Living Letters
W. Carl Ketcherside
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A great deal of confusion exists in our world because men confuse the covenants, or testaments, of God with the scriptures written to a covenant people. God exhibited himself as a covenant-making God, having chosen this method by which to establish relationship with the rational beings of his creation who inhabit the earth. He announced numerous covenants, but there were two of such importance as to be designated the first and second testaments, or the old and new covenants.
Both of these were designed to create a people for God, and both began with a signal deliverance, the first from a nation which had its own gods; the second from the shackles of sin. The initial one was made at Mount Sinai in Arabia, the second at Mount Sion, a symbolic name indicative of the heavenly Jerusalem which represents a redeemed state rather than a geographical site.
Both were written covenants, but neither was written by man. The first was written upon two tablets of stone, by the finger of God; the second upon fleshy tables of the heart by the Holy Spirit. There was no difference in the writing instrument, because "the finger of God" is simply another designation for the Spirit. When the Egyptian magicians failed to reproduce a miracle by their enchantments, they said, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). Matthew says that Jesus attributed his miracles to the Spirit of God (12:28), Luke says he attributed them to the finger of God (11:20). Both were talking about the same event.
Not one word of the new testament was written with pen and ink, as Paul points out in a wonderful chapter dealing specifically in a contrast between what he designates "the old testament" and "the new testament" (2 Corinthians 3:3).
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It is that very same confidence which makes me dare to say that there are not twenty-seven books in the new testament. The new covenant is not a written code as was the old, because "a written code leads only to death, it is the Spirit alone which can give life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). The new testament is the glorious new agreement, announced by God, and inscribed on the sensitized heart of every recipient of grace. It is personal, enabling us to "reflect like mirrors the glory of the Lord."
This glorious relationship is actually a new birth, introducing us into a new humanity through a process of inner transformation. It cannot be described in mere words. Peter says, "At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even though he brings you a joy that words cannot express and which has in it a hint of the glories of heaven; and all the time you are receiving the result of your faith in him--the salvation of your souls."
Then what is the purpose of the new covenant scriptures? What end is served by the epistles of Paul, Peter, James and Jude? The answer is quite simple, but it depends upon the metaphorical relationship which you have in mind at the time.
If you think of the disciples of Christ as citizens of a kingdom, the epistles are directives from the king providing instructions for the development of responsible citizenship. But there is as much difference between the new covenant and these epistles as there is between the oath of allegiance before a federal judge which changes one from alien status and a textbook on civics.
If you think of disciples as members of a family, the epistles are love letters from the Father, regulating conduct and behavior. But there is as much difference between the new covenant and these epistles as there is between the orgasm in which one is begotten and the letters he receives when he is away at college.
If you think of the saints as soldiers, the epistles are the manual of arms, but there is as much difference between the new covenant and these epistles as there is between the swearing-in ceremony and the daily training schedule or the orders of the day.
In short, our relationship with God is created not by conformity to a written code or a legalistic system, but by personal surrender to the claims of Jesus as heralded in a message called "the Good News." The agreement is carved into the heart by the Spirit, so that each of us is a letter written by the finger of God. God's new testament is not a compilation of letters bound together in a book, but a collection of ransomed lives bound together in a body!
The apostle says it better than I can. "You are an open letter about Christ which we ourselves have written, not with pen and ink but with the Spirit of the living God. Our message has been engraved not in stone, but in living men and women." It is my prayer that we may be always reverent, righteous and readable!