Jesus spoke of a New Covenant in Luke 22:20. We have reviewed the provisions of various covenants prior to Christ. What is the substance of this new one? In essence, when He comes to you, calls you, and you accept His offer of grace, you are accepting a covenant. You are agreeing to something. What are the provisions and requirements?
Galatians 2:20 -- You have committed yourself to dying on the Cross with Him, for one thing. Some readers may be old enough to remember the rock opera, Jesus Christ, Superstar. The writers admitted an essential disbelief in Christ, and the whole work was a bit of mockery of the Gospel, told from a viewpoint sympathetic to Judas. The mocking songs from the rock opera did get a few ideas right, accidentally. Here's one: a line from the song where Jesus sorrows over being rejected by the leadership in Jerusalem:
To conquer death
You only have to die.
You only have to die.
Paul began his outline of the faith in Galatians 2:20 with:
"I have been crucified with Christ."
Paul tells us elsewhere about our old fallen nature, calling it "Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:22ff). Adam is the part of us that we must nail to the Cross of Jesus. The problem is, Adam won't stay dead. In fact, more than just nailing him back up every day, it is more like every few minutes. The battle never stops, because Adams struggles to come down from the Cross.
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
Jesus is reborn in our flesh. Much is made of this concept in a novel written and published in 1896. You and I aren't likely to agree with some of his notions about what constitutes a sin in Charles Sheldon's book, In His Steps. But the main point of the book is well taken: What would Jesus be like if He had been born in my place? If today, He were to take possession of my body, in my circumstances, what would He do? Discerning this is what we are about.
"And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith..."
We are living in faith, in commitment. We have wholly surrendered ourselves to His sole ownership, His command. In the calm assurance that what we cannot grasp is nonetheless true (Hebrews 11:1), we take whatever action obviously flows from that. It is not a matter of having faith that what arises from our actions will meet our personal tests of logic, but a matter of certainty that whatever does result from faithful action will be right -- God makes it so. Further, we assume that all we need for that course of action will be supplied at the proper time, knowing that it will quite likely not be our chosen timing.
"...faith in the Son of God, who delivered Himself up for me."
In this New Covenant with Jesus, you agree to self-death. What's the promise from Him? His Holy Spirit. In other words: "If you commit to serving Me, I will make it possible." The stamp of God's promise is the willingness of Jesus to die for us. Keeping His promise was worth that much to God.
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Ed Hurst
15 June 2003, revised 06 November 2003
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