Moe,
I couldn't find one line in your post below
that I disagreed with, with the exception
of the comment about your "smarts". ;)
Great soul-refreshing truths!
I would only point out that even in the
face of so great a New Covenant, we have
a clear biblical option to walk "after the
Spirit" or "after the flesh". Our goal is to
learn the habit of walking after the Spirit.
Thanks,
Terry
Clarksville, Tennessee <><
moe.bergeron@... wrote:
Brethren,
First of all to Terry. I appreciate your concerns but I hope you will consider
what I deem a most important aspect of the New Covenant that relates to both
promise and fufulfillment
Brethren,
When we see the widowed man change relationships from Law to Christ we
must understand that his new relationship with Christ provides him with a
superior inner dynamic to help him overcome sin and to fulfill our Lord's
commandments. He is so well equipped for holy living he should never fall and
remain in the dreaded category of an anti-nomian. He has no excuse. We have no
excuse.
2 Cor 3
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves;
but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold
the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done
away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For
if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no
glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that
which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13 And not
as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not
stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were
blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading
of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this
day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it
shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that
Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all,
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Either "we all" have it and know this experience or "we all" are no better off
than the man wedded to the law in Romans 7. To this writer it's quite obvious
that this new relationship should be producing "victory fruit" just as promised
by the word of prophecy. In addition to the New Birth God has inscribed upon our
hearts His very person. His Spirit in us is the promised Inscription. It is
through this new Spirit indwelling relationship that the Romans 8 man is
radically changed. He now enjoys the ability to overcome sin and serve God. To
equate the abilities of this man when married to Law with the abilities of the
same man married to Christ is, well to put it as simply and as kindly as I can,
foolish. This is the age of the heavenly heart transplant. It brings life and
life abundantly. (Why promise it if nothing is going to really change in the
inner man?)
Ezekiel 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give
them an heart of flesh: 20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine
ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
The OT saints, though born of God (John 3:10), did not enjoy the payoff made to
Christ as we now experince it. The promised Inscription was not their reality as
it is ours in this new age. Thankfully God looked upon the intent of His heart
and winked until Pentecost.
If we suggest that the promised and now fulfillled Spirit Inscription does not
equip and elevate the NC saints beyond what those saints who were merely married
to an external code of conduct experienced is to this writer a serious failure
to understand the radical nature of the New Covenant. Why then the promise of a
new inscription? Why then would Jesus reveal the (then) future indwelling of the
Triune God? Yes, the new man married to Christ is not without struggles with
sin. That's not the point. The point is this. Christ is IN us. We have the MIND
of Christ. We have the POWER to overcome SIN and to SERVE our God and thus
fulfill the Law of Christ our husband. This new inner working dynamic is unique
to the man married to Christ. I dare not make God promises of no effect.
Ezekiel 36:27 - And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Those New Perspective and Covenant Theologians do not understand and perhaps
cannot comprehend the totally radical nature of the New. I pray we who say we
are NCT at the very least understand why we must not draw back to shadows and
types and lifeless law when it is Christ in us who has changed everything. Paul
clearly points out to us how a man who loved God's law was transitioned from the
old economy into the New in order for Him to know victory in Jesus.
Romans 8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I do not wish to be drawn into endless debate. I just don't have time nor the
smarts. My only desire is to encourage further research and study along these
lines.
Love you all! In Christ,
Moe
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