PART ONE - THE AUTHORITY AND SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE
“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20 NIV)
The Cosmos is intricately balanced and tailor-made for life and yet is both profoundly complex and chaotic as a result of what was revealed in the Bible, known as the Fall of humankind (Gen 3:1-24). At the macro level the Cosmos appears orderly like a clock, but at the sub-atomic level, matter behaves chaotically. If gravity were infinitesimally different, everything in the universe would change.
It seems logical to conclude that nothing can create something, so the universe had to have been created by a Supreme Being. It also seems far more reasonable to believe that God exists than not to believe He exists. The Bible reveals why there is an existing universe rather than a non-existing one.
When someone makes the emphatic assertion that there is no God and that there is no one who can know that, that statement can not be proven absolutely. Whether a person does, or does not, believe that God exists, no one has yet to explain truly what caused the existence of that which is perceived as the starting point of the Cosmos. It has yet to be proved and requires the element of faith to believe. Without faith “it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 11:6 NIV).
When I became a Christian, I met the one true God through faith, but one of the questions I could never get past was "Where did God come from?" I could relate to God, the Father, and Jesus as God, the Son, and somewhat understand Holy Spirit was God, but my brain would begin to fry circuits when I tried to comprehend the Triune God as always existing.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb 11:3 NIV)
I came to learn that my reasoning was both irrational and nonsensical by contemplating the origin of God, the Father because it implies that He lives within the space-time continuum of a finite universe He created. The truth is that God has no beginning - He IS! (Ex 3:14). The Bible tells us why the Universe exists and proclaims that Jesus is the divine Designer who created it with a purpose and maintains all things by the word of His power (John 1:3; Heb 1:2-3; Col 1:16-17).
The Bible says that God has clearly revealed Himself to every human being since time began in the beauty of the heavens, “for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom 1:18-20 NIV).
Science is limited to investigations within the material, physical world. Until the beginning of the 20th-century scientists thought that the classical physics of Sir Isaac Newton explained all the physical processes of nature and that they should be observed like a logical and mechanical clock. They also believed that natural laws govern the universe in an orderly fashion. Scientists started to explore the relationship between energy and the structure of matter and discovered that the theories of Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetism, which describes spatial motion, completely fell apart at Quantum or extremely tiny atomic and sub-atomic scales. Scientists soon began to believe that everything in the Cosmos is made out of energy.
The scientist Albert Einstein is considered the father of the General Theory of Relativity which superseded Newton’s theory of Gravity when, in 1915, he discovered a mathematical way to explain gravity and how it affects time and such things as how and why planet stays in orbit as well as the dynamics of the expanding universe. This ultimately led to the discovery of atomic energy which has been used to both harm and help humanity.
The field of Quantum Physics has fundamentally different formulations and incompatible descriptions of reality than the Theory of Relativity that allows connections that are inconsistent with classical Physics. Einstein tried to find flaws in the counterintuitive predictions of Quantum theory but could not.
I think it is fair and legitimate to say that the old naturalistic Newtonian assumptions are being critically reexamined and challenged because they just don’t convincingly answer all the questions about the intelligent design, origin, and function of the unique Cosmos we live in.
A person who makes the absolute bold assertion that there is no God and that no one can know if there is, simply cannot prove it absolutely which logically opens the door to acknowledging the idea or possibility that God may exist. Proving that God does not exist requires either faith or the ability to travel the entire Cosmos and examine every quantum particle in order to qualify and have the authority to make that assertion which would obviously make them God!
The Bible
The Bible is divided into two sections. The first is commonly known as the Old Testament and the second is the New Testament. The word testament is the Latin rendering of the Hebrew word 'beryith' which means covenant.
The foundation of Christianity is the Word of God, the Bible. It is the only dependable source for humankind to know God’s voice. It has the answers to all eternal questions. The two elements that make up the sure foundation of Christianity are the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ (1:16-18) and the written prophetic revelation of God in Scripture (2 Peter 1:16-21). The focus of all Scripture is ultimately on Jesus (Messiah) who is the chief cornerstone of the foundation of the Church because He is the one who laid the foundation.
The Bible is all about Him, not us. Everything that is written in the Bible is founded upon Him. The foundation of every new church is laid by the proclaiming the Gospel that is built and founded on Jesus (1 Cor 3:10-11). Jesus is the one who gave the apostolic witness in the New Testament that was then written down. The Bible in its original text is the all-inclusive, inerrant, divinely inspired Word of God.
The Bible was written with a consistent theme by about 40 authors over an approximate 1,500 year period in three languages on three continents with no clear contradictions. Its writers were scholars, ranchers, shepherds, and fishermen. The Old Testament and the entire New Testament could be reconstructed from the writings of the early Church Fathers such as Clement of Rome who wrote a letter to the church at Corinth in 95 AD that contained numerous Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the writings of the Apostles that were considered as sacred Scripture. Another early church father was Irenaeus, who lived from 130 AD to 202 AD. In his writings, Irenaeus quoted from 24 books of the New Testament over 1,800 times.
Justin Martyr wrote a letter known as his first Apology to the Roman Emperor around 150 AD in which he described what happened during a typical Sunday church service. He wrote that the Scriptures of the Old Testament (the writings of the Prophets) and the writings of the Apostles (New Testament Scriptures) were read out loud and then a message (discourse) was preached, songs were sung, people prayed together and took communion. Then, an offering was taken, part of which was used to help those who were sick, as well as for widows and orphans and all those that were in need.
There was also Origen Adamantius who lived from 185 AD - 254 AD in Alexandria, Egypt. He was a theologian and scholar who made over 18,000 references to the books in the New Testament in His writings.
The Bible has been translated numerous times in a one-step process from the original languages into multiple different languages throughout history. However, it has never been rewritten. There are approximately 5,700 copies of the Greek manuscripts that were made very close to the time of the originals, and they all agree with each other to 99.5% accuracy. The .5% variation would include textual misspelling or minor word alternations. There are also over 19,000 copies in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages which bring the total supporting New Testament manuscript purity to over 24,000 copies.
God the Father, just as He spoke in the past in the Old Testament, continues to speak to His people today through the New Testament by using His Words spoken to Jesus, who then spoke to His Apostles, who wrote them down, which are the books of the New Testament (Luke 10:16; Jn 13:20, 17:17-20). The writers of the New Testament constantly appealed to the Scriptures alone as their base of authority in declaring what was, and was not true biblical teaching (Matt. 21:42; John 2:22; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 1 Peter 1:10-12, 2:2; 2 Peter 1:17-19; Acts 17:11).
The Foundation of the Church
Jesus is the greatest expert on the Bible. He believed the entire Old Testament was the inspired, inerrant Word of God given by Him as the ultimate authority to command, teach and guide His creation. He quoted the book of Genesis as true, historically accurate and authoritative rather than a book full of poems or mythical anecdotal stories (Matt 7:1-13, 11:23-24, 12:39-41, 19:3-6, 22:29-33, 23:34-35).
Jesus promised that Holy Spirit would bring to mind all that He had said, as well as taught the Apostles, thereby confirming that what was written in the New Testament was inspired and authoritative (John 14:25-26, 17:17-21). Jesus warned that anyone who claims to be a Christian and does not keep or believe His Word is deceiving themselves and are of their father the devil.
Translating the original Greek or Aramaic language into English (or any other language for that matter) is a difficult task as word definitions can be very different from English meanings. The structure of grammar is also very different from English grammar, as well as not using many of the punctuation marks used in English such as apostrophes, periods, colons, commas, hyphens, etc. Also, the words used in Greek or Aramaic can have very different definitions and meanings than in the English language.
Anything written or spoken can be twisted to mean whatever a person wants it to mean - including the Bible. In this age of biblical illiteracy, it is even more important than ever to know the Scriptures and learn the methods and rules Believers have been using for over two thousand years to study and interpret them.
Only through diligent study and knowledge of the Bible can one discern the differences, and understand the various subtle differences. The three most important rules of interpretation are context, context, and context!
Because of the very significant differences of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic compared to English it is very important to understand those differences when attempting to support or promote an interpretation without using the laws of Hermeneutics, which is the methodology used to study and interpret (exegete) the Bible, by discovering the intended meaning of a given text through careful and systematic analysis of the grammar used in the original language and its meaning within historical context and within the totality of Scripture. When reading the Bible, it is not wise to ask the question “what does this verse mean to me” because it will virtually guarantee that the reader will never understand the true meaning of it.
The Scientific Rules of Interpretation
The laws of Hermeneutics were established to provide very specific rules for biblical study and interpretation. These exact rules are found in the writing of the foremost legal and biblical authorities such as Irenaeus, who was a master interpreter among the second-century church fathers.
The rules of interpretation were involved in the great doctrinal debates of the theologians from the Council of Nice (324 A.D.) to the Council of Trent (1545-1563). These rules are also used by Courts of Law throughout the Free World to determine the meaning of a disputed document, such as a Will or Contract. A person could not make sense of anything that was written if they did not use them. It is impossible to determine the true meaning of a Bible doctrine without them. There is nothing more important in all biblical learning than to know these rules and rightly apply them to Bible study.
Exact rules are needed for an exact result. One cannot get a sure meaning with an uncertain rule. A Christian must not only study the Scriptures, but they must also decide how to interpret them. People can read the same text, and get different ideas from them because they put different meanings upon the written words.
The whole Bible is a context. Many false doctrines are based on a single word or term. Some have taken a biblical word, or term, and loaded it with a non-biblical meaning. They detach the word, or term, from all that the Bible teaches about it, and then, build their subjective interpretation. That is known as “eisegesis.” No one has the right to speak as an authority on a Bible subject unless he or she knows all that the Bible teaches on that subject.
When correctly studying the Scriptures one must attempt to interpret and understand a text by the text itself. Each passage of Scripture must be studied in its immediate context, and then in the context of the entirety of Scripture. That is called “exegesis,” which means to draw the meaning out. Jesus said, “Is not this where you wander out of the way and go wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24 NIV)
Exegesis requires that the biblical text must be analyzed by focusing on significant words objectively and examine them within the text as to how they were translated and had been used historically and culturally in context.
The Bible is the best source to interpret itself because the Scriptures say “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV).
The Bible is the authoritative source for the proclamation of the church and the norm by which that proclamation is tested. It cannot be changed by any additions, subtractions or modifications offered by anyone no matter what position or authority they claim to hold. Once a person attempts to conflate various verses, supplement, supersede, distort or subtract from the Bible, they enter into heresy.
The writers of the New Testament lived in poverty and suffered tremendous persecution by the two most powerful cultures of the day. They willingly endured political disgrace, beatings, stoning’s, imprisonment and execution about the claims of Jesus and what He did while boldly insisting to their last dying breath that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.
The vast majority of New Testament books were written somewhere from 50 AD to 70 AD. There were numerous eyewitnesses, and there is no record of anyone alive at the time questioning their accuracy. It is true that there were many activities and sayings of Jesus not recorded in Scripture. However, the letters and writings that were chosen to be included in the New Testament were required to meet three major points of criteria. First, the author had to be an eyewitness to the events they wrote of, or directly taught about them by the Apostles. Second, the writings had to be consistent with church practice and tradition. Third, each writing had to be already in use by the church for teaching and accepted as the divine Word of God.
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:14-17 NIV)
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, he reminds him that he was taught from the “Holy Scriptures” (the Old Testament). In the next verse, he says that all “Scripture is God-breathed” indicating he was differentiating between the Old Testament and the writings which now make up the New Testament which is also inspired.
Paul is ultimately making a logical statement pointing out that all Scripture in the Bible as it is known originates from God and can teach and equip Believers for good works. Ultimately this must be accepted by faith that the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God.
Paul also quoted Luke 10:7 as Scripture to Timothy thereby placing Luke’s Gospel on the same level of Moses’ writings (1 Tim 5:18). In prior writings, Paul stated that he wrote: “by the word of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15). Paul emphatically believed that he was preaching the very Word of God.
“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” (1 Thess 2:13 NIV)
The Apostle Peter affirmed that Paul’s writings were Scripture given by God: “Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15-16 NIV )
Paul told the Church at Corinth, Galatia, and Thessalonica that he wrote with authority given to him directly by God to instruct them, and they should not distort or ignore them (1 Cor 14:37-38; 2 Cor 13:3, 10; Gal 1:11-17; 1 Thess 4:2,8; 2 Thess 2:13-15, 3:6, 13-18). The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation wrote that those who read and keep what was written in it would be blessed because it was given to him directly by God and gave a warning that if anyone adds or subtracts to what he wrote there would be dire consequences for them (Rev 1:1-3, 9-19, 14:13, 19:9-10, 21:5-7, 22:18-19).
Perfect Revelation
The Bible is the absolute perfect revelation of Jesus Christ and the only infallible, inerrant, inspired source of knowledge about Him and the only reliable source to hear His voice. Everything in the Cosmos is sustained by His Word.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Heb 1:1-3 NIV)
It would appear evident that the writers of the New Testament fully believed that they were recording the very inspired words (Scriptures) of God. Because the Bible is already inspired, it does not need any fresh revelation to be relevant (John 14:26, 16:12-13). Dreams or visitations or prophetic words are not reliable. Only the written Word of God is. Jesus is God. Holy Spirit is God. The Father is God. All three are ONE. Their Word can be trusted, and it does not need extra-biblical help to be interpreted. The Bible only needs the Bible to do that.
The Bible says that “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of any personal or private or special interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20 NIV). It must not be used as only a source of inspiration for anecdotal stories in ‘feel good’ messages or consulted and used merely to support an idea or pet belief. It is the ultimate authority for the Christian and must point directly to the character and work of the Triune God. The Bible warns that there will be ignorant, uneducated and unstable people who will try and distort the Scriptures by bringing in meaning that forces it to conform to their opinions, thoughts, ideas, and agendas (2 Peter 3:16).
There are modern translations and paraphrases of the Scriptures that change God’s Word in such a way as to water down the message. There are even some translations that have led people to the belief that Jesus is merely a “son” of God, inferring that He is God’s offspring.
There is no need to seek God in any other place including the traditions of men. It must be the foundation and center of all teaching and preaching in the life and worship of the church and within the daily lives of every Christian through reading, study, and sincere contemplation. Christians need to be continually taught how to become a true Berean and learn how to understand what is written clearly. They must be encouraged each week from the pulpit to daily read, search and study the Bible rather than to rely on anecdotal stories, testimonials, and extra-biblical sources, or expect a "fresh direct revelation", dreams, and supernatural words of knowledge or personal prophecies.
Every Christian should be hungry for more of Jesus and less of themselves and not the have the aberrant desire or compulsion to experience something “fresh” from Heaven to “feel” filled with Holy Spirit. They have already been given “fullness” in Christ. The Bible warns Believers about being seduced through “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Col 2:8-10 NIV).
Traditions of Man
The New Testament speaks of the teaching traditions of the Apostles that are to be passed down and taught to later generations.
“We called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thess 2:14-15 NIV)
“I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.” (1 Cor 11:2 NIV)
The word “teachings” (Gk: paradosis) means a handing down of instructions (doctrine) for everyday conduct like the ordinances of the traditions passed down by the Rabbi’s which were made null and void by the divine teaching of the Apostles (2 Thess 3:6; See also Matt 15:2-3,6; Mark 7:3,5-9,13; Gal 1:14; Col 2:8.
The Bible says that the Scriptures alone, and not church traditions, are divinely inspired. The Bible must be used to verify and test the traditions and teaching of the church and not the other way around. Jesus continually rebuked the Pharisees and called them hypocrites because they made their traditions equal to the written Word of God (Mark 7:6-13). Traditions should support the teachings of the Apostles and not those that contradict or transgress “the commands of God" (Matt. 15:3) or exceed what they say (1 Cor. 4:6; 2 Thess. 2:15).
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16-17)
Experiential Revelation
It is true that a normal Christian life is filled with miraculous and supernatural experiences. God does speak today personally and directly just as He spoke to His people in the past, by using His own words of the Scriptures. That is easily affirmed by anyone who has heard His call to church ministry. However, He will NEVER contradict or add to, what He has already said in the Bible. The authority and sufficiency of Scripture cannot be separated.
Christianity, without the supernatural, has no legitimate power, yet those who actively believe in the miraculous are often held with contempt, and their beliefs ridiculed and even condemned. You will most often find more skeptics in the church than outside of it.
It is my belief that ALL Christians are called to live supernatural lives every day that has the touch and power of God upon them to affect change in those they come in contact with. Living a supernatural life is the most powerful yet practical way for a Christian to live.
The biblical truth is that the supernatural is the natural environment of God. The Bible tells us that Holy Spirit lives in, and empowers, every Christian (1 Cor. 6:19). It would be logical to posit that the natural environment of God exists within them as well. Taking that thought a little farther, it would also seem logical to surmise that God wants every Christian living naturally in the supernatural, with the miraculous accompanying them as they live normal lives. That is purely an ambitious objective because it is a lived reality for only a very minute number of Christians who are often scoffed at for their so-called experiences.
There are those who believe that the 66 books of the Bible are not enough, so they constantly look for private prophetic words, dreams or visions for a more meaningful personal experiential revelation from God. If a private “revelation” given to (or by) someone does not agree or align with Scripture, it is false, and if it does, then it is not needed.
The voice of God is the Bible. God’s written Word must be used as the primary source to confirm a person has heard the voice of Jesus. God speaks with absolute authority from the Bible alone. He alone is truth and Christians must learn to hear His voice. Jesus said in an allegory; “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NIV). When Jesus was tempted by the devil, it was not His opinions or experience that defeated him. He was defeated with ‘It is written!”
The Bible is the only single special revelation from God that human beings possess today. Experience cannot be trusted as it is a type of hearsay. Christians are commanded to believe what is written in the Bible because it is the only pure word from God and is unquestionably sufficient in itself (Psalm 119:160).
In the great high priestly prayer of Jesus for every Christian, He said, “Sanctify them by the truth: your word is truth” (Jn 17:17 NIV). The daily sanctification work of Holy Spirit in the lives of every Christian is to bring them closer to Jesus by pointing out both strengths and weaknesses and reminding them that the blood of Jesus has washed away all past, present and future sin. His job is to illuminate what has already been written in the Bible. He does not provide through Angels or by direct “fresh” revelation anything that would add to it in any way, manner, shape or form.
Just as food, air, and water are essential and adequate to keep a human being alive, the inspired Scriptures are essential and sufficient to give the "wisdom that leads to salvation." The Bible is more than sufficient to fully equip the Christian for profitable service and “every good work” because it is the very counsel of God.
I once heard it said that the Bible is completely true about everything to which it speaks, but it does not speak about everything there is to know. The Bible reveals that human beings can acquire knowledge of God by general revelation and draw conclusions about right conduct through observation, rational, reflective reasoning and astute observations of the Cosmos (Prov 24:30-34, 30:24-28; Ps 19:1-4; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 11:14).
However, those are just tools to direct a person to the perfect revelation of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the only special revelation and has the absolute authority to provide ALL sufficient knowledge needed to know Jesus and receive the gift of salvation, as well as what God’s commands are for every Christian. Because the “heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” the sensory experiences of touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing and are not reliable (Jer 17:9 KJV).
The Bible is the only dependable source for humankind to know God’s voice. It alone has the answers to all eternal questions. Jesus and the writers of the New Testament considered the Scriptures as the final rule of authority. When the enemy tempted Him in the wilderness, He used only the authority of Scripture to come against him (Matt 4:1-11).
The Bible is the blueprint of Heaven and the only reliable source of authoritative truth and is sufficient for teaching because it contains all moral and spiritual information by which humans can successfully live each day as well as build a foundation for any endeavor that is needed for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV). The primary intent of the New Testament is so that people “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” so that “by believing” they will “have life in his name” (John 20:30-31 ESV).
It is vital that every Christian rely completely upon Holy Spirit to direct and guide them in understanding and effectively applying God’s Word in every situation they find themselves in. Holy Spirit has the responsibility to illuminate the Scriptures so that God’s will can be understood. It is His responsibility to see that the “good work” that was started in each Believer at the moment of salvation “will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6 NIV). Christians have the responsibility to cooperate with Holy Spirit and respond to Him.
The Bible is also the primary source to interpret the Bible. Without reliance upon the Bible as the infallible and supreme source for knowing God’s voice - and as the authoritative rule of faith and conduct - a huge door is opened for the possibility of error and heresy to creep into a person’s beliefs. It must be God’s written Word, which is the cognitive concrete foundation, to base all decisions and belief. The Bible must be studied from God’s perspective. Only the Bible is truly God’s Word, and it declares that Jesus Christ is the “Word of God” (Rev 19:13 NIV) and is its author.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 NIV)
PART TWO – THE COVENANTS OF GOD
Within the Bible, the term “covenant” means a contract or a solemn and binding agreement between two parties. It is derived from a root word which means "to cut" in reference to an ancient ritual ceremony of cutting or dividing of animals into two parts, and passing them between contracting parties, followed up by an oath and eating together to celebrate (Gen 15:9, 26:28-30, 31:46-47, 53-54; Deut 4:31; Ps 89:3; Josh 9:15; 2 Sam 3:20; 2 Kings 11:4; Jer 34:18-20). The word ‘covenant’ was also used to designate the regular order of day and night and the Sabbath (Jer 33:20; Ex 31:16). However, it also implies much more than a legal contract that always has a beginning and ending date.
The word is also used in the Bible in reference to the holy, all-knowing, and all-powerful God consenting to enter into covenant with weak, imperfect and sinful human beings in a divine ordinance, with signs and pledges on His part, in the way of promise or of favor and blessing to those who accepted them by oath and agree to keep His commands that were conditioned on obedience (Ps 89:3,4; 105:8-11; Heb 6:13-20; Luke 1:68-75; Isa 59:21; Jer 31:33,34, 34:13-14). If they did not obey, there were penalties (Deut 4:31; Ps 89:3)
The Old Convenant
There are some covenants made in the Bible between God and His people that were acts of His pure grace and mercy, freely promised by an oath to those who proved they accepted His terms of deliverance by faith through their intentional obedience.
There was a covenant offered to Adam in the Garden of Eden that was dependent on obedience to His command not to eat of the Tree “of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen 2:15-17 ESV).
God also made a covenant with Noah, assuring him that judgment would not come again to humankind in the form of a flood. He signed it using a rainbow! (Gen 9:12-15). He also promised to withhold judgment on the seasons of the earth, as well as day and night never ceasing (Gen 8:21-22, 9; Jer 33:20; 2 Peter 3:7,15).
God promised Abraham that He would bless His descendants and to make them His people if he remained faithful and obedient to Him and humbly offered himself as a conduit through which His blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen 12:1-3, 15:18; 17:2-21). The legal conditions of this covenant required Abraham to leave his country, people and father's house. He was to follow the God into the land that He would show him. Through his faithful obedience, he would be blessed by God, as well as a blessing to others, both then and into the future when the Messiah would come through his family tree (Gen 12:1-3). About fourteen years after the initial covenant, God renewed it with a name change and requested Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised as a sign of their accepting and ratifying the covenant with Him (Gen 17:10-11).
Moses entered into a covenant with God and was given Ten Commandments (laws) that were to be followed to the letter by the people of God. The Ten Commandments were added to with an additional 603 laws (365 thou shalt not and 245 thou must do) that had to be rigidly adhered to, or there were serious ramifications. These were known as the Mosaic Laws and were carried through into the first century and beyond.
The nation of Israel entered into covenant when they acknowledged their acceptance of the Ten Commandments and promised to keep them (Ex 19:5, 24:3, 7-8; 34:10, 27-28). The covenant was ratified by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood (Ex 20:1-17, 24:3-8). God would reward their obedience to His commands by His constant care of them, helping them prosper, giving the victory over enemies, and pouring out His Spirit upon them (Ex 23:20-33). God told them that the seal of this covenant was the circumcision of all males (Deut 4:13). It was renewed at various times in Jewish history (Deut 4:13, 29; Josh 24; 2 Chron 15:1; 23; 29; 34; Ezra 10:1; Neh 9:1-10:39).
King David also had a covenant initiated by God who promised him that his descendants would be royal heirs to the throne of the nation of Israel and have an everlasting kingdom. It would be fulfilled when one of the heirs would be the Messiah, born in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral home (2 Sam 7:12; 22:51; Ps 89:1; 2; 72; Isa 11:1; see also Ps 89:3,28,34,39; 132:12; Jer 33:21). That promise was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the “Lord our righteousness," who would "end” the “law for righteousness to everyone that believeth" (Jer 23:6; 1 Cor 1:30; Rom 10:4; Matt 3:15; 5:17; Isa 42:21; 45:24-25).
Obedience
Under the Old Covenant people erroneously believed they were saved by adhering to a very strict set of laws in faith. As previously stated God gave to Israel through Moses a set of 10 laws which became the basis of His Covenant with them (Ex 20:1-17). Another 603 complex laws with stringent conditions to obey and adhere to were added to them. No matter how hard the faithful tried to be obedient they never found the new birth or permanent justification and positional sanctification “by the works of the law because by the works of the law no one will be justified (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 2:16, 6:15).
The Hebrew word for obedience is shama and means to hear intelligently, to listen intently. It carries with it the ethical significance of hearing with reverence and obedient assent. The relation is like one between a master and servant, or parents and children (Deut 21:18-19; Prov 15:20; 2 Sam 22:45; 1 Chron 29:23). The highest significance of the use of the word ‘obedience’ is that of the relationship between human beings and their Creator God. Obedience is the supreme proof of faith in God and reverence for Him.
The Old Testament conception of ‘obedience” was vital and had to be maintained to sustain a right relationship with God. It was far greater than personal sacrifice (Gen 22:18; 1 Sam 15:22, 28:18). Blessing and prosperity were conditioned upon obedience (Isa 1:19; Zech 6:15). The nation of Israel was judged when they broke the covenant with God. Each individual was responsible for their own sin and disobedience which is why they were promised a Messiah by God’s grace who would “save them from their sins” (Gen 3:15; Isa 9:53, 53:5-6; see also Matt 1:21).
Trusting-Faith
Faith is something each person must provide. It is based on freedom because faith requires it. Adam and Eve chose not to trust God. The “righteous shall live continuously by his faith” (Hab 2:4). The Hebrew word for faith used here is emuwnah which comes from the root word emuwn and means faithfulness, steadfast trust. Abraham was not justified and declared righteous by his good works but by God’s grace through faith alone. One of the Hebrew words used for believing, where no doubt exists, is aman. The word amen comes from it.
The word faith in Greek is pistis and means assurance, persuasion, conviction, and reliance upon another. The root of pistis is the word peitho which is a primary verb - an action word that is in a continual state of being, moving forward or reverse, never standing still. Faith, in and of itself, is dead apart from trust. Faith, without works, “is dead” (James 2:17). The working of faith is trust.
Without trusting-faith it is impossible to please God. It is the basic element of a relationship with Him. God gave every person all the faith they need to believe in the Messiah. Trusting-faith is more than believing. Faith is a continual state of mind being totally secure, and it needs a subject to trust in. The subject is an individual choice. The choice one makes is the object of their faith. Faith exists no matter what their object is. God requires faith for eternal life because it is trusting Him exclusively. Having faith means a person must act as if God can be trusted.
Trusting-faith is plugging into God, and He takes care of everything else. It is like building muscle memory. A person must constantly be put into situations that require them to trust. The more they do it - over and over again - the easier it is to appropriate without consciously thinking about it. It must become a recurring habit pattern.
God considered Abraham his friend and “counted” his trusting-faith as righteousness, and credited it to his account, which is how all people are made righteous before Him (Isa 41:8; Rom 4:3). The word "counted" in Greek is logizomai and is an accounting term which means to "credit, calculate; put to one's account." Abraham proved he was a friend of God by his trusting-faith in Him and listening to His voice, effortlessly yielding to Him, and keeping His “commandments,” “statutes,” and “laws" (Gen 15:6, 22:8, 26:4-5; see also John 8:56, Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6). He was willing to give up everything by denying his self (Ps 32:1-7; Gal 2:16).
The Promise of the Messiah
The prophets spoke of the Old Covenant passing away and a new everlasting Covenant that was connected with the coming of the Messiah (Isa 42:6; 49:8; 55:3; 59:21; 61:8; Jer 31:31,33; 32:40; 50:5; Ez 16:60,62; 20:37; 34:25; 37:26; Hos 2:18).
Many prophets and wise men spoke about the coming Messiah and understood that works could not make them righteous before God. They looked forward through faith in hopeful anticipation of their healing from the effects of sin and God permanently removing it (See John 8:56).
Micah described where the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2). Zechariah revealed how He would be betrayed (Zech 11:12). Isaiah knew his own “goodness” wasn’t “good enough” and that animal sacrifices couldn’t please a holy and perfect God, so he waited to be resurrected after he died (Isa 53:5, 26:19, 64:6; Ps 40:6). Moses expected and believed in the coming Messiah and the reward of salvation (Heb 11:26, John 5:46).
The Purpose of the Law
The purpose of the Law was to reveal that human beings are incapable of standing before a holy God through their obedience and that they needed a Messiah who would redeem them from their wickedness as a servant Savior who would justify them by faith and take their sins upon Himself as the very arm of the Creator God (Gen 15:4-6, Isa 53:1-12, 59:15-21).
God told Adam and Eve one of their descendants would eventually defeat the evil one (Gen 3:15). Abel, the son of Adam, was justified by faith because he trusted in the coming Redeemer whose blood was prefigured by that of the sacrifice He offered that was prescribed by God (Heb 11:4; Gen 4:3-5). Job spoke of the need for a mediator who could provide atonement on behalf of mankind so that a person could stand justified before God (Job 33:21-26). He knew his “Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25 ESV). Enoch spoke of a coming Messiah (Jude 14).
King David lived under the Mosaic Law in the light of God’s grace and understood that God forgives and justifies apart from works and does not hold a person’s sin against them on the grounds of their confession and repentance. He understood that God completely pardons a person not on the basis of what they do, but as a result of their acknowledgement and turning away from sin (Rom 4:6-8; see also Luke 18:9-14; Acts 15:7-1; Rom 3:21, 4:1-11; Gal 3:6-9).
Sacrificial System
The Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant required people to approach God by way of animal sacrifices, and the priests had to sprinkle the blood upon a designated altar. God knew they could not keep the law and that they would incur the justice of His wrath. He provided an elaborate sacrificial system (to remind them of their shortcomings and the penalty for their continuing sin) and gave the promise of a Messiah. He told Israel that He didn’t save them because of their righteousness because they didn’t have any (Deut 9:4-29).
Those sacrifices foreshadowed and symbolized the anticipated shedding of blood and sacrificial death of the Messiah. Jesus proved by the sacrifice of His own life and the shedding of His innocent blood that He was the Messiah and the “lamb without blemish” who fulfilled and ended the sacrificial offerings to atone for sin.
The sacrifices that were done in faith brought temporary forgiveness and pointed towards the sacrifice of Jesus (Ps 32:1-2; 103:12). It was impossible to find salvation through law-keeping under the Old Covenant (Gal 3:10-14). No one could then (or now) be declared righteous by observing the commandments of the law, no matter how hard he or she tried to adhere to all 613 through good works (Gen 16:6, Rom. 3:20, 4:1-25; Gal 3:6-9).
The people of the Old Covenant were always under God’s grace (Gen. 6:8; Ex. 33:12, 17; Judges 6:17; Jer. 31:2). They understood His grace and forgiveness if they listened closely to His words that were revealed by the Prophets and the Scriptures (Ps 32:1-5). They recognized their good works could not save them (Heb 11:13).
Abraham’s Bosom
Those under the Old Covenant who died in faith through what God had revealed of Himself and His ways, went to a place called Sheol that was also known as Paradise and Abraham’s Bosom, the abode of the dead prior to the Cross (Gen 15:6; Ps 49:14; Luke 16:22-23; Heb 11:13,39-40; Eph 2:13-22).
While on the Cross Jesus told the thief that today he would be with Him in Paradise. When Jesus died, He descended into Abrahams Bosom and presented Himself as the Messiah to those who were held captive and had waited in faith for the ransom to be paid for their redemption (Ps 49:15; 1 Peter 3:19-21, 4:6). The father did not abandon Him there or let Him see corruption (Acts 2:27). When He ascended into Heaven He “led a host of captives” so “that he might fill all things” (Eph 4:8-10 ESV).
Part 3 – THE NEW COVENANT
The focus of the New Covenant would emphasize individual people approaching God rather than as a collective nation, with the law written upon their heart. The word used over 300 times in the New Testament for covenant is the Greek word 'diatheke' which is the corresponding word for the Hebrew 'beryith'. It is used to recognize that the covenant which God makes with people is not a mandatory and fully mutual contract, but more the ratification of a will or testament, rather than the sense of the Old Covenant understanding of the Hebrew word 'beryith' where God's chosen people confirmed their covenant with oaths or promises to keep the agreement.
The nation of Israel promised to obediently perform "all the words which the Lord has said" (Ex 24:3; Gal 3:15; Heb 9:15-17). However, they never did, so they were called by their leaders to renew their oath to God (2 Kings 23:3). The Law covenant established at Mount Sinai with Moses was a "ministry of death" and "condemnation" which could not be obeyed because of mankind's weakness of sin (2 Cor 3:7-9; Rom 8:3).
The Last High Priest
In the Old Covenant Priests offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. To be consecrated as a priest, they had to be washed with water (Ex 29:1, 4; Lev 8:6; Num 8:7; Matt 3:16), anointed with oil (represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit) (Ex 29:7; Lev 8:12; Matt. 3:16; 1 John 2:20, 27), be a minimum of 30 years old (Num 4:1-3), and have a verbal blessing given over them (Ex 39:43, Num 6:22-27; Matt3:17). Jesus fulfilled all these requirements and became the final sacrifice for sin in His role as the last High Priest (1 Pet. 2:24, 2 Cor. 5:21).
Jesus did not need to be baptized to show His repentance nor was it a sign of salvation (Matt 3:13-15; see also Ex 29:1-7; 1 John 2:20, 27). He was baptized because He had to fulfill all righteousness and the legal requirements for entering into the priesthood and to show the world that He qualified as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, even though He already was, and revealed His humanity by providing an example for others and displaying the Triune God among the earliest followers (Psalm 110:4, Heb. 5:8-10, 6:20).
Jesus, God the Son, is fully co-equal with God, the Father, and God, the Holy Spirit. Jesus was without sin and had miraculous results in His earthly ministry because He is God and the Creator of all things who has absolute divine authority. God works in and through the Born-Again Christian sovereignly as He chooses.
The Faith of Jesus
Jesus used His divine power and authority to perform miracles in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. He did not need to have "faith" in God because He is God. It is by the faith of Jesus the Born-Again Christian is justified:
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal 2:16 KJV)
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Rom 3:22 KJV)
The words “in“ or “of” in these verses are used in various translations but are not in any Greek text. The grammar used in both verses is a possessive genitive phrase. “Genitive” means that this phrase can be interpreted as either subjective or objective. It is like the phrase, the love of God. That is either one’s love for God or the love that God has. In one case it is objective (love for God), in the other subjective (God is the subject) and it describes the love that belongs to God or God’s love.
The word “faith“ is “pistis” in the Greek, which is a verb and not a noun. In context it means faithfulness. This makes it “subjective” where the righteousness of God is the subject of the verse because of God’s faithfulness. The “faith” that the Believer stands upon is not their own, but the faithfulness of Jesus who is 100% fully God and 100% fully man. Christians are redeemed/justified by Jesus Christ’s faithfulness (Gk: pistis Iesou Christou) on their behalf, not their believing.
Jesus is the object of faith in the New Covenant because He is 100% fully God and 100% fully human. He knows all things (John 21:17). He does not need to have faith in God because He has the faith of God. Jesus didn't need faith in Himself. He is the author of our faith. He was, is, and always will be, the eternal Creator of the universe. Faith is always object oriented, so faith in God is not faith of God. Jesus said, "Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22 ESV). In the Greek, it does not mean faith that God has. It is speaking of faith that has God as its object. True faith is active trust in the sovereignty of God.
New Heart of Flesh
The heart of mankind is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). In the Old Covenant God promised that He would one day replace their heart of stone with a new heart of flesh, and a new spirit, within the faithful so they would live (Deut 30:6, 36:26). In the New Covenant God has “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 4:6 ESV).
The history of the New Covenant is the story of salvation that started when God guaranteed He would provide salvation in spite of mankind’s inability to keep their side of the agreement because of sin (Eph 2:12). God gave an “everlasting” covenant of promise to Adam, as well as to Abraham and David to raise up believing children in an "everlasting" covenant of praise, and later, through a covenant of grace and mercy from "the Jerusalem above" which was fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus (Gen 3:15, 17:7, 22:16-17; 2 Sam 7:14-15).
The New Covenant is distinct from the legal obedience of the Old Covenant of Law "from Mount Sinai," where God promised to save and bless people on the condition of their perfect obedience. Jesus is the mediator, and the fulfillment of the Old Covenant promises (Heb 9:15). Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). He is the Word from the beginning (John 1:1). His "goings forth are from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). The Israelites "drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4).
Jesus said that all the laws and words of the Prophets were narrowed down to just one – “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31 ESV).
That was a radical contrast from being under the Law that brought death (Rom. 6:14,15;2 Cor. 3:7). Jesus is the greatest illustration of obedience through faith. Because He trusted God, the Father, He "humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" (Phil 2:8 KJV). It is by obedience to God that people are made partakers of His salvation (Heb 5:9).
The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant of the Law because it could never remove sins from the blood of bulls and goats and take away sin (Heb. 10:1-18). It is now obsolete (Heb. 8:13). The people were incapable of following every single Commandment of God, just as all people today. When they did fail to obey any point of the Law conditional forgiveness was available from the priesthood. However, the forgiveness was temporary and needed constant atonement through animal sacrifice and the shedding of blood which only covered their sins.
The New Covenant was ratified by Jesus’ death and sealed by His shed blood. He willingly chose to set aside His glory and blessings so that those who are under the bondage of the Law and death and come to Him through faith, become justified by His faith, grace, and mercy rather than their attempts to keep the law (Matt 26:28, Heb 1:2 Gal 4:24-26; see also Ex 24:8; Ps 2:8).
The sacrificial death of Jesus served as the oath, or pledge, which God, the Father, made to human beings, to seal this New Covenant of grace. He has promised to offer eternal life and fellowship with Him on the condition of their trusting-faith in Jesus and receiving Him as their Lord and Savior in repentant humility despite their sinful unworthiness.
The Born-Again Christian entered into the New Covenant through the sacrifice of Jesus, who is God, the Son, and gave a new law and effective provisions that gives life – spiritual life - by a new and better way (Heb. 10:19-20). Just following the Ten Commandments and the other 603 laws cannot remove sin or give life. Only the blood of Jesus can make a person Born-Again and remove the “curse of the Law” because Jesus “became a curse for us”…“so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit" (Gal 3:10-14).
All Sins Washed Away
The Born-Again Christian was “crucified with Christ and” they “no longer live, but Christ lives” in them. “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20 NIV). Jesus removes and cancels a person’s sin when they believe in and receive Him as their Lord and Savior. Under the New Covenant, the supreme test of a person having trusting-faith in Him is effortless obedience (Rom 1:5; 1 Peter 1:14). It proves that saving faith and love for God is actively present (John 14:15, 21, 23-25; 15:10; Titus 3:5-8; 1 Jn. 2:3-7; James 2:14-26). Obedience brings benefits for “restoring the soul” (Deut 28; Ps 19:7 Titus 3:8). It is the 'law' of grace alone that brings life eternal (Gal. 3:22-25).
Those who trusted in their faith plus good works in the Old Covenant were wrong and misunderstood the Grace covenant. Everyone failed to ‘obey’ and be justified by works because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:23-24 NIV). The righteous shall always live by faith (Gal 3:10-14).
Under the Law sin can’t be permanently removed, nor can it provide permanent justification (right-standing with God) or the regeneration of “new” birth. That comes by becoming Born-Again, which is attained only by faith in the blood of Jesus (Rom 3:21-26). Jesus is the one who made the first Covenant “obsolete” (Heb 8:13). He is the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb 9:15, 12:24). The Greek word for new is kainos and means brand new, never used before. The new birth could not take place until Jesus died as the final sacrifice for sin, was raised from the dead and glorified (John 7:39).
The Promise of the New Birth
Under the Old Covenant, the people of God were promised a new birth found in the Messiah. They looked forward in faith as believers towards Him. The most profound difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is the new birth of being Born-Again. It is as far as the east is from the west in comparison. Jesus said that unless a person is Born-Again, they cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5).
During His ministry Jesus promised the Disciples that He would “ask the Father” to give them “another Helper, to be with” them “forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” and that not only would Holy Spirit be with them but He would be “in” them” to guide them “into all truth” (John 14:15-17, 15:26, 16:13-14 ; 1 John 5:6 ESV).
Before the day of Pentecost Holy Spirit would come upon spiritual leaders temporarily at special times and then leave (1 Sam 19:20,23; 2 Chron 2:20). Jesus prayed to the Father for the Disciples “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21-22 NIV).
Jesus later commanded the disciples not to do anything or go anywhere until the day of Pentecost because Holy Spirit would be given to live within every Born-Again Christian as the guarantee of their salvation under the New Covenant (Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 3:16; Col 2:9; 2 Tim 1:14). Jesus “put his Spirit” in their hearts “as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:22). Within Him “All the fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells (Col 2:9). If a person “does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9-11 NIV - see also John 14:20).
The New Covenant Holy of Holies
In the Old Covenant the Temple, and within it, the Holy of Holies, was made by hand (Ex. 26:33). Only the High Priest could enter into it once a year on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, under fear of death (Heb 9:7). The Temple was the center of worship (John 2:19,21). In the New Covenant Jesus is the center of worship, and the Born-Again Christian is His Temple because they are a child of God who holds onto the teaching of Jesus to whom they belong to (Matt 18:20, John 4:21,23, 8:31; Rom 8:8; 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19).
God gives Holy Spirit to those who become Born-Again by obeying His call and are led by Him (Acts 5:32; 1 John 3:24, 4:13). They are now the Holy of Holies, God’s dwelling place (1 Cor 6:19). Jesus now abides in them with the promise of eternal life and to never leave or forsake them (Rom 8:11; Heb 13:5). Jesus will control and guide them into all truth and speak to them only what He hears the Father say (John 16:13). Anyone does not have Holy Spirit living in them does not belong to Christ (Rom 8:9). Those who chose to live under the law and not under grace will be condemned by it (Rom 8:12-13).
This was a mystery that was “kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints” (Col 1:26 NIV).” The “glorious riches” of the indwelling of Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation through the new birth is the seal that a person is “given fullness in Christ” who is the “hope of glory” and is now a “new creation” (Col 2:9 1:27; 2 Cor 5:17).
A New Creation
The Born-Again Christian is a new creation by God’s great mercy through the washing and renewal of Holy Spirit who lives within them (1 Peter 1:3; Gal 6:15; Titus 3:4-6). The old has passed away, and they have become new (2 Cor 5:17). Jesus “abolished” “in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace” (Eph 2:15 ESV). They are to “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22-24 ESV; see also Col 3:10-11).
Complete in Jesus
The complete perfection of the divine nature has always been in Jesus. The Born-Again Christian is made “complete in Him” and immediately enters into “the kingdom of God” because they received “Christ” (Luke 17:21; Col 1:27; 2:9-10; Luke 17:21 NIV). They now live “in Christ” and receives a righteous man’s reward that is full and complete because only those in Christ are righteous (Matt 10:41; Phil 1:23; cf. John 14:3; 1 Thess 4:17). The fundamental foundation of being Born-Again is that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 NIV).
Heirs and Children of God
The Born-Again Christian is an heir of the righteousness that comes by the faith of Jesus and lives being led by the Holy Spirit (Heb 11:7; Rom 2:13). God has “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" (Col. 1:13 NIV). The Holy Spirit confirms to them they are no longer a slave to sin but are a child of God through faith in Jesus (John 1:12; Rom 8:16; Gal 3:26; 4:6; 1 John 3:1-2). They can’t become righteous by their own works because “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23, 3:10). It is according to the mercy of Jesus who establishes them through the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit guards against the evil one who has no control over them (1 Thess 3:12-13; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 John 5:19).
Nothing can make them stumble (Ps 119:165). They are justified by His grace and have become children of God who are heirs and co-heirs with Jesus “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for them and are guarded by “God's power” “through faith” with the help of Holy Spirit who lives in them “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5; Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29; 2 Tim 1:14; Titus 3:3-8 ESV).
Brought Near to God as a Citizen of Heaven
The Born-Again Christian was brought near to God by the once and for all blood sacrifice of Jesus (Eph 2:13). They were positionally sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy saints according to His purpose (Acts 2:39; Rom 1:7, 8:28; 1 Cor 1:2, 24). They have become a citizen of Heaven and a member of the household of God and have been promised eternal life (Eph 2:19; Titus 1:2). Jesus rescued and taken them out “from the dominion of darkness” and placed them “into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13 NIV).
Everyone is a Minister
The word minister is 'diakonia' in Greek. It refers to someone who serves others like a person who waits on tables at a restaurant or gives aid to another. Those who are ministers in the church are not masters but servants who are there to build up, strengthen, encourage, and restore through servant-leadership, teaching and discipleship of each member of the Church universal to equip them for the work of Ministry (Eph 4:11).
God has given every Born-Again Christian the ministry of reconciliation because Jesus reconciled them to Himself and made them Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God (2 Cor 5:18-20). They are to look past the sin of others and not count it against them so that they may become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).
Spiritual Gifts
The Bible says that people are to worship God in “spirit” and “truth” (John 4:24). Jesus never changes. He lives in and empowers every Born-Again Christian. They can learn to live naturally in the supernatural and see God touch the lives of people each and every day through the spiritual gifts.
Within Jesus, all of the fullness of God dwells, and He dwells within every Christian who have been given the power and anointing of God to live a supernatural life because they have the touch of God upon them and His power within them (Col 2:9). The gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Rom 11:29). The spiritual gifts were designed by God to be used for daily living by average non-professional Christians.
The word grace comes from the Greek word 'charis'. The spiritual gifts are 'charis-matic' grace-gifts. The word has various meanings in the Bible. One such use of the word is in reference to goodwill and loving kindness shown to people.
The spiritual gifts are instruments of grace and are just as important as the teaching of God’s Word, the reading of the Scriptures, daily prayer, the ministry of the church, etc. The healthy growth of the Born-Again Christian is stifled and hindered when the utilization of the gifts of grace are minimized, or their need and use today are diminished. When a church, or teacher, or leader devalues the use of the spiritual gifts, they run into the danger of becoming legalistic and receiving “the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor 6:1 KJV).
The ultimate and full purpose of the spiritual gifts is to provide what is necessary to bring a person to the place of forgiveness, repentance, healing, and restoration. These gifts are very powerful because they are working from God who is working from within the Born-Again Christian to bring people face to face with the reality of the invisible God and to make the Church realize that Holy Spirit is always present. He is the only source of life and power in ministry. These gifts of Holy Spirit are available to every Born-Again Christian as He freely distributes them as needed (1 Cor 12:11).
The Born-Again Christian possesses all the glorious riches of Jesus who is the Hope of Glory! (Col 1:27 NIV) Since they possess all of Jesus, they possess all of the gifts and are to actively make use of them to strengthen, edify, lift up, and encourage others. The gifts begin to manifest when they empty their self of self and allow the anointing of Holy Spirit to flow from the inside out!
Abiding
The Born-Again Christian abides in God and His love in their deeds and in truth by loving others, which is how the world knows they are Born-Again (John 13:35, 4:13-15; 1 John 3:17-18). They are able to abide in Jesus because they have Holy Spirit living within them and, as a result, love His Word which proves they are His disciple, because He has set them free and they are no longer a slave to sin (John 8:31,35,36; 2 John 9-10).
Persevering Endurance
Moses was able to persevere in trusting-faith because he saw the coming Messiah (Heb 11:27). The Born-Again Christian dwells in love, and they rejoice with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (1 Cor 13:6-7). They retain God’s Word and will persevere in trusting-faith under all circumstances even in the face of extreme opposition and suffering and continue to do good because they were reconciled to God "in order to present” them before Jesus “holy and blameless and beyond reproach" (Luke 8:15; Col 1:21-23; See also Rom 5:3-4;1 Tim 4:16; James 1:3-4, 12, 5:11; 1 Peter 4:19; 2 Peter 1:6; Rev 2:2-3,19). Their perseverance to do His will shall be blessed with the promises of God (Heb 10:36, 12:1; James 1:12; 1 John 2:17).
Those who are Born-Again do not deliberately keep on sinning (Heb 10:26). They walk as Jesus did and abide in Him just as God abides in them, who is the author and finisher of their salvation (1 John 2:5-6, 3:6-9). The forgiveness provided by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross cleanses them from all sin and cancels all debt (Col 2:13-14).
However, they must be careful not to fall after being tempted to sin (1 Cor 10:12). If they do fall, they have a mediator of the New Covenant, so that they may receive the promised eternal inheritance, through the death of Jesus that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the Old Covenant. (Heb 9:15). There is no condemnation because God is faithful and He will not let them be tempted beyond what they can bear and will provide a way out (John 5:24; Rom 8:11 Cor 10:13). God will rescue them from every evil deed and bring them safely into His heavenly kingdom. (2 Tim 4:18).
They do not conform to the pattern of this world because they have been transformed by the renewing of their mind and understand the will of God and are to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching”...“always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (Rom 12:2; 2 Tim 4:2-5 ESV).
Those who do not deny themselves, hold fast or endure for the promise of the resurrection, have believed in vain because they have not received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and will “shrink back to destruction” (Matt 13:19-21,16:24-25,19:21; Mark 8:34-35; Luke 9:23-24; 14:26-27; Heb 10:39; 1 Cor 15:12-19;1 John 2:19-20).
Those who say they are Born Again but do not hear God’s words are not of Him (John 8:47). Those who live in a continual state of sin are hypocrites and liars, and the truth is not in them (1 John 2:4, 3:10). Belief is not the same as regeneration through the new birth and possession by Holy Spirit. Even the demons in hell believe in God and know Jesus is the Messiah (Luke 4:41; James 2:19). These people escaped the corruption of the world by knowing about Jesus and then turned their backs on Him, getting entangled and overcome by the world again. They are worse off than when they first heard the way of righteousness because they are only talkers, not doers of the Word in truth, and were never with Jesus because they would have continued with Him and done the things that accompany salvation (2 Peter 2:20-21; Matt 7:21-23; 1 John 2:19, 3:10,14, 18-21; Heb 6:9).
Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God and not those who pretend to obey Him (Acts 5:32). It is only those who are Born-Again and have passed from death to life who know His voice and will never come into judgment as they follow Him (John 10:24-27).
Overcomers
The Born-Again Christian is growing each day into becoming a fully devoted lover of God. They prove that by keeping His commandments (John 14:15-16; 1 John 2:3-6, 3:14). They know God’s voice because they study His Word and follow Him (John 10:27-28) Nothing can grab them out of His hand (John 10:29).
Jesus said that genuine overcomers are those who are Born-Again and have been born of God through the new Birth of the New Covenant. They will stand firm to the end, even in the face of persecution, because they are overcomers by trusting-faith in Jesus, who is in them, and greater than he who is in the world (1 Matt 10:22; 24:12-13; Mark 13:13; Luke 10:19; 1 John 4:4, 5:3-5; Rev 2:11; 3:5, 21; 21:7). They are the ones who overcome the enemy “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev 12:11).
The Proof of Salvation
Living through faith is to believe, follow, trust and obey God. Trusting-faith is not a work of the Law. Faith, as described in the Bible, is God's gracious gift: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves" (Eph 2:8 NIV). To believe is to respond to this gift, exercising the faith God offers to all. Jesus is the “author and finisher” of faith (Heb 12:2). It is God alone who justifies people by His grace. Salvation is a gift that comes by faith to those who do not work or try to earn it, but place their trusting-faith in the God who justifies them.
The proof that a person is saved (i.e., a good tree) is the natural and effortless bearing of good fruit (Luke 6:43; Acts 26:18-20). A bad tree can’t naturally produce good fruit (Luke 6:45). Under the New Covenant, the only obedient ‘work’ a person has to do for the new birth of salvation is to strive to enter into the rest of salvation by becoming Born-Again (Heb 4:11). Becoming Born-Again means a completely brand-new birth, surpassing more excellently anything that ever existed before, and becoming permanently justified before God by the faith-righteousness of Jesus (Heb 8:6-7). It is not a law righteousness. It comes through the faith possessed by Jesus and is imparted to all who are willing to receive.
Good Fruit
The Born-Again Christian is the “first fruits” of God to a living hope because they are planted in the good soil of God’s new birth and bear good fruit with patient endurance (Luke 8:15; James 1:18; 1 Pet 3:21; 2 Thess 2:13-14)
They cannot do anything apart from Him, so He helps them automatically produce good fruit that accompanies salvation (John 15:1-1). It is by the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that the Born-Again Christian proves they are Born-Again (Gal 5:22; 1 John 3:10). Even if they are in a dry period, they still remain a ‘good tree.’
Those who look back after putting their hands on the plow were never good trees, to begin with (Luke 6:43-45, 9:59-62). Anyone who loves this life more than Jesus and is not willing to walk in repentant humility before God never produces good fruit because they were never planted in Jesus (Matt 37:38). A person who considers their self Born-Again needs to examine their fruit to test and see if they are (2 Cor 13:5). The Bible is very clear on this, “Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10). Those who are truly Born-Again intentionally turn away from unrighteousness because they have become justified and righteous in Christ and they will never die (John 11:26).
Discipline
The Father deals with each Born-Again Christian just as a loving earthly parent does with their own children to encourage, comfort, teach, train, rebuke to warn them of the many snares of the old nature, and disciplines them like an impartial judge who decides a ruling in a trial (1 Cor 11:32; 1 Thess 2:11-12; Heb 12:5-6; Rom 7:24). That is why they must learn to walk daily in repentant humility in order to maintain a close relationship with God.
People are only saved by grace through faith (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Eph 2:8,9). A person who becomes Born-Again will do good works as the natural outcome of having been saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus, the risen and immortal Lord of the Universe and Creator of all things (John 1:3; James 2:18, 26). Neither Covenant teaches that good works save a person. They do reveal that a person is saved by God’s grace through faith and that this salvation is dependent on God’s provision of atonement through the blood sacrifice of Jesus to cover the debt of sins, who is the once-for-all final sacrifice of God for sinners who believe and repent (John 1:29; Heb 7:27; 9:11-12, 23-28; 10:10-14).
No matter what covenant a person was, or is, under, they can only be redeemed and justified through steadfast trusting-faith in Christ (John 5:39-40). They could not earn their salvation any more than anyone can today (Gal. 2:16). God removes one’s sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more when they come to Him in trusting-faith through Jesus. Until He came to earth as a newborn baby, the law demanded obedience. Jesus, the Messiah, is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament types, symbols, and prophecies (Luke 24:44, Rom 3:21-22).
The wisdom of God’s redemptive plan was hidden from full understanding until it was revealed in Jesus, who is the wisdom of God that is foolishness to those who are perishing: “It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God” (1 Cor 1:17-2:16). He is the complete fulfillment of divine revelation and the fulfillment of salvation history.
Everything that God wanted His people to know for their redemption and salvation was revealed in the life and words of Jesus. He is the New Covenant and new Law and fulfilled the purpose of the Old Covenant and the old Law. He became both the perfect atoning sacrifice and the perfect priest (John 1:29,36, 19:14; Heb: 2:17, 5–10; Rom 3:25-26; Eph 1:7; 1 John 1:7, 2:1-2, 4:10; Titus 2:11-14).
Salvation is a gift from God, and is not based on works or abiding by obedience to the Law, but upon what Jesus did on the Cross (Acts 2:38-39). Jesus said that genuine overcomers are those who are Born-Again and have been born of God through the new birth of the New Covenant, and they will never be blotted out of the Book of Life because "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed, abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God" (Rev 3:5, 13:8, 17:8; see also Ex 32:32,33; Ps 69:28; 1 John 3:9, 5:4-5).
Sealed by Holy Spirit
The Born-Again Christian has been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Jesus (Col 1:13). They no longer remain in the flesh positionally because Holy Spirit dwells in them, and they are sealed by Jesus as a guarantee who promised that death and life, angels and rulers, things present and things to come, powers, height and depth, and anything else in all creation, are not able to separate them from His love because all things work together for good to those who are called according to God’s purpose (2 Cor 1:22; Rom 8:28, 38-39).
They have been justified, glorified and already received an inheritance (Rom 3:24, 28, 5:1,9, 8:30; 1 Cor 6:11, Gal 2:16-17, 3:11; Titus 3:7). Jesus foreknew that those whom He called and would willfully choose to become Born-Again He would predestine them to be conformed to His image and sealed them for the day of redemption as a child of God and an heir with Him for glorification in Heaven (Eph 1:11-13, 4:30; Rom 8:28-31; 1 Cor 1:8; 2 Cor 1:22, 5:5; Jude 1:24-25; John 6:37, 8:12; Heb 13:5). He works all things according to the counsel of His will because He is for them and not against them (2 Cor 1:22, 5:5; Eph 1:11, 2:8, 4:30).
Guiltless Before God
It is the primary responsibility of Holy Spirit to sustain the Born-Again Christian as guiltless and to keep them from stumbling, presenting them blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, and He emphatically says He will never leave, forsake, cast out, or drive away, nor can anything take them from the firm grip of His hand, send them back, or separate them from His love, because He gave them Holy Spirit as a guarantee of salvation and will always be with them to the end of the age (Matt 28:20; John 4:14, 6:37, 8:12, 10:27-29, 11:25-26; Rom 8:38-39; 1 Cor 1:8; ; 2 Cor: 5:5 Heb 13:5; Jude 1:24-25). The blessings of being possessed by Him are far greater than the satisfaction of being self-possessed.
Holy Spirit is the Guarantee
Holy Spirit began the good work of salvation when He took possession of them (Jude 1:24; 1 Cor 1:8; Phil 1:6; 1 Thess 5:23-24). It is His sole responsibility to sustain and keep them from stumbling as guiltless, presenting them blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, and He will never let them die, be thirsty again, nor leave, forsake, cast out, or drive them away; or let anything, or anyone snatch them away or separate them from His love, because the Father gave Him as a guarantee of salvation (John 4:14, 6:37, 8:12, 10:27-29, 11:25-26; Rom 8:38-39; 1 Thess 5:23-24;1 John 2:1).
Abides in Christ
The Born-Again Christian habitually abides in Jesus. When they stumble, and they will because fallen sinners fall, Jesus is the defense advocate and died in their place (Rom 7:18; 1 John 2:1). God will always make the wayward crooked paths of His children, straight when they trust Him (Prov 3:6). As normally expected in any situation in life, when they don’t, they reap the consequences of their choices and behavior. However, that does not mean God wreaks havoc on them or their loved ones. That goes against the very character and nature of God. He admonishes, corrects, trains and educates His children (Heb 12:5-11; Eph 6:4; Rev 3:19). If we were accused of doing to our children what some accuse God of doing to His, we would be arrested for child abuse!
Those that do not habitually desire to do what is right are ‘bad trees,’ to whom Jesus will declare; 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness' (Matt 7:23 ESV). Salvation has always been by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, plus nothing!
Conclusion – Salvation is Dependent on God
Salvation depends wholly on the merciful God who calls the Born-Again Christian to Himself (Rom 9:16; Acts 2:38-39). They know that they have already crossed over from death and have been appointed to eternal because Jesus lives inside of them through the rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (John 5:24; Acts 13:48; 1 John 5:11-12; Titus 3:5-7). Jesus said He would "lose none" of those the Father gave Him (John 6:39). He will keep them strong and blameless on the day He returns (1 Cor 1:8).
No one can come to Jesus unless it is granted by the mercy of the Father who chose them as the first fruits to be saved and sanctified by the Holy Spirit to obtain the glory of Jesus (John 6:65; 1 Peter 1:3, James 1:18; Titus 3:5; 1 Thess 2:13-14). The Holy Spirit sovereignly draws dead people to Jesus and makes them alive because without Him, they can’t come to Jesus and He will raise them up on the last day (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13; John 6:44).
It is the hideous sin of pride that God hates which causes a person to imagine that they have some part in their salvation and then must maintain it as if they are actually the author and giver of the free gift of salvation and the one who willingly chose to leave the glory of Heaven to die a horrifying death on the Cross (Prov 8:13). God actively resists those who choose to walk in pride and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5; also Prov 3:34).
The Born-Again Christian doesn’t need to work for their salvation. However, they must continually work out their salvation, for it is God who works in them to will and to act according to His good purpose. God has given them eternal salvation as a free gift in Jesus Christ, and it is His will that they obey Him, not in order to save themselves, or to help God save them, but because they are already saved. It is God who provides complete salvation (Phil 2:12-13).
The Christian life is a miracle of God that is wrought from within. The new birth has been firmly built on the rock-solid foundation of Jesus and cannot be destroyed by the storms of circumstances (Matt 7:24-27). The power of the Christian life is the indwelling Holy Spirit, but the Born-Again Christian is not to be passive. They are to be filled daily, controlled and led by Holy Spirit and walk after Him so they can mind those things He desires, otherwise they are just spiritual infants who refuse to wean themselves off spiritual pabulum preaching because they can’t handle the solid food of God’s grace through faith that saves them (Eph. 5:1,18; Rom 8:4-5, 14; Gal 6:25).
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:14-21 ESV)
Notes: The Greek word for Cosmos is “Kosmos” and speaks of the world as the entire visible and unseen universe as a well-ordered whole which includes everything that exists.
Classical mechanics is often called Newtonian mechanics which builds on the work of Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), who assumed that the infinite universe worked like a clock in an ordered and predictable Cosmos.
'Quantum' is the Latin word for amount and means the smallest possible discrete unit of any physical property, such as energy or matter. The word came into usage on December 14, 1900 when the physicist Max Planck used it in a presentation to the German Physical Society
Acts 17:11 - The Bereans were open-minded Jews living in Thessalonica who were willing and eager to examine the Scriptures to see if what the preacher (Apostle Paul) was saying was true and aligned with Scripture.
