A tremendous misunderstanding permeates Christian thinking. It is that the new covenant provides an alternative to righteous behavior. This misunderstanding has arisen because we do not understand where Paul was coming from when he wrote the first five chapters of the Book of Romans.

Paul was what we would call today an Orthodox. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, carefully trained in and carefully observant of every minute detail of the Law of Moses.

This is the man God picked to explain the transition from Moses to Christ. God could have chosen a less strict Jew!

God explained to Paul, and to Paul alone, apparently, the difference between the two covenants. Paul then had to stand by himself and attempt to convince the Jews, and the Gentiles influenced by the Jews, that righteousness no longer comes through the observance of the Law of Moses but through faith in Jesus Christ.

Remember, the first Christian church comprised observant Jews who knew little or nothing of the grace of the new covenant. They just added Jesus to the Law of Moses.

But Paul has been grievously misunderstood!

Whenever Paul is arguing about faith and grace he is not contrasting faith and grace with righteous, godly behavior. He is contrasting faith and grace with the Law of Moses! You may notice this particularly in Romans and Galatians.

We Gentiles have interpreted Paul to mean that God no longer requires righteous behavior but a statement of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. If Paul were here today he would behave worse than Nehemiah. He would be absolutely outraged that we have interpreted him to mean that grace and faith are an alternative to righteous, holy, and obedient behavior.

The truth is, the new covenant, if correctly applied, produces righteous behavior. There is no such thing as faith and Divine grace apart from a new creation of righteous behavior.

In fact, God gave us the new covenant because the Israelites on the whole were not living righteous lives. (There were notable exceptions.)

We Gentiles have done a magnificent job of totally misunderstanding the new covenant.

You don't accept Jesus in order to evade God's commandments. You accept Jesus so you will have the grace, that is, Divine wisdom and strength to enable you to keep God's commandments. What a different thought!

"How do you get eternal life?"

By keeping God's commandments.

"How do you keep God's commandments?"

By abiding in Christ and receiving moral strength for the day.

"What happens when a Christian does not keep God's commandments?"

God will chasten him or her, or something worse may happen.

"Is it really this simple and straightforward?"

Yes.

"How come nobody seems to understand it?"

You got me! Maybe the next generation will get the message.

The "Christian" nations of today are going to catch it proper if God's people do not seek God and repent of their wicked ways!