A helpful and thought provoking letter from Pastor Moe Bergeron regarding the importance of acknowledging, understanding and embracing the role of the Spirit in the life of the New Covenant believer. As believers we are now under the New Covenant which is not of the letter but rather of the Spirit.
 
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Not Of The Letter
An Open Letter to advocates of NCT

Pastor Maurice Bergeron

 
For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Heb 6:4-6 ESV)
 
Within certain Reformed circles, especially Reformed Baptist circles there is a continuing theological discussion focusing on a greater understanding of the New Covenant established by Christ. Within the larger discussion is to be found dialog over the role of Old Covenant Law. The participants can be said to have a single objective and it is to answer this one question: What role does the Mosaic Law play in the life of the New Covenant saint? The answer to this question has evaded even the most erudite theologians alive today. Partial continuity or a radical discontinuity of the Mosaic Law remains the chief focus of those engaged in this dialog. There is little disagreement if we say we are persuaded that all of the Holy Scriptures, both old and new (2Ti 3:16-17), have a continuing role to play in the New Covenant era. Disagreement enters when we question what specific laws of the Old Testament scriptures, and in particular those of the Mosaic Covenant, remain binding on the conscience of the New Covenant saint (Rom 6:14, Gal 3:10). Those involved in this discussion know all too well how the question continues to seek the elusive answer.

We are convinced the issues of law and grace as set before today’s community of believers were not in any sense as problematic to the early church as they are today (Gal 3:3). When Paul addressed issues of Law and Grace, Old and New Covenants, as he did in his letter to the churches in Rome and Galatia, he had no need to speak in terms that required his readers to own academic degrees from a seminary. They were viewed as qualified to understand what Paul wrote without being doctors of the law (Rom 8:3-4). The recipients of his letters were ordinary believers who were not only familiar with the issues as presented, (Rom 1:7; Gal 1:2), they actually understood Paul’s answer.
In the early years of the church the two major covenants were revealed by the Scriptures as the Sinai Covenant and as the New Covenant of Christ through His Spirit. These covenants were not defined by some theological system that arrived upon the scene hundreds of years later (Gal 4:21-31). We believe the Scriptures continue to serve the people of God now just as they did in the earliest days of the church. If we would but hear them (Heb 4:10,11)!
It is our belief that all involved in this growing discussion are sincerely seeking to know the mind of God. As observers and participants of the ongoing dialog we have come to the conclusion that a new paradigm or a revision is needed in our approach to the issues of  (1)  continuity and discontinuity, and (2) law and grace.  We are going to go out on a limb and seriously suggest that the theologians within the ranks of those who advocate NCT may be asking the wrong question. The question as it is framed today is, "What OT laws have application within the New Covenant" serves the interest of those critics who espouse the use of the Mosaic Law for Sanctification. We believe there is a much better, and more Biblically correct question to submit to the community. It is derived from the following passage taken from Paul’s first letter to the saints of Corinth.
 
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us,
but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers
of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life. 2Co 3:5-6 ESV
 
To make our point we will divide our passage in this manner:
(1)    Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us,
(2)   but our sufficiency is from God.
(3)   who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,
(5)   not of the letter
(6)   but of the Spirit.
(7)   For the letter kills.
(8)   but the Spirit gives life.

    God has set forth in his Word the formulation for understanding much more than just how the two covenants relate to one another as written word. He has accurately defined the substance of the two covenants as they are to be understood by the New Covenant community.
Note the contrast:
  • The first covenant consists of the LETTER
  • and the second consists of the SPIRIT .
    It’s to our shame this vital God given contrast and its substance remains absent in the ongoing dialog for it is within the contrast of LETTER and SPIRIT that the answer to our critics lies, even though it is much more than the formulation of a simple reply to our critics. Within the text resides a right understanding of the two major covenants. It’s God’s understanding of the covenants and it is dynamite. The seasoned among us know that up until now the growing New Covenant Theology community has contributed endless propaganda (both profitable and less so) towards the continuing relevance of the LETTER. The LETTER COVENANT is external and by itself is powerless to cut or change the hearts of its hearers and readers. Unlike the LETTER COVENANT the SPIRIT COVENANT accomplishes what the LETTER COVENANT could not do. The SPIRIT COVENANT gives life and empowerment.
    There is another question we must consider. Of what covenant are we ministers? Are you a minister of the LETTER or the SPIRIT? This question is for those of our number who (at least theoretically) do nothing more than debate the usefulness of the LETTER covenant and have never seriously considered the SPIRIT covenant. We need to ask ourselves why this is so? Is it too mystical for us to handle? If New Covenant Theology fails at this point then it is not Christ focused Biblical Theology. If we are to present God’s more perfect way of sanctification then it is incumbent upon us as ministers of the New Covenant to understand and teach the Covenant of the SPIRIT. We will conclude this communication to you by encouraging you to listen to the Apostle Paul as has reveals to the saints in Rome the good news of the SPIRIT dynamic for holy living at work in them. Let his words be an example for us to follow as we seek to remove the weighty burden of the LETTER covenant from the backs of His New Covenant saints.
 
Rom 8:2-17 ESV  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  (3)  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (5)  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  (6)  To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  (7)  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  (8)  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  (9)  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  (10)  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  (11)  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.  (12)  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  (13)  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  (14)  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  (15)  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"  (16)  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  (17)  and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
 
  In Christ our Lord,
         Moe

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Isaiah 42:6, 49:8