Chapter 2 - Stop Mixing the Covenants
This series imagines what Paul might say to the American church today—written in the tone of a pastoral letter, shaped by the finished work of Christ. It is not Scripture, but a grace-filled reflection using Paul’s voice to address modern challenges.
Paul, a servant of the gospel of Christ and a witness to His finished work, to the beloved of God throughout the American church: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It has been reported to me that many among you begin in the Spirit but try to continue in the flesh, as though Christ’s work must be completed by your effort. You run after teachings that promise closeness to God through discipline, devotion, or moral striving—as if the Cross had not already brought you near. You pursue blessings through performance, fearing that your failures might separate you from the One who has already joined Himself to you forever.
Beloved, have you forgotten the covenant under which you now live?
I marvel that you so quickly turn from the grace that called you, reaching back to shadows, mixing the old with the new. Some of you speak as though God responds to you based on your behavior. Others insist that the blessings of heaven rest upon your obedience rather than Christ’s obedience. Still others warn of curses, judgment, or distance from God, unaware that such things belonged to the covenant that Christ fulfilled and set aside.
Do you not know what was written?
That the Law was a ministry of death, engraved on stones—not because it was unholy, but because you were unable to bear its weight. And yet many of you teach it as though it still governs your standing with God. You lay burdens on yourselves that Christ has already lifted. You strive to earn what has already been given.
Hear me, dearly loved: the old covenant is obsolete.
Its demands are finished.
Its curses are spent.
Its ability to condemn has been silenced at the Cross.
Why then do you live as though God waits for you to prove yourselves?
Why do you measure your standing by your discipline, passion, or performance?
Why do you cling to the conditionality of Moses when you have been brought into the completeness of Christ?
If righteousness could be gained through effort, then Christ died for nothing.
But He did not die for nothing.
He died to make you righteous—fully, irrevocably, eternally.
Some of you fear that preaching pure grace might lead people into sin. But I say to you: sin reigns through the Law, not through grace. The strength of sin is the command that says “do more,” for it awakens the very thing it forbids. But grace—God’s unearned favor given through Christ—teaches the heart to rest, and from that rest flows a life that reveals Him.
Therefore, stand firm in the liberty by which Christ has made you free.
Do not return to the yoke of bondage—not to Moses, not to performance, not to fear.
For you are not under Law.
You are under grace.
And this grace is not fragile—
it is the power of God unto transformation.
If you mix the covenants, you nullify the blessing of Christ.
But if you remain in His grace, you will discover the freedom for which you were redeemed.
Rest in the truth that Christ in you is more than enough for every moment ahead.
