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THE TWO COVENANTS
6.UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE
7.THE OLD COVENANT
8.THE NEW COVENANT
9.THE TWO MEN
10.TWO LIFE FORCES
6.UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE
A covenant is basically an agreement or contract. A typical application of a covenant is seen in marriage. A covenant is more than your average contract though. It is frequently intended as a lifelong commitment between two parties. When God enters into a covenant, we can be sure His commitment is steadfast and enduring - God never breaks covenants. Although we break them, He never does. Consequently it is a good thing to enter into a covenant with God, because we can rely on Him consistently fulfilling His side of the agreement, whether we keep our side steadfastly or not.
There is much that can be said about the nature and outworking of God's covenants. The richness of this knowledge is exceedingly valuable for increasing our understanding of the faithfulness and character of God. Unfortunately, this is not an aspect of my calling - God has equipped others to do this brilliantly. May I encourage you to seek out an in-depth study of God's covenants - it will most assuredly be extremely worthwhile.
Most believers in Jesus Christ will be aware that there is an old covenant and a new covenant. The old covenant, revealed in what we call the Old Testament, forms the first part of the Holy Bible.
The new covenant is largely conveyed to us in the writings of the apostles, which are commonly referred to as the New Testament, and forms the second part of the Holy Bible.
God made a number of covenants with men. Among them, He made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David, to name but some. Each covenant is significant and typically has enduring implications.
What we call the old covenant is also known as the Mosaic covenant, as it was made with Israel through Moses. The scope of this covenant and its implications are many and varied. It is not the purpose of this book to convey the rich and meaningful truths embodied in this covenant and its enduring implications, specifically for the nation of Israel.
Suffice to say, the old covenant is centred in the laws of Moses. God's promises through it are essentially, "If you do these things, I will do these things." So then keeping the law brought great blessing, but forsaking the law brought great cursing.
Most folk, even with little bible knowledge, would probably recognise the Ten Commandments as being the foundation of the old covenant.
Keeping the old covenant involved more than just keeping the laws. It incorporated priests and included keeping feasts and rituals involving animal sacrifice.
The new covenant is centred in the person of Jesus Christ. God first introduced the intention of a new covenant some 600 years before Christ when Jeremiah proclaimed its forthcoming. He boldly declared that the days were coming when God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. But we know its intent was always to include all those who believe in, and receive the person and work of Jesus Christ, both Jew and non-Jew.
Most believers in Christ recognise and accept that the new covenant replaces the old covenant. The old covenant is commonly regarded as the means of attaining righteousness before God by keeping laws - although this is totally erroneous. Never-the-less, it is an enduring misconception. The new covenant is acknowledged as the means of attaining righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Believers know that they do not have reconciliation with God by what they do (the works of keeping laws), but by their faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to atone (make amends) for their sins.
While this understanding is commonplace in the Christian churches, the practice is not so clear-cut. In theory, most believers would say they live under the new covenant. But in practice, most believers employ old covenant applications to live a new covenant life - and it doesn't work all that well.
To adequately explain how this has come about, we need to examine both the nature and purpose of the two covenants. We must look more specifically to the 'status' or nature of the people to whom these two covenants apply. It is primarily a lack of understanding of these things that leads new covenant believers to apply old covenant practice. Consequently this brings frustration and or limitations in their new covenant spiritual experience.
7.THE OLD COVENANT
Much has been written about the old covenant and I have no intention of going into detail about its requirements and implications. The purpose of this chapter is to initially provide a simplistic overview of what the old covenant is. Following this outline, I want to explain how I see the old covenant applying in a broader sense and how its application is practiced within new covenant faith.
The old covenant is explained in detail in the writings of Moses. Exodus 19 records the implementation of the old covenant and Exodus 20 gives the Ten Commandments. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 explain in detail the benefits of keeping the Mosaic covenant and the consequences of breaking it. Exodus 19:8 records the response of the people to the old covenant, "Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do.' So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord."
The old covenant was an agreement between the people of Israel and God. In Genesis 13 we read about the promise God gave to Abraham to give land to his descendants forever, and make them an innumerable people. In Genesis 15 we see that God made a covenant with Abraham to confirm His promise. As Israel was Abraham's grandson, and Israel's twelve sons the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, the old covenant was God's continuing promise to Abraham being worked out. God elected to choose the descendants of Abraham (the people of Israel) and make them a special treasure to Himself - God's chosen people.
Foremost, it is crucial that we recognize that the old covenant does not apply to non-Jews. It is not a covenant with the people of the world or even the believers of Jesus Christ. The benefits and the consequences of the old covenant do not apply to us. This truth is easily overlooked, especially among Christians. Because so much of the Bible is employed in Christian teaching, there is almost an immediate acceptance or identification among Christians with the Jews and God's dealing with them. Therefore it is difficult for Christians not to see God's words to Jews as being equally applicable to them.
What we can learn from the old covenant is lessons about the nature and character of God and what He desires of and for His people. The great value in old covenant lessons is the identification of "principles". Principles transcend covenants and have enduring application. When we work through that which God has declared to His people under the old covenant, and from it grasp the principles of God's word, we have indeed secured a most valuable treasure.
While the children of God through Jesus Christ may appreciate the importance of obedience to God, they err if they ever think the blessings and curses of the old covenant apply to them. God has never instigated or even inferred that the old covenant applies to followers of Jesus Christ. Anyone, believer in Christ or simply someone who recognizes the value of the Ten Commandments, cannot expect the blessings of God, as conveyed under the old covenant, to apply to them by keeping God's law. Conversely, they cannot accord any misfortune in their life as being a consequence of not keeping God's law. That is because God has not entered into that covenant with them. He has only entered into that covenant with the people of Israel and even then, the old covenant is made obsolete through Christ.
Therefore, the whole issue of old covenant practice in new covenant faith, is something of an anomaly - it can never actually apply. The old covenant never has and never will apply to people other than Jews. Even then, given that scripture declares the old covenant obsolete, there remains no basis for any continuing application of the old covenant...
... My friend Justin says old covenant practice is "holy man, holy place, holy day" - and I agree. When the expression of many believers' faith in Jesus Christ, predominantly focuses on a Sunday (or Saturday, or any one particular day for that matter), meeting in a church building (the house of God as it is commonly called), to receive instruction or exhortation from a pastor, minister or some individual or two, then essentially we are seeing one expression of old covenant practice. Still, old covenant practice is more than this.
Say we were to reorganize our church life to incorporate home groups. Then we also agree to meet more frequently than just one day a week. Perhaps we disestablished church hierarchies and involved a wider range of people in our teaching, preaching, and leadership. Better still, we become involved in a wider range of effective church works of love and service, pursuing the 'Great Commission' with fervour. Even with all these changes, we would still be operating under old covenant practice.
We can only break from old covenant practice when we fully realize just what new covenant practice entails. Only when we are fully implementing new covenant practice in every aspect of our life, can we say we are no longer functioning under old covenant practice.
The problem will always be that old covenant is comfortable. Old covenant is familiar. Old covenant requires less faith. Old covenant is not necessarily wrong. Old covenant is easier. Old covenant requires discipline - but we like discipline. Old covenant makes common-sense.
New covenant is often uncomfortable. New covenant is strange. New covenant demands greater faith. New covenant is easily put aside so requires perseverance. New covenant requires commitment. New covenant requires surrender. New covenant often seems illogical.
Old covenant is about making you a better person - new covenant is about making you a new person. Old covenant is about changing your life - new covenant is rendering you dead. Old covenant applies only to "the old man" - new covenant applies only to "the new man". Old covenant is about what you must do - new covenant is about what you must believe. Old covenant is about what man does - new covenant is about what God does. Old covenant is natural - new covenant is spiritual.
So, given these many contrasts, it is necessary for us to fully understand the scriptural truth for all these applications.
Before proceeding to explain these in more detail, I want to demonstrate just how appealing old covenant can be. Think if you will, of bible characters whom you would regard as great examples. Obviously Jesus heads the list. John the Baptist, the 11 apostles and Paul for sure. And other New Testament characters we hear good things about - Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, and others. But we really know more about Old Testament characters like Noah, Abraham, Job, Jacob (Israel), Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Many of these men (and there are women too who are fine examples like Sarah, Deborah, Hannah, Ruth, Esther, etc.) were great examples to us of faith and godly conduct.
Even God referred to five characters as examples of godly men. In Jeremiah 15 he tells Jeremiah that even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Him, He would not relent from the judgement He had purposed for the disobedient Israelites. Then again in Ezekiel 14, God tells Ezekiel that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the city of Jerusalem, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness - such was God's determination to destroy that city for all its iniquities.
Evidently, there were indeed great men of faith and righteousness that we can hold up as examples to emulate.
So let us take Daniel as an example. Surely we would agree that if we men, could all be like Daniel, what a fantastic thing that would be? Who among us could ever claim to be as faithful, as righteous, as devoted, as enduring as he - few indeed, if any. So then, what a great thing, if through Christ, we could all be like Daniel!
If this objective is in any way in your thinking, it is wrong, and you are employing old covenant practice.
The reality is that even Daniel was not born again. Because great men and women of faith in the Old Testament era were so few, God's purpose to implement a new covenant is all the more understandable. Daniel, for all his wonderful and amazing traits, could never attain to what Christ has provided for us to attain under the new covenant.
Under old covenant practice we seek to become like Daniel. As fantastic as that may be, it is not new covenant. Under the new covenant God causes us to become as Christ. The new covenant provides for God to bring us to, and be, just what Jesus demands of us in Matthew chapter 5 - perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
My greater concern, is that the people of God in Christ are primarily striving to become like the Daniels of scripture, because they have resigned themselves to the fact they could never be perfect like Jesus - even though He tells us that we must be.
Now to become like Daniel is not a bad thing. The church of Jesus Christ would be a tremendous witness to this world if all its men-folk were as Daniel and all its women-folk as Sarah. You could hardly complain about that.
And therein lies the crux of the problem. It is not a bad thing to be transformed into a Daniel or Sarah type person - it is just that this is not new covenant, and God is not in the business of helping us to become a Daniel or a Sarah.
The primary reason the church of Jesus Christ has not yet amounted to all that the scriptures indicate, is simply because we are striving to become something God has never purposed us to become.
To fully grasp the implications of this and how to remedy it is the purpose of the following chapters. We must never lose sight of the difference between the outworking of the two covenants. While the purpose of both covenants remains the same (to establish a people given to righteousness as God's own special treasure, so as to fulfill His promise to Abraham and provide a mighty witness in the world), the process by which this is attained is as different as chalk and cheese.
The old covenant when kept, establishes characters in the mould of Daniel, and others like him.
The new covenant was introduced because the old covenant was inadequate, and when kept, establishes characters in the mould of Jesus Christ.
8.THE NEW COVENANT
What then is the new covenant?
Hebrews 8:8-12 quotes from Jeremiah 31:31-34, "Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
Hebrew 8:13 goes on to say "... In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
Then in Hebrews 9:15, "And for this reason He (Jesus) is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
The new covenant clearly replaces the old covenant. The new covenant is established through Jesus Christ. The new covenant does what the old could not do - through Christ's death, it redeems those who were under the first (old) covenant from their transgressions.
The intent of the old covenant was to fulfill God's promise to Abraham. God chose his descendants and made them His special people. These people consistently failed to appreciate this privileged position and constantly turned from God to other gods - a most unfaithful, covenant breaking (adulterous, as God called them) people. The new covenant, in replacing the old, has the intent of fulfilling the same promise to Abraham. God has chosen Abraham's descendants, not just his natural progeny, but now also and exclusively, all his spiritual progeny by faith. The new covenant therefore not only incorporates all Jews who believe, but all people who believe - the children of Abraham by faith. God makes all these believers His own special people, thus fulfilling His promise to Abraham for all time. This also is a very worthwhile study, but falls outside the parameters of this book - I recommend you seek a more thorough understanding of this in due course.
The new covenant speaks of a more intimate and direct relationship with God.
Under the old covenant, the priests performed services to God on behalf of the people. They were the ones who offered the sacrifices and served in the temple. The high priest alone was the one who, just once a year, could enter into what was called the 'Holy of Holies' or "the most holy place' to make atonement for the sins of the people. This was the inner most place of the temple where the 'ark of the covenant' was kept. The ark of the covenant held the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, the rod of Aaron that budded, and a sample of manna. It was the place where the literal presence of God abided.
That place, 'the Holiest of All', was where one man alone, could enter into the presence of God, just once a year. It was a place separated from the inner sanctuary or Holy place, by a linen veil. This is the veil that was torn in two, from top to bottom, at the moment Jesus died on the cross (Mat 27:51). The tearing of this veil signified the end of a 'one man' only access to God's presence. For under the new covenant in Christ, every believer has direct access to God the Father.
The physical temple of stone and wood had become redundant. Jesus was rebuked and mocked for He had said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The temple of God is now established in the physical body of every believer. The body of flesh and blood has become the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God purposed to set up His home (1Cor 6:19 and John 14:23).
This personal intimacy with God was never available under the old covenant. It is only through the provision of Jesus Christ that every one who believes and receives Him, can have direct access to, and relationship with God.
This provision for intimacy with God is perhaps the most important facet of new covenant practice. Believers who neglect this intimacy of relationship, neglect the most fundamental and essential aspect of new covenant.
While Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12, convey the specific objectives of the new covenant, there are other passages that expand on all that the new covenant incorporates.
One of these is found in Ezekiel 36:26-27 where God says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." When we consider the context of these verses from the wider passage of Ezek 36:16-32, it is clearly evident that God is speaking of the new covenant. What is recorded here in Ezekiel 36:26-27, Jesus referred to when talking to His disciples in the upper room after His resurrection. Luke 24:49 "Behold, I send the Promise of the Father upon you; ..." The 'Promise of the Father' is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and is only attainable through regeneration, the born again experience. It is the essence of the new covenant. It is fulfilled through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is evident in both Old Testament passages. The many New Testament scriptures, regarding the provision of God's Holy Spirit being given to all who receive Christ, confirm this.
Ezekiel was a contemporary of Daniel and both were about twenty years younger than Jeremiah. Jeremiah's ministry preceded Ezekiel's ministry, although there was a likely overlap of some twelve years or so. So it is not surprising that shortly after God has revealed the coming of a new covenant to Jeremiah, that He would also make mention of it through Ezekiel a few short years later. The new covenant was a promise to the people of Israel to encourage them - to declare that all was not lost, despite the severe judgement of God that had befallen them.
The significance of this passage from Ezekiel will be born out later. Suffice to say at this juncture, that new covenant is all about God establishing a direct and intimate relationship with man, and God causing man to walk in His ways and keep His word - to be obedient.
9.THE TWO MEN
Having established the basis of the two covenants, we must now see how these covenants were each applied to two types of men - each similar but each completely opposite. The old covenant was for one man. The new covenant is for an entirely different man. The old covenant was established for the descendants of the first man. The new covenant was established for the descendants of the second man.
We learn from Genesis that God created the world in six days. The pinnacle of His creation was man - made in the image of God. Adam was the first man, made from the dust of the ground, and from him, God made Eve the first woman.
When Adam sinned, corruption entered into him, and thus to the whole of the human race. From that moment on, every single human being ever born, descendent from Adam and Eve, carries in them, that same corruption. This corruption is manifested in the life of every human being. It is evident in the wrong we do, and we do wrong (sin) so naturally. We identify this natural tendency to sin as possessing a sinful nature.
Man's sinful nature is most evident in small children. Anyone who has observed small children will clearly identify the effect of the sinful nature outworking. All children, right from an early age, just naturally do what is wrong. No child learns to lie, cheat, steal, commit acts of violence, act with pure selfishness intent, or any number of undesirable traits. All this just comes naturally. It is the parents' responsibility to train a child to control their natural tendencies and do what is right.
For the purpose of this book, I must trust that you will take as a given, the inherent sinful nature of all people descendent from Adam and Eve. Acknowledging the sinful nature of man is crucial to the understanding of what new covenant is all about.
The sinful nature has been passed down to all people from Adam and Eve. It is like a genetic or DNA aberration that just cannot be circumvented or remedied - every single human being ever born has it, with just one exception.
Jesus Christ was not conceived from the seed of man. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and her conception was of the Holy Spirit. 1Cor 15:47 "The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven."
Here we learn that there are two men. Both are men, but the first man is made of dust, while the second man is from heaven. The hugely significant difference is that one has corruption in his DNA while the other has no corruption. Jesus, not being conceived of the seed of Adam, had no sinful nature.
I am sure that Jesus would have been the model child. No tantrums, no victimizing his younger siblings, no lying, stealing, or selfish acts. Jesus would have been every mothers' dream come true.
You see one of the most critically important truths to embrace here, is that through Jesus Christ, God was creating a new race (or genus) of man. The first man Adam, created from the dust of the ground, was tempted of the devil, disobeyed God, and his life became corrupt. This corruption is unavoidably transferred into every descendant of his. The second man Jesus Christ, came from heaven. He too was tempted in every way by the devil, but unlike the first man Adam, Jesus exercised His freewill and never transgressed or sinned in any way. Consequently, He avoided any corruption of His life, whatsoever.
It is crucial to an understanding of old and new covenant, to grasp this hugely momentous event in the history of mankind. Jesus Christ lived and died without sin and so no corruption entered into Him - He maintained a pure life with a sinless nature.
The ramifications of this truth are clear in 1Cor 15:48 "As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly."
This verifies that if we are descendent from Adam (and we all are), we will be just as he was - corrupt with a sinful nature. If we are descendent from Jesus Christ (and if we are born again we are), we will be just as He was - pure with a sinless nature.
When Jesus said, "You must be born again", it was because He knew we needed to receive the life of the heavenly Man to overcome sin. When we are born again of the Holy Spirit we become a new man. 2Cor 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (or creature); old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Eph 4:24 "and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness." Gal 6:15 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation (or creature)."
Genesis 2: 7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (or living soul)." We see here God breathed into Adam life. It is this 'life of Adam' that is bound by the power of sin as a result of Adam's sin. It is this same 'life of Adam' that we partake of that continues to bind us under the same power of sin.
In John chapter 20 Jesus meets with His disciples in the upper room after His resurrection. Verse 21-22, "Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit."
This is hugely significant. What was it they received? Was it the Holy Spirit in-dwelling? No, for this did not occur until Pentecost as described in Acts 2. The disciples had to be born again, to become new creatures. Just as God breathed life into Adam, so the resurrected Jesus breathed "a new life" into His disciples - a 'new life' regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit (the breath of God). It is this 'life of Christ' that is free from the power of sin as a result of Jesus obedience. It is this same 'life of Christ' that we receive when we are born again of the Holy Spirit.
Again, this is confirmed in Luke 24:49, where at the same time Jesus breathed on His disciples, imparting "new life", He said, "Behold, I send the Promise of the Father upon you; ..." The 'Promise of the Father' being the Holy Spirit that was to come, the establishment and implementation of the new covenant. A new covenant prerequisite of regeneration, the born again experience. It is the fulfillment of the promise in Ezekiel 36:26, where God promised a new heart and a new spirit (regeneration) followed by putting His Spirit within (the baptism of the Holy Spirit), which is the fulfilling of the 'Promise of the Father' and the implementation of the new covenant.
When one is naturally born by woman, we receive the 'life of Adam'.
When we are spiritually born by the Holy Spirit, we receive the 'life of Jesus'.
This is the importance of the two men. Adam was the father of the human race. Jesus is the father of a new human race. Both are human, but the significance of the two men is the nature of life they impart to their descendents.
God knows we need a new life because the first life is bound in corruption. The only way to be free from the 'life of Adam' that is bound by the power of sin is to die. One of the principal reasons why Jesus had to die, was to put an end to 'the life of Adam'. In doing so, He became the 'last Adam'. Jesus did not deserve death because He did not sin, therefore God raised Him from the dead into life. The resurrected Jesus has this new life, which is made available to all who believe in Him. This new life is pure and free from the power of sin - it is the 'life of Christ'.
Romans 5:12-21, is a challenging passage to understand, but essentially it is establishing that through one man Adam, came sin, death, and judgement bringing condemnation to all. However through one Man Jesus Christ came righteousness and eternal life. The passage explains that the nature of Adam's sin was unlike ours (for he had no sinful nature originally) and that Adam was a type of Jesus Christ. That is, neither had a sinful nature to begin with. Through Adam's disobedience many were made sinners, but through Jesus' obedience, many will be made righteous.
Every born again believer and follower of Jesus Christ has become a new creature. Just as they bore in their body a sinful nature, the life of Adam, so now they bear in their body a new sinless nature, the life of Jesus Christ.
Every living thing ever born, bears the nature of its parentage. Because our natural life is of Adam, we bear his sinful nature. So because our new life received when we are born again is of Christ, we too bear His sinless nature.
The marvelous outworking of this truth is confirmed in I John 3:9 "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."
The incredible truth that every believer must lay hold of, is that when they live by the new life created within them, they cannot sin. It is only when we engage the old life that sin inevitably emerges.
So we see now that there are indeed two men - Adam and Jesus. Each had an opportunity, free from the corrupting power of sin, to obey God in everything. Adam failed while Jesus triumphed. Therefore every descendant from Adam must bear the consequence of his failure - a sinful nature. On the other hand, every descendant of Jesus (by regeneration) must walk in the provision of His victory - a sinless nature. In Adam you cannot help but sin. In Christ you cannot sin at all.
I reiterate now the relevance of the two covenants. The old covenant was for the descendants of Adam, people bound in corruption with a sinful nature. The new covenant is for the descendants of Jesus, people free from corruption with a sinless nature. I trust you can now more clearly appreciate, just how irrelevant the old covenant is to anyone born again.
What still needs to be reconciled is the question, "How is it that a genuine born again believer can still sin? How does any believer live a victorious life of righteousness and attain perfection? I will indeed get to these, but first I need to say more about the two natures.
10.TWO LIFE FORCES
The church of Jesus Christ has for some years now embraced the born again experience. In fact through the decade of the 1980's, it was popular to be "born again". Numerous well-known sportsmen, actors, and singers/musicians were publicly reported as being born again. In fact it was so common in the media, there were regular "send-ups" of the term on comedy shows.
Unfortunately, while the born again experience (regeneration) is unmistakable among those who receive it, just exactly what transpires spiritually, frequently remains a mystery.
An historical teaching among some believers, is that in regeneration our previously dead spirit is made alive. At the same time, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our spirit, bringing in effect, the life of Jesus Christ (for the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are One).
I am convinced it has been this error of scriptural misunderstanding that has kept us from fully embracing the new covenant. The error arises because this teaching does not identify that we actually receive a new life - the very sinless life of Christ. It is this new pure 'life of Jesus' that gives us the capacity to live as Jesus lived. (I accept that when a well established principle of doctrine is challenged, it warrants due process to validate any adjustment. However, this is not the place for it, so I have provided a more detailed explanation or exegesis in Appendix 1).
The born again experience (regeneration), is when God our Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, births (places) into us, the very same life that Jesus had when He lived on earth. Because Jesus' life triumphed victoriously over sin, Satan, self, the flesh, and the world, it is pure and can permit no wrong or sin to be done. Having conquered all these things before death, when Jesus was raised from the dead, His resurrection life is now totally incorruptible. While on earth Jesus life was still vulnerable to sin, however, His resurrected life can no longer sin - it has triumphed. Therefore, whenever we engage that resurrected life of Jesus, to live by on this earth, we cannot sin.
The 'life of Jesus' we receive through regeneration, is not the actual person of Jesus. Jesus Himself is at the right-hand of God in heaven. But we have within us, the same "life force" He lived by, when He walked on earth. We do however, have both Jesus' presence, and the presence of God the Father, in each of us, because God also sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
We have identified that there are two men, each with a life and a nature; one a corrupt life with a sinful nature, the other with a pure life and a sinless nature. We now need to see what provision has been made to deal with that corrupt life and sinful nature to render them powerless, so that the new pure life and sinless nature can prevail.
The first thing to appreciate is that all that we need, is provided for in Jesus Christ. Secondly, the perfect life we are required to attain, is established in us by God. Phil 2:13 "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." This is confirmed in Ezek 36:27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them." With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. As we proceed to understand the provision of God in Christ toward us, we must ever be mindful that our responsibility is but one of co-operation and compliance. It is not for us to work at accomplishing anything.
Disciplining ourselves, battling, and striving to become perfect, are futile. Under the old covenant, man required discipline to rule over sin and do right, because that was the only means of dealing with the corrupt life and sinful nature. Establishing the new pure life and sinless nature and attaining the fruits of them, is accomplished in us by the grace and working of God, by His mighty power, so that it is not of our work. It is imperative we always keep this in mind.
1Cor 5:14 "For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." 1Cor 15:45b "...The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." These passages make it clear that Christ, through His death, brought an end to the race of Adam. When He died, God had dealt finally with the corruption of man and all sinful human beings were considered to be dead. Now, all people through faith in Jesus Christ, could live in newness of a sinless life.
This is further clarified in Romans 6. Paul teaches us that when Jesus died on the cross, we each (by faith) were crucified with Him, thus putting to death "the old man" (which is the corrupt life of Adam). We were then buried with Christ through water baptism. So therefore, just as Christ was raised from the dead, and because we have been crucified and buried with him, we too are raised from the dead, and so should walk in newness of life. Paul goes on to explain how we are dead to sin, and so we ought not to let sin reign in our bodies. The power of sin no longer has a hold on us. Therefore we should (Rom 6:13) "...present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
Romans chapter 6 is generally understood among some segments of the body of Christ, but is not well taught in others. This is more the case among nominal believers. Where there is not a sound understanding of the importance of being born again, some 'Christians' are not born again. Consequently such folk lack the capacity to appropriate these truths of Romans 6, nor do they have the capacity to understand them. Unfortunately, this is not the place to try and teach the foundational truths of this chapter.
Although there are believers who have well understood the truth concerning their crucifixion with Christ and the attendant victory over sin, there tends to linger some frustratingly persistent failings in our condition. It seems we can gain marked victory over sinful ways, but all too frequently find ourselves caught again in some event, where we find ourselves to be less than we are required to be, according to the demands of Christ (Matthew 5).
The issue then, becomes one of "self".
As a natural human being, we have within us a corrupted life, passed down through the ages from Adam. This corrupted life works out in us through what scripture calls the flesh. Being born of woman, we are born of flesh. Our flesh is the desires and lusts of our body and soul. Gal 5:19-21 identifies a number of the works of the flesh, which are: "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissentions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;..." This is not a comprehensive list, but it is evident that all these kinds of works are generated in our flesh through the corrupt life we inherited from Adam and is evidence of a sinful nature.
What we need to appreciate is that the whole state of natural man is corrupt. Scripture calls this life from Adam the "old man". The 'old man', being born of flesh, is bound in sin to commit the works of the flesh, because the nature of the 'old man' is sinful. Self is the "I" of each one of us.
Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Here we see how Paul goes further than simply talking of "the old man". Here he says 'I' have been crucified with Christ. He also says that Christ now lives in him.What becomes difficult to grasp is that we are both dead and alive at the same time. Unfortunately, what also becomes difficult, is to differentiate between what is crucified and what is made alive.
We are a body, soul, and spirit before we become believers in Jesus Christ and are born again. After regeneration we are still a body, soul, and spirit. A very real part of us, that which we would say is our real self, the "I", has only known the corrupt life of Adam. That corrupt life is our "old man" and is bound by a sinful nature. At the centre of our real self (the old man) is our heart.
The old man and his sinful nature is probably more than we have recognized or acknowledged before. When we see the impact of the old man in the lives of others, I believe it helps us to better understand our own experience of the old man and his sinful nature. Scripture provides some excellent examples.
God called King David, "a man after His own heart". No other Old Testament character demonstrates an intimacy with God like David. We can presume it of Moses and Daniel, and perhaps others, but the wealth of Psalms that David wrote, clearly express a vital intimacy with God.
Yet despite David's love for God and his desire to walk in His ways and keep His commandments, David committed both adultery and murder. How could this be? A man so utterly devoted from his youth to knowing and loving God, who often times experienced close communion with Him, went and committed the most atrocious wickedness.
The answer lies in his corrupt sinful state. Paul in Romans 7 describes himself as one wanting to do right but finding he habitually did what was wrong. The cause of this is sin. Sin is a pervasive force in the world. It is a force that is everywhere, just as gravity is everywhere. It is a power that has irremovable tentacles locked into the corrupt 'old man', the self-life.
Now just as David and Paul both wanted to always do what was right, but could not, we too can be like that. The power of sin, working in our 'old man', inevitably causes us to fail somewhere at sometime. So we can see then, that the corrupted life from Adam, gives rise to the 'old man' and his sinful nature, working under the irrepressible power of sin in our flesh (the flesh being the desires and lusts of our body and soul).
So where then, from within us, is the source of all this wickedness? It is in the heart of man. Jer 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (incurably sick); Who can know it? Scripture tells us that God alone knows the heart of every man. Hear what Jesus said in Luke 11:13, "If you then, being evil,..." Again Jesus says in Mat 15:18-19, "But those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."
David, following his wickedness, cried out to God in Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." God answered David's cry in His proclamation of the provision embodied in the new covenant. We have already read concerning Jeremiah, how God spoke to him of writing His laws on our hearts, of being our God, and how all of us would know Him. In Ezekiel we see how God specifically responded to David's plea by saying He would take out our stony heart and give us a new heart of flesh. He would put a new spirit within us and also put His Spirit within us. This is the "Promise of the Father", the essence of the new covenant.
Therefore, it is established by God, that we need a heart transplant.
Now many people will say that certain people have a good heart. As we have seen, even God commended David's heart. This is because we are made in God's image, and even as natural man, we have a natural motivation to do what is good and right. However, because of the corrupt life of Adam coursing through our being, we have this 'old man' influence and sinful nature that impacts every facet of our being. So our hearts, while we recognize some good can come from them, cannot be tamed, and are forever corrupt. God has declared that any amount of corruption is unacceptable. Therefore, apart from the new heart He gives us at regeneration, we are inherently evil.
So then, when we consider exactly what this natural life we are born with is, we cannot but acknowledge that it is a very significant part of us. In fact it would be fair to say, that the old man and his sinful nature is where our evil heart abides. The old man with his sinful nature and evil heart, is essentially me!
What a startling realization. Therefore the only hope I have in life is to die and start over - to receive the new life of Christ; to become a new creature. This is indeed a conundrum - a mystery if ever there was one, but it is accomplished in Christ. Regeneration (being born again) brings a new spirit (of life) and a new heart, just as God promised to us in Ezekiel. He also gives His own Holy Spirit to dwell in us (baptism in the Holy Spirit), and be our helper and comforter.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, His death becomes our death. God accounts us to be dead in Christ. That death is the crucifixion of the "old man" (the self-life, the "I") on the cross, and sets us free from the power of sin - for sin has no power over the dead. The sinful nature is done away with. It is the death of self, the "I" of our life. In every respect we have died.
But if I'm dead, how do I live? Well as Gal 2: 20b says, "... and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." We now live by faith. This is indeed a mystery, hard to understand, but if we believe these things that the scripture teaches, we find it works. Faith, and the working of the Holy Spirit in us by grace, accomplishes all things - as it is with God, all things are possible.
It is a strange thing indeed to consider that we now have two lives in us, the corrupt life of Adam (the old man) and the pure life of Jesus (the new man). So then, how do I appropriate the death of the old man and the life of the new man? The answer is again by faith and the working of the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches that we "put off" the old man and "put on" the new man.
We, also by the Holy Spirit in us, put to death the deeds of the body (no more works of the flesh). As it says in Gal 5:24 "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
The outworking of this though, can present a problem. Although crucified with Christ on the cross at Calvary, and buried with Him through water baptism, the old man has an uncanny tendency to raise his ugly head, time and time again.
How can this be?
Well, I have not yet seen in scripture any specific explanation for this, however I can only conclude that it remains an option for us because without it, we would no longer have freewill.
You see, when we are born again, we become a new creature - a brand new man. This new life in us is the very life and nature that was in Jesus as He lived on earth. A life victorious over temptation and sin, a life devoted to God the Father in obedience, and a life victorious over death and raised from the dead. And all the qualities, characteristics, and victories of this life of Christ, become available to us. All we are required to do, is appropriate them by faith. God's grace works all these things in us, by the provision of this life of Jesus, and the mighty working power of the Holy Spirit. It is not Jesus personally, for He is in heaven seated at the right hand of God the Father. But His pure life and sinless nature, is a very real force within us that we must choose to engage.
When we engage the life of Christ and His nature (our new creation), and are led by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot sin. So you see if the old nature were removed completely, we would never be able to do wrong again - and this would transgress our freewill. Because of love, God won't do that.
Before we were born again and had the old man crucified (depowered) and our bodies released from the power of sin, we could never be totally free of sin. Through the born again experience, we now have received a new pure life and sinless nature (the life of Jesus) and so have a viable alternative to engage in every situation on a daily basis.
Unless we know for sure that we can actually choose to consistently live in the power of this new life of Jesus, we are unlikely to be very successful at overcoming sin and temptation - especially in every circumstance.
By having the clear understanding that we can, and the sure knowledge of how this works, we will inevitably (and eventually), be liberated from a life of servitude to sin and an inherently persistent failure to live rightly.
What we have been learning from the scriptures, is the positional place we have as born again believers in Jesus Christ. But unfortunately our positional place is not necessarily our experiential place. Although we have been crucified with Christ, buried with Him, born again to newness of life, and have received of His very life and nature through regeneration (being born again) - yet we still carry about the corrupt life as baggage.
New covenant practice is the experience of continually choosing to avail ourselves of the full provision of Christ (His very life birthed into us). It is also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, employing every means conveyed in scripture, to walk just as Jesus walked.
New covenant is Christ in you the hope of glory.
So that's the theory, now to the practical.
COPYRIGHT: This book and all excerpts are the sole copyright of author Grant Bowater. No reproductions for any purpose may be made without the prior permission of the author obtained in writing.