Hello Green - the 10C are part of BOTH. What is the difference between the Old and the New? This was hash out long ago and the false view dominates contrary to EGW. One covenant proclaims the ten commandments as ten promises, the other as ten fear-laden negative burdens. Hm - who here preaches fear? GREEN! Ok - that is Old Covenant theology. Green, does this sound like something you might say? "Everything That the Lord says, we will do"? Old Covenant.

Old Covenant is the promise of the people to do everything right so they can be saved.

The New Covenant is God’s promise of blessings and salvation in Christ.

Fear, our promises which are ropes of sand, are all OLD Covenant. Why are most stuck in the Old Covenant?

I agree that it is both, but it may be for a different reason.

Perfect obedience cannot be a requirement for us to participate in the New Covenant. We do not have it in us to obey perfectly. If we had to perfectly obey first, we would all be lost.

However, the New Covenant requires perfect obedience from Jesus. His obedience is both imputed and imparted to us. His obedience meets the standard.

Jeremiah 31:33 (KJV) But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

God promises to put the law in our hearts. Why? Because it is not naturally there. We are, by nature, children of wrath and enmity to God. And without supernatural grace, we cannot counteract it, nor do we want to. Any good thing we do is initiated by God. God's promise and power come first.

Is there nothing for us to do? Why are not all people saved? We must be His people - we must *accept* His promises. He promises to write His law in our hearts and minds, but we don't have to accept the promise. But if we reject that part, we also reject the rest of the package, including eternal life.

Look at the promises of the New Covenant. They all come from God. While both covenants are based on the law, the key distinction is who is promising to keep the law. In the OC, man promises to keep the law and God blesses. In the NC, God promises to cause us to walk in His statutes and we accept.

Just think about it for a moment. Can anyone truly obey - actions, words, thougts, and feelings - unless God writes His law in the heart and mind first? Our Christless offerings, even if they are called righteous, are filthy rags.
But once we accept God's offer, Christ's righteousnes shines through us.

Yes, we must choose. But the choice is to receive Him as our Lamb, rather than choosing to offer Him our best fruits.

Arnold,

Think about it...can God write His law on our heart and mind without an action of repentance on our part first? Choosing Jesus is our first work. Without this, God cannot give us His righteousness. We receive His grace through faith, and faith itself involves an action on our part. Without this action, God cannot give us His righteousness.

I recommend Christ's Object Lessons, chapter 28: "The Reward of Grace."

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

God brought them to Sinai; He manifested His glory; He gave them His law, with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience: “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ... ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Exodus 19:5, 6. The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God’s law; and they readily entered into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” Exodus 24:7. They had witnessed the proclamation of the law in awful majesty, and had trembled with terror before the mount; and yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant. – {PP 371.4}

The terms of the “old covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man do, he shall even live in them” (Ezekiel 20:11; Leviticus 18:5); but “cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” Deuteronomy 27:26. The “new covenant” was established upon “better promises”—the promise of forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God to renew the heart and bring it into harmony with the principles of God’s law. “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.... I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33, 34. – {PP 372.1}

The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the Spirit.” Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared of Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. And when among men He said, “The Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” John 8:29. – {PP 372.2}

That is all true. But all of that combined still does not meet the requirements of the law. Now, as in Eden, the requirement is perfect obedience. But sinful man cannot give it. Only Jesus has the required perfect obedience.

If righteousness could be found in the law, then we would not need grace.

I agree with you.

Since God never spoke to either of us by vision, we know what we know through reading the Bible for ourselves and listening to others. For many, the Pope is authoritative, for you Ellen White, and for the rest some other person(s). I fall in the latter category. I strongly believe that through discussion, without fear or favour, I could learn quite a lot not only by sharing but by receiving as well.

The culture of open discussion is unique in the West. The Eastern Islamic republics are no different to Catholic Europe before the Renaissance: they bluntly and blindly hold fast to their singular authority and will not discuss anything except it were based on their fundamental source of doctrine. The Catholics, further, are like a two-horned beast: having both the Bible and their Magisterium upon the head. Sometimes, I think that SDA have reached that point of no return. No longer is "sola scriptura" sacrosanct, but this: "reading both in the writings of EGW and Scripture."

Do you know what this means, "wisdom is justified by her children"? Jesus said so. (Mat. 11:19) There is an equivalent expression He repeated at the end of every message to the Church in Rev. 2-3, "He who has ears to hear," he said, "let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

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Arnold, perhaps we are in agreement then. It is certainly only Jesus who saves us. The best analogy I can think of at the moment is that of Moses in holding up his arms.



This is our example. God did not hold up Moses' arms. That was Moses' part. We must also do likewise. When we have done all we can, God steps in and does the rest.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Yes, we do as much as we can, not as a vain attempt to gain any credit, but as a loving response to what Jesus has already done for us. We faithfully and diligently do our part knowing that it is exceedingly small, yet crucial to the process.

The full story tells us that even Moses was not able to hold up his hands. He needed help for that.

"look and live".