Lifted Veil

Sanctification by Grace
or . . . How to Sweat for Jesus with Gospel Power
(Series: Doctrines that make a difference)
Overhead (pdf) (ppt)

What Does Sin Do? (Series: Whiter than Snow)
Overhead (pdf) (ppt)

New Covenant Privileges. (Series: Christ’s Glorious Covenant)

New Covenant Power. (Series: Christ’s Glorious Covenant)

Notes / Overheads for Christ’s Glorious Covenant Series

Dear friends,

Introducing NewCovenantTheology.org. - my latest team project.  I’ve set it up and have invited a number of key New Covenant Theology (NCT) representatives to be added as editors to the list of contributors.

Goal:  An NCT hub to act as a portal to key NCT information and sites.  Continue Reading »

Here is the audio and associated notes from the Think Tank in New York.

To download any files right click on the associated text and select ‘Save Target As . . .’

Session 1 NCT Journey (Joe Krygier)
  Part 1 of 1

Session 2  Holy Spirit Dynamics in the New Covenant Community
(Moe Bergeron)
  Part 1 of 3
  Part 2 of 3
  Part 3 of 3 
 
  Notes

Session 3 A Re-examination of Atonement in the New Covenant
(Reid Ferguson)
  Part 1 of 2
  Part 2 of 2

  Notes

Session 4  Christ as a Covenant for the People (Chad Bresson)
  Part 1 of 2
  Part 2 of 2

  Notes

Session 5 A New Covenant Approach to Biblical Counseling (Joe Krygier)
  Part 1 of 1

  Notes

Session 6  The Future of NCT (Ed Trefzger)
  Part 1 of 1

Master Files:  http://www.fbceny.org/audio/cherith/

New Covenant Person - Joe KrygierNew Covenant Person - Joe Krygier

New Covenant Power - Shane BeckerNew Covenant Power - Shane Becker

Below are some selective quotes from Prof. Dennis M. Swanson, from The Masters Seminary, critiquing New Covenant Theology (NCT) and its adherents.  Prof. Swanson accurately states, NCT . . .

” . . . is firmly within the Evangelical Tradition . . . they love the Scripture, they believe in inerrancy, they love the Lord Jesus Christ, they teach justification by faith, they teach . . . many of the things we would affirm here. “

“. . . is characterised by a diligent and sincere effort to understand and apply the Scripture consistently . . . it is clear that these are folks who honour the word of God and want to understand it and they want to apply it rightly to their lives and to the lives of the people they are leading”.

” . . . is a movement dedicated to the local church. It is a local church movement. It is a group that is probably more concerned about their local churches than they are even propagating their system . . .”

“. . . is a grass roots movement. It is a movement that has come not from the academy, not from noted theological writers, not from seminaries, and filtered down to the churches. It is a movement that has started among Pastors in churches . . .”

“There is also no unified eschatology among New Covenant Theologians.  In New Covenant Theology premillennialism,  postmillennialism and amillennialism are all represented  . . . the only unanimity they have in their eschatology is . . . they are unified in rejecting a future for the nation of Israel as a distinct entity . . . What they have done with eschatology is simply render it unimportant . . . Corporate eschatology, in relation to the millennium, rapture, and so on, those kinds of questions are just not important (to them). . . it is simply not important. It is a non-issue. It is nothing to get bothered about. It is a minor and unimportant issue in terms of studies.”

“It is clear this movement does represent an honest attempt to examine the Scripture and apply it to the believer.  Their ministries are geared around the local church,  helping individual believers, evangelism . . . they are very, very strong in Bible study.”

And my personal favourites:

“Perhaps most importantly . . . New Covenant Theology is a theology of the Internet. . . absent the internet, and absent the connectivity of people being able to have web pages and email and communicate back and forth, it is likely that New Covenant Theology simply would not exist. It would exist in individual minds and individual churches scattered who never connect.”  (Yes!!)

“All of their (NCT related) published works have come from their own ministry based publishing efforts.”

“In Depth Studies began as a campus ministry in Arizona state.  This is the ministry of Lehrer, Volker and Feather. It is a web based umbrella sort of ministry . . . It is very well done. It is a good site, they take very good care of it, they are very savvy in their use of the internet and their material there is easily accessible and for the most part its free.”
(And well done to Jaime Adams, the webmaster of IDS.org!!).

Thank you Prof Swanson for your fair, kind, encouraging and accurate words regarding NCT in the above quotes.

The Masters Seminary (TMS) is currently critiquing New Covenant Theology (NCT) in their current faculty lecture series.  These are available for download from their site: Download Link.

Also be sure to keep up with the In Depth Studies (IDS) ongoing response by Steve Lehrer on their blog:

http://idsblog.org/

As I am associate editor of SoloChristo.com the comments by Prof. Dennis M. Swanson, regarding the growth of NCT being largely attributed to the internet, makes me do the happy dance. SoloChristo.com was the flagship of the NCT internet web sites.  Full credit to senior editor Dale LaVoie who early recognised the significance of the internet medium for the spread of the great gospel truths expounded in NCT, who built the site from scratch and launched it back in 1994.  I can take no credit for the early impact of SoloChristo.com but am privileged to be part of this great project in taking over the running of the site and keeping its impact going.  The story of how I came to take over this great work can be found here.

Full credit also to Jaime Adams who has built the IDS.org site and blog and keeps it going. The quality of IDS.org sets a new standard in web site excellence that the rest of us webmasters in the NCT community struggle to keep up with. Prof. Dennis M. Swanson also mentioned the quality of this site and its ongoing impact.  It was a real joy for me to meet Jaime last year and discuss options for working together.

And I must also mention Moe Bergeron, who has single-handedly launched the following:

• SoundofGrace.com, the web ministry of John Reisinger.
• Piper Notes, the original John Piper library web site launching his ministry on the internet.
• Christway Media, for Donald A. Carson and others.
• Biblical Studies, the web ministry of Fred Zaspel.
• The Grizzly Bible Institute web site.
• The Sound of Grace Discussion Group, which continues to be a key web forum where NCT representatives sharpen one another.

Moe has become a wonderful friend and role model for me.  In addition to his web work Moe has maintained a full time secular job as well as maintained a Pastorate.

There are others who I haven’t mentioned because I don’t know who they are although I am very familiar with their web sites and the authors they support.  The work of an NCT webmaster is largely ‘behind the scenes’ and not recognised although the impact has been significant.  Maintaining the prominent NCT web ministries come down to only a handful of people.  For the most part we don’t have paid webmasters or faculty staff to do this work.  It is a labor of love to our glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

A friend at church asked me how I would describe New Covenant Theology. Below is my reply.

–//–

Regarding your question about the characteristics of New Covenant Theology.
 
I would describe New Covenant Theology in terms of ‘flavour’ and ‘distinctives’.
 
1. Flavour
 
You are familiar with the flavour.  It is the same flavour of Christ Community Church (NB: Church we both attend) . That is, seeing the totality of God’s redemptive program culminating in the person and work of Jesus Christ and living daily in the joy and grace of that reality.  For the most part, when I think of NCT, I think of people, churches, and theology that use the entire Bible to help us “look unto Jesus”, “preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified” and display Christ’s work through “Moses and all the Prophets”. (Heb 12:2, 1 Cor 2:2, Luke 24:13-27).  NCT is centred upon the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
 
This article describes NCT with an emphasis upon that ‘flavour’:  http://liftedveil.org/theology/nct/MurrayMcLellan_GloryofGodinFaceofJesus.html
 
2. Distinctives
 
The distinctives, like Covenant Theology & Dispensationalism, have some variance among the NCT individuals.  However, I believe this article summarises the key distinctives well: http://liftedveil.org/theology/nct/GaryLong_NewCovenantTheologyDistinctives.html
 
Your brother in Christ, Our Covenant-
 
Shane.
 
“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
   I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
   a light for the nations” Isaiah 42:6
 
“Thus says the LORD:
‘In a time of favor I have answered you;
   in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
   as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
   to apportion the desolate heritages,’ ” Isaiah 49:8
 
 
 

Continue Reading »

"Since there is but one covenant, and the Scriptures speak of it as though it were two, we must consider in what particulars the old and new covenants agree and in what they differ." Dr. Zacharias Ursinus

Continue Reading »

A copy of my email to “New Focus” regarding their latest attack on ‘New Covenant Theology’ (NCT).
____

Dear brothers in Christ,

I have a few queries about George Ella’s remark regarding New Covenant Theology.

1. Has he actually read Wells and Zaspel’s book or is he basing his criticisms on material written by others? If he has not read the book word for word does he intend on doing so?

2. Has he sought to dialogue with Zaspel and/or Wells? If not, would Ella be willing to dialogue with some NCT theologians regarding his views? Would he be willing to open himself up to some loving theological dialogue and cross examination in an open forum or via email?

3. Some questions in regard to the following Ella quote:

“Our Reformers distinguished between error and heresy. The former was a mere misunderstanding of the gospel here and there; the latter was a total rejection of the gospel and the bringing in of a new religion. New Covenant Theology is thus most definitely a heresy. The ‘new’ in it is a new law and a new gospel with a new ecclesiology, a new Christology and a new doctrine of the Word of God. It has a new view of the natures of both man and God and a new view of God’s dealings with man. In the following months, I hope to show in detail what are the basic tenets of this false religion and how we can armour ourselves against it.”

Do you (or Ella) believe that those who hold to NCT are unbelievers going to hell as implied by such vitriolic and misleading statements regarding NCT such as “heresy” (as opposed to “error”), “total rejection of the gospel”, “a new gospel”, “new Christology”, “false religion”, etc.

If you/he does believe that we, who hold to NCT, are all a bunch of hell bound rebels, does he also believe that the foundation for our faith is false? I remind you that those who hold to NCT also hold Calvinistic views of salvation. We have likewise repented for our sins and trusted in Jesus Christ alone: as the only Son of God, our Lord, King, Saviour and treasure. Are we not saved on this basis? We all confess him as Lord, forsake our sin, hold to the infallibility of Scripture, etc.

In my case I was converted and much later embraced Calvinistic teaching. Later again I embraced Presbyterianism as taught by the Westminster Confession of Faith. Many years later I changed my understanding of how the covenants fit together (i.e. embraced NCT). At this point did I enter a “false religion”? So, if we are unbelievers, as implied, do you or Ella believe it is not enough to hold these basics of Christianity to be saved? Is there more that we need to embrace? Must we agree point for point with Mr Ella over additional theological truths in order to be saved? (If so, you’ve added an awful lot of propositional truths to the gospel required to be embraced in order to be saved. Such a view can not be substantiated by Scripture!)

If I have misunderstood you or Ella, and you are not implying that we are all hell bound, may I suggest you tone down your language and speak more accurately concerning our beliefs. Please stick to the points of difference and stop making sweeping statements like you have so far. Broad brush, unqualified and misleading statements are not helpful. That is, saying we embrace a “new gospel with a new ecclesiology, a new Christology and a new doctrine of the Word of God. It has a new view of the natures of both man and God and a new view of God’s dealings with man.”, etc. Unqualified these overstatements appear designed to make us appear to hold views further divergent from the reformed faith than is correct. Please exercise more care in the future.

4. Do you consider the following to be “law”?
“Let your speech always, be gracious” (Col 4:6a)
“Rather, *speaking the truth in love*, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” Eph 4:15.

Your brother in Christ-
Shane Becker.