Sometimes this charge is made and the
implication is that to be labeled a New Testament Christian is a negative
thing, it is to neglect the whole testimony of Scripture. The charge is common
among those who in particular wish to implement aspects of the Old Testament
with regard to law and government. Dominionism which undergirds both Roman
Catholic and the vast majority of Protestant thought rests on such an
assumption.
Overemphasizing the
disunity of Scripture can be problematic and it has proved so throughout Church
history. We think of groups ranging from Marcion and the Gnostics to some of
the Anabaptists and most certainly modern day Dispensationalism which dominates
the Evangelical scene. Ironically over the past twenty years a new hybrid has
been created, Dispensationalism rooted in disunity wedded to
Dominionism which over-emphasizes unity. And yet the resulting theology
is not a happy medium or evenly balanced. It represents a double-distortion and
two-fold departure from Scriptural frameworks and doctrine. It is neither
consistent, nor coherent. It is not Scriptural.
This question, the relation
of the Old and New Testaments or Covenants is in fact one of the great issues
in all of Church history. How you answer this question affects a host of issues
and in fact your very understanding of what the Church is and what it is here
to do.
Throughout most of Church
history the main problem has been the tendency to overemphasize the 'unity'
between the covenants. Too often and without principled thought or purpose
people will jump to the Old Testament to justify everything from worship
practices to nationalism and war.
Something profound changed
when the veil of the temple was rent. The old order of the Temple, the priesthood
and the notion of a holy land with holy wars all came to end or would in about
forty years... a significant number in itself. By the year 70, the Temple order
had terminated. Contrary to the assertions of modern day Dispensationalism,
this was the fulfillment of Daniel 9. That passage does not hint of something
awaiting realisation during a future seven year tribulation.
And yet for all the
emphasis on disunity, the New Testament also teaches an encompassing and
organic unity. Christ is the center of the story from beginning to end (John
5.39). Israel itself is but another name, a picture, a type and symbol of Jesus
Christ.
In Ephesians the Church is
identified as part of the Commonwealth of Israel. The story of Israel does not
end when the old order passes away. The definition of Israel is redefined and
expanded upon. The Jews are dispossessed of the Kingdom (Matt 21.43) but can
still enter the new Kingdom by the same faith as Gentile believers. In fact
that's how it was all along Paul teaches us in Galatians 3. Only those who are
of faith are the real sons of Abraham, the real Israelites as it were. This is
emphasized again in passages such as Ephesians 2 and Romans 9-11.
This question of Unity and
Disunity must be wrestled with. It affects our understanding of these wedded
doctrines... the Kingdom, Israel, the Church and the Covenant. Without the New
Testament we cannot properly relate these nuances or facets of a common idea.
In the case of the covenants the passage in Ephesians binds their plurality
with the one promise that is Christ.
There is an overarching
story, God declaring to us He will be our God and we will be His people. The
heart of the story is Christ. All the promises are yes and amen, affirmed and
confirmed in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 1.20). All other fulfillments are temporary
and typological. Today we must read the whole of the Old Testament in light of
Jesus Christ the final prophet as He is identified in the opening chapter of
Hebrews.
Ephesians 2.20 tells us the
New Covenant Temple, the Israel of God, is built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets. It is the testimony of the apostles bearing Christ's
promise of the Holy Spirit that establishes for us the New Covenant Temple, the
Church, the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God but also teaches us how to
rightly read, understand and interpret the Old Testament. We cannot rightly
know and appreciate the Old without the information given to us in the New.
Without the New Testament's
interpretation of the Old we are likely to fall into the same Judaizing trap
which ensnared the Pharisees. They looked for a Messiah that would be another
Alexander, who would destroy Rome and establish a Jewish Empire. Many would say
they simply misunderstood the timetable and that will indeed come to pass in
the future. Instead Christ and the Apostles taught they misunderstood not just
the timetable but the whole nature of the Kingdom itself. They had
misunderstood the message of the Old Testament and thus when the Messiah
appeared they hated him and wished him dead.
Many theologies of our day
from Roman Catholicism to a great deal of Protestant theology also falls into a
similar morass and ends up reading the New in light of the Old. This is an
inversion and Paul refers to it as a veil in 2 Corinthians 3. The Jews refusing
to read the Old Testament in light of the revelation of Christ remained in
bondage and blind to the Kingdom. It reminds one of Christ's words to Nicodemus
in John 3. You must be born again to 'see' the Kingdom of God. It's a Kingdom that
doesn't come with observation, a Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit. It's a Kingdom not of this world (John 18.36).
We do not ignore the Old
Testament but we recognize the supremacy of the New Testament. It's a better
covenant (Heb 8.6) established on better promises that are permanent and
eternal.
Bringing the Old Covenant
mindset to the New Testament leads to a distortion of the Church and its
martyr-witness in this age. Theology is deformed and when people and nations
act as Old Covenant Israel they are not the agents of God bringing righteous
judgment, instead they are men setting themselves up as God and often succumb
to evil motives and are guilty of doing evil deeds. They are also in danger of
looking for prophetic fulfillment 'outside' of Christ. If they think the Old
Testament prophecies are yet to be fulfilled in the context of land and
temples, then they have gravely misunderstood the Christocentric
(Christ-centered) nature of the New Testament and how it understands Old Testament
prophecy.
We are not New Testament
only Christians but the New Testament is officially our canon. The Old
Testament while necessary and relevant is now obsolete. Hebrews 7.12-18 makes
this clear. That does not render it worthless but its value is determined and
understood in light of the new revelation, the new covenant that has superseded
it. We cannot understand the New without the context of the Old but the Old
cannot be rightly understood unless it is read in light of the revealed Christ.
Christ and the apostles elucidate the Old and help us to understand its message
and how to rightly read it and apply it. The New establishes our method of
interpretation, our hermeneutics for reading the Old. And because of the real
unity there are ideas and concepts present in the Church that many end up
missing.
In this sense we can say we
are New Testament or New Covenant Christians. In another sense every believer
in history, every person who has ever been saved was a member of the New
Covenant... even if they lived in the time before it was fully revealed.
In that sense every
Christian is a New Testament Christian. The New Testament is supreme.
