In my preceding post we discussed how the New Covenant made the Old Covenant obsolete. This post will discuss overcoming unrecognized religious bondage.

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Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:34-36]

My preceding post of November 1, THE OLD COVENANT IS OBSOLETE AND NO LONGER APPLIES, is a prerequisite to this one and is filled with much explanatory Scripture so for those of you who have yet to read it I suggest you do so. There are already some excellent comments there as well. Delving into this subject is necessary because many Christians still do not know that the Old Covenant is no longer in effect. The New Covenant superseded it and became the legal spiritual covenant of real Christianity two millennia ago. In this post I will address why there remains so much unclear thinking on this subject to begin with and why many Christians are unaware of such an otherwise plain Scriptural fact. 

SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES

This should not even be an issue. But it is. Why? It is very simple. Christians in general, over many centuries, have been subjected to false doctrine. This was no different before there was any Christianity because Hebrew religious teachers engaged in the exact practice. Not all, of course, but the majority. How do we know this? Because it was the majority that got it wrong, so to speak. And how do we know that? Because the Old Testament writings tell us exactly that, over and over and over. If the people were being taught correctly such massive spiritual blindness and bondage would not have occurred. It was in part why God raised up and sent forth so many prophets (His spokesmen) in the effort to bring correction by speaking truth.

Now, it cannot be that people in general are so ignorant and unaware naturally that they would fall into such religious slavery but it can certainly be that people are subjected to bad teachers and bad teachings, and when this happens to most then it is the majority that falls victim to false doctrines. But how does that happen? How does the majority allow itself to become such a victim? Could it be because such bad teachers are often also domineering authoritarians who desire and allow their own presence to be felt and become dominant rather than allowing for the presence of the Lord? These two, then—bad teaching and authoritarianism—usually go together.

Such is otherwise easily proven because if they were right and their teachings proved beneficial, they would need no strong authoritarian stances, domineering attitudes, the unfounded insistence on being in charge, deceptive three-dimensional formats, hierarchical positions, and distinctive attire which people in general are conditioned to respect. The Lord Jesus had none of that, of course, and was the most humble Man of all time. By His perfect example we know that His excellent perfect teaching aligns with the opposite of religious authoritarianism. The Lord surely had the highest authority in both heaven and earth but presented Himself in a way that He appeared as a simple obscure itinerant teacher. He obviously focused on His teachings, not Himself or any religious enterprise, and wanted His teachings and manner to be perfect so people could attain spiritual freedom. That was His overall priority.

Therefore, there is always the connection between bad teaching and authoritarianism because getting the teaching right is not their priority. Gaining and maintaining their authority and the perks thereof are their top priority. Serving money and not God is their top priority. The question, then, regards how the bad-teaching domineering authoritarians gained their authority and power in the first place.

A MAN AND A MISSION

One may recall that a long time ago in an Egypt far, far away God needed a very powerful man to lead His people out of bondage and into freedom. If there was any better way to do this the Lord would have employed it but there was not. Over the intervening years since the passing of Jacob and Joseph and the rise of a new power in Egypt that had little knowledge or respect of these men and the former times of God’s blessing, the Israelites had lost contact with Him due to their ever-increasing sin. Because His people lost touch with God He required a human being to work through to regain communication. The man God would choose had to be properly prepared, instructed, and anointed to lead His people back to God for their own benefit and blessing. The nation of Israel had to be saved.

At a time in Egypt when His people had been so subjected to increasing servitude, oppression, persecution, and bad conduct by (guess who) evil authoritarians in power (however, of the political/state variety), the great many descendants of Jacob/Israel had actually fallen so far they had become mere slaves. These unfortunates were therefore necessarily forced into spending the bulk of their energy and lives obeying such evil authoritarians in order to survive, because to do otherwise would not only make things worse for them it could get them killed. This meant they were no longer serving God.

Funny how that happens. Do you realize there is not one New Testament verse of Scripture that ever allows for a Christian to stop serving the Lord Jesus in order to serve a Christian authoritarian? Yet, the majority of Christians on the planet do that very thing. How does one suppose that happened? When did it start? When did Christian authoritarians gain power over the majority of Christians and then create an entirely new non-New Testament paradigm to both maintain their power and authority and also train ongoing new generations of religious authoritarians regardless of denomination to continue the process apparently without so much as a wait-a-second… from the majority in any congregation anywhere?

Well, the bigger question than when is why. We can know the when. The when is out there. It can be fully researched for those who are willing to put in the work. But again, the bigger question is why? It is the same question one must ask of ancient Israelites. Why did they allow themselves to come under the control and power of religious authoritarian dictators who led them away from God? Who convinced them that such was God’s will?

Well, again, one must return to the days of Moses for the appropriate answer. According to my much-researched understanding, Moses was born in 1526BC. He was raised in a well-to-do Egyptian royal home in which he was treated like a prince (because he was one though he possessed no ancestral link to Egyptian royalty and was actually a Hebrew in good standing). God put him there for a reason. Remember, God did not suddenly have a thought one day that His people needed a deliverer so He looked around and found Moses who appeared, surprisingly, quite qualified to that point for the assignment. No, God actually knew the future (surprise surprise) and planned for the arrival of a non-existent deliverer long before such a man was ever born. This means Moses was born with a specific and quite significant destiny.

Men with such destinies never have it easy. They are often in a conflict with their own desires of the life they want to live. Something keeps calling them back to adhere to a different path. It is obviously difficult for the Lord to continue impressing upon such a man the way he should go as opposed to any other path which is always self-serving and of no eternal use. Such men eventually understand they must sacrifice their own desires and wishes and surrender to something much bigger than themselves whatever it may cost them. And, of course, it will cost them everything.

Regarding the times then, God knew exactly what would eventually happen to the descendants of Jacob/Israel during their Egyptian sojourn. He knew they would drift away from Him. He knew they would go into great sin. He knew this would make them subject to being treated badly by people outside their culture, taken advantage of, eventually used by evil authoritarians for their own purposes, and thus be in need of deliverance. In other words, His people were in dire straits but due only to their insistence upon their own self will and resultant sins which caused their falling away from God.

This means that without the Lord’s intervention of raising up a man from this sinful wayward nation of Israelites it would never and could never be saved. Someone had to overcome the evil authoritarians. Someone had to quit being a mere slave under the power of illicit authority and give himself completely to God and make Him his sole authority. It is the only way to attain spiritual freedom. Therefore, before Israel was made free Moses would have to be made free.

It is exactly the same with Christians. One can always tell when Christians have been taken over by authoritarians. Rather than serve the Lord Jesus they serve those who gained power in His place. Their Christian culture, beliefs, and practices no longer resemble the culture, beliefs, and practices of the original Christians in the first century AD—those who set the precedent and became the prototype—but are a reflection instead of the dominant ruling religious class they subjected themselves to and the false doctrines and teachings such people espouse.

The nation of Israel fell into this trap and thus demanded the deliverance of God through Moses. This great deliverance was illustrated magnificently in the final happening of the Exodus when the deep Sea was parted in two and allowed the nation access out of geographic slavery. They left Egypt (a spiritual type of “the world”) forever. This happened when Moses was eighty years old in 1446BC. Through another forty years of instruction in the wilderness, the Lord eventually gave the Israelites access to their long promised Promised Land and created a nation subjected only to His authority and no other. In this they were delivered from slavery of every kind which included religious slavery under false religious authoritarians.

Well, for a while anyway. Then they lost it. Then the Lord delivered them and regained authority. Then they fell away again. This process continued throughout the period of the Judges. It later became a farce when the nation rejected God as its King and insisted on a mere man (King Saul). The cycle continued repeating until there was no longer any possible deliverance. The people simply said forget it. They grew tired of the process. As a result the majority quit on God completely and that was that. The Lord had to give them a divorce (Jeremiah 3:8). And into the void of no God in their lives came, you guessed it—evil religious authoritarians who set up a completely different system than God’s and subjected the nation to religious slavery. Because this Israelite religious class, composed primarily of Levites and priests out of position, gained such great power, they held the people in great fear and spiritual ignorance. This is how false religions have always ruled and it was no different with the ancient Israelites. The religionists used fear very effectively and also instituted a policy of ignorance of spiritual things so the people would be none the wiser.

REJECTING THE LORD JESUS

It is no different with Christians. The vast majority of Christians would much rather be ruled by mere religious human authoritarians rather than the Lord Jesus. However, they are not aware that they have also been subjected to spiritual ignorance through the process of their betters either hiding, rewriting, or shading Scriptural truth so the authority of the Lord Jesus would not be reestablished. As a perfect case in point, the early Roman Catholic Church effectively banned the New Testament from the people at large which continued for a millennium (the Dark Ages). 

Hence, the Old Covenant which the Lord Jesus made obsolete is resurrected and comes to life again, as does religious slavery, and the people are none the wiser. This means such Christians actually reject the New Covenant and make it obsolete in their own lives. Why would otherwise intelligent people do this? Why would someone turn things upside down and make the New Covenant personally obsolete?

This is not a hard question. It is for the same reason the ancient Israelites failed. You see, when one loves another, it is the love that makes the difference in that without the love there would be no relationship. With God, it is a covenant of love. Other relationships are also based on love in its various forms and these are also effective covenants. We have different kinds of love but the principle is the same. The Greek language used in the writing of the New Testament refers to four basic kinds of love using four different words. Only two of these appear in the NT: The first is agape which represents the highest and most pure love and may be termed spiritual love. The other is philia and refers to close friendship or brotherly love. The other two Greek words for love are eros (marriage) and storge (family). Though all real love is good, one’s love for God is highest (agape) according to the New Testament and must be placed first since it is foundational. When the nation of Israel fell out of love with God it began its downward spiral. When one marriage partner falls out of love with the other it violates and often ends the marriage covenant. The same is true in family or friendship. The love must be mutual and must be maintained.

Why then do Christians often place a lesser form of love above their love for the Lord Jesus? Why do many Christians, likely the majority, love and support their leaders (pastors, ministers, reverends, priests, etc.) more than the Lord? Why do many Christians place the love of spouse, family, and friends above the Lord? Whatever the reason may be, it causes one to have the wrong priorities and this in turn causes one who should not be in the highest place of spiritual authority in one’s life to attain it and thus gain strong religious influence and primacy which effectively replaces the authority of the Lord Jesus.

We have ample verses of New Testament Scripture stating clearly that the Lord Jesus must always possess this highest place of importance in a Christian’s life and this is proven by a Christian placing His teachings first and foremost which always displaces the lesser or false teachings of substitute and counterfeit “ministers.” If the Lord Jesus is not first then a Christian will certainly adopt teachings other than His even though they may appear to be “Christian” in origin and practice.

The cure to overcoming such bondage is the same as it always was. We need a deliverer. We need someone raised up by God sent forth to free us from slavery. The worst form of slavery is religious slavery. It is due to unknowingly allowing a counterfeit replacement for the Lord. Within Christianity, specifically, there are those “leaders” who look the part, act the part, use New Covenant Scripture, and even honor the teachings of the Lord Jesus but only on a limited basis and in a superficial manner. Whether these people do this willfully and deceitfully (many do) or are themselves deceived, the effect is the same. The Old Covenant, otherwise dead and gone with the wind, is raised again like the rotting rusting hulk of the Titanic. The newness of the New is overcome by the oldness of the Old.

And through this process there is found the same deception that eventually destroyed the ancient nation of Israel forever. It is specter of sinful human will wanting the desires of the flesh and the treasure of this fallen world rather than the purity and power of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and eternal life. A very sad and evil extension of this is the creation of a false Christianity, in many forms, which draws in the unsuspecting and convinces them they are in a good place under good leaders within a good construct when the opposite is often true. Such people are cut off from the full truth and never seek the full truth of the New Covenant since they have been convinced they already have it. They will also embrace sin since there is little or no voice against it which assists in causing further deception and distance from the only possible cure. The writer of the Book of Hebrews stated it this way:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? [Hebrews 10:26-29]

It is only by embracing the fullness of the New Covenant that one attains actual spiritual freedom and maintains it. It is not only the cure for sin but also the one remedy for spiritual deception.

A NEW AND LIVING WAY

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful… [Hebrews 10:19-23] [1]

© 2023 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.

[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.