it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace ... · pedagogue. It is unfortunate that the...

pedagogue. It is unfortunate that the KJV renders the word paidagogos as schoolmaster in 3:25. The connota-tions of the Greek word would have been familiar to Paul’s audience, but unless we are familiar with the culture of Paul’s day, we will miss those nuances and therefore the point of Paul’s argument in verse 25. The English word schoolmaster brings to mind a far different picture than does the word slave-who-is-a-child-trainer. The NIV trans-lates paidagogos as supervisor and makes the connection for us: “Now that faith is come we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” The paidagogos controlled

In our last two articles, we looked at Psalm 106:24-27, and noted two related aspects of worldliness: devaluing what God values and unbelief.

Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness, and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands.1

These words refer to the incident recorded in Num-ber 13 and 14. The Israelites had sent twelve spies into

1 All Scripture quotations are from The ESV.

I s s u e 1 4 6 A p r i l 2 0 0 8

… it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace … Hebrews 13:9

Studies in Galatians—Part Fourteen

John G. Reisinger

G RS O U N D O F

A EC

Canaan, and ten of the spies returned with a bad report. The land itself was not the problem—they found that to be bountiful. Rather, their report was bad with respect to the inhabitants of the land. The spies reported that the people of Canaan were going to be too tough to tackle. On the human balance sheet of effort expended versus return expected, Canaan was not a good investment. It was not worth the trouble it would take to win it. Yes, God had promised it, but … Did you see the size of those guys? Hey, I can plant pomegranates anywhere. There is no sense in antagonizing opponents who can squash you like a bug, even if their land is the Promised Land. I mean, what’s a little more time to wait after already waiting for four-hun-

In our study of Galatians 3, we have looked at two ma-jor questions that Paul asks and answers. The fi rst question is in Galatians 3:19, “What, then, was the purpose of the law?” Paul’s answer to that question provoked the second question, found in 3:21, “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God?” Understanding the answer to these two questions, and why the fi rst answer necessitated the second question, helps us understand Paul’s theology of law. Paul illustrates his view of the purpose and function of the law by comparing it to the work of a pedagogue (Gal. 3:24) in Roman and Greek society. The ministry of the pedagogue is the key idea around which his argument in Galatians 3 and 4 centers.

In order to follow Paul’s argument, we must understand the role of a pedagogue in Paul’s day. We touched on this in an earlier article, but it bears repeating here. A wealthy man would put his son into the custody of a trusted slave called a paidagogos, from which we get our English word

Worldliness—Part Eleven—Gleanings from Psalm 106

Reid A. Ferguson

Ferguson—Continued on page 14

In This IssueStudies in Galatians—Part Fourteen

John G. Reisinger1

Worldliness—Part ElevenReid A. Fergusont

1

Studies on the Resurrection of Lazarus—Part Thirteen

Dr. Philip W. McMillan3

But Who Do You Say That I Am?Stan F. Vaningerr

5

Reisinger—Continued on page 2

Page 2 April 2008 Issue 146justifi ed by faith (ina ek pistewß dikai-wqwmen). This is the ultimate purpose of the law as paedagogue. Now that faith is come (elqoushß thß pistewß). Genitive absolute, “the faith (the time of the faith spoken of in verse 1 Corin-thians 23) having come.” Under a tu-tor (upo paidagwgon). The pedagogue is dismissed. We are in the school of the Master.1

Robertson notes that the peda-gogue began to supervise the boy when the child was about six years of age, and was usually dismissed when the boy reached the age of sixteen. In the case of the law functioning as a pedagogue over Israel, the supervi-sion began with the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai and ended with the enthroned Christ sending the Holy Spirit to replace the law in its function as a pedagogue. It should be noted that Israel alone was put under the supervision of the law as a peda-gogue. Israel “had the law” in a sense that no other nation ever did. Many theologians ignore both the clear time references in Galatians 3 and the fact that Israel alone “had the law.” By do-ing this, they miss the point in Paul’s argument. The following verses all refer to a specifi c point in time.

3:17 - “the law introduced”

3:19 - “it [the law] was added”

3:19 - “until”

3:19 - “the law was put into effect”

3:23 - “before this faith came”

3: 23 - “until faith should be re-vealed”

3:25 - “no longer under the super-vision of the law”

4:3 - “even so, when we were”

1 A. T. Robertson, “Commentary on Galatians 3:24.” Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=ga&chapter=003&verse=024>. Broadman Press 1932, 33, Renewal 1960, (accessed March 8, 2008).

the boy’s life from the time the child woke up until he went to bed. He took the boy to school, brought him home, checked his homework and his cloth-ing, supervised his recreation, made sure the boy ate his spinach, and other such things, ad infi nitum. The boy was under the direct supervision of the pedagogue in the totality of his life. The pedagogue was an overseer, but he was not a teacher. The life of an Israelite under the law was the same as the life of a boy under a pedagogue. The law dictated acceptable and for-bidden food and clothing; the law told the Israelite how to cut his beard; it controlled socialization. In short, the law supervised every aspect of the life of an Israelite. The law, in Paul’s argu-ment in this section, is analogous to the pedagogue.

A second point that we must un-derstand about the pedagogue is the duration of his task. The supervisory function of the pedagogue began at a specifi c point of time and ended at a specifi c point of time. This point is vital. Paul applies it to the ministry of the law as a pedagogue. The law, in the function of a pedagogue, had an historical beginning at Sinai and an historical end with the coming of Christ. The words, “added,” “until,” “no longer,” and the like establish spe-cifi c points of time. They all qualify Israel’s experience and relationship to the law by indicating given periods of time. A. T. Robertson provides a good description of both of these salient points of the pedagogue.

Our tutor unto Christ (paidag-wgoß umwn eiß Criston). See 1 Cor-inthians 4:15 for the only other N. T. example of this old and common word for the slave employed in Greek and Roman families of the better class in charge of the boy from about six to six-teen. The paedagogue watched his be-haviour at home and attended him when he went away from home as to school. Christ is our Schoolmaster and the law as paedagogue kept watch over us till we came to Christ. That we might be

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Reisinger—Continued from page 1


Issue 146 April 2008 Page 3

“She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I be-lieve that You are the Christ, the

Son of God, who is to come into the world.”(John 11:27, NKJV)

We are continuing our study of verse 27 of chapter 11 of the gospel of John and several meanings of the name Christ, the Anointed of God.

In the last lesson we considered him as the Anointed Son and also as the Anointed Sacrifi ce of God. In this lesson I want us to think about the Anointed Prophet, Priest and King.

1] The Anointed Prophet: Israel stood at the foot of Sinai when the law was given. Deuteronomy 5 tells us that they heard the Ten Command-ments from the midst of fi re, cloud and thick darkness and the law was spoken by the voice of God. Hebrews 12:21 records that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.” God had spoken to Moses often, but when he heard the law from the mouth of God, even the prophet of the people trembled. And the people entreated Moses like this: …“Surely the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fi re. We have seen this day that God speaks with man, yet he still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fi re will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all fl esh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fi re, as we have and lived? You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.” (Deuter-onomy 5:24-27).

God told Moses that the people were right in making that request,

and Deuteronomy 18:18, 19 records that God said that, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.”

Many other prophets were sent to Israel down through the centuries, but they were mortal, and fallible. Israel refused those prophets, killed many, and disobeyed them all. After Mala-chi, God was silent for four hundred years, the heavens mute. It resulted from the people’s refusal to hear and obey.

But 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem Judah a babe was born in a stable, and laid in a manger, and God had fulfi lled his promise. God had ceased speaking by mere human prophets and began to speak to us by his Son. Oh, and how it will be required of us if we refuse to hear this man. “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salva-tion, which at fi rst began to be spoken by the Lord…?” (Hebrews 2:2, 3).

The gospel is words spoken by the Anointed Prophet, God bearing witness to the prophecies with signs, wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will. What place of escape can there be if ignored? In John 8:24 this god-man said, “if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” To convince Israel that Moses was the prophet God sent to deliver them from Egypt he said: “Tell them I Am has sent me to you,” (see Exodus 3:14). In truth, Christ tells us that he is I AM, the great

prophet anointed of God. See Isaiah 61:1, 2 and Luke 4:18, 19.

But let’s reestablish the principle we saw in our study of Christ the Anointed Son and his role as the anointed sacrifi ce or Lamb of God. In Isaiah 53, the chapter of the sacrifi ce of God’s Lamb, verse 9 is of critical importance.

And they made His grave with the wicked —

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Here we see him as if in the tomb by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God and we see the rea-son that his blood speaks better things than that of Abel. This man died because he was innocent, sinless. No less a basis would have allowed God to remain just and yet justify the ones who believe in Christ.

It is this fact which explains his acceptance in heaven as the incarnate Son, the true Passover Lamb of the people, the Anointed Prophet, Priest and King of his people. He is all these things; has the right to all these titles and offi ces because of what he is by nature, and who he is in his person and work.

I think no passage establishes this ‘all in all’ relationship of the god-man with his people like Hebrews 1:8, 9.

But to the Son He says:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and McMillan—Continued on page 7

The Anointed One—Continued

Studies on the Resurrection of Lazarus—Part Thirteen

Dr. Philip W. McMillan, M.D.

Page 4 April 2008 Issue 146

4:4 - “But when the fullness of time had come”

This emphasis on a specifi c point of time for the beginning and ending of the law is not peculiar to Paul’s writing in Galatians 3 and 4. In Ro-mans 5, Paul outlines the history of redemption around the law having a specifi c beginning and ending point.

Romans 5:13 - “Before the law was given.” If the law was already present in Exodus 20, and was not being given for the fi rst time at Si-nai, Paul’s words here are nonsense. There must be a clear sense in which the law has an historical beginning at Sinai and an historical end at the com-ing of Christ. Granted, we may differ on what that sense is, but to deny the fact of an historical beginning and an historical end of the law in some sense is to deny clear statements of Scripture. We ought not to ask if the law had an historical beginning at Sinai and an historical end at Calvary. That is a clear Biblical fact. The ap-propriate question is, “In what sense does the law begin at Sinai and end at Calvary?” Likewise, the question, “Is a Christian not under the law?” is not a valid one. Romans 6:14 clearly states that a Christian is “not under the law.” The better question is, “In what sense is a Christian ‘not under the law?’” What does Paul mean by, “not under the law, but under grace”? Most commentators will provide page after page of what Paul cannot mean, but they never clearly explain what he

was the conscience that was “shut up,” and “held prisoner of the law.” The “law was put in charge;” that is, the law began to function as a pedagogue. It began to supervise every aspect of life in a minute way. The law contin-ued that function in the conscience until the Redeemer came and freed those who were under the law, or the pedagogue. At that point, the imma-ture child was declared grown up and hence would function as an adult, and not as a child under age. The adult would be governed by principles and sincere love. The pedagogue would be dismissed because he had served his purpose.

Several passages in Hebrews and one in Romans will further elucidate the purpose of the law’s function as a pedagogue in the conscience. We will look at the passage in Romans fi rst. Since this is such an important text, we must be sure we understand its meaning in its immediate context.

Paul’s point in the fi rst three chap-ters of Romans is to show that all people, without a single exception, are guilty before God and are deserving of death and hell. “For all have sinned” really means every offspring of Adam and Eve without exception and with-out distinction. Jews and Gentiles alike are guilty of not believing God, and their actions prove it. Everyone knows something about God, but no one acts upon that revelation. In fact, people reject what light God has sent them. This is why all people, without exception, are guilty sinners. The Jews

does mean.

Romans 5:14 - “death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a commandment.” The na-ture of sin as transgression of known law, or “breaking a commandment,” began at Mount Sinai. Paul did not say or imply that sin and guilt began at Sinai, but sin as transgression of known law, or “breaking a command-ment,” began at that point in history. Sin and guilt existed from the time of Adam’s sin in the garden. In order for sin to be defi ned as transgression of codifi ed law, there must fi rst be codi-fi ed law that can be consciously bro-ken. There must be a law given that can be consciously transgressed be-fore there is “transgression of a law.” The kind of sin described in Romans 4:15 awaited the “giving of the law” at Sinai.

Romans 5:20 - “the law entered.” It could not “enter” if it was already present.

The passages from Paul, quoted above, do not suggest that the law of God did not exist in any way before Mount Sinai. All that Paul is saying is that God gave the law to Israel, in codifi ed form as the terms of the cov-enant, for the fi rst time at Sinai. He put Israel “under law” in a unique and distinct sense. The law of God, as an expression of God’s holy character, took on a new character and function at Sinai. The law was put into Israel’s conscience as covenant terms and now began to function as a pedagogue. It



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The prophet Jeremiah lived during the time of the Neo-Babylonian Em-pire, which eventually conquered the Jewish kingdom of Judah and carried many of the people into captivity. He boldly proclaimed the word of the Lord during the reign of several evil kings of Judah, urging them to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian emperor. His message was ignored and he was severely persecuted by the Jewish rulers that the Lord had sent him to. He witnessed the conquest of his people by the Babylonians, the de-struction of Jerusalem and the temple within, but was faithful to the Lord throughout the whole tragic ordeal.

What a lineup! John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah! All three were very godly men. It is clear that the common people had a very high re-gard for Jesus. But then Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” They had been with Jesus every day. They had heard all of his teach-ings and parables. They had seen his extraordinary zeal for God and his enormous compassion for needy men and women on a daily basis. They had heard him speak the words of life (John 6:68).

Peter’s response to the question is a profound theological statement. First he says, “You are the Christ (Messiah).” The Jews were expecting a Messiah and at least some of them thought Jesus might indeed be that promised one. When Jesus completely restored a demon-possessed man who was also deaf and mute, some won-dered, “Could this be the Son of Da-vid?” (Matthew 12:23). But there was no doubt in Peter’s mind by this time. Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Mes-siah, the promised Son of David.

But Peter goes on. “You are the

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; oth-ers say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say that I am?” Si-mon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13-161

This passage indicates that the common people of Caesarea Philippi thought very highly of Jesus of Naza-reth. Some thought he was John the Baptist (since John was by this time dead, they apparently thought that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected from the dead). This was a great compliment to Jesus. John the Baptist was a holy and godly man. The early chapters of the gospels reveal that he had a huge impact on those who heard his message. Even though he preached in a desert area away from the popula-tion centers, many came from Judea, Galilee, and other areas to hear his fi ery message of repentance from sin. Those who responded to his call for repentance were baptized as an out-ward sign of their changed hearts. The tremendous response to John’s preach-ing shows that many of this generation were hungry for spiritual truth and reality.

Some thought he was Elijah. The prophet Elijah was a great spiritual leader during times of great apostasy hundreds of years earlier. He pro-claimed the Word of God with great zeal and opposed the evil rule of Ahab and Jezebel over the nation of Israel.

Others thought he was Jeremiah. 1 All Scripture quotations are from the

NIV.

Son of the living God.” The Jews were expecting a Messiah, but not many of them were expecting this! We can read Isaiah 9:6 in our own day and in retrospect say, yes, they should have known what was going to happen:

For to us a child is born,To us a son is given,And the government will be on his shoulders.And he will be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

But there is no real evidence in the New Testament that the Jews of the fi rst century had any clear expectation of what we now know as the incarna-tion. But the Lord above had revealed this incredible truth to Simon Peter and he blurts it out with simple but eloquent words. The unbelievable had happened. God himself had become man. His profound teachings, his compassion, his miracles, his message of forgiveness to sinners, his power over nature, illness, and death all proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this man was indeed God come in the fl esh.

This marvelous truth is proclaimed throughout the New Testament. In the Gospel of John, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became fl esh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory …” (John 1:1, 14). Again the writer uses simple words but the mes-sage is profound in the extreme.

Paul’s statement of this truth is equally profound. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). The trinity is

B u t W h o D o Y o u S a y T h a t I A m ?B u t W h o D o Y o u S a y T h a t I A m ?S t a n F . V a n i n g e rS t a n F . V a n i n g e r

Vaninger—Continued on page 18

Page 6 April 2008 Issue 146others is proof that you not only know what is right and wrong, you also are ready to hold people responsible for not doing the right thing. Your very judgment of others puts a noose around your own neck if you practice that which you condemn in others. All people are guilty of judging oth-ers, which proves that all people have a conscience. When a person is put under the law as a pedagogue, as Is-rael was, his or her conscience gets sharper. The NIV brackets verses 14 and 15, thereby marking them as an explanation of verse 13—what it means to obey the law and be declared righteous. The KJV also brackets verses 13 through 15, thereby marking all three verses as an explanation of verse 12—what it means to sin with and without the law. These are impor-tant verses and we will look closely at them.

(… For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bear-ing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excus-ing one another;) In the day when

are not exempt from this charge; in fact, since they have more revelation, they are more responsible and hence guiltier than the Gentiles are.

In Romans one, Paul explains about three characteristics of God and the means by which God reveals each characteristic. First, the gospel reveals God’s righteousness. Second, hu-man wickedness reveals God’s wrath. Third, creation reveals God’s invis-ible attributes. By establishing these three facets of God’s self-revelation, Paul shows that no one may plead ignorance as an excuse for unbelief. All people who have no faith, includ-ing pagans who have never read or listened to the Scripture, are nonethe-less guilty before God. Paul shows that there are no such people as those who have never received revelation. All people have some revelation from God.

Paul, in Romans chapter two, ad-dresses those who pass judgment on other people. Paul may be talking about the Jew or he may be talking about the educated and cultured Gen-tile. His point is that when you point your fi nger at someone else, you have three fi ngers pointing back at yourself. The fact that you pass judgment on

God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Rom 2:14-16, KJV)

We need to clarify several points before we show the bearing these verses have on our subject under discussion (the purpose and the na-ture of the Mosaic law). First, many writers and preachers misquote verse 15 unless they are actually reading it directly from the Bible. They will say, “Romans 2:15 says, ‘the Gentiles have the law written in their hearts.’” The text actually says, “the work of the law written in their hearts.” This mis-quoted text is then used as a proof text for the idea that God has tattooed the Ten Commandments on the hearts of all people. However, that is not what the text says. What does Paul mean by “the work of the law?” Paul may be saying, “The Gentile’s feelings of guilt when he or she does things spe-cifi cally forbidden in the written law given to the Jews, but not given to the Gentiles in that same form, proves that the same laws are written in all people, regardless of whether that per-son ever heard Torah or not.”

However, “the work of the law” can mean something else. Later, in the same letter, Paul wrote, “Because the



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Issue 146 April 2008 Page 7Yes, He shall build the temple of

the Lord.

He shall bear the glory,

And shall sit and rule on His throne;

So He shall be a priest on His throne,

And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’

We could justifi ably take all these offi ces together; Incarnate Son, Lamb of God, Prophet, Priest and King as one, for the warp and woof of the fab-ric cannot be unraveled, being of one thread in Christ. But the Holy Spirit takes pains to show us particularly this priestly offi ce and the sovereign rule being united in man.

That Christ is spoken of here is reinforced by appeal to Isaiah 53 again. Zechariah speaks of the man, the branch, as one who branches out, better translated to sprout out. The poetry of Isaiah is equally touching in 53:2a: “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.” Humility’s bud yields omnipotence.

Can anyone doubt that Psalm 85 has a Messianic message that cries to us of this Anointed One? Verse one speaks of the end of captivity, verse 2 of forgiveness, sins covered up. Verse 3 portrays the removing of wrath, fi erce anger. Verse 4 speaks of restora-tion of favor to the captives; verses 5 and 6 are a plea for escape by revival of God’s work in the people, and their rejoicing in the delivering God. Verse 7 pleads for the mercies of salvation and verse 8 shows a people expecting a favorable answer of peace. In verse 9 “Faith” professes her certainty that this fear of God is the sign of salva-tion’s nearness, so its glory will dwell in the Land.

Now hear verses 10-13: “Mercy and truth have met together; righ-teousness and peace have kissed.

hated lawlessness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

As to the prophet’s offi ce, this anointing precludes any other pro-phetic offi ce. He is called the word of God, (see John 1) and to ignore his message will indeed “cut us off from among the people,” the Word will be “required of us.”

On the Mount of Transfi guration, Moses and Elijah appeared with him and talked with him of what he would accomplish at Jerusalem, see Luke 9:35; and then they disappeared and a voice from heaven said: “this is my beloved Son, hear him.” Moses the great prophet of law and Elijah the greatest of the prophetic prophets are gone and in their place stands the Word. In the beginning he was with God, and in the beginning was and is God. His word is the anointed mes-sage; “Of old you have heard it said, but I say to you” (see Matthew 5).

2] The Anointed King Priest: There is a very interesting passage in Zechariah 6:9-13. Zechariah received a message from God telling him of three men coming from Babylon to the house of Josiah, bringing silver and gold. Zechariah was to take the gold and silver and make an elaborate crown for the head of Joshua the high priest. This was symbolic of a greater personage and greater offi ces.

Verses 12 and 13 of Zechariah 6 tell this:

Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying:

“Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH!

From His place He shall branch out,

And He shall build the temple of the Lord;

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and shall make his footsteps our pathway.”

In this passage we see the anoint-ing of God as it works its purposes in this ‘King-Priest.’

Mercy and truth have met together. There is a scriptural truth which can-not be refuted in this phrase: Men imagine they will receive mercy from God for their own goodness and think that God will hear them say: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men” and then they tell him all they do (cf. Luke 18:10-14).

They reduce mercy from an ever-fl owing fount in the heart of God to an expected reward for people like them-selves. They think God doesn’t see the things in their hearts which defi le them, hear their closet curses or see their secret deeds. But God sees them just as they are and the Lord speaks like this: “These things you have done and I kept silent: You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver” (Psalm 50:21, 22).

It is sin that has separated man and God. In Luke 16 we fi nd the parable or account of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, who lay neglected at his gate. Both had died, the rich man lay in the torment of Hades, while Lazarus was in Paradise on Abraham’s bosom. You know how the rich man begged for the mercy of just one drop of water to cool his tongue, but Abra-ham told him that a great gulf was fi xed between Hades and Paradise, inaccessible from either direction.

The rich man found out a painful truth; a sinner cannot receive the mer-

McMillan—Continued on page 12

McMillan—Continued from page 3


law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15, KJV). Here, Paul specifi cally describes “the work of the law” as “the working of wrath,” or conviction of sin. Again, we have to point out that this verse, like Romans 2:15, also is frequently misquoted. A speaker or writer will usually say, “Paul says in Romans 4:15 that where there is no law, there is no sin.” The text does not say that at all. It says that there is no transgression.

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. (Rom. 4:15, KJV)

Those who misquote this verse think it proves the necessity of push-ing the law back into the Garden of Eden and denying its historical be-ginning at Sinai. Paul never said or implied that there was no sin before the law was given at Sinai. He said there was no transgression, or break-ing of a known commandment, of law before Sinai, simply because the law had not yet been given. The law, as codifi ed covenant law, was fi rst given at Sinai and was given only to the na-tion of Israel. Human beings did not become sinners for the fi rst time at Sinai, but those who received the law did become far more responsible and guiltier sinners at Sinai. Sin took on a different aspect at Sinai, but that new aspect was God’s deliberate intention. There was not an ounce of grace in the law, but it was most gracious of God to give the law to Israel. It was the law that made the gospel able to work. The law clearly defi ned, measured, and classifi ed sin. The law made the Israelite feel his or her guilt and pre-pared him or her for faith. The law “worked wrath” by giving the Israelite an awareness of guilt before God. Ac-cording to Paul, human wickedness reveals the presence of God’s wrath. Wickedness is the punishment for un-belief. The law brings (worketh) more wrath (more punishment), thereby

Reisinger—Continued from page 6 revealing more clearly the plight of the person without faith. The means has no grace, but the end is a gracious one.

Romans 2:15 is important to our study of the law.

(… Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one an-other;)

The work of the law is conviction of sin or working wrath in the con-science. The law uses conscience in this work. Conscience is not a lawgiv-er. It does not make laws or even re-veal laws. Conscience acts as a judge, either “accusing” or “excusing” every action, and meting out internal punish-ment where necessary. Conscience uses the standard provided for it. Dif-ferent people will have different views of sin because their consciences have


Law and GraceAn Illustration

Henry Ironside told the following story to illustrate the difference be-tween law and grace.

Some years ago I took with me to Oakland, California, a Navaho Indian. One Sunday evening he went to our young people’s meeting. They were talk-ing about this epistle to the Galatians, about law and grace, but they were not very clear about it, and fi nally one turned to the Indian and said, “I wonder whether our Indian friend has anything to say about this.”

He rose to his feet and said, “Well, my friends, I have been listening very carefully, because I am here to learn all I can in order to take it back to my people. I do not understand what you are talking about, and I do not think you do yourselves. But concerning this law and grace, let me see if I can make it clear. I think it is like this. When Mr. Ironside brought me from my home we took the longest railroad journey I ever took. We got off at Bar-stow, and there I saw the most beautiful railroad station with a hotel above it, I have ever seen. I walked around at one end and saw a sign, ‘Do not spit here.’ I looked at that sign and then I looked down at the ground and saw many had spitted there, and before I think what I am doing I have spitted myself. Isn’t that strange when the sign say, ‘Do not spit here’? I come to Oakland and go to the home of the lady who invited me to dinner today and I am in the nicest home I have ever been in in my life. Such beautiful furni-ture and carpets I hate to step on them. I sank into a comfortable chair, and the lady said, ‘Now, John, you sit there while I go out and see whether the maid has dinner ready.’ I look around at the beautiful pictures, at the grand piano, and I walk all around those rooms. I am looking for a sign; the sign I am looking for is, ‘Do not spit here,’ but I look around those two beautiful drawing-rooms, and cannot fi nd a sign like this. I think, What a pity when this is such a beautiful home to have spitting all over it−too bad they don’t put up a sign! So I look all over the carpet but cannot fi nd that anybody has spitted there. What a strange thing! Where the sign says, ‘Do not spit,’ a lot of people spitted; here where there is no sign, nobody spitted. Now I under-stand! That sign is law, but inside that home is grace. They love their beauti-ful home and want to keep it clean. I think that explains this law and grace business,” and he sat down.

Issue 146 April 2008 Page 9Biblical law revealed in the Old Testament canon of the law and the prophets is both absolute and covenantal. It is absolute law in the sense that no part of the whole Old Testament Scripture shall escape being fulfi lled by Christ. As covenant law every “jot and tittle” of the law or the prophets will be brought to full realization in the Messianic mission of Christ. This occurs under the New Covenant administration of God’s eternal purpose. Mathew 5:17-20 is the central passage when Jesus declares His covenantal abrogation of the law or the prophets and where He affi rms the absolute and unchanging standard of ethical righteousness for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, later New Testament teaching and application of biblical law and ethics for the New Covenant believer stems from and builds upon the contextual exegesis of Matthew 5:17-20. The book provides an exegetical answer to the teaching of Theonomy on the law of God with application to the traditional understanding of the text by Reformed Theology.

Gary D. Long is the Faculty President of Providence Theological Seminary in Colorado Springs, CO (www.ptsco.org) and the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Ministries. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri (B.S. in Agriculture,

1959) and from Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M. in Systematic Theology, 1969; Th.D. in Historical Theology, 1972). He worked as a church planter while serving in the U.S. Army and retired as a Field Artillery Colonel in 1989. His published books include Defi nite Atonement, The Doctrine of Salvation and Contest: Evangelical Views on the Millennium Examined.

B O O K O R D E R I N G I N F O R M A T I O N I S S H O W N O N P A G E 1 0

B i b l i c a l L a w a n d E t h i c s : A b s o l u t e a n d C o v e n a n t a lA n E x e g e t i c a l a n d T h e o l o g i c a l S t u d y o f M a t t h e w 5 : 1 7 - 2 0

G a r y D . L o n g

The Annual John Bunyan Conferencewill be held at the

Reformed Baptist Church in Lewisburg, PA, September 8 – 10, 2008.

The speakers and their topics are: Reid Ferguson - The Extent of the Atonement.

John Reisinger - Paul’s Theology of Law in Galatians.Steve West - Apologetics.

Fred Zaspel - The Essentials of New Covenant Theology.

We are returning to our original emphasis and format. There will be a greater emphasis on New Covenant Theology,

and a discussion period will follow each presentation.

A program, cost, and other particulars will be in the next issue of Sound of Grace.


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cies of heaven until mercy meets fi rst with truth. The wages of sin is death, that is half of the truth and God will in no wise acquit the wicked is the other half.

It was on Golgatha’s brow where this anointed King-Priest himself “bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sins (in him), might live for righteousness —by whose stripes you were healed,” (see 1 Peter 2:24). There sin’s wages were fully paid, and there we see Mer-cy and Truth meet in the handclasp of agreement.

“There is no peace for the

wick-ed. They are like the trou-bled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt,” (see Isa-iah 57:20, 21). Jude calls the wicked, “raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever,” (verse 13).

2 Corinthians 6:15 asks a question pertinent to our considerations: “And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” The question is this: How can the ungodly expect peace and harmony with God?

The answer is found in Psalm 85:10: “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” I think of righ-teousness as being the deeds of holi-ness, the actions purity produces.

Again, to understand this phrase

we must go back to the message of the gospel, Jesus Christ and him cru-cifi ed. When the blood of Christ our Passover stained the ground below his cross, it fl owed because Zechariah’s prophecy was fulfi lled.

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,

Against the Man who is My Com-panion,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

“Strike the Shepherd,

And the sheep will be scattered;

Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.

And it shall come to pass in all the land,”

Says the Lord,

“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,

But one-third shall be left in it:

I will bring the one-third through the

fi re,

Will refi ne them as silver is refi ned,

And test them as gold is tested.

They will call on My name,

And I will answer them.

I will say, ‘This is My people’;

And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” (Zechariah 13:7-9)

The blood calls out for peace, and we see Righteousness and Peace lay down their swords, embrace and kiss. Faith in this justifying work brings peace (cf. Romans 5:1).

Next we read in Psalm 85:11. “Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”

In the phrase “righteousness shall look down from heaven,” we are pre-

McMillan—Continued from page 7 sented with the only direction where righteousness can ever originate, or from which it can come to earth. I think in this phrase we can see the triune God; it is the three persons, equally righteous, equally dedicated to their glory, and equally active in the work.

We see the Father, the great plan-ner, as he looked upon man’s ruined world; “just as he chose us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6).

We see him providing redemp-tion when, “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his own arm brought salvation for Him: and His own righteousness, it sustained him,” and these are his words of promise: “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgres-sion in Jacob, says the Lord” (Isaiah 59:16, 20).

We have looked extensively at the Son who came as a servant and sac-rifi ce for the people, as the Prophet, Priest, and King. But looking down from heaven is the Holy Spirit, the one who convicts us, quickens us, gives us faith, implants us into Christ and works righteousness within us day by day: Our teacher, our comforter, our spiritual conscience, our protector, companion and friend. He comes to us in behalf of Christ, until he returns for us.

As to truth springing from the earth, it is a person, Emmanuel (God with us).

Verses 12 and 13 of Psalm 85 are almost self-explanatory. God’s work

McMillan—Continued on page 19


been trained by different standards. If a given action is inconsistent with the standard a person has acknowl-edged as right, then conscience cries, “Guilty! You are a hypocrite.” If an action is consistent with what a person believes is right, then conscience ap-plauds, “Good boy! You did good.” When the holy law of God is given to conscience as the standard in a person’s relationship to God, then the verdict will always be “Guilty” and will never be “Good girl, you earned favor with God.” The reason for this is that the law can only approve of perfection, and no sinner can render a perfect life according to the law stan-dard. No sinner can live a sinless life. The conscience can never be quieted as to our relationship with God until it has been silenced in its condemn-ing ministry. Its condemning ministry can only be silenced when two things happen. First, the law that informs the conscience must be presented with a perfect, sinless life that has earned righteous-ness. Second, a sacrifi ce that suffi ciently pays for sin and satisfi es God’s holy character must be offered. We can present either of these only when we come before God in the name and merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and plead his bloody sacrifi ce and righteous life.

It is vital to see the above in the light of an individual’s relationship to God, and to God alone. Our individual actions toward ourselves and toward our fel-low human beings may be “right” and conscience may approve. This is what David claimed in his relationship to Saul. He praised God for “rewarding him for his righteousness” (2 Sam. 22:21). He was not asserting that God had saved and justifi ed him in an eternal sense because of his actions

Reisinger—Continued from page 8 toward Saul. He was saying that God had vindicated him in the here and now, because he had done the right thing in relationship to King Saul. Our conscience may be justifi ably clear as far as our actions toward another person in a given relationship, but our conscience before God in respect to our actions in his sight can never be clear, except as we understand and plead the free and full justifying ac-tion of God in our behalf. We cannot feel free to come into Christ’s pres-ence until we see ourselves robed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

When Scripture speaks of the “liberty of conscience” that results from the dismissal of the pedagogue, it is speaking of freedom from the law’s tyranny over the conscience in a person’s relationship to God. Later, in Galatians 5:1, Paul will plead with the Galatians (and us, too, by implication) to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made them free, and to not

be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. This is another misunder-stood passage. It is almost universally taught that Paul is referring to free-dom from the so-called “ceremonial law” and does not refer to the “moral law.” We will cover this more thor-oughly when we come to chapter fi ve. For now, notice John Stott’s excellent comments on Galatians 5:1.

As the New English Bible puts it, ‘Christ set us free, to be free men’. Our former state is portrayed as a slavery, Jesus Christ as a liberator, conver-sion as an act of emancipation and the Christian life as a life of freedom. This freedom, as the whole Epistle and this context make plain, is not primarily a freedom from sin, but rather from the law. What Christ has done in liberat-ing us, according to Paul’s emphasis here, is not so much to set our will free from the bondage of sin as to set our conscience free from the guilt of sin. The Christian freedom he describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law, with a view of winning the favour of God. It is the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ.2

Paul is not the only New Testament writer to address the issue of con-science. The writer of Hebrews uses the word conscience in three passages. All three passages are helpful in our discussion of law.

Which was a fi gure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifi ces that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the con-science; (Heb. 9:9, KJV)

The author’s point in this extended pas-sage (Heb. 9:9-15) is that under the Old Cov-enant, animal sacrifi ces “covered” sin and made the worshipper ceremoni-ally clean, but could not cleanse the conscience. The author is emphatic

on that point. The reason for this is that not one of the Old Covenant sacrifi ces and offerings, or even all of them combined, could pay for one single sin. There was no true atone-

2 John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1968), 131. Italics in the original.



dred years?

Before we continue our study on aspects of worldliness, I must point out ways in which events, people, and places within the book of Joshua serve as types of Christ and of the Christian life. The Promised Land is a type of the kingdom that exists within us. This is part of our inheritance, just as Canaan was part of Abraham’s inheri-tance. God promises us the kingdom, but well-entrenched, pre-existing squatters already inhabit it. These

squatters are called sins. Our job is to wage the battle. There is no doubt that we are out-gunned, out-manned and out-strategized. But the Lord is on our side. We make no peace with the inhabitants. In Christ’s name, we not only move in; we root them out. When they hide behind the rocks, in the caves, or take the high country, we go after them—tooth and nail. In the name of our conquering King, we wage war. Our divine Joshua leads the charge. Yes, the inhabitants there are too big for us. Their cities are walled and well guarded. But we march in the

name of Christ Jesus, and he grants victory in the going. Faith in the promise, but even more, faith in the Promiser, will win the day. We raise the shield of faith and the sword of his Word and we attack. And God gives the battle into our weak, unskilled, and often reluctant hands.

Typology is fascinating, but it is far more than that. It is pre-eminently practical. This is not pie-in-the-sky theology or theoretical church-speak. And it has direct bearing on the sub-ject of worldliness. It is easy to see how the Israelites failed to enter a physical land because of unbelief and misplaced values. It is not as easy to see the same kind of failure in our-selves. Typology provides concrete pictures of spiritual realities. When our worldly hearts put little value on what is to be won—on what has been promised—we fail to live in the free-dom and joy that is meant to be our birthright. Christians remain bound and ineffective because of these heart attitudes. This is the real tragedy of worldliness. We fail to lay hold of what God has promised, and thus, in the eyes of the world, we make him out to be a God of empty promises. How can it be otherwise when deep down, that is what he is to us? Noth-ing less than the fame of his name is at stake—his glory.

The psalmist reminds his readers that God’s people had failed to place a right value on that which God had promised. The author then turns his at-tention to another indication of world-liness and its effects:

They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness, and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands.2

The Free Dictionary by Farlex de-

2 Psalm 106:25-27.

Ferguson—Continued from page 1

A New EyeThomas Watson

Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The new creature is new all over. Grace, though it is but in part—yet it is in every part. Not a new ear or a new tongue—but a new man; there are…

new dispositions, new principles,new aims, “all things are become new!”

In the new creature, there is a new UNDERSTANDING. The fi rst thing an artist draws in a portrait, is the eye. When God newly draws us and makes us new creatures, the fi rst thing He draws in our souls is a new eye. The new creature is enlightened to see that which he never saw before!

He knows Christ after another manner. An unconverted man, by the light of common grace, may believe Christ to be the Son of God. But the new creature knows Christ after another manner—so as…

to esteem Him above all, to adore Him,to touch Him by faith,to fetch a healing virtue from Him!

The new creature knows himself better than he did. When the sun shines into a room—it reveals all the dust and cobwebs in it. Just so, when the light of the Spirit shines into the heart—this reveals that corruption which before lay hidden; it shows a man his own vileness and nothingness! “Behold, I am vile!” Job 40:4

A wicked man, blinded with self-love, admires himself. He is like Narcissus who, seeing his own refl ection in the water—fell in love with it.

Saving knowledge works self-abasement. Has this day-star of knowledge shined on your mind?

Courtesy of GraceGems! www.GraceGems.org

Issue 146 April 2008 Page 15are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortifi ed up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’

Once again, we are looking at the event fi rst recorded in Numbers 13 and 14. This text shows what is at the heart (proverbially and actually) of murmuring. This is of vast impor-tance.

These verses pinpoint several ele-ments of murmuring. One reason that murmuring is so diffi cult to spot is that it often has some legitimacy. “Our brothers made our hearts to melt,” is a valid complaint. Partially. Yes, ten of the spies brought back a negative re-port. The people, however, were under no obligation to accept that negative report and to reject the positive one from Joshua and Caleb. The negative report was indeed faithless, but the response was faithless as well.

The Israelites’ murmuring here includes blame-shifting. It is as if they were saying, “Well, yes, we are faith-less, but it is your fault.” To say that our brothers have MADE our hearts melt simply by virtue of describing the large stature of the Amorites is disingenuous. Although the text does not tell us, we could guess that per-haps the spies pressed this size issue, but nonetheless, BOTH parties were responsible to walk in faith. Neither side can blame the other for their failure to do so. Murmurers generally place at least some of the blame for their situation on others—whatever that situation may be. After all, if murmurers accepted full responsibility for their hearts and minds, they would have no target for their grumbling ex-cept themselves, and that is not very satisfying at all. Notice the legitimate facts: In general, the people of Canaan are hill-dwellers (the Amorites are rough mountain men), the cities are walled (here we have some exaggera-tion—“up to heaven”), and the sons of the giants are there too. Now notice the murmuring: “And it is all your

fi nes a murmur as “A low, indistinct, continuous sound.”3 How descriptive. We could call it the “rumble of the grumble.” It is similar to a low-grade fever of the heart and mind. It never breaks out into distinct, addressable issues, because deep down, the mur-murer intuitively knows that to grum-ble and to harbor and nurse discontent and dissatisfaction quietly leaves him or her less likely to be confronted.

The Hebrew word for murmur ap-pears only twice in the Old Testament Scriptures: here and in Deuteronomy 1:27-28, when Moses retells the event to a new generation of Israelites. Its Greek counterparts show up in a num-ber of prohibitions:

John 6:43 - Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”

1 Cor. 10:10 - nor grumble, as some of them did and were de-stroyed by the Destroyer. (A refer-ence to this same incident)

Phil. 2:14 - Do all things with-out grumbling or questioning,

James 5:9 - Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; be-hold, the Judge is standing at the door.

1 Pet. 4:9 - Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Grumbling, or murmuring, is an issue. A big issue. We begin to get a handle on the issue when we examine Deuteronomy 1:27-28 closely. There we read:

And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us .Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people

3http://www.thefreedictionary.com/murmur (accessed March 5, 2008).

fault for telling us it is so!” There’s faulty logic at work here. The spies’ report did not create the facts. The ten timid spies did not place the Amori-tes in the hills, the walls around the city, or the giants in the land. Would the Israelites have preferred to enter the land uninformed? If that had hap-pened, they likely would have used the spies’ silence as grounds for com-plaining: “Why didn’t you tell us what we would face?” Furthermore, two of spies, as well as Moses himself, as-sured the people that the facts need not deter them from entering the land. The manifestation of worldliness that is murmuring disregards inconvenient truths and focuses on what will jus-tify a complaining spirit. Grumble, grumble, murmur, murmur, gripe, spit, whine, and cry.

Murmurers invariably live at the level of: “I could really serve God well if it weren’t for________.” You fi ll in the blank with the person, cir-cumstance, or thing of your choice.

The fi rst part of verse 28 reveals a second key component of murmuring: “Where are we going up?” Other ver-sions render that question as “where can we go now?” (HCSB) or “where can we go?” (NIV). The idea remains intact in virtually all of the transla-tions—“we’re stuck!” It isn’t hard to imagine the proportions this takes on in the minds of the Israelites: We left our homes and jobs in Egypt. The Egyptians hate us because of the plagues and the decimation of Phar-oah’s army. We can’t cross back over the Red Sea in the same manner in which we came. We’re in the desert. We can’t go in and take the land. WE HAVE NO OPTIONS!

And oh, how we just loathe be-ing shut up without options to God’s providence. The worldly mind always looks for an escape clause—the back door, even in spiritual matters. We’ll serve God IF there is an alternative

Behind the Veil—Continued from page 15

Ferguson—Continued on page 16

Page 16 April 2008 Issue 146sinning against us, he is doing it right now. How horrifi c! How arrogant to charge God with sin!

Before we express our righteous indignation by jumping hard on the heads of those “chosen” ones, let us admit how often we have been guilty of the very same thing. Oh sure, we are Reformed folk—Calvin-ists—for whom God’s sovereignty is the touchstone of our theology. But whom among us has never bristled at that sovereignty at times? No, not out loud. Not in our theological asser-tions. We are, after all, orthodox. But the charge against God lurks in the weary cry, “What is God doing now?” The implication is there: God is sus-pect. What can he be about if I am suf-fering THIS, or facing THAT? Even if we have had the sense to avoid framing it that way, we still feel silent, inward resistance to the outworking of his providence. At times, God’s sov-ereignty seems more of a trap than a hope and joy. Countless times, I have heard sheep moan, “Yes, this experi-ence is painful, but God is sovereign,” as though God’s sovereignty were an additional burden to bear, rather than a comforting truth upon which to lean.

The reason we can so quickly imagine that people around us have wrong motives that produce actions we do not like is because our own hearts are dark enough to hold those same motives. We assume that other people are just like us. Not only that, we somehow imagine that God resem-bles us in this way. We do not respect him enough to refrain from projecting our own wickedness onto him. Is it any wonder that we do it to our fellow human beings? In this way, worldli-ness violates the two greatest com-mandments: to love God with all of our being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is a good thing that Jesus obeyed those two commandments per-fectly, because we fall far short. Tragi-cally, though, we often fail to act upon

plan for when things don’t go our way. We’ll witness IF it doesn’t mean we’ll have to be uncomfortable. We will exhibit all kinds of patience with those who do not irritate us. And I see this darkness in my own heart—do you see it in yours? It is absolutely amazing how much faith I have when I have a steady income, the bills are paid, and my job appears secure. How boldly I can assure others that their providential situations will work to-gether for good, while I ask others to pray that God will change mine. How much I can yearn to have someone else’s sins to wrestle with, rather than ones God has providentially appointed for me to subdue. Just once (I imag-ine) I’d like to try to deal with the temptation of not relying on material wealth, because I had so much of it, rather than learning how to trust God in the absence of it. Wouldn’t most of us prefer our situations to be that way? Oh the blessedness of being anxious over how to maintain a 5000 square foot home, instead of fi guring out how to raise a family in such a small one. We think. All the while, God’s providential assignments, meant for our growth, start to burn within us. We begin to feel as though he has a mean streak somewhere, some hidden thing against us. Silently, wordlessly, we accuse him in our hearts.

Murmurers want to be free from the compulsion to HAVE to do any-thing. And if God’s sovereign hand has shut them up to a course they don’t like, then virtually everything God has said is up for grabs. All man-ner of texts and doctrines can be mas-saged, nuanced, or redefi ned to suit the need. And always with a long, boney fi nger pointing to somebody or something else that makes the mur-murer do what he or she ordinarily would not, but is “unavoidable” in this case.

Just like the world. Eh?

The last element of worldliness

in this text is in fact the chief one. Verse 27 exposes the worldliness of grumbling and murmuring in all of its shameful glory.

And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to de-stroy us.

Note this well, beloved, for this trait runs rampant in the church today. We arrogate to ourselves knowledge that does not belong to us. This arro-gance is epidemic, both generally and specifi cally. In the broadest sense, it is the simple assigning of wrong mo-

tives to others. The pretense of know-ing other people’s hearts. But in the specifi c sense, as demonstrated in our text, it is the grievous act of assigning bad motives to God’s heart. Both are sin. The second is akin to blasphemy, if not actual blasphemy itself.

Can you imagine the accusa-tion? Not said aloud, but whispered low in the tents of Israel: God hates us, and has brought us here to harm us—to destroy us. The implications of such a charge are staggering. Deep down, they knew that. That’s why they grumbled it beneath their breath. But the bottom line of the thought is simple—not only is God capable of

Ferguson—Continued from page 15

fERGUSON—Continued on page 18


ment or propitiation until the cross. If we took all the animal blood shed on Jewish altars and put it together, it could not pay for one single sin. The sinner who lived under the Old Cov-enant could never hear, “paid in full” on the basis of animal blood. The con-science of an Israelite, wedded to the law as the accuser and excuser, could never be quieted until the terms of the law covenant, housed in the Ark of the Covenant, were thoroughly satis-fi ed. The terms of the law written on the tablets of the covenant, or the Ten Commandments, demanded a perfect, sinless life or an acceptable sacrifi ce to pay for breaches of the covenant. Neither the worshipper nor the high priest could provide either the sinless life of obedience or the adequate and acceptable sacrifi ce for disobedience. Both of these conditions waited for the coming of a substitute in the per-son and work of Christ.

Our Lord, in his atoning work, ac-complished what the law never could. His holy life and his blood sacrifi ce perfectly satisfi ed the law in all of its demands. His work forever set the sinner’s conscience free. All believers, Jewish and Gentile, now have free ac-cess into the Most Holy Place that for-merly was closed off to everyone ex-cept the Jewish high priest, and even he was allowed in only once a year.

In the second passage containing the word conscience, the author of Hebrews points out the superiority of Christ’s sacrifi ce in its essence, its administrative means, and its effec-tiveness.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:14, KJV)

The “dead works” are the Old Covenant rituals and ceremonies that could only affect the outside and

could not touch the conscience. In verse 15, the author links the superior-ity of Christ to the glory of the New Covenant.

And for this cause he is the me-diator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were un-der the fi rst testament, they which are called might receive the prom-ise of eternal inheritance. (Heb. 9:15, KJV)

The phrase, for this cause, means that in order to effect this necessary cleansing of the conscience, our Lord established and mediates a New Cov-enant. His death pays for the sins that were “covered,” but not paid for, un-der the Old Covenant. On the ground of that all-suffi cient sacrifi ce, those who live under the New Covenant re-ceive not a mere one-year redemption, but an eternal redemption and inheri-tance. The author, in the tenth chapter of Hebrews, gives the glorious conclu-sion and application of this truth.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifi ces which they offered year by year continu-ally make the comers thereunto

perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more con-science of sins. But in those sacri-fi ces there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifi ce and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me (Heb 10:1-5, KJV).

Aaron and his descendents who fi lled the offi ce of high priest could do nothing to bring the sinner into the Most Holy Place. The necessity of yearly Days of Atonement demon-strates the inability of the Old Cov-enant to effectually deal with sin. If Passover lambs could have satisfi ed God’s holiness, there would not have been another Day of Atonement the next year. However, what the blood of bulls and goats could not accom-plish, the blood of Christ could and did accomplish. His offering satisfi ed both God’s holy character and the sinner’s guilty conscience. The law was a shadow and a blurry outline of the good things that were coming. In the fullness of time, God sent the good things: his son, a true human be-ing and son of David, born of Mary (Gal. 4:4), whose coming established the New Covenant, and redeemed, fully and eternally, not for merely one year, those who were under the law. This New Covenant redemption made possible the giving of the Spirit of Adoption and the freeing of the Old Covenant believer from the peda-gogue—the law (Gal. 4:5).

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the




a diffi cult concept, but Paul’s words in this verse prevent us from mistakenly thinking that Christ is one-third of God. Everything that God is, is some-how contained in the person of the man Jesus Christ.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we have another expression of this same truth. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representa-tion of his being” (Hebrews 1:3a). This is exactly the same thought as in John 14:9 where Jesus says “… Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.…” When we look at Christ (through the eyes of faith of course), we see everything there is to see of God. When we listen to Christ with believing ears, we hear all there is to hear about God

Jesus asked the question. Those who knew him best have given us a clear and unequivocal answer in the pages of the New Testament. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Ω

what Christ has done in our place.

We project our own failures in love onto God. We are unconvinced of the nature of his love toward us in Christ Jesus. We imagine God as peevish, grim, irritable, and ready to take off the tops of our heads at the slightest infraction. We call ourselves Chris-tians, but act as though we are skep-tics. As John MacArthur has said, we think of God as “the Cosmic Killjoy.” Or as a being so dark and mysterious in his ways that harsh events are the cryptic means by which he tries to tell us something. As though God has trouble communicating! Beloved, we too often fail to bask in the constant sunshine of God’s eternal disposition of grace and mercy toward us because our own hearts are still so suspect, and because even in the church, we have been taught to relate to the Father only on the level of performance. If we do not do everything just right, God will not love us. He will hit us. Hard. Out of nowhere, with no warning, he will break out against us in a fi t of rage against sins we are unaware of committing. This kind of thinking is forged in hearts and minds that try to interact with God as though the cross had never happened, as though Jesus had never died, and as though we are not truly reconciled to him in faith. As though our Christianity is tenta-tive and subject to revocation at any time. As though God does not really like or love us, as individuals, but only grudgingly for Christ’s sake. As though it was not God the Father who sent the Son to die for our sins, but it was Jesus, like a loose cannon on the deck, who just jumped in between us. As though he functions as a divine ref-eree to prevent Andre the Giant from crushing paralyzed fl eas. Beloved, it is not so!

Worldliness suspects God on some level, and thus suspects everyone else in the process. Isn’t it amazing that we can be so sure about what is in an-

Ferguson—Continued from page 16 other person’s heart? How can we see every slightly wicked motive in them? The Word of God says that we cannot even understand the depths of our own hearts because of how deceptively wicked they are.

Jer. 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

I have never met a murmurer who was not operating, at least in some fashion, on the basis of having as-signed wicked motives to others. And in the worst cases—to God himself. If not directly, then by implication.

A worldly mindset moans about the impediments to our serving God well. Impediments that we perceive as located outside ourselves.

A worldly mindset imagines a hopelessness of circumstance that al-lows us to disobey what we know God commands.

But above all, a worldly mindset produces grumblers and murmurers who pretend to know the dark motives of others—and sometimes even proj-ect such motives on to God himself.

This is worldliness. It is the foun-tain of discontent. It is the seed of judgmentalism and censoriousness. It ruins churches. It destroys lives. It challenges all true unity of the Spirit. It is proud and arrogant. It sets up self as god—the judge, jury and execu-tioner. It is sin.

Before we close, we must briefl y look at God’s response to murmuring. Verses 25-27 contain a sober warning. Hear what God has said:

They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wil-derness, and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands. Ω

Vaninger—Continued from page 5


is good for the elect people and their eternal home. All springs from his own deeds of righteousness, all the good done is for the people. Can any-thing equal being taken from the mire of sin, set upon the narrow way to walk where the nail scarred footprints of the one anointed in righteousness go?

I want to close without comment with a passage from Daniel 7. “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fi ery fl ame, its wheels a burning fi re; a fi ery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thou-sand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed” (7:9, 10, 13, 14). Ω

adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fa-ther. (Gal 4:4-6, KJV)

We will unpack these verses in a later article. For now, notice two things in verse 5. (1) Paul does not say “to redeem them,” but “to redeem them that were under the law.” Paul refers to Jewish believers under the Old Covenant. (2) Paul does not say, “that we might be saved,” but “that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Paul is not is not talking about becoming a member of the family of God or being converted. He is talk-ing about the changed status of Old Covenant believers. Their status has been raised from that of children to that of adult sonship. Paul is talking about the dismissal of the pedagogue, or the freedom from the law’s func-tioning as a pedagogue. Think back to the analogy. The boy who had been under the supervision of the peda-gogue had always been a member of the family. It was that familial stand-ing that provided for the pedagogue. The neighbor’s son was not under the supervision of the same pedagogue. The son did not become a member of

Reisinger—Continued from page 17 McMillan—Continued from page 12the family when the pedagogue was dismissed. In the same way, a Jew-ish believer did not become a child of God when the law was dismissed. He or she was already a member of God’s household. That is why he or she was under the supervision of the law. The neighboring Gentiles were not under that same supervision. When the time was right, the immature son (the Jew-ish believer) received the status of full sonship with all of the adult privileges that go with that status. “The “adop-tion of sons” in Paul’s theology is not the sonship of salvation; it is the status of New Covenant believers. We will say more about this later.

In our next article, we will look at the phrase “baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27) and consider its implications. One of the most important things to remember from our study of law in Galatians is that Paul bases everything he teaches about freedom on the truth of justifi cation by faith alone. We must understand and protect this great doctrine at all costs. When we fi ght all attempts to add anything to the gospel of free justifi cation, we fi ght for the glory of Christ realized in the New Covenant, and for our own eternal well-being, also realized in the New Covenant. Ω

Sound of Grace:I know that, whatsoever God do-eth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. The Father‛s adopted child, a member of Christ‛s body, a temple of the Holy Spirit. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? This new relationship was ordained before the foundation of the world, and though experiential in time, will never grow old, boring, outdated or unsatisfying, to the

praise of the Glory of His Grace.In Christ by Divine Mercy and Choice

EH

[The following letter came with an order for 400 tracts, ed.]I am going to fulfi ll a lifelong dream this summer—a 40000 mile road trip. When I travel I like to leave tracts in the motel Bibles and phone books and one for the maid with a dollar or two tip.Spread the Word.

JEO

John:You are in our prayers—we miss seeing you and hearing your teach-ing.Love in His name,

P and R A

Just a small donation for many years of Christian service to a grateful pilgrim.

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Full Academic Resident Program Enrollment for

Academic Year 2008-2009Providence Theological Seminary (PTS) is unabashedly committed to the gospel

of Christ and doctrinally to New Covenant Theology, the Doctrines of Grace and Baptist Ecclesiology. Evening classes are designed to facilitate work and family. Required courses

in the Program of Instruction (POI), including OT Hebrew and NT Greek, are repeated on a

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Churches and pastors holding to the doctrinal distinctives of PTS are encouraged to

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