This book has a two-fold purpose. First, it a response to a series of challenges to New Covenant Theology that Dr. Richard Barcellos offered in his book titled In Defense of the Decalogue. The challenges were made to anyone holding to New Covenant Theology in general and to me personally.
Dr. Barcellos’s book is written in an irenic spirit and will prove to be very helpful in the present discussion in Reformed circles on the relationship of the Old and New Covenants. I sincerely hope this response is just as irenic and helpful.
The second purpose of this book is to set forth what New Covenant Theology actually does believe in the eight areas where Barcellos states his objections.
The titles of both books tell the whole story. Barcellos is defending the view that the Decalogue, or “words of the covenant,” written on the stone tablets of the covenant (Exodus 34:27, 28) are the highest expression of the Law of God ever given. We believe the New Covenant revelation given to us by Christ and His apostles is a higher and more demanding law than anything given through Moses. Simply stated, this book asserts that Jesus is a new and higher Lawgiver who replaces Moses in exactly the same way he replaces Aaron as high priest. Barcellos insists that Christ is the greatest exegete of the Law of God given to Moses but in no sense gives any higher or more demanding law than Moses. We believe Christ is not only a Lawgiver but he is the full and final Lawgiver who supersedes and replaces all others.

This is the eighteenth title in print by John G. Reisinger. He lives in New York with his wife Rosemary.

Paperback 357 pages

Abraham’s Four Seeds is a biblical examination of the presuppositions of Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism. Pastor, evangelist, and author John G. Reisinger demonstrates how a correct understanding of Abraham’s seeds is key to harmonizing Scripture.....

Our Lord used the phrase, But I say unto you, six times in the Sermon on the Mount. The meaning of this phrase as he used it in Matthew 5 is the subject of disagreement among many sincere Christians. Evangelical theologians generally adopt one of two possible interpretations: One, Christ is contrasting his teaching with Moses’ teaching; or two, Christ is giving the true meaning of Moses and contrasting that with the distortions of Moses by the Pharisees. Which of these positions is correct? The answer we accept directly affects our entire system of theology.
This is no ivory tower debate among academics far removed from the life of the church and individual Christians. Its crucial point addresses the identity and content of the final authority over the Christian’s conscience in matters of morality.
The thesis of this book is one of the foundation stones of a theological position called New Covenant Theology. We believe that our Lord is more than a scribe or rabbi who merely interprets Moses; he is a true prophet. He is “that Prophet,” promised as the new lawgiver who would replace Moses (Deut. 18:15-19). In the Sermon on the Mount, the new lawgiver contrasts his teaching, based on the gracious covenant he established, with the teaching of Moses, based on a covenant of law.
As believers living under the New Covenant, we must look to Jesus Christ as the final revelation of God’s character and will, and allow him alone to set the standards that mark the life of the people of God. We must take seriously the Father’s message, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7).

Tablets of Stone and the History of Redemption is a study of the part the Ten Commandments play in God’s plan of salvation by grace through faith as that plan unfolds in the Old Testament Scriptures, moves into the New Testament Scriptures, and finally re....

Biblical law revealed in the Old Testament canon of the law and the prophets is both absolute and covenantal. It is absolute law in the sense that no part of the whole Old Testament Scripture shall escape being fulfilled by Christ. As covenant law every “jot and tittle” of the law or the prophets will be brought to full realization in the Messianic mission of Christ. This occurs under the New Covenant administration of God’s eternal purpose. Mathew 5:17-20 is the central passage when Jesus declares His covenantal abrogation of the law or the prophets and where He affirms the absolute and unchanging standard of ethical righteousness for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, later New Testament teaching and application of biblical law and ethics for the New Covenant believer stems from and builds upon the contextual exegesis of Matthew 5:17-20. The book provides an exegetical answer to the teaching of Theonomy on the law of God with application to the traditional understanding of the text by Reformed Theology.

Gary D. Long is the Faculty President of Providence Theological Seminary in Colorado Springs, CO (www.ptsco.org) and the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Ministries. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri (B.S. in Agriculture, 1959) and from Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M. in Systematic Theology, 1969; Th.D. in Historical Theology, 1972). He worked as a church planter while serving in the U.S. Army and retired as a Field Artillery Colonel in 1989. His published books include Definite Atonement, The Doctrine of Salvation and Contest: Evangelical Views on the Millennium Examined.

Paperback 102 pages

The author sees no purpose, benefit, or comfort in a redemption that does not redeem, a propitiation that does not propitiate, a reconciliation that does not reconcile; neither does he have any faith in a hypothetical salvation for hypothetical believers. Rather, he has faith in a redemption which infallibly secures the salvation of each and everyone for whom it was designed, namely, “the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52), which is such a multitude of sinners declared righteous that no man can number them. God forbid, therefore, “that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).

Gary D. Long is Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Ministries, Inc. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri (B.S. in Agriculture 1959) and from Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M. in Systematic Theology, 1969; Th.D. in Historical Theology, 1972). He is a retired U.S. Army Field Artillery Colonel having 22 years of active duty service. His published theological works include Context! Evangelical view on the Millennium Examined, Biblical Law and Ethics, The Christian Sabbath-Lord’s Day Controversy and The Doctrine of Salvation.

Wells does a fine job of analyzing some of the historical and broadly theological issues, while Zaspel concentrates on a careful exegesis of key New Testament texts—especially the pivotal Matthew 5:17-20. The combination is impressive and persuasive. … ....

“What are Christians to obey? The Bible is the simple answer of course, but upon further investigation, things are not quite that sim-ple. For example, I am sure we have all heard a Christian condemning and calling homosexuality an abomination based upon Leviti-cus 18:22 or 20:13. However, if one looks on the next page at Leviticus 19:27, should we not also conclude that we should not get haircuts or shave? Why is one normative, but not the other?”
“Christianity, after all, is not simply a code of ethics. It is not just a moral system. Being a Christian is not simply trying to ‘do what Jesus did.’ No, the foundation of the Christian life is the gospel of Jesus Christ. All else flows from the good news of Christ crucified for sinners. As Michael Horton writes, ‘It is the Good News that yields good works. Salvation is not the prize for our obedience but the source.’”
“The law of Christ cannot be reduced to a list of do’s and don’ts. It certainly involves specific things that can be ‘listed’ as right or wrong, but it is far more than a list like the ten words written on stone. The law of Christ is love, but it is also the example of Christ. Everything Christ taught is part of his law, but so is everything his apostles taught a vital part of his law. Christ himself is his law per-sonified. The whole of Scripture, as interpreted through the lens of Christ as the new covenant prophet, priest, and king, is a part of the law of Christ.”
May the Sovereign Lord be pleased to bless you, as you read and contemplate the glory of the new covenant in Christ, to see Christ more fully and more gloriously, as the full and final authoritative Word by whom God has spoken in these last days.

Blake White is a seminary student enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louis-ville, KY, and a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church. He lives in Louisville with his wife Alicia and son Josiah. Blake is also the author of The Newness of the New Covenant.

Studies in Galatians is not, nor does it claim to be, a verse-by-verse exegetical commentary even though it does comment on nearly every verse in Galatians. It is not aimed at professional theologians but at ”the man in the pew.” This in no way means that technical books written by theologians are not just as vital as books like Studies in Galatians. It does mean that books such as this are also vital. This book attempts to bring the message of Galatians into the twenty-first century and show how Paul’s message to the Galatians is a great help in dealing with some of the identical questions and problems that Paul faced in the first century.
John Reisinger is an evangelist, theologian, and conference speaker. He is well-known for a unique ability to make profound and deep truths simple and understandable. He likes to say, “God has called us to feed sheep, not giraffes.” One has remarked, “John puts the cookies on the lower shelf where all can reach them.” Unfortunately, this has a down side. No one will read Studies in Galatians and say, “I do not know what he meant.” The reader will clearly understand what the author means and will either love it or strongly disagree.
The one concept that readers will truly grasp is that “walking in the Spirit” and “not being under the law, but under grace” is the same thing. One will learn that biblical, victorious living begins with the biblical theology of “free from the law.”
Studies in Galatians is unashamedly rooted in a commitment to the Doctrines of Grace and New Covenant Theology.