davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) (04/05/91)
ABRAHAM AND HIS TWO SONS - PAUL'S ALEGORY:
In order for us to better understand the two Covenants Paul offers the fol-
lowing alegory:
"For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman,
the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born
according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which
things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from
Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar; for this
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now
is, and is in bondage with her children; " -- Gal 4:22-25 (NKJ)
Man's reflex response to this scripture is to conclude that the Old Covenant
represents a law of bondage and the New Covenant represents total freedom
from obedience to God's law. By now it should be obvious that we cannot
accept such an interpretation. What security really is there in using
selected texts of our choosing to support an expedient philosophy? We need
to examine the story of Abraham a little deeper and then the true applica-
tion of this alegory will be clear. Some highlights from the story of Abra-
ham:
"I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name
great; and you shall be a blessing. " -- Gen 12:2 (NKJ)
Years later Abraham complains that God has given him no offspring, sug-
gesting that one of his servants inherit the promise. God takes him
out to the stars and assures him that so will be his descendants, too
many to count. Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. (Gen 15:3-6)
Sarai urges Abraham to take her maidservant and have a child by her so
that God's promise can be fulfilled. The result of this union was the
birth of Ishmael to Hagar, the bondwoman of Abraham (Gen 16:1-4).
Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. (Gen 16:16)
God insists that Abraham will have a son born to Sarai, now to be
called Sarah because she will be the mother of many nations. Sarah was
90 years old and so Abraham fell on his face and laughed (Gen 17:15-
17).
The birth of Isaac when Abraham was 100 years old. (Gen 21:1-7)
From this story outline it should be clear that God's promise to Abraham did
not change. After Ishmael was born God renewed His promise and then Isaac
was born. Let us be clear, the new promise was exactly the old promise -
Abraham would father many nations as the stars of the heavens and the sands
of sea. God's promise was not at fault. It was Abraham's response to God's
promise wherein the failure lay. Ishmael became a symbol of Abraham's lack
of faith and not a symbol of a faulty promise from God. It was Abraham's
lack of faith that resulted in the birth of a slave boy to Abraham's bond-
woman.
We can remain in bondage to sin and rebellion as symbolized by Ishmael or we
can claim the victory and freedom from sin as symbolized by Isaac, the mira-
cle boy, the son of promise. We too, as Christians, can be the true son's of
promise, the evidence of a miracle worked out within our hearts:
"And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise. "-- Gal 3:29 (NKJ)
Under the New Covenant we can inherit all the promises God offered under the
Old Covenant.
To insist that the New Covenant simply does away with the 'law' is to deny
the power of the gospel, they - "having a form of godliness but denying its
power. And from such people turn away! "-- 2 Tim 3:5 (NKJ)
HISTORY OF THE JEWS -- PARALLELS WITH ISHMAEL
A study of the history of Israel and the Jews reveals many parallels with
the story of Abraham and his son. This story of Abraham is indeed a precise
alegory of the Old and the New Covenants being in reality the same Covenant.
As my table showed, God was eager to place His law in their hearts, for His
law to be a law of love, to love God with all thy might and thy neighbor as
thyself. They were eager to do it in their own strength and to have their
own king instead of God and His prophets. As they turned to God and His
ways they prospered. When they turned away from Him, God could no longer
protect and bless them. God was eager to lead them and nurture them and to
place His law within their hearts. But they so often turned away from Him.
And so, because of their lack of faith, their rebellion and their idolatry;
they ended up in bondage. Instead of being the sons of promise they became
the sons of bondage - bondage to conquering nations, bondage to sinful liv-
ing and the bondage of the Mishna laws of legalism.
DON"T CHANGE HIS WILL AND TESTAMENT:
Consider another point that Paul makes:
"For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are
dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. " -- Heb
9:16,17 (NKJ)
"Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man's
covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. " --
Gal 3:15 (NKJ)
Paul is saying that the New Covenant had to wait until Jesus died on the
cross before it could go into effect. Until then the priesthood of Aaron
remained the administrators of the Old Covenant and it was expected that
lambs and oxen continued to be slain. Paul also makes it clear that as soon
as Jesus died, nothing could be added or deleted from the Covenant. In the
above texts Paul makes it clear that nothing can be added or deleted from
the Covenant following that Friday of His death if we wish to call it a part
of the New Covenant. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were added before the
cross. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see any new additions made to the
Covenant. While Paul, for example, does magnify or explain, he adds nothing
new.
According to Paul's statement even the following Sunday would have been too
late to shift things from Sabbath to Sunday. Jesus had said nothing about a
change to Sunday and He is the testator of the Covenant. You may wish to
say that any day will do, but you cannot say that Sunday comes under the New
Covenant. And from history we confirm that the shift came after all the
Apostles were in the grave. A key issue of the day was the Judaizers
insisting on the annual Sabbath sacrifices of the Old Covenant. From a
study of history we see that the 7th day Sabbath was not at all an issue
until much later, after the Apostles were in their graves. The context in
which Paul urges that we study for ourselves the question of Sabbath days,
was in the historical context of deciding what to do about the annual Sab-
bath days such as the Passover. It was the sacrificial system which was
nailed to the cross (Heb 10:1-14Rev 14:6). These annual Sabbaths, which
occured on any day of the week, did very much involve the sacrifice of
animals. Even in the context of the Gentiles the Apostles do their preach-
ing on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14, 15, 42-45; 14:1; 15:21; 16:13; 17:1-4). In
Acts 18 we see that Paul preached 78 Sabbaths to Jews and Greeks (Acts
18:4,11). The New Testament is full of examples of Sabbath keeping and
lacks examples of Sunday observance. Nowhere in the Bible can Sunday be
associated with the New Covenant.
There are several places in the Old Testament where God's prophets sound a
warning that if they continue to turn away from the Sabbath that they will
be taken into bondage (Jer 17:19-27). My reading of this is NOT that God
drew a line in the sand and announced that He would punch in the nose anyone
who stuck his big toe across the line. Rather God intended His Sabbath to
be a hedge about them to keep them from an increasingly materialistic life
style so that they would have some time to spend with Him. In spite of the
warnings, they trampled the Sabbath hedge, became increasingly materialistic
and turned more and more to idolatry. How could God place His law in their
hearts when they refused to spend even one day a week with Him? How else
can God place His law in our hearts unless we slow down for His Sabbath and
spend the time with Him (Hosea 4:6). Consider what the "any day will do"
philosophy has done for the majority of Christians who are mere spectators
to religion for an hour each week in church and have no time to be serious
Bible students. How can people claim God's law in their hearts if they
don't give Him the time to do it. Siting that there are exceptions to this
generality is like siting that some young teen agers get married without
ending in divorce. The Sabbath is clearly part of the secret of how God
goes about placing His law in our hearts - if we will but let Him.
THE LAW UNDER THE NEW COVENANT:
Some texts to consider:
I know that his commandments lead to everlasting life. (John 12:50)
". . . it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous"
(Rom. 2:13)
Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we
uphold the law." (Rom. 3:31)
The wicked - immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosex-
uals, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers - none of these
will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10) "And that is what
some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God." (1 Cor. 6:11)
No immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. (Eph. 5:5,6)
"But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives free-
dom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but
doing it -- he will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25)
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:3,4)
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and
keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." -- 1 John
5:2,3 (NKJ)
The remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:17) "To the law and to the
testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because
there is no light in them." -- Isa 8:20 (NKJ)
"Here is the patience of the saints: Here are they that keep the com-
mandments of God." (Rev. 14:12)
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to
the tree of life. (Rev. 22:14)
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right
to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
(Rev 22:12- 14)
WE CANNOT KEEP THE LAW
We are certainly correct when we say that man cannot keep the terms of the
Old Covenant nor the same terms of the New Covenant, to keep God's law. To
attempt to do so would be to give birth to a life symbolized by Ishmael.
Legalism is born of man's attempts to keep the law. With both Covenants we
see God eager to place His law in our hearts. Also,
"that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, "-- Eph 3:17 (NKJ)
" "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with
Me. "-- Rev 3:20 (NKJ)
That is the secret, the gift of His presence that He offers us. The secret
is in having Him keep God's law within us. We must ask God to work the
miracle so that we can be born again. It is a re-birth into a life of vic-
tory in Christ, a death to the old self. We can ask for the miracle birth
of Isaac, a re-birth of promise. That is what being born again is all
about, a miracle, as was the birth of Isaac. It is the power of the Gospel
for victory in Christ Jesus, a power that no true Christian will deny.
Without the saving power of the Gospel we are born again as was Ishmael and
the bondage of sin continues to grip us. The re-birth that Jesus offers is
to be born as Isaac, a re-birth of promise and not of bondage.
Dave (David E. Buxton)
From the Silicon RainForest of the Northwest