The New Covenant as it
applies to Individual Members of the Hebrew Race
For what has been observed so far it
seems that the implementation of the New Covenant for the Hebrew nation as a
whole awaits a future day when they will be brought to acknowledge Jesus as
Messiah and King. How can it be implemented for individuals? It is Peter that
began the process. This was to be expected – for he had been specially selected
for that ministry. The record of his commissioning is in Matthew chapter 16. It
took place when Peter himself was finally and completely convinced of the
Messianic claims of Jesus. He confessed - “You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son
of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16) These titles encompass the person and
work of the incarnate God. Jesus indicated this was to be the foundation for a
new order, a collective of people with the same conviction, that Jesus is both Messiah
and Son of God. “Blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to
you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates
of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17-19)
Those that have the same conviction
and confession as Peter will be called out to be a new entity, the ‘ekklesia’,
the called out ones, the Church. Since the ‘ekklesia’, the Church, is here
spoken of as a building, the analogy is continued by the use of the image of ‘keys’.
Peter is considered to be the steward with the keys to the building. His
ministry, recorded by Luke in the book of Acts, includes those occasions when
he opened the door to the kingdom of heaven and admitted Messianic believers
into the Church.
The Introduction of
the new ‘house rules’ that controlled entry and membership of the Church.
To facilitate this change to the
implementation of the New Covenant, Peter is given authority to bind and loose.
Within Jewish culture these words are understood to mean forbid and permit. The
terms binding and loosing were in regular use in rabbinic
canon-law. They represented the legislative and judicial powers
of the rabbinic office. In the new age that was dawning, that is, the Church
age, these powers were granted by the head of the Church, the Messiah, first to
Peter, and later to the other apostles.[1]
These were the ones charged to advertise the new ‘house rules’ that were to be
in place in the new dispensation of grace. Holders of the apostolic office were
empowered to immediately offer the benefits of the New Covenant to those
individuals who qualified to enter the Church, that is, those individuals whose
confession of Jesus is that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. Once the door
had been opened, of course, others were permitted to enter, as long as it was
on the same basis – acceptance of the person and work of the Messiah.
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