Tag: Old Covenant

Kids & Kingdom- Children in the Covenant: Teach Them Diligently

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class, Kids & Kingdom2 Comments

In my previous post, we considered the promises that God made to his people and how each of those promises found their fulfillment in Christ. God promised his people that he would crush Satan, bless the nations, reign forever, and save his people, all through the gift of offspring. All of these promises, just like every promise of God, “find their yes” in Christ (2 Cor 1:20).

However, God did not expect his people to be passive bystanders as he fulfilled his promises. He called them to faith-motivated action. After promising Abraham that he would make him into a great nation, God asked him to sacrifice his only son (which God stopped and provided a substitute for, by the way). After promising the Israelites that he would rescue them from slavery in Egypt, he asked them to follow him into the wilderness (including walking through the sea!). After promising Israel a land to inherit, he asked them to trust him and take the land even though their enemies were stronger and more numerous.

When God makes promises, he wants us to trust him and act on that trust. When he made promises to Israel regarding offspring and children, he expected his people to trust him and obey him. But what did obedience look like, and what does it look like for us?

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Is Obedience Required in the New Covenant? The Role of Obedience in the Old and New Covenants

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous3 Comments

Recently, our life group has been looking at God’s promise of a New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34. This promise comes as a bright ray of hope in the midst of one of the darkest seasons in Judah’s history. It is a promise that things won’t remain the way that they are, that God will establish a New Covenant with His people that will draw them into a deeper relationship with Himself. That relationship will include God’s laws being written on their hearts and the total forgiveness of their sins. In our class, we looked at how Jesus establishes the New Covenant in light of Luke 22:20 and Hebrews 8-10.

During this discussion, I made a comment about obedience not being a necessary component of the New Covenant. I quickly retracted my words because my theologian-conscience-sirens started going off. But I wasn’t sure what to say in place of them. So I told our group that I would research, pray, and think about the role obedience plays in the Old and New Covenants. This blog is the product of my inquiry.

Here’s my thesis: Obedience was required of God’s people under the Old Covenant, but it is produced in God’s people under the New Covenant. Let me flesh that out.

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Matthew 5:1 & Jesus as the Greater Moses

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

As we begin considering the content of the Sermon on the Mount, we’ll quickly notice that every verse is packed with meaning, including the very first one. Matthew 5:1 reads, “Seeing the crowds, he [Jesus]went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.” In this verse, Matthew begins to reveal Jesus as the greater Moses. How? By the little phrase, “he went up on the mountain.”[1]

In Exodus 19:3, Moses “went up on the mountain” to receive God’s law and deliver it to the people of Israel. In the Greek Old Testament (The Septuagint), which Matthew was undoubtedly familiar with, the phrase describing Moses’ ascent reads, “ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος.” Even if you can’t read Greek, you can see the identical nature of Matthew 5:1, which reads, “ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος.” This phrase is used only three times in the Septuagint, each referring to Moses’ ascent to Sinai (Ex 19:3, 24:18, 34:4). This limited use makes the argument for Matthew’s intentional quotation compelling. He clearly wants his readers to note the connection and realize that Jesus was ascending the mountain to teach God’s people just like Moses did.

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