Page 309 - Through New Eyes

NOTES TO PAGES 259-269 311

Chapter 18 – The New World
1. Theologians sometimes use “Old Covenant” to refer to the Mosaic covenant.
There is truth to this in that the Mosaic covenant published most fully the dis-
tinctive character of the Adamic covenant under curse. Yet, ultimately, the Old
Covenant is the covenant of the original garden of Eden. Ultimately there are
two covenants, Old and New. There are two Adams, Adam and Jesus. There
are two heavens and earth, the first in Adam and the second in Christ. See my
discussion of this in Jordan, The Law of the Covenant: An Exposition of Exodus 21-23
(Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1984), pp. 196-198.
2. On this see Vern S. Poythress, Understanding the Law of Moses (forthcoming),
Appendix: “Does the Greek Word Pleroo sometimes mean ‘Confirm’?”.
3. In my book The Law of the Couenant (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Eco-
nomics, 1984), I took a different view of these verses, arguing that the passing of
the heavens and earth is the end of the physical world, and that Christians are
still supposed to keep the “fundamental principles” of the jots and tittles. I find
that this interpretation, though it has weighty advocates, simply will not stand
up in the light of the work presented in the present book as a whole. Thus, I
must differ with so fine a work as John Murray, Principles of Condud (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), pp. 149ff. Murray simply does not take sufficient ac-
count of the redemptive historical setting of this passage, though his ethical ex-
hortations are surely invaluable all the same. Let me direct the reader to an
older work, equal] y Reformed and profound, that sets out what I now take to
be the correct view of the passage: John Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord
Jesm Chrid, 3 vols. (London: Banner of Truth Trust, [1852] 1967) 1:171-174.
4. In non-Christian thought, including that of some liberal and “neo-orthodox”
theologians, a paradox is a real contradiction that expresses a contradiction in
“ultimate reality.” This is not the Christian view. There is no contradiction in
God, but God sometimes presents us with contradictions in order to goad us to
wisdom.
5. Matthew 16:19 says “whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in
heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven.” These future passives have the force of commands: Be sure you don’t
loose anything on earth unless you know it has already been loosed in heaven.
And how shall we know? By the Scriptures.
6. The book of Revelation portrays the world-shaking power of church prayer and
discipline. See James B. Jordan, Revelation Made Practical, a set of six tapes with
a thirty-seven-page syllabus, available from Biblical Horizons, P. O. Box
132011, Tyler, TX 75713.
7. Remans 12:1. Baptism washes us and makes us clean sacrifices. Then, week by
week as “we eat the body and drink the blood” of Christ, we are transformed
into the image of His sacrificial life and resurrected power. Also, week by week
the sword of His Word sacrifices and resurrects us (Hebrews 4:12-13).
8. Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel ofJohn, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zonder-
van, 1945) 3:273.
9. According to John 20:7, the head cloth in which Jesus had been wrapped was
separate from the linen wrappings of the body. This shows that Jesus had sim-
ply passed through them without undoing them, It is also possible, however, to
correlate this with the fact that the Tabernacle was real] y two tents. The veil be-
tween the Holy Place (body) and the Most Holy (head, heart) acted to form two
tents.