Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope. (Hebrews 3:5-6)

Hebrews chapter 3 continues to explain the supremacy of the Son of God. From verse 7 to 11, the author quoted Psalm 95.

For forty years I was disgusted with that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, ‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’ (Psalm 95:10-11)

Theologians and ministers claim that God was angry at all human because they, from Adam, did not obey His command(s). They say that God is just so He cannot but punish them. They say that God is satisfied only with the perfect keeping of the law. But as we read Psalm 95 and other parts of the Bible, disobedience itself is not the main issue. God is angry at people because of their heart and lack of knowledge of God. Their disobedience was only the reflection of their heart. Therefore, Christ came to solve the heart issue as promised in the new covenant. This heart issue Adam also had because he could not resist the temptation.

“For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

It is not that God made the first human immature by mistake. God planned everything before creation and made Adam from dust. But the saints are reborn from heaven through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Can a creature, even Adam, know God by works? Can a man love or have faith in God by works? Could Adam maintain his innocence by works? The answer is simply no. Theologians and ministers preach that Adam knew and loved God. But how could he not overcome the temptation when Christ could?

The new covenant is not just about making people obey God. Obedience is the result of being reborn and being united with the Son. The Son knows, understands, believes, and loves God. Our salvation is not only about being washed of our sins and gaining eternal life. Our salvation is about becoming the children of God. Our salvation is about becoming the kingdom of God, where God will dwell with us forever. We will see God face to face. We are His children.

God is just because He will punish all those who refuse God’s mercy and do not believe in the Son.

Kiss the Son, that He not be angry and you perish on the way, For His wrath may be kindled quickly. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psalm 2:12)

Those who do not know God do not understand what He says. Christ is knowledge of God (the Word) and the mediator of the new covenant. Hebrews chapter 3 tells us that all perish because of unbelief. It is not that God used different measures to decide who is just or unjust in the OT and the NT. Faith did not come because works had failed. The same rule was and is applied to all people even Adam.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:17)

Abraham was considered righteous by God because of his faith (see Galatians 3).

For all who are of works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written: “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THE THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.” Now, that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “THE PERSON WHO PERFORMS THEM WILL LIVE BY THEM.” (Galatians 3:10-12)

Whenever God made a conditional covenant with a party, both blessing and cursing were given. And people always failed under a conditional covenant. Not that God made them fail, they failed because of their unbelief.

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Theologians and ministers claim that Adam was before Abraham, and therefore Adam’s covenant is superior to Christ’s covenant. I see that they are only trying to take us back to the conditional covenant, the covenant of the slave woman. It is clear that Adam did not have faith in God. He was made upright and innocent, but he did not know God as the Son does. Without the knowledge of God, there is neither faith nor love. That knowledge cannot be gained by works. There have been numerous people who tried to know about God by reading many books but failed. Without the Holy Spirit, one always misinterprets the words of God. With crooked knowledge, there is no true faith.

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. (vv. 18-19)

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14:1)

John clearly tells us that the antichrists are those who do not believe that Christ came as the Son of God. True faith requires true knowledge of God. If we say we believe in Christ and yet, deny He is God-man, our faith is not true.

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2: 21-23)

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.  (1 John 4:2-3)

In the previous post, I mentioned that the Active Obedience of Christ (AOC) rejects the Limited Atonement. It appears that Anselm acknowledged people are justified by faith but believed that God chose people by His foreknowledge. It means God chose people by knowing who would believe. And the church history tells us that it is a heretical (Arminian) idea that has been condemned already. Basically, Anselm’s ideas are different from TULIP. I am no theologian and I hope that more people will look into Anselm’s influence in the Reformed theology. However, I would not recommend everyone to read his writings unless the task is given by God because it is easy to be engulfed by false knowledge.