| From its beginning, the
Christian church has been in constant turmoil, and sometimes great
conflict, in regards to the relationships between the law and the
gospel, faith and works, and the goal of the Christian life. This
discussion has never really been resolved so that the church could
realize the practical application of Biblical counsel to the daily life.
Questions such as, "What is the duty of man in response to God's
commands?", and, "What is the mission of the church to the
world?", have not been answered to the place where the laity can
readily relate their spiritual experience to their personal and
collective lives. Furthermore, little headway has actually taken place
in the theological areas of sanctification and the transformation of the
believer's character. For many church members, the call to higher
standards of ethical and moral living appears to be theoretically
correct, but in actual practice, it becomes a source of frustration and
of perpetual failures. In short, the church has not been able to clarify
the relationship of the theory of salvation to the experience of the
believer.
Attempts have been made to bridge the
gap between theory and practice; yet, they have been inadequate because
there has not been proper attention to a basic tenet of Christian
living, known as the everlasting covenant of God. This doctrine holds
the key to the problem because it provides a setting for the gospel that
allows God to determine rightly what He expects from man and what man
should expect from Him.
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