Quotes from John G. Reisinger

some people may have difficulty applying these facts to their theological system. For instance, if a person says, "I believe the Ten Commandments are the rule of life for a Christian today," that person should realize that he is also saying, "I believe the words or terms of the covenant given to Israel and kept in the ark of the covenant are the Christian's rule of life for today.

The Ten Commandments, considered as a covenant document, have been replaced by the New Covenant. The individual commandments stand, fall, or are changed according to Christ's treatment of them. Nine of them are clearly repeated, with some changes, under the laws given to the New Covenant people of God in the New Testament Scriptures and therefore are just as binding today as when given at Sinai.

To think of the Ten Commandments as something separate from the 'words of the covenant' written on the tablets of stone is to think non-biblically. Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to think of the Ten Commandments in terms of the eternal, unchanging moral law.

The foundation of the old covenant was based on law and said "do or die." The new covenant is based on grace and says, "It is finished, only believe." That is not a better version of the same covenant; that is a radical and new covenant based on different and better promises.

The tablets of stone, upon which God wrote the Ten Commandments, were not only a distinct and summary covenant document; they were the specific legal covenant document that established Israel as a special nation before God at Mount Sinai.

At the very moment that the veil was rent, Israel's national status and privileges were ended,14 along with everything that was connected to that special covenant relationship. Aaron's priesthood was finished, the sacrifices were done, the tabernacle was no longer holy, and the tables of the covenant (Ten Commandments) in the ark of the covenant were no longer in force as the covenant foundation of God's relationship to Israel.

1) Did God specifically promise to make a new covenant, or did he promise a new administration of the same covenant? (2) Was the Old Covenant made with Israel at Sinai or was it made with Adam in the Garden? What does Scripture say? The great difference between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles was that of 'having the law' as a covenant and the gospel as a promise, as opposed to 'not having the law' and being without a covenant or hope

Does or does not the Word of God, in both the Old Testament Scriptures (Jer. 31) and the New Testament Scriptures (Heb. 8), clearly state in plain words that (1) there is indeed both a New and an Old Covenant, and further, that (2) the New Covenant has replaced and totally done away with the Old Covenant (Heb. 8:6-13)?

We are saying that a new lawgiver has superceded and gone far beyond what Moses and his law could ever do. We refuse to belittle Moses in order to establish Christ. However, we also refuse to demean Christ by making him an equal moral authority with Moses. We do not believe that Christ came merely to interpret and approve Moses. Christ has given us new laws based entirely on grace. Christ is the new lawgiver over the true house of God.

Our Lord never says, or in any way implies, that Moses was wrong. He does contrast his teaching with that of Moses and clearly claims the law of his kingdom of grace is a higher law than that given to Moses for Israel.

No one questions that the laws God gave to Moses to govern the nation of Israel are "holy, righteous and good" (Rom. 7:12). Those laws fulfill God's primary intention to convict a rebellious nation of its guilt and push them to believe the gospel promised to Abraham. Those same laws are not high enough to govern saints of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

The laws that God gave to hard-hearted sinners under the old covenant in order to convict those sinners of their need of grace are not of the same nature as the laws given to regenerate saints with new hearts under the new covenant. The laws, or rules, that govern a child of God living under grace will always make higher demands than the law or rules that govern hard

The laws that God gave to hard-hearted sinners under the old covenant in order to convict those sinners of their need of grace are not of the same nature as the laws given to regenerate saints with new hearts under the new covenant. The laws, or rules, that govern a child of God living under grace will always make higher demands than the law or rules that govern hard-hearted sinners living under a covenant of law.8

I no longer say that the Ten Commandments/tablets of stone are, one on one, the Old, or first, Covenant. I now say that the Ten Commandments/tables of stone are the summary document of the Old Covenant.

When we think of the Old Covenant, there are two ideas, both of which must be held at the same time. (1) We must see that the Ten Commandments are the basic covenant document that established Israel as a theocratic nation. At the same time, (2) we must see that all of the laws, holy days, priesthood and sacrifices became part of the 'Old Covenant.' Scripture, in Exodus 24:1-8 and other places, clearly makes this distinction.

The nation of Israel was not the 'Body of Christ,' even though the Body of Christ is indeed the true 'Israel of God.

In the New Testament Scriptures, Christ and his apostles deliver the laws that are necessary to govern a community based on grace. The full and final authority over the church's life and worship is not Moses and the laws of the earthly theocracy. Her full and final authority is the Lord Jesus Christ, the new lawgiver who replaces Moses.

We continue to emphasize that our position is that the Ten Commandments were done away only when considered as a covenant document. We are not saying that the principles expressed in the demands of the individual commandments have ceased. Our Lord Jesus Christ retains the principles that underlie commandments regardless of where those commandments are found in the Old Testament Scriptures.

We believe the Ten Commandments, as interpreted and applied by our Lord in his teaching and in the Holy Spirit-inspired New Covenant Scriptures, are a very vital part of our rule of life. The entire Bible, all sixty-six books, as it is interpreted through the lens of the New Covenant Scriptures, is our rule of life.

When Israel is treated as exactly analogous with the body of Christ, then Moses must be not only equated with Christ as an equal lawgiver, Moses actually must be made the greater lawgiver and Christ merely the greatest interpreter of Moses, because Moses came first.

Christians are not under the authority of Moses as their lawgiver.29 They are under the authority of Christ, the new lawgiver. Christians are not under the Old Covenant and do not use it to define their moral absolutes any more than they use it to define their diet. They are under the New Covenant, and it defines everything in their life and worship either by clear precept or personal application of a principle.

Every attempt to produce holy living by applying Moses to the conscience is an attempt to give Moses a job God never intended him to have. It also denies the true bridegroom his full rights as the new husband.

The sabbath was the sign of the covenant that God made with Israel and therefore it had to be part of the covenant document of which it was the sign.

We must see that Moses is finished as a lawgiver just as Aaron is finished as a priest. Aaron was replaced with a new high priest who is greater and better (Heb. 6:20-8:6). Moses has been replaced with a new lawgiver who is greater and better. The covenant of law that God gave through Moses has been replaced with a new covenant that is greater and better, simply because the old one was obsolete (Heb. 8:6-13).