When I first started to speak against the Covenant Theology (CT) and the Active Obedience of Christ (AOC) online a few years ago, one man strongly disagreed with what I wrote and laughed at my English. He wrote something like, “Your English is so poor and what you wrote doesn’t make sense.” He went on and wrote about the Hebrew meaning of Emet because I wrote about Christ being Truth. It appeared that he had much knowledge about philosophy and had studied the Hebrew language and the Jewish religion. He did not seem to know the difference between the Jewish religion and Christianity. The Jewish religion and the CT plus the AOC see that the root of our righteousness is the law. The Jewish religion does not see Jesus as the Son of God. The AOC also does not see Jesus as the Son of God. If there had been anything that we could learn from the Jewish religion, God would not have established Christianity. God has separated us from the Jewish religion during the first reformation after Christ’s death and resurrection.

Since I became interested in the CT and the AOC, I had a chance to talk to a theologian through email. I asked him if Calvin indeed had the idea of the CT and the AOC. Although he seemed to be fond of John Owen, he did not try to convince others that Calvin supported the CT or the AOC like other Covenant theologians. He simply denied that Calvin had the idea of the CT or the AOC. He wrote to me that Calvin needs to change his view of Christ in order to support the CT. Calvin is dead so can’t change his view now. He also wrote, “Christology is the proper dogmatic locus for the covenant, not vice versa.”

His email confirmed that my suspicion regarding the CT and the AOC was in line with my understanding of Christ. Christology is the study about Christ’s person and works. Christ’s person includes the two natures of Christ.

In this modern and very forgiving world, anyone can say anything about God. It is considered as just a different idea. But there is only one truth. And that truth is found in the words of God. If an idea is not congruent to the words of God, God, who uses the plumb line (Amos 7:8), will demolish it at the end.

I’ve explained why the AOC is not orthodox. It holds a wrong view of Christ. Covenant Theologians appear to use the Book of Hebrews a lot to back up their theories. Therefore, it is important to examine this Book to see if their theories are true. They believe that Christ had to qualify Himself to be righteous by keeping the law perfectly AS A MAN. And that was His righteousness AS A MAN. And that righteousness earned by His works is imputed to us. Does the Book really say that?

The Book of Hebrews explains the perfect sacrifice and high priest, who is the SON OF GOD. Concerning the two natures of Christ, we do not separate the two natures. When I say that the Book emphasizes the Son of God, I do not mean that the Book separates the two natures of Christ. The author (possibly Paul, Luke, or someone else) knew that Christ lived on the earth as a man. What the Book tries to explain is that only the Son could satisfy the Father. The Father sent His Son and helped Him fully to achieve all the tasks given to Him. Even when Christ was most challenged and tempted on the cross, He did not deny the Father because His knowledge and love of God did not depart.

When Christ cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”, He fulfilled what was said in Psalm 22. After His death, He was resurrected to life by the power of God. This happened so that the saints could endure the harshest trials and torments by remembering Christ’s submission and resurrection. Christ really suffered on the cross and yet, believed in the Father. He was truly man and also truly the Son of God. Could Adam suffer for us? No, Adam did not trust God. The work on the cross is not something a man can do. No creatures can satisfy God. It is because God’s will has always been in the kingdom and the new creation through the Son.

In the days of His humanity, He offered up both prayers and pleas with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His devout behavior. (Hebrews 5:7)

This passage was not written to tell us that Christ had to do the work to earn something. It is easy to interpret that His work (devout behavior) earned the Father’s mercy.  But the Father already gave the glory to the Son even before creation. In fact, all creation is for the Son and through Him. Christ had the full knowledge of the Father. Adam’s fall and the cross were the necessary steps to achieve the kingdom.

for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16)

And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed. (John 17:5)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

When interpreting Paul’s letters and the Book of Hebrew, we must read them with the Gospel of John. Paul and John are not talking about a different Christ. But Paul’s words have been misinterpreted.

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)

Paul emphasized that Christ became a man to represent us as we read Romans 5. That does not mean Christ was not the Son of God. I believe that many people taught by Paul misinterpreted his writings. Not because Paul or other apostles did a poor job but because most people did not receive the Holy Spirit. Consequently, Paul of Samosata became the Bishop of Antioch in the third century, who saw Christ as a mere man. How could a heretic become a church leader unless he was supported by many? You can look up the life of this heretic, who was known for ill-gotten wealth and corruption. Christ did not come as a mere man who had to earn something from God by works. All mankind want to idolize a person or a few people. In fact, they idolize themselves. They make their own gods.

“Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘The Lord GOD says this: “Because your heart is haughty And you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a mortal and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God— (Ezekiel 28:2)

Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and bows down before it. (Isaiah 44:15)

Those who emphasize, the man Jesus, corrupts the churches. If we divide Christ’s two natures, we end up worshiping the man Jesus, which is another idolatry.

A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. (Galatians 3:10)

All the laws were given NOT for us to gain eternal life by observing them, but to seek the Son of God. A sinless man with the Holy Spirit is one with God. God could have sent a sinless man with the Holy Spirit to die for us instead of the Son of God. But God did not do it because the sinless man with the Holy Spirit must have the beginning in the Son. The saints are the sinless people with the Holy Spirit. We are blameless and holy because our sins are washed, and God will not remember our sins any longer. That is the promise of the new covenant. And we received the Holy Spirit who dwells with us forever just as Christ promised. But our new beginning is not in Adam, who was prone to rebel and sin, but in Christ. We, although born as the descendants of Adam, are no longer mortal. We are immortal although our bodies die because we are one with God. We are the new creation with Christ as the head.