartments indicating symbolically that access to God was not open under the old covenant (see Hebrews 9:6–10). None but the high priest could ever go beyond the first compartment. But now, Christ has opened the way for all to unify with the Father as one (John 17:20-21) through Christ (John 14:6).

The Most Holy Place in relation to The Holy Place

When we look back to the writing of Moses in (Exodus 25:10-22; 26:33–35;37:1-9) we see that only the Most Holy Place contained the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat. The Most Holy Place was separated by a veil from the Holy Place which included the altar of incense (see Exodus 30:1–10) in addition to the lampstand and table (see Exodus 25:23–40). Exodus 26:33 depicts the curtain separated access to all, except the specially qualified high priest (see Leviticus 16: 29-34;14-15), prefiguring that only Christ can open the way to the Presence of God (Hebrews 9:7–14; 10:20).

The Ark of the Testimony/Covenant and the Mercy Seat which is the traditional term for the gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant. Shutterstock sample.

The Most Holy place along with the ark included the mercy seat which symbolized the redemption of Christ. Exodus 25:18–21 revealed that the high priest sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial bull onto the mercy seat as an atonement for the sins of the people of Israel. Today every Christian knows that Jesus Christ is the antitype of the High Priest typified in the old testament’s sacrifices for sin, that His death on the cross was the fulfilment of the most solemn of typified sacrifices on the annual Day of Atonement, for all Israel, extending to all the faithful believers who see this clearly in the Word or God, clearly incontestable when scripture frames this doctrine. Thus when he ascended to heaven Christ Jesus rightly went immediately into the presence of Yahweh, Father God, in the antitypical Most Holy Place as our anchor within the veil.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19-20)

Jesus while praying for the unity of his disciples to be one with Him, as He was one with the Father, it was evident that this would soon occur because He stated: “I am coming to you now” (John 17:13) Jesus taught that He ascended to His Father’s presence, “to my Father”… My God…Your God”! (John 20: 17) I cannot imagine Jesus being relegated to an antechamber awaiting entrance to the presence of Yahweh God! Lenski, a theologian with a brilliant mind, excelling in the Greek language, destroys this viewpoint referencing scripture: By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). (Hebrews 9:8)

We decline to follow them. In Hebrews 9: 8 the very fact that in the earthly Tabernacle the Holy Place still has its position before the Holy of Holies is pointed out as evidence that the way into the heavenly Holy of Holies has not yet been made manifest. Are we now to believe that such an anteroom still has its position, an eternal position, in front of the Holy of Holies of heaven, and that despite this fact realized post-Calvary, that this anteroom is now not the evidence that it is in v. 8 of Hebrews 9, but rather the opposite, it is the evidence that the way into the heavenly Sanctuary has been made manifest? This anteroom logic surely cannot be the case. If there is an anteroom in heaven as there was in Moses’ Tabernacle, the two antechambers cannot have an opposite significance, to say nothing of this division of heaven apart from any significance regarding the way to the heavenly Holy of Holies. 3 (for cited context)

Who goes to His Father at Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or a long-awaited home visit, and doesn’t aim directly to see him face to face in His presence? Similarly, doesn’t every “good father” long to see His son and embrace him? Even David disconnected from his rebellious son Absalom desperately asked “how is it with young Absolom” and soon wept over the decease of his son: O Absalom my son, my son! (2 Samuel 18:33) And did Yahweh-Father not work united as One with Christ, as the Father, with the Son, via His Spirit, evident in the prayer of Christ for his disciples that the same unity would be allowed for them — to abide in the presence of both the Father and Son together via the Holy Spirit as the portrayal of a church family.

There would be no point in an “outer compartment” in heaven before, at or after Christ’s Ascension after-which He is glorified with the Father for his Atonement work on  the cross. This heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:2) is the place where God dwells, the reality pictured by the Most Holy Place of the earthly Tabernacle. The earthly Tabernacle was only a copy which is why the writer never calls it the true tabernacle. Any antechamber concept destroys the beauty of the anti-type realized now, as it was known doctrinally in Paul’s day and confirmed by the apostles reasoning, especially in the High Priestly prayer of Christ in John 17.

Again, the heavenly sanctuary is the place where God indeed dwells. Its reality clarifies the fact that it was set up by the Lord himself without the agency of man. It is, indeed, equivalent to the God-established permanent city (see Hebrews 11:9–10) or heavenly homeland (Hebrews 11:13–16; 12:22–24). There, God’s people finally find an eternal “rest” in His presence (Hebrews 4:1–11). Christ’s sacrifice belongs to a different dimension, to the realm of the eternal not the temporal. 4

The Corruption of the Anteroom Thesis: In Exodus 27:21 in the old testament period, we see the Lamp inside the veil signifying the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit. When Jesus died the rent curtain signified new access in the New Covenant period from a typical, symbolic presence, obtainable via a corrupt High Priesthood, now directly accessible via the living waters aka living Spirit soon to be reckoned at Pentecost.  Moreover, the Sovereign Father, in union with Christ ascended, would not allow the continuation of the corrupt High Priesthood that crucified Jesus, work out the continuance of the Atonement for him on earth, once ascended. Thus any idea of an anteroom preceding the Most Holy Place continues the corruption that crucified him, doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace.

Christ and His unique Sacrifice (Hebrews 8:3–6)

Hebrews 8:3–5 begins to establish the fact of Christ’s High Priestly ministry in this heavenly sanctuary, especially defining His sacrifice.
If a person is a high priest at all, he has been appointed by God to offer both gifts and sacrifices. The phrase gifts and sacrifices is a comprehensive term that includes the various kinds of Old Testament sacrifices. Offering sacrifice describes, by definition, what it means to be a high priest (see Hebrews 5:1). Christ ministers in the heavenly sanctuary or sphere. If He is a High Priest, and He is, then it is logically necessary for Him, too, to offer something (Hebrews 8:3; 9:12–15; 10:5–10).

The writer of Hebrews clarified that this “something” Christ offers is not the same kind of sacrifice that the Aaronic priests offered! This truth is implied by Hebrews 8:4: If he were on earth, instead of in heaven, he would not be a priest of the Aaronic order at all, much less a high priest, for there are already those who offer the gifts prescribed by the Mosaic law. Christ’s kind of High Priesthood has a sacrifice, but it is a very different kind of sacrifice from that of the Aaronic high priest in the earthly sanctuary.

The necessary difference between their sacrifice and His becomes clearer when we look at the place where the earthly priests serve and its relationship to the heavenly sanctuary of Christ’s service. (Hebrews 8:5) teaches: They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. The New International Version has added the word sanctuary for clarity, but the Greek text is more accurately rendered by the New American Standard Bible: “who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” 5

Note carefully this distinction: The writer did not even call their location a “sanctuary” at all but only a “copy and shadow.” The scriptures do not imply that every piece of furniture and every detail of the earthly Tabernacle was a copy of something in heaven. He is not affirming exact correspondence between the two, but the inferiority of the earthly. The earthly Tabernacle Moses established mirrored the true approach to God in heaven but only in a shadowy way. It was only a symbolic copy.

We must be hearers of the gospel, to have eyes to see that Christ’s sacrifice must be something of a vastly different quality than the sacrifices appropriate for this “copy and shadow.” 6

We are called to the sanctity of our conscience

In the earthly sanctuary, sacrifices were indeed offered, but their efficacy was sadly restricted; they could not bring “perfection” to the worshiper because they did not affect his conscience. Now we see what our author wishes to teach his readers. The really effective barrier to a man or woman’s free access to God is an inward and not a material one; it exists in the conscience. It is only when the conscience is purified by Christ’s love and offering of His life for us that one is set free to approach God without reservation and offer him acceptable service and worship (Hebrews 10:19–25). We transit from the useless sacrificial blood of bulls and goats — useless in this regard. Animal sacrifice and other material ordinances which accompanied it could affect at best a ceremonial and symbolical removal of pollution. 7

For our author, as for Paul, these things were but “a shadow of the things to come” (Colossians 2:17). As regards the “various ablutions,” not only had the high priest to “bathe his body in water” after performing the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:24), similar purifications were prescribed for a great variety of actual or ceremonial defilements. Now, however, we are created anew within our hearts to serve the living God in holiness and righteousness, this righteousness imputed to us when we confess our sins, and accept Jesus as Lord (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 4:8,24; 2 Corinthians 5:21) We now have confidence that we have salvation, motivating us to come to the Lord (1 John 5:14; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:19). The good news of Christ activates our consciences (Acts 2:37, 23:1, 24:16; Rom 9:1, 14:22). Our conscience is led by the Spirit (Rom 8: 14) and the understanding of what His atoning blood has done on our behalf gives us the confidence to live for Christ with a clear, purified conscience as testified to us via the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:6; Hebrews 9:14; 10:9-10, 22; 13:18; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Tim 1:9, 3:9; 1 Peter 3:16, 21; 2 Pet 2:19; 1 John 3:21). This is our ministry to live in a clear conscience before the world (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5:11).

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we learn about Christ’s propitiation on our behalf, and imputation of righteousness, when we are accounted as righteous because God the Father looks to Christ who covers us with His atoning work, having died in our stead:

“He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Here we have a double imputation. God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. And God imputed his righteousness to us who had no righteousness of our own. The key phrases for us are “the righteousness of God” and “in Him.” It’s not our righteousness that we get here. It is God’s righteousness. And we get it not because our faith is righteous, but because we are “in Christ.” Faith unites us to Christ. And in Christ, we have an alien righteousness. It is God’s righteousness in Christ. Or you can say it is Christ’s righteousness. He takes our sin. We take his righteousness. 8

We must see that the Old Covenant as symbols for the times past

These purifications undoubtedly had great hygienic value, but when they were given religious value there was always the danger that those who practised them might be tempted to think of religious duty exclusively, or at least excessively, regarding externalities. But all these things were “outward ordinances” (NEB), “regulations for the body” (RSV), not for the conscience, with a temporary and limited validity until the “time of reformation.” By the rendering “reformation” we might understand “reformation” in the sense of “reconstruction”; the coming of Christ involved a complete reshaping of the structure of Israel’s religion. The old covenant was now to give way to the new, the shadow to the substance, the outward and earthly copy to the inward and heavenly reality. 9

The New Covenant Reality: the Living Way in Christ, our High Priest

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:19-22 NASB). Dr. Keil of the renowned Hebrew Commentary Keil–Delitzsch sees the new Holy of Holies of Daniel 9 in the new covenant period after the ascension, to mean the Most Holy Place as the church where Christ is ministering to sanctify His people and make them holy by the indwelling Holy Spirit empowering them to have a clear conscience — to have “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience”. :

We must refer this sixth statement (to anoint the Most Holy) also to that time of the consummation, and understand it of the establishment of the new Holy of Holies which was shown to the holy seer on Patmos as “the tabernacle of God with men,” in which God will dwell with them, and they shall become His people, and He shall be their God with them (Rev 21:1-3). In this holy city, there is its temple, and the glory of God will lighten it (Rev 21: 22-23). Into it nothing shall enter that defileth or worketh abomination (Rev 21:27), for sin shall then be closed and sealed up; there shall righteousness dwell (2 Pet. 3:13). 10

Our High Priest and our Royal Priesthood

By cooperating responsibly, motivated by grace (2 Peter 3:31), with the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in the church which begins when we first believe (John 15:3; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30, 6:11; 1 John 3:3), we are purified from the sins of the world by the indwelling Spirit (John 17:19; Ephesians 5:26; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:19; James 4:8; 1 Peter 1:15). Our unity with Christ our High Priest, working within our hearts both individually, and collectively together in the church will be our hope until the Lord returns in glory (John 15:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

As Paul noted, our sanctification will be the work of a lifetime of obedience, as we currently engage in spiritual warfare in our life now and progressively onward in our life- journey, as the Lord leads via His Spirit until we meet Him face to face. (1 John 3: 1-3; Philippians 3:13-15). In this way we also as a church can effectively minister to others the sanctifying Word of our Lord in the new covenant order of Melchizedek 11 (Hebrews 5:9-19, 6:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9).

Corroborating study 1: Melchizedek: Divine Priest of Abraham

Corroborating study 2: The Old and New Covenant Distinctions 

1 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament)

2 Christ’ High Priesthood at His ascension noted in Hebrews 9:11, arks the symbolism of the curtain which was rent in two upon Christ’s decease (Matt 27.51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), the curtain symbolizing being his rent body, a way confirmed by the Spirit (Rom 7:6; Hebrews 10:20)!

Lenski, R. C. H. (1938). The interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (pp. 290–291). Columbus, OH: Lutheran Book Concern, notes: They suppose that Christ went into the Holy of Holies in heaven (εἰς τὰ ἅγια, v. 12) by first going through something that corresponds to the Holy of the earthly Tabernacle of Moses. This anteroom they find in “the greater and more complete σκηνή or Tabernacle, not handmade, that is, not of this creation.”

But what can this anteroom be? The idea that it is the body or the human nature of Christ is now commonly rejected and certainly has no support in 10:20. Since this σκηνή is “not of this creation” as the writer himself says, the created heavens cannot be referred to as they are referred to in 4:14: “having passed through the (created) heavens” in his ascension. So these commentators think that heaven itself, the uncreated place where God dwells, is divided into two parts that correspond to the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of the wilderness. They think that the writer is exalting this heavenly anteroom “through” which Jesus passed in order to reach the heavenly Holy of Holies that was above the anteroom of Moses’ Tabernacle.

We decline to follow them. In Hebrews 9: 8 the very fact that in the earthly Tabernacle the Holy Place still has its position before the Holy of Holies is pointed out as evidence that the way into the heavenly Holy of Holies has not yet been made manifest. Are we now to believe that such an anteroom still has its position, an eternal position, in front of the Holy of Holies of heaven, and that despite this fact this anteroom is now not the evidence that it is in v. 8 but rather the opposite, evidence that the way into the heavenly Sanctuary has been made manifest? This surely cannot be the case. If there is an anteroom in heaven as there is in Moses’ Tabernacle, the two antechambers cannot have an opposite significance, to say nothing of this division of heaven apart from any significance regarding the way to the heavenly Holy of Holies.

4 Cockerill, G. L. (1998). Hebrews: a Bible commentary in the Wesleyan tradition (p. 167). Indianapolis, IN Wesleyan Publishing House.

5 Ibid

6 Ibid

7 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament)

8 John Piper, Desiring God

9 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament

10 Commentaries on the Book of Daniel, Vol II, trans. by Thomas Myers (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1948 [reprint]), p 349

11 The order of Melchizedek was symbolic of the new covenant order that Jesus would institute. The mystery of the gospel relates so well to the life of Abraham, a man of faith who trusted God’s Word to lead him (and view Melchizedek as a High Priest who entered into his life in his time of duress).