A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology (Part 4)

DISTINCTIVES OF NCT (continued)

Let me offer one more distinction regarding NCT. This will be the fourth and final distinctive that I will mention. There has been much overlap already between the many posts on NCT. Therefore, my comments about this fourth distinctive will be brief and to the point. Here's the distinctive- NCT does not view Mosaic law as the unchanging, final, moral law of God. Now let me clarify what this does not mean.

First, when Mosaic law was given, it was the highest expression of God's law that had been communicated by God to man up to that point. Remember, NCT believes that God's revelation is progressive. Thus, NCT argues that the revealing of God's law is progressive as well.

Second, for those residing under the Mosaic law, it was moral law- the whole thing. Sometimes it can be helpful to divide the law up into three parts: civil, ceremonial, and moral. However, this categorization is utterly unhelpful if we demand that a Jew would have viewed these various aspects of the law as mutually exclusive. In other words, a Jew under Mosaic law would view himself as morally obligated to obey the ceremonial and civil injunctions of the law. In his mind, there would have been no great distinction. He viewed the law as a whole.

Third, the law in the New Covenant (law of the Spirit/law of Christ) is not the same thing as the Mosaic law. The law of Christ is God's final expression of His law. In fact, it is superior to Mosaic law, has higher demands (Matthew 5:20,44), and the New Covenant believer is given power to heed it.

Let me close this post with a quote from Fred Zaspel on the law. I told you that I would give it to you again because it is important. Here it is.

“The law of God is always binding and could never be anything else. Before Moses there was no formal codification of it. Since Moses there have been differing codifications of it in accordance with covenantal relationships. The Old and New Covenants entail varying responsibilities, some of which are identical to each other (because of a common basis) and some exclusive of each other (because of fulfillment and further revelation). But the standard of conduct for today’s believers is found in the framework of New Covenant teaching, not that of the Old Covenant. To this rule of life He is bound as to law, and this law, like that of Moses, is sufficient to bring men ‘to an acknowledgement of their sins’”.- Fred Zaspel

Next we will consider some deductions of NCT.

Wish I Knew More,

Andy