SUMMARY AND CONSLUSION
Perhaps it will help us all to put into condensed form what was presented in the previous chapters. We can thus re-examine the points of emphasis and determine if they have validity in the light of God's revelation. Although no one likes to regiment thinking, in this instance it may be of some assistance to number the pertinent points for the purpose of studying them in more orderly fashion.
1. In His association with mankind, God has revealed himself as a covenant-making personality. He said to Noah and his sons, "I will establish my covenant with you" (Genesis 9:11; KJV). He said to Abraham, "I will make my covenant between me and thee" (Genesis 17:2). This means that God exhibited a willingness to enter into an agreement with men. He was willing to bind himself to perform certain things, based upon the immutability inherent in a divine promise and upon the integrity involved in His character and name.
Because of these things, our relationship to God must be a covenantal relationship. The nature of that relationship will be regulated by the covenant that creates it. In every case the covenant people will differ from those who are not under the covenant. They will be a special people because God has entered into a special agreement, the terms of which set them apart from other people.
2. There are two covenants in history that are of significance because of their relationship to Christ. The first of these two covenants was made with the twelve tribes of Israel, and it constituted them into a nation. That nation was to keep alive the concept of monotheism until Christ could be manifested in the flesh as the Son of God. This first covenant consisted of Ten Commandments, which were written on two tablets of stone. It was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai and became the constitution of a nation composed of "the people of God."
The covenant inaugurated a legalistic regime, and was supplemented by laws, statutes, judgments, and commandments, all of which were compiled in a book. The book was sprinkled with the blood of a sacrifice and designated "the book of the covenant" (Exodus 24:7). In spite of severe penalties for violating this written code the people refused to be guided by its provisions. Finally, God announced that He would make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33). Unlike the one made when Israel was freed from Egypt, the laws and requirements of the new relationship were not to be recorded externally, but were to be internally inscribed and written on the hearts of men (v. 33).
The covenant made at Mount Horeb, or Sinai, was designated the "first covenant" (Hebrews 8:7) and the "old covenant" (Hebrews 8:13). The "new covenant," which created a personal rather than a national relationship with God, was declared to be "a better covenant, which was established upon better promises" (8:6). The apostle Paul introduces an interesting allegory, in which the covenants are likened to Hagar and Sarah, both of whom bore children to Abraham. The allegory points up the truth that those under the "first covenant" were in legal bondage, but those under the "new covenant" are free (Galatians 4:21-31). Regarding the law as a yoke of slavery, he encourages those under the new covenant to "stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1; KJV).
The purpose of the legalistic covenant was to keep God's people under surveillance and strict control in order to bring them to Christ. The coming of Christ was designed to bring man into a completely new relationship with God, a relationship of faith. The type of relationship that was instituted through Moses stands in stark contrast to that which came through Christ. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17; KJV).
There is as much difference between the relationship that was previously enforced and that which we now enjoy with God, as there is between a legal code and undeserved kindness. All law is a restraining and restrictive influence. Law is intended to define boundaries, to restrict liberties, and to provide penalties. Under law man is really under guard. So the apostle writes, "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed" (Galatians 3:23; KJV). In this rendering by the King James Version the words "kept" and "shut up" are significant. The first is a term meaning to be under guard; the second is used of those who are confined in a stockade or prison.
In the next verse, the law is defined as a "child-conductor" or "custodian" (in the Revised Standard Version). The ultimate purpose was to deliver God's people to Christ. In Christ a custodian is no longer needed. Here we are kept by the love of God and are sharers in a life that no law could ever give (3:21). The glorious covenantal relationship now sustained is not based upon a written code at all. We ourselves become the letter of Christ. The new covenant is not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on tablets of stone or other external material but upon the tablets of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:3). The new covenant is not one of a written code, but of the Spirit.
There are but two approaches to justification, or righteousness, that is made available to man. Justification is a state of guiltlessness in the presence of God. It is regarded as righteousness because it restores a right relationship with the Father, a relationship that had been broken up by sin and transgression. Justification is available upon either of two conditions: law or faith. There is no other ground for hope.
While justification is available on these two bases, it is impossible to attain by law because of man's weakness in the flesh. Justification by law demands perfect conformity with law. Whatever law man regards as the basis of justification must be meticulously obeyed. The least infraction or deviation ends all hope of justification and spells disaster. The very principle of attempted justification by law is that one lives only as long as he does exactly what the law demands. "The man which doeth these things shall live by them" (Romans 10:5; KJV). Law as a means of life becomes away of death.
3. After fifteen centuries of dealing with man in a legalistic covenantal arrangement, God sent His Son into the world. He was sent to condemn sin in the flesh and to institute a new and living way under which man would be justified by faith. This Jesus accomplished through His own sacrifice on Calvary. It is the atoning blood of Jesus that makes possible the forgiveness of our sins, and removes the guilt and stain of sin under which we would otherwise rest. The faith that justifies is not faith in a system, a ritual, or a code. Faith involves trust, and the faith that justifies and restores the right relationship with God is absolute trust in Jesus' atonement. Every person has sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No one can be justified in God's sight by deeds of law. Justification upon the basis of human law-keeping is an impossibility. Law produces knowledge of sin, but cannot produce a sense of righteousness. Therefore the righteousness of God is not based upon legal conformity.
Accordingly, the righteousness of God has been made known as available to man on other terms. It is "the righteousness of God which is by faith" (Romans 3:22). Under it we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (3:24). To be justified is to be guiltless. None of us can attain to this state. All are guilty before God. But under the new covenant of grace, which reaches its apex in the atonement by the blood of Christ, God declares us guiltless. His declaration is made, not upon the basis of our deeds, but upon the ground of the sacrifice made for us by His Son who bore our guilt upon the cross.
Righteousness is not a state that we strive to attain by the laborious and self-defeating method of acquiring knowledge and implementing it by human effort. It is by divine declaration as a manifestation of marvelous grace and mercy. When one ceases to trust in his own righteousness, trusting absolutely and without reservation in "that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9), his faith is counted to him for righteousness. He is justified by faith, declared guiltless by the Father, and treated thus.
4. Galatians 3:22 reveals the fact that the Scripture "concluded all under sin." "All" includes the whole world, those who had the law of God and those who were without law. Everyone was in the same lost state, so that all could equally qualify for the right relationship God had conditioned upon trust in the righteousness of faith in Christ Jesus. The law was simply a custodian to bring those under its care to Jesus who is the justifier of all. With the coming of faith in Christ as the basis of righteousness, law was terminated as a system of seeking justification. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:4; KJV).
This means that our acceptance of the good news of the grace of God is not upon the basis of obedience to law. It is not by meritorious works performed in a kind of barter system. We do not trade our effort for a reward. We do not deposit our good deeds in a heavenly vending machine and await the desired result to come tumbling down. Paul tells us, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:26, 27; KJV). Faith is not a work demanded by law, for if it were we would still be under a custodian. Baptism is not an act of law. It is simply faith activated. It is demonstrated and manifested in the only way that vital faith in Christ can be shown: by loving response to His example and will.
Here we have a great contrast between human reactions under the two divergent covenants of law and grace. We are conditioned in our social culture to a world of "law and order." The latter (grace) is seemingly dependent upon the former (law). Therefore, many sincere disciples of Christ are afraid to even think of our not being under a written code. To them it means that everyone must make the choice between law or lawlessness. But there is no spirit of lawlessness in Christ. Here the contrast is between law and love. There can be no anarchy in Christ Jesus for the simple reason that all of His subjects have surrendered their will to His, and He is Lord of all!
The very Scriptures that some would like to regard as law specifically declare, "The law is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane,..." (1 Timothy 1:9). In Christ Jesus we are made partakers of the divine nature. We are in the world but not of it. We no longer walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We are not under condemnation. We have been set free from the law of sin and death.
Our obedience is not to a written code but to a loving Savior. His commandments do not constitute "laying down the law" for us, but a lifting up to love. Our compliance is not conformity to a code but the response of love to a person. He said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (John 14:23). It is just that simple. I repent because I love Him. I confess my sins because I love Him. I ask forgiveness because I love Him. I do not want to hurt Him, I want to be close to Him. I want to be His, and I want Him to be mine. Our relationship would not be enhanced by law, but destroyed by it.
This brings us to the most difficult part in sharing my concept of our relationship with God created by the new covenant. It is that of my own experience. Most of us are aware of the fact that it is easier to deal with such a theme academically than to lay bare the inmost feelings of one's own heart. For years I struggled to please God on the basis of conformity to a written code. I regarded the apostolic letters as a compilation of judgments, statutes, and judicial requirements. I felt that these demanded perfect obedience under threat of eternal condemnation.
Since I had been taught that we were under "the new law," I began with that presupposition, and everything that was written I interpreted within that frame of reference. Accordingly, grace became merely another vehicle through which law was conveyed. Faith was to be used as the grappling-hook by which one scaled the steep side of the mountain as he agonized upward toward God. Present always within one who takes this mental route is the sense of his own failure. He is not righteous by his own makeshift criterion, and he knows that he is not.
In order to live with oneself under such a system it is necessary to engage in casuistry, and this amounts to self-deception. The person selects some items with which he can relate and invests them with an aura of importance, which really belongs to the total relationship. By emphasizing these and maintaining a degree of loyalty in their defense, he flatters himself that he is faithful to God. What this does, of course, is to lead him into a frightful state of self-righteousness. He becomes a worshiper of his own mental and moral powers, and demonstrates his insecurity by aggressive assaults upon others.
I have been delivered from the fears, inhibitions, and hostilities, which seem to be the natural result of confinement. I am free to examine the marvelous revelation of God in a new and open way. I marvel at the fact that God, sinless and perfect, was willing to enter into a covenant with me, as sinful and imperfect as I am. I rejoice in it, even though I can neither fully comprehend or explain it. The divine agreement by which I became a son of God is written in my heart by the Holy Spirit. My own heart is an "ark of the covenant." It is here God dwells through the divine Comforter or Helper.
I read the New Covenant Scriptures now with the eyes of my understanding being enlightened. They are more precious to me and I have a deeper sense of hunger for their content. I regard the letters of the envoys for what they are: letters of love written to those caught up in the human predicament. They were written to assure those people that they have eternal life. They are letters of correction, admonition, and exhortation. They were never intended to develop legal or technical specialists, but lovers of God and men. They speak to me with new depth and power.
I look at life with a new sense of its meaning, since I realize that eternal life was embodied in Christ Jesus, and through Him we share in that wonderful transcendent dimension of existence. He has put all history into proper focus for me, including the agony as well as the ecstasy. Eternal life is to know God and His Son, to experience a creative relationship with them, which, even though it entails suffering here, will result in glory.
I face death as the "great adventure," the final transforming and transferring event, the gateway to eternal rest, the door to peace in its ultimate. Hope becomes a greater comfort when one realizes that it never disappoints because the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Perfect love casts out fear, and that includes the fear of death.
When I came to accept the reality of the indwelling Spirit as God's immeasurable gift to us during the absence of His Son, the significance of the covenant of grace, as opposed to a legalistic contract such as was given by Moses, became immediately apparent. I was no longer lonely. I never felt forsaken. I could rejoice in the face of calamity and triumph over adversity. My prayers became more intimate, my concern for others grew deeper.
The fact is that God has accepted and received me as I am, and I do not have to struggle for recognition. This truth has stifled any sense of rivalry with others. We do not need to compete for the favor of the Father. There is room for all of us under the umbrella of divine affection. All who have entered the family through faith are brothers and sisters. I am free to be as merciful toward them as God has been toward me. Each must be allowed to stand or fall to his own Master. Each must be fully persuaded in his own mind.
It is a blessing beyond compare to realize that we are "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11). We are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. (See Colossians 3:3, 4). No wonder it is written, "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). It is all summed up for me in one glowing statement, as it appears in the Revised Standard Version: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Praise God!