Paul's Passing Thoughts

The Bible is both simple and complex. It is simple to include as many as possible in salvation, but complex in order to substantiate its validity as truth. As I have said before, I have never met an atheist nurse because you have to study Physiology to become one. That kind of complexity working together didn’t just happen accidently; to say it did would be a deliberate denial of reality.

As I was studying Galatians yesterday, I noted Paul writing that the first and second temple correlated with the Old Covenant and slavery to condemnation under the law. However, the Jerusalem in heaven corresponds to freedom.

I think that is a freedom to love aggressively according to the law without fear of condemnation. Again, justification by new birth has two perspectives on the law; the Spirit’s two uses of the law, while justification by faith, which is really not justification by faith in the biblical sense, only propagates a single perspective on the law. Simply stated, a perspective that the law gives life for justification and perfect law-keeping is therefore imputed to our Christian life to keep us saved. Hence, Christians are not doing any good works, but rather obeying the church so that Christ’s perfect law-keeping is perpetually imputed to our lives.

Hence, why is church a train wreck? It’s generally accepted that everyone there is unable to do anything good. That’s church orthodoxy, viz, Martin Luther’s “alien righteousness.” And, the idea that church is society’s moral compass is accepted as pretense, because after all, how are we going to get people in here if they believe otherwise? The idea that spiritual growth is about realizing the depths of our depravity is a hard truth that we will assimilate them into once we get them in here. 

But that’s all an aside, here is what I want to mention in this short post: it occurred to me that the third temple of the tribulation period is referred to as a legitimate temple that God recognizes. To me, this means something in the present age must come to an end because in our present time, a temple on earth represents slavery.

Some food for thought. But I guess the bigger point follows: the more we understand the details of justification by new birth and its related covenants, the more the rest of the Bible will become clear. I do not think God wants us to be confused about what’s in the Bible. However, I do think all of the confusion arises from the false premises of justification by faith and its errant presuppositions.

paul

The Old Covenant was:

1. A guardian until Christ came (Galatians 3: 23-29).
2. All sin is imputed to the law (Galatians 3:22, 1John 3:4, possibly Hebrews 9: 1-5).
3. A ministry of condemnation and death (2Corinthians 3: 7-11).
4.  Christ came to redeem believers from the captivity/guardianship of the OC (Galatians 4: 4,5).
5. As a covenant that held “the called” captive, the law demanded a ransom for the release of those who committed sin under the first covenant (Hebrews 9:15).
6. It was a will ratified by blood, and like all wills, consummated by a death resulting in an inheritance (Hebrews 9: 16-27).
7. During the time of the OC, it was a slavery to both believers and unbelievers, or like slavery to believers because they were captive to it, but now, it only represents slavery to sin by the unregenerate. Being captive under the OC was a legitimate standing for believers while the OC was active, but now, any return to it is a slavery to sin and claiming to be under a ministry of death (Galatians 4:21-31).
8. The temple and the Jerusalem on earth correspond to the OC, the temple and new Jerusalem in heaven correspond to the New Covenant (Galatians 4:21-31).

The Promise is:

1. “The Promise” is the gospel and a promise to Abraham, Christ, Israel, and the Gentiles that includes several promises and covenants that are unfolded in time.
2. The Promise is completely separate and apart from law.

The New Covenant is:

1. It set the captives free from the OC and released gifts to mankind (Ephesians 4: 7-10).
2. It ended sin; in that, sin under the law and its subsequent condemnation is ended, and is no longer existent for believers (Romans 3:19, 20, 4:15, 5:13, 7:6.8. 10:4, 1Timothy 1:9, Galatians 2:19, Colossians 2:14).
3. It baptized Jews and Gentiles into one body (Ephesians). In fact, it eradicated all differences among people and made them all heirs in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
4. It made our bodies the temple of God where the Spirit dwells, and made us all priests with Christ as the one and only High Priest (numerous).
5. It demands a literal family operation functioning as a body under one head (numerous).
6. Christ, through His death and resurrection, established the NC baptism of the Spirit for all believers under the NC.
7. The NC baptism changes the believer’s relationship to the law: the condemnation of the OC is ended, and the believer is free to obey the law in order to love God and others without any fear of condemnation. When a person is under the OC (under law) it is under the Spirit’s first use of the law to convict the world of sin and the judgement to come. Under the NC, the believer is “free to serve another” ( Romans 7 and 8).

In comments below, add your building blocks to our understanding.

Link to BOXCAST livestream Galatians Study #7, 6:30 PM 4/29/2018
Link to Blog Talk Radio Galatians Study #7, 6:30 PM 4/29/2018