THE COVENANT CODE STUDY 6
WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH ACTUALLY PRACTICED
THE REMNANT OF PENTECOST
If we want to understand the New Covenant, we must return to the fire that birthed the Church. The upper room. The rushing wind. The tongues of flame. The moment when God wrote His law on hearts rather than stone.
Jeremiah foretold it.
“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33 ESV).
At Pentecost, God fulfilled that promise.
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4 ESV).
The early believers did not assemble around Moses. They assembled around the Spirit who came from Christ.
Pentecost launched the New Covenant people.
Not a law keeping community.
A Spirit filled remnant.
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THE FIRST CRISIS OF THE CHURCH
The earliest conflict in the Church was not about Rome. It was about Moses.
Teachers from Judea insisted that Gentile converts must be circumcised and must keep the Law of Moses. They demanded a return to Sinai.
The apostles refused.
“Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear. But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:10 to 11 ESV).
The decision of the Holy Spirit and the apostles was final.
“It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements” (Acts 15:28 ESV).
No return to Moses.
No restoration of the Sinai covenant.
The Spirit Himself declared it.
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THE DAY PAUL STOOD AGAINST PETER
Even Peter struggled under pressure from those who wanted to resurrect Moses. Paul confronted him publicly.
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11 ESV).
Why?
Because Peter’s behavior implied that Gentiles needed the Jewish law to be accepted.
Paul answered with the voice of thunder.
“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16 ESV).
This was not a minor dispute.
This was the heart of the gospel.
The early Church belonged to Christ alone.
Not Christ plus Moses.
Not grace plus law.
Not faith plus Sinai.
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THE DEATH THAT FREED THEM
Paul explains how the covenant changed.
Not by modification.
By death.
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another” (Romans 7:4 ESV).
Covenants end when one party dies.
Paul says the believer has died with Christ.
Therefore the Sinai covenant no longer binds them.
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6 ESV).
Released.
Not revised.
Released.
This is the doctrine of the early Church.
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LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
What replaced the written code?
The Spirit.
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2 ESV).
Paul declares that the righteousness the Law demanded is fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit.
“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4 ESV).
This is not a return to Sinai.
This is a life defined by the Spirit of the living God.
The early believers did not live under Moses.
They lived under Christ.
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EVEN JEWISH BELIEVERS MOVED FORWARD
Jewish believers respected their heritage, but they did not cling to the Sinai covenant.
Hebrews clarifies the transition with unmistakable force.
“For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Hebrews 7:12 ESV).
The priesthood changed.
The law changed.
The covenant changed.
Hebrews speaks plainly.
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13 ESV).
Obsolete.
Not repaired.
Not continued.
Not blended.
Obsolete.
This is not my opinion.
This is the Word of God.
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THE REMNANT MUST WALK AS THEY WALKED
The early Church did not drag Moses into the new covenant.
They did not rebuild what Christ fulfilled.
They did not cling to shadows after receiving the substance.
They walked in the Spirit.
They depended on Christ.
They lived in freedom that came from His blood.
They guarded the gospel against every attempt to resurrect Sinai.
This is the pattern.
This is the model.
This is the covenant of the remnant.
The early Church moved forward into the life of the Spirit.
So must we.
—The Iron Quill