Covenant Class, Lesson 10-C

The Covenant Relationship Lesson Ten (part three)

Salvation:  We have seen that entrance into the New Covenant results not merely from obedience, but from the formation of a “saving” relationship.  We are thus “saved” from our sins, all of the relational failures toward God and toward other people, over which God watches and judges.  Salvation from sin releases us from the consequences of sin bound up in God’s judgment, condemnation, and punishment.  We recall that covenant-relationships, based on mutual faithfulness (Hebrew chesed), result in blessings.  Covenants also allow for forgiveness as the partners extend “grace” to one another.  Salvation, forgiveness, and grace are key features of the NC. 

Thus, we agree with Mont W. Smith when he writes, “The link [between baptism and remission of sin] was covenantal.”  This link is demonstrated dramatically in two Scriptures that suggest a common purpose for both the shedding of Jesus’ blood and baptism—that purpose is the forgiveness of sins:

--“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”  (Matt. 26:28).

--“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’”  (Acts 2:38).

Thus, baptism effects the saving purpose for which Jesus shed His blood on the Cross.  One ancient Christian wrote:  “Blessed are those who go down into the water with their hopes set on the Cross” (from The Epistle of Barnabas—not part of the Bible).  We see the same connection in the conversion stories in The Acts of the Apostles.

Church membership:  Those entering the NC were bound together in a spiritual fellowship (or sharing) called “the church.”  At the start, every member was a Jewish Christian.  The Book of Acts shows the power behind the Gospel as it jumps across the social and religious boundaries that were deeply entrenched in Judaism.  With each new “wall” that was crossed, new territory was claimed for the church and her Lord.  Again, the conversion stories show that baptism is the critical moment that changes the convert from being “one of them” to becoming “one of us.”  Thus we read in Acts, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).  Likewise, Paul would write:  “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26-28).  We might say that the church was the “covenant community” of the NC; just as the nation of Israel was of the OC.

The Lord’s Supper:  We read in the NT that the church assembled weekly to share the Lord’s Supper or “communion” (means sharing or fellowship, see 1 Cor. 10:16).  Elements of bread and grape were taken as representations of Jesus’s body and blood, sacrificed upon the Cross.  Since each member had a share in that event by means of their entrance into the NC at baptism, they had a share together and viewed themselves collectively as the “body of Christ.”  Paul wrote:  “in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Rom. 12:5).  This became the weekly “covenant meal” for Christians belonging to the NC much as the annual “Passover” had been for Jews under the OC.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper:  Both of these events draw meaning from the Cross.  Notice that while the Lord’s Supper is a regular, weekly experience, baptism only is experienced once.  Sociologists observe that human societies use certain “rituals” and “ceremonies” to accomplish social functions.  It is interesting to note their observations when they apply these categories to baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  Mark McVann writes:

“Weddings are occasions of great importance.  During them, a woman and a man publicly enter into a new social relationship; they have crossed a line that cannot be crossed again.  With that crossing, they assume a new identity with new rights and obligations.  No matter what the future holds, neither of them can ever be ‘single’ in the sense the word had before they married.  A fundamental life boundary has been crossed, and its mark on personal and communal experience is virtually indelible.  The wedding, which is a ritual of status transformation or ‘boundary crossing,’ signals to the members of the group that this man and woman have validly assumed the new role of married man and woman.

“Weddings, baptisms, graduations, and ordinations are familiar examples of status transformation in our society.  We all have felt the power and solemnity they express.  They have a peculiar ability to move us, and at the same time, to tell us who we are.  Rituals help us build and sustain our identities:  Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish; married, divorced or widowed; professor, doctor, or lawyer.  They assign us a location in cultural space, and designate a status for us which the members of society recognize as proper to us.  They help us make sense of society, and help society to make sense of us.”  (bold highlites were added)

Thus, baptism is identified in sociological terms as a “status transformation ritual.”  We would agree, noting that the transformation of status coincides with entrance into covenant.  In contrast, the Lord’s Supper is seen as a “ceremony.”  Note the following table for the difference between a ritual and a ceremony:

Category:	Ritual (baptism)	Ceremony (communion)
Frequency	Once, not repeated	Regular, repeated
Calendar	Unpredictable, as needed	Predictable, planned
Time focus	Present-to-future	Past-to-present
Purpose	Reversal/transformation of status	Confirmation of status
Relation to status quo	Transformed	Maintained
Group area focus	Perimeter boundary	Inside
Impact	Change	Stability

Thus, the baptism and communion stand together in much the same relationship as a wedding followed by anniversaries.  There is one “ritual” followed by many “ceremonies.”  Marriage and Christianity are both covenants (Eph. 5:21-33).

Baptism and the Holy Spirit:  What a powerful event!  John the Baptist immerses those confessing their sins in a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).  Jesus likewise came to John, and it was obvious He needed no forgiveness in His sinless life.  And as He was immersed in River Jordan, the Heavens were opened and the Spirit descended upon Jesus in bodily form, as a dove.  John adds that it remained upon Him (1:32).

Then, after Jesus had been crucified and resurrected, the Holy Spirit was outpoured and the apostles began baptizing again.  This time, baptism took on new meanings drawn from the Cross.  Again, sins were forgiven.  But now there was an additional “grace-gift”—the Holy Spirit was given to Christians as a baptismal gift very similar to the Spirit’s descent upon Jesus at baptism (Acts 2:38, 5:32, 19:1-6; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 3:2-4; Eph. 1:13; 2 Thess. 2:13; Titus 3:5).

Baptism also gave Christians a new existence referred to as “in Christ”.  They viewed their immersion as a burial into death—not just into death, but into the very death of Jesus.  They considered themselves “crucified with Him.”  The bonds of covenant so join Christian and Christ, that in some sense He had them with Him while He hung upon the cross and likewise they participated with Jesus in His resurrection.  This does not work chronologically, since none were yet Christians when Jesus was crucified.  But entrance into the sphere of covenant retroactively enters Christians into the Cross-death and life-resurrection experiences of Jesus because they are “in Him.”

And, it can be said that Jesus lives “in” Christians.  The close union of the Trinity of the “Godhead”—Father God, Jesus the Son, and Holy Spirit—results in similar expressions as each may be said to “indwell” the Christian.  Or, any One of the Three may be said to indwell the Christian through the presence of another.  Especially, it is the Spirit that is the indwelling presence of God the Father and of Jesus (Romans 8:9-11; Eph. 2:22).  This mutual indwelling, of Christian-in-Christ and Christ-in-Christian, fulfills the “unity prayer” of Jesus in John 17. 

It is especially significant that the reception of the Spirit in baptism (first by Jesus and then by Christians who are baptized into Jesus) is considered an “anointing.”  The words “Christ” and “Messiah” mean “anointed one.”  It refers to the OT ritual whereby God marks His selection of a person to serve as prophet, priest, or king through the pouring of olive oil.  Jesus and Christians are marked as those selected of God, no longer with olive oil, but with the “pouring” of the Holy Spirit upon them.  This follows the “outpouring” of God’s Spirit on the first day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 1).  For this anointing, see Acts 10:38 and 2 Cor. 1:21-22 (also 1 John 2:20-27).

Another implication of indwelling is that Christians are seen as the new “temple” in which God actually dwells.  God/Jesus/Spirit indwell both Christians individually (1 Cor. 6:19) and indwell them collectively as a group (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22).  Thus, in both cases the Spirit indwells us “bodily”—first in our physical bodies individually and second in the church as the “body of Christ.”

When we view Christianity in terms of covenant, it will be seen that the bond between partners—Christians and God—achieves a greater level of intimacy than what was known in any of the other Biblical covenants.  The notions of oneness, mutual indwelling, and the baptismal reception of the Holy Spirit unify the covenant at the very deepest inner level of being.  Christians are joined to both God and to one another by the sharing of a common Spirit.

Covenant Class, Lesson 10-D

The Covenant Relationship Lesson Ten (part Four)

Blessings and Curses of the New Covenant:  As God’s ultimate and final covenant with humanity, the New Covenant abounds with both blessings and curses.  We will look at the ultimate forms of reward and punishment, but first a look at the immediate. 

“’I tell you the truth,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’”  (Mk. 10:29-31).

Immediate Blessings and Curses:  The focus will be on the blessings Christians receive as God’s NC partners in this life (and likely continue into eternity).

1. Fellowship—Christians are one with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (the Spirit is the immediate link, see 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1).  Their entire life experience is now shared with God, and His incredible attributes of love, faithfulness, power, wisdom, and riches of every kind are theirs.  Fellowship means sharing or participation.  Thus we share a oneness with God that even includes sharing in the sufferings of Jesus[1] (2 Cor. 1:5; Phil. 3:10), and this is considered a privilege (Acts 5:41; 1 Peter 4:13).  Fellowship also opens the Christian’s line of prayer to God, including perfect prayer translation by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26-27). 

The fellowship linking God and Christian also joins all members of the church (Acts 2:42; Gal. 2:9).  The blessings resulting from Christian fellowship are wide in scope and variety.  Fellowship is restricted exclusively to other Christians (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1) and it may be revoked from Christians who become heretical, sinful, immoral or divisive (Matt. 18:15-20; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Cor. 5:1-2, 11).  This loss and exclusion is definitely a “curse”!

2. “Grace-gifts”—These spiritual gifts are called “charisma(ta)” in Greek, drawn from the word for grace, “charis”.  Thus, we might call them grace-gifts and see them as expressions of God’s grace (thus, undeserved gifts).  Some of the grace-gifts (especially speaking in tongues and prophecy) confirm the truthfulness of the Gospel preaching (Acts 14:3; Rom. 15:18-20).  Although all grace-gifts are “supernatural” or “miraculous”, in that they are given by God from the supernatural realm, still some grace-gifts do not demonstrate supernatural, superhuman ability.  Lists of grace-gifts often include miraculous and non-miraculous gifts without distinction (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11).  The purpose of grace-gifts within the church (i.e. apart from the evangelistic purpose) is to enable the various members with differing abilities to function as a single, God-directed body through the Holy Spirit.

Some other important considerations:

a. Every Christian receives at least one gift (1 Cor. 12:7; Eph. 4:7-13). 

b. Since the lists of grace-gifts differ, we may assume that none of them lists all possible gifts.  There may be some gifts that appear on none of the lists.

c. Gifts that were “evidential” have ceased, since they were tied to the apostolic ministry, with the “laying on” of apostolic hands (Acts 8:17-18).  With the end of the apostolic age, the “revelatory” gifts (prophecy and inspiration) that produce “Scripture” have also ceased.

d. While some gifts are more valuable than others (1 Cor. 12:27-31; 14:1-5, 18), we are often poor judges of their relative value (1 Cor. 12:21-26).

e. Paul insists that LOVE is a greater attainment than any or all of the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 13).

3. Angels—Angels are supernatural beings sent by God to serve His purposes and His people (and His prospective people, see Cornelius in Acts 10) in the natural world (Heb. 1:14).  Sometimes they are visible, but we may encounter them without even recognizing their true identity (Matt. 18:10; Heb. 13:2).

4.  Relational blessings—these are too numerous to spell out here, but consider that the Christian receives love, hope, joy, peace, and comfort through struggles and hardships.  The Christian need never fear being totally alone.  Many of these blessings are touched-off in the profound experience of worship.  Beyond this, those taught of God to achieve success in relationships (especially covenant relating) may translate this success into other relationships:  marriage, parenting, church fellowship, etc.  We also are strengthened through instruction and wisdom when God speaks to us through the Scriptures, through reading, teaching, and in preaching.

5. A word on immediate curses.  Those who remain outside of covenant blessings may consider the losses of the above blessings as a curse.  We see the power of this loss in two other ways.  First, church discipline is administered with no other punishment than severed relationships, and with this a corresponding loss of blessings.[2]  Second, the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” on Pentecost should be considered a judgment that distinguishes unbeliever from Christian.  Curiously, while the focus of most judgments is on the negative side, (that is, the reception of punishment by the ungodly, while God’s people escape), the focus of this NT/NC judgment is on the positive side—the blessings borne by the Spirit exclusively to the children of God in Christ, while those outside go lacking.  This exclusion from blessing then goes to the heart of the “ultimate” blessings and curses to which we now turn.

Ultimate Blessings and Curses:  It may be simplest to continue the thought of the previous section, where the major immediate “curse” was simply missing out on the blessings received by Christians.  Now, as we look to the end of times when God’s final judgment is convened, the same curse applies: 

“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  (Matt. 8:11-12)

Yes, “outside” of Heaven is Hell, a place of eternal torment (Matt. 25:41, 46), but the greatest punishment will not be the sheer torment.  The worst punishment will be banishment and exclusion from God and from saved loved ones, with all hope gone for changing one’s mind.

1. Heaven--Ultimate blessings bring Heaven to mind, but it should be understood that the few passages that attempt to describe Heaven do not provide a detailed picture.  Instead, the limited treatment is merely suggestive, designed to whet the appetite of the imagination, as if to say, “It’s going to be awesome beyond words!”  And to reflect oppositely of Hell, the greatest blessings involve not WHAT is in Heaven, but WHO is in Heaven!  The greatest enjoyment will be relationships, first with God and then with Christian brothers and sisters.  The covenant built on faithfulness and love will continue to produce the fruit of successful, vital relationship. 

2. God’s approval—“Well done, good and faithful servant!” will be the delightful proclamation of our Lord for each of us.  Although we have this approval now, it will often have a too-good-to-be-true feel until we have passed the final test.  We have all felt the terrible burden of guilt and disapproval; in Heaven it will be finally lifted!  And we will not again lose God’s approval, since there will be no sin in Heaven.[3]

3. Reigning with Christ—Adam and Eve were intended to have “dominion”, but the sin experience led to domination by Satan instead.  There are powerful hints in Scripture that our role in Heaven among the redeemed will involve a recovery of this dominion, so that we reign with our Lord (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 3:21, 5:9-10, 20:4-6) and will also judge (1 Cor. 6:2).

4. A new body—Although our spirit is stripped from our body in death, we will not go bodiless, like sanctified ghosts, into the next life (2 Cor. 5:1-4).  At the end of all present things and the beginning of eternity, our bodies will be changed (1 Cor. 15:35-44).

5. A new purpose?  We can only speculate here, but we can say without doubt that everything in this life and in this world was, in some sense, preparatory for what follows.  Sin and suffering and death, enemies one and all, have served a purpose in these earthly realms of both testing and developing our souls.  We can see this not only in our individual life experiences, but in the purposes of God worked out in the total flow of redemptive history.  Adam and Eve, before the plunge into sin that engulfed the entire remaining history of humanity, were on the verge of a very different reality.  We can only imagine how different their existence if God had then been honored and Satan defeated from his first temptation.  But now at last, all who graduate will be gathered in eternity and we might guess that we will take up at the point before the great failure some purpose of God that will finally come to glorious fulfillment.

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[1] These sufferings do not include many of the incidental ways we suffer (such as health problems, or even catastrophes), although these sufferings stir dynamics in our spiritual life (thus, we do not even grieve as do unbelievers, see 1 Thess. 4:13).  Rather, the “sufferings of Christ” that we fellowship are those that come when we “pay the price” for decisions made to honor or obey the Lord.

[2] “The power of disFELLOWSHIP is in the FELLOWSHIP.”  The punishment will be perceived to be stronger if the loss of fellowship involves breaking especially dear and valuable relationships.

[3] From a website:  “The Bible describes heaven in great detail in Revelation chapters 21-22.  Nowhere in those chapters is the possibility of sin mentioned.  There will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4).  The sinful are not in heaven, but in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).  Nothing impure will ever enter heaven (Revelation 21:27).  Outside of heaven are those who sin (Revelation 22:15).  So, the answer is no, there will be no sin in heaven.”

Covenant Class, Lesson 10-E

 

The Covenant Relationship Lesson Ten (part five)

Relation of the New Covenant to the other covenants:  The older covenants—with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Levi, or David—sometimes continue in force even after the commencement of the New Covenant.  At other times, the New Covenant brings such a departure that the older covenant must be considered abolished, whether this means a fulfillment of the original, or instead leaves it a broken failure.

Covenant	Post-NC status	Reason
Noah	Continues	God’s promise stands
Abraham	Continues,fulfilled	Heirs:  Jesus and faithful
Moses	Abolished, fulfilled	Became obsolete
Levi	Abolished, unfulfilled	Resumption of Melchizedek priesthood
David	Continues, fulfilled	Jesus reigns eternally on David’s throne, King of kings and Lord of lords

 

Noah:  God’s covenant-promise and blessing was that the world would never again be a worldwide destruction of the world by means of flooding water.  Even for Christians of the NC age, the rainbow remains the covenant-sign of God’s gracious forbearance and restraint.  However, another destruction has been foretold—not by water again this time, but through the destructive element of fire (2 Peter 3:3-11).

Abraham:  God’s covenant-promises were given in variety and in great scope, and we noted in our study a “shadow” feature that often brings a dual fulfillment.  One fulfillment falls to Abraham’s physical descendants, and another to those who are his spiritual descendants because they share his faithfulness.  Paul speaks of Abraham’s descendants in three senses:

1.  physical offspring, marked by physical circumcision

2. spiritual offspring (Jewish or Christian), faith or “circumcision of the heart”

3. Jesus as the true and singular “seed” who inherits the Abrahamic blessing alone and exclusively (Gal. 3:15-29), yet shares this blessing with all who are “in Him.”  And these become “baptismally circumcised” through faith so as to remove them of their “flesh” (Col. 2:9-12).

Moses (the “Old Covenant”):  This is not an easy discussion!  Let’s first lay out some considerations:

1.  Jeremiah’s prophecy of the NC stresses contrast with and discontinuity from the OC (Jer. 31:34).  The New will not be like the Old, which Israel had broken.[1] 

2.  Jesus insisted that He came not to abolish, but to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17-20).  Since Jesus (and Paul) took issue with the Law, they faced suspicion, insinuation, or outright accusation that they were playing liberal with the Law, allowing or even encouraging immorality among God’s people.  However, both insist that their teaching is more stringent, not less. Jesus meant that He came to uphold the same ethical, moral, and holiness considerations that drive much of God’s Old Covenant Law; He certainly was not an “anything goes” teacher!  Thus, He would “fulfill” the true purpose of the Law (which actually had failed under the OC), as opposed to just “abolishing” the Law outright.  Thus, this saying does not rule out abolishing the OC, but merely insists on upholding its holiness and morality—even after the OC is abandoned.

3.  Jesus took away the Law, “nailing it to the Cross” (Col. 2:14)[2].  The difficulty here is deciding whether this marked the termination of the authority of the Law for everyone, or whether Jewish Christians who were “crucified with Christ” (as Paul declared of himself) thus experienced a “personal” end of the Law.  See Rom. 7:1-6, 8:1-4, 10      :4 and Gal. 2:19-20, 3:21-25.  In Paul’s thinking (see Col. 2:11-13), dying with Christ also brought the end of the “flesh” as the spiritual control of one’s life (the opposite of this was living by the Holy Spirit).  So, being baptized into Christ for a Jewish man may well have spelled the end of the Law’s condemning authority over him, but the Law may not yet have been abolished for everyone.

4.  Hebrews gives the most extensive treatment to the relationship of the two covenants—the New certainly is superseding the Old, but (at the time of writing, before 70 AD) it was not gone yet.  After quoting Jeremiah’s prophecy of a New Covenant, we read, “By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” (8:13).  By His appearing and death on the Cross, Jesus had made the OC obsolete—only a fool would consider the choice and opt to remain in the Old[3].  Still, the Old is not yet dead, but is “aging [and] will soon disappear.”[4]  This was written before 70 AD. 

5. Jesus forewarned of a final judgment against the nation of Israel (see Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21), including the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.  This judgment fell in 70 AD, and may be understood as God’s final dealings with Israel as His chosen nation.  One could even understand a judgment falling first on Pentecost (the “baptism in the Holy Spirit”) and lasting through the destruction of Jerusalem.  From Jesus’ Cross until 70 AD, both covenants were in force and overlapped for a generation.  Thus, from the time of John the Baptist until Jerusalem was destroyed, the Kingdom was preached with New Covenant implications, and this final generation of OC Jews was given opportunity to leave Judaism and to be baptized into Christ.

6.  The Twelve Apostles were promised to one day occupy “thrones” from which they would judge the nation of Israel (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:29-30).  Their role is apparently to distinguish between true and false Jews, based on their responsibility to follow God’s direction from OC to NC.  Paul’s long discussion of the distinction between true and false Jew in Romans 9-11, and his earlier discussion of spiritual failure among Jews (Rom. 2:17-29), indicate the lines of judgment.

Levi:  The priesthood had been given to the Aaronic clan of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 40:15; Num. 25:10-13; Neh. 13:29; Jer. 33:20-22), while the Levites were privileged to handle the sacred objects in Jewish religion.  As the OT era came to an end, God voiced His desire to continue the Levitical priesthood covenant, but noted serious lapses in faithfulness among priests (Mal. 2:1-9).  Yet this covenant of priesthood was considered broken and annulled, having failed its purpose.  God instead resumed the priesthood of Melchizedek in Jesus (Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1-17).  Also, the OC order of a representative, limited priesthood gave way to a “priesthood of all Christian believers” (1 Peter. 2:5, 9). 

David:  The dynasty of David was punished for faithlessness among the kings of David’s dynasty.  Still, God’s covenant with David continued and His faithfulness to the promise to an eternal dynasty remained true.  The punishment was severe, bringing Israel under the authority of a gentile, pagan throne for some six centuries.  Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and then Rome ruled over God’s people, but the promise remained.  Finally, Jesus was born the “king of the Jews”, the “son of David.”  After enduring the Cross and being resurrected, Jesus ascended into heaven and took his place on the throne of God (Acts 2:29-36).  Jesus now reigns not only over Israel, His reign far surpasses anything known by David and his dynasty—Jesus is now “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14, 19:16).

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1The obligations binding under the OC were binding ONLY upon those who were partners to this covenant—i.e. Jewish people!  So while a Jew converting to Christianity might question whether the Law retained continuing authority over him, this is a total non-issue for Gentiles who were never under the OC.

[2] Many commentators deny that “the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us” was actually the Law, suggesting instead that it is some record of our sins.  Of course, Seventh Day Adventists have a special contention here, not wanting to find anything that would abolish their Sabbath worship.  The parallel in Eph. 2:14-16, however, makes this identification with the Law certain.

[3] In Gal. 4:21-31, Paul allegorizes the OC as “Hagar” and the NC as “Sarah”, with the implication that the OC binds one in slavery while the NC in Christ brings liberation and freedom.  Earlier in the same epistle, Paul insisted that the true purpose of the Law was to be a “tutor” or “disciplinarian” providing guidance to Christ and make attachment to Him the obvious choice (3:21-29).

[4] This notion of the OC enduring even after the Cross is also found in 2 Cor. 3, where Paul insists on the greater glory of the NC, yet never actually declares the OC to have been abolished.  Instead, he refers to the OC as “that which fades away” (3:11).  It is fading, but apparently not gone yet.