Understanding The Age Of Grace

Understanding The Age Of Grace

There Is A New Covenant

There is no argument or debate over the existence of an Old and New Covenant, but the misunderstandings arise when discussion of their differences occurs. The fact of their existence, and the difference when it comes to the Levitical sacrificial system are remedial and perhaps not misunderstood by anyone other than unbelieving Jews. Romans 9:31-33 “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” However, the difference between Old and New goes beyond the sacrificial system, as we will see shortly. First let us look at the fact of God’s establishing a New Covenant.

The Scriptures are abundant with record of this fact so let us look at a few. Hebrews 7:18-19 says, “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” In this context we have been learning of the change in the high priesthood specifically, due to Christ’s superiority. Nonetheless the provisions regarding a high priest were part of the law in general which is the theme of this portion of Hebrews. One author writes, “the whole section is devoted to showing how far superior grace is to law, how much better Christ is than the shadows of Him in the Old testament”[1]. The noun “disannulling” is only used twice in the Bible. Both times are in Hebrews. The word means a setting aside, abolition, to put away.[2] Its verb form is translated despise, reject, bring to nothing, frustrate, disannul, cast off.[3] A synonym for the word is cancellation.[4] So we see then; that the law “answered the end for which it was designed – that of introducing a more perfect plan, and then vanished as a matter of course”.[5] Matthew 5:17, 18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The law has not vanished in the sense that it has disappeared without a trace, but the change is in our relationship to the law. The law has not changed in what it says, but our relationship to the law has changed Hebrews 7:11-12 “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Mel-chis-ed-ec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”

The first Covenant then was a Covenant of law and the second, and better, is one of grace, as we shall see. As Macdonald puts it, “The first covenant, though good and perfect in itself, was weak because it depended on man as one of the contracting parties”.[6] Unlike the Old the New Covenant is an everlasting and eternal Covenant Hebrews 13:20 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” The New Testament is also much more preferable, in fact it is better than the Old Testament. Hebrews 7:22, 8:6. “By so much was Jesus made, a surety of a better testament.” “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” For this cause it is sad to hear some, who attempt to present themselves as spiritual, say if they had to choose between having a copy of the Old or New Testaments they would rather have the Old when the Bible reveals that the promises of the New are so much greater.

How Is The Covenant New?

We have seen that the Old Testament has not ceased to be in the sense that God has failed to preserve His Word; however there have indeed been changes in our relationship to the old law covenant. It is understanding these changes that will determine whether or not we grasp the concept of the way the New Covenant is different. Again, we are reminded that the Old has become null and void.

Romans 7:7 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” The Old Testament was not done away with because it was evil, but because a New Covenant has been made and it thus takes the place of the Old because it is better. This is simple logic. A new and updated agreement will supercede an old and outdated agreement, such as in the case of a will, or a deed. The existence of the new, automatically assumes the nullification of the old. The Old Covenant has changed in our accountability to the details or letter of the contract. We still have a responsibility to uphold the morality and principles behind the law, but the observance of the laws themselves has been done away with. This is true not only of the Levitical sacrificial system (which was a part of the law) but of the Old Covenant as a whole.

The law as a whole was a shadow or picture of better things to come, not just the sacrificial laws. Hebrews 8:5 “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Hebrews 9:1 “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” Hebrews 10:1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” I Corinthians 13:10 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

What is of greater importance: a law or the reason for which that law was established? Before I married my wife it would have been wrong for me to be physically intimate with her, yet now that we are married that rule no longer governs our relationship. The moral law that fornication is wrong is still valid and to be upheld, but now it is no longer applicable to my wife and I because our position has changed. Laws are created for a reason and given a certain set of conditions and circumstances. When the circumstances or situation are not present then the law is not applicable even though the reason for establishing the law is valid and should be upheld for its truth in principle. That is why God has provided judges and rulers and courts – to determine if a given law is applicable in a given situation. Thus it is with the Old Testament. Our Position has changed (due to Christ and His sacrifice) because of the New Testament, thus the Old is set aside. And yet we adhere to and uphold those moral principles and eternal truth of which the Old was founded upon.

Christ Is The Key

The question now begs to be asked what set of circumstances and situation has changed that our relationship to the law has changed? Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. Hebrews 9:15, 12:24 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” His death on the cross, and shed blood mark the beginning of a New Covenant between God and His dealings with man: Matthew 26:28, ”For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Salvation has always been based on looking to Jesus, whether looking ahead or looking back. However, the covenantal relationship between God and man changed when Christ died and brought in the New: Hebrews 10:9, “…He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” Jesus is the one who has delivered us from the law. Romans 7:6 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Forgiveness Of Sin

The forgiveness of sin or salvation from sin as we have said has never been in the law. This is easily understood from the past aspect of our salvation: our justification. Hebrews 8:12 says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” We have been released from the penalty of sin once we appropriate the sacrifice of Christ for our own soul. There have been those who have taught a works salvation, and certainly today there exist many cults; which promote a works based, law-keeping type of salvation. Yet the Scriptures are clear that we are made right not by the law, but through faith in Christ. Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” II Corinthians 3:6 “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.”

There are many who understand this truth in relation to justification, but are seriously gone astray when it comes to the present aspect of our salvation, namely sanctification. Our salvation has not come to us by law keeping and thus neither have any of the aspects of our salvation. Galatians 3:2-3 “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Hebrews 10:10 tells us, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” II Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” We are able to lead separated lives by the power of the Spirit not by our personal record of law keeping, or rule following, or standard upholding.

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” Ephesians 5:9 “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” 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.” The fruit and graces that we bear in our lives are of the Spirit not the fruit or evidences of good law keeping. What initially sets us apart from the world is the fact that we are gloriously and mercifully saved. It is shameful, but nonetheless true, that some lost persons live better moral lives and have higher standards than some of God’s elect. Yet, dare we say that the faithless are then sanctified?

It is the blood of the New Covenant and nothing but the blood that has sanctified us and enables us to be separated from the world. Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:” II Corinthians 6:17. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” The Scriptures reveal that those who are not sanctified by God in salvation and who separate themselves are without the Spirit. Jude 18-19 “”How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” Hewitt well states that the law’s “unprofitableness or uselessness is made plain by its inability to…impart spiritual power that men may obey the law.”[7] Legalism in part refers to those who place salvation in the hands of the law, but likewise to those who place their sanctification in the same hands.

Grace and Mercy Under the New Covenant

God has always been in His character a God of mercy and of grace for He is unchangeable. Hebrews 6:17 “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:” However, these aspects of God’s character are now more readily accessible under the New Testament. The God of the New Testament was indeed a God of grace and mercy, but whereas that mercy was veiled it has now been unveiled and we may come boldly and directly to the mercy seat and throne room of the grace of God. Hebrews 4:16, 10:19-20). “…I must not forget that, amid all the blessed aspects of full salvation hinted at here, the one perfection specially in mind is the perfection of communion with God. The test of all priesthood is its ability to give access to God, and the perfection of Christ’s priesthood is that the uttermost sinner may come by Him to God and find full acceptance, a glad welcome, as a son beloved.”[8]

There is a definite distinction indeed between the law and the grace of God. Galatians 2:21 “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” John. 1:17. “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” The law gives us what we deserve; God in His mercy spares us from what we deserve and even gives to us that which we do not deserve in His grace. The consequences of sin under the Old Testament were most often harshly and swiftly applied. Hebrews 10:28 “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:” Those who have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace are worthy of even greater consequences, but those consequences are often withheld by the patient mercy and grace of God in this age. The mercy of God rejoices against judgment under the New Covenant. James 2:13 “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” There are always consequences to sin. But those consequences are not always experienced immediately or even in this lifetime. This is because we are no longer subject to the harshness of the law.

The Harshness Of The Law

Here is another area in which many have failed to understand the age of grace in which we live. “It will be a sad day for those who cling to ‘traditions’, church ‘standards,’ and ‘articles,’ when their lives will be examined not by those, but by the living Word of God.”[9] Many of these of which others hold on to are based on the Old Covenant which has passed away with the harshness thereof. Again we must remember that all of the law has been set aside, not just the Levitical sacrificial system. It is a fearful thing to fall under the judgment of God, but it is the right of God alone to execute vengeance. Hebrews 10:30 “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.” Those who promote capital and corporate punishment have failed to understand this in light of the New Covenant and our release from the particulars of the letter. It is interesting that those who would administer corporal punishment do not also follow the letter in stoning their consistently rebellious children to death. Deuteronomy 21:21 “And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

Those who are immature wish to impose the law and their own personal preferences upon others. Romans 14:1 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” The Sabbath day is an example of this. Romans 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Paul taught this principle from the issue of circumcision Romans 2:29 “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Jesus taught that, “you have heard that it hath been said…but I say unto you.” Where it had been said was in the law. We are to show mercy to those that would do evil to us, not render their just deserts to them. Tithing is another example.

Tithing was a part of the law. It is again interesting that those who believe we must tithe do not follow the entire letter in this matter. The law required several tithes, which would amount to considerably more than ten percent. Many teach that because Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek that we are to tithe in this age.[10] Those who follow the New Covenant pattern for giving generally give more because they do so freely out of a cheerful heart and not because they “have to”. We are no longer under the harshness and strictness of the law. Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”

CONCLUSION

Those believers who still have the desire to put themselves under the law are so to speak; still milk-drinking Christians, because of their failure to listen to and understand the Scripture’s teaching on the mater of a New Covenant. Hebrews 5:12 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” In a sense they have fallen from the grace of God because they keep themselves from enjoying the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. We are now under a new law, the law of liberty, which is in Christ Jesus. Some have taken unbiblical freedom in discarding the spirit of the letter and pass off the morals and principles of the Old Covenant. These attempt to give themselves license for their sin and carnality. Others attempt to legalistically mix the Covenants and live under both causing confusion and disorder. One old preacher summarizes well saying, “The very expression ‘a New Covenant,’ in itself makes the former testament null and void. It served its purpose up to the cross. Now that ‘which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away’. It is pathetic how few Christians understand that the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed us from all obligation to that temporary dispensation. It is to be feared that many who sometimes sing of such liberty fail really to understand its import.

Free from the law! Oh, happy condition!

Jesus hath bled, and there is remission;

Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,

Christ hath redeemed us once for all.”[11]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, Albert. Barnes’ Notes, Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Book House (vol. 0848-4).

DeHaan, M.R. Studies in Hebrews, Grand Rapids, Mi.: Kregel Publications, 1996.

Gray, Robert C. Hebrews, Milford, Oh.: John the Baptist Printing Ministry.

Hewitt, Thomas. The Epistle to the Hebrews, Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdman’s Publishing, 1976.

Ironside, H.A. Hebrews, Loiseaux Brothers, Inc., 1996.

Newell, William R. Hebrews Verse by Verse, London: Oliphants Ltd., 1947.

MacAulay, J.C. Devotional Studies in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdman’s Publishing, 1949.

Macdonald, William. Hebrews from Shadow to Substance, Chicago, Il.: Moody Correspondence School, 1962.

Smith, J.B. Greek-English Concordance to the New Testament, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998.

Strong, James. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Nashville, Tn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers (Greek

dict.), 1990.

Vine, W.E. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Nashville, Tn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996.

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