P.T. Letter Ritchie Way June 2009

THE TWO COVENANTS
Dear Ritchie
Would you please give me your assessment of the enclosed material on the two Covenants?
Kind regards
P. T.

Hi P
While the author is a committed Christian he teaches that there was a radical change-over between the Old and New Covenants at the Last Supper. According to him, before the Last Supper people were saved under the Old Covenant, but after the Last Supper people were saved under the New Covenant. This view creates a serious problem with regard to Jesus’ teachings, because, according to the author, they were all given under the Old Covenant and are therefore not applicable to Christians living under the New Covenant.
The difference between the Covenants, however, isn’t a vertical time line, as the author teaches; it is a horizontal faith line that separates those who believe that the root of their salvation is the Lord (New Covenant), from those who believe that the root of their salvation is their observance of the law and its rituals (Old Covenant).
We know this understanding of the Covenants is correct, because, according to Jeremiah 31:31-34, the New Covenant was to have a fulfilment among the Jews who returned from captivity in Babylon five hundred and thirty years before Christ. This kainos (renewed) Covenant was the Covenant that Jesus ratified by his death and resurrection.
The people under the Old Covenant believed they were God’s people because they had the Law in the heart of their temple; the Lord corrected them by telling them that they would be his people only if they had the Law in the heart of their body temples (Heb. 8:10), which is only possible for those who have ‘the Lord our righteousness’ dwelling within. To underline the importance of this truth, the Lord got rid of the old Law written on stone tablets forever in Jeremiah’s day; it was never seen again.
Ritchie.