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THE END OF THE OLD COVENANT ORDER And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages (Luke 3:9-14).
Three decades (Luke 3:23) after the joint prophecies by Mary and Simeon (Luke 1:46-56, 68-79),(1) Simeon's son John began his public ministry in the wilderness (v. 2). He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (v. 3). The multitudes came to him. He warned them: "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (v. 8). The judgment was coming soon, he said. The axe was already being laid to the tree. The listeners responded appropriately: "Then what shall we do?" This is the same question that every new convert to Christ should ask. But was John's answer a universal answer, binding on all generations of new converts?
Sharing as a Prophetic Witness His answer was to recommend charity to the poor by the slightly less poor. If you have two tunics, he said, share one with someone who has no tunic. The person with food should share with the person who is hungry. This announcement came in a society that did not enjoy the massive output of modern capitalism. There were many poor people in Israel. When it came to poverty, there was plenty of it available.
John told his listeners to share some of their wealth with those who had nothing. The recipients were not just poor; they were in desperate trouble. They had no cloak to keep them warm, no food to fill their stomachs. They were facing a personal disaster. For people in this condition, charity was the way to restore their bodies and their hope. Paul later wrote: "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (I Tim. 6:7-8). The designated recipients of John's recommended charity had no warm clothing or no food, and possibly neither food nor clothing. They were truly destitute. They faced an immediate crisis. They were in need of immediate assistance.
Was this a call to covenant-keepers to adopt near-poverty status as a result of their helping to alleviating other men's complete poverty? Did this mean that a person with almost nothing -- two cloaks -- would now have only one? Wouldn't this mean that a person with three cloaks should give away two? Would everyone in society have only one cloak? If taken literally, this is what John's words had to mean.
To whom was he speaking? To those who had come into the wilderness to listen. What were they hearing? That the old order was about to end. Which old order? The Old Covenant order. Jesus was about to begin His ministry. John was the forerunner. "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will th[o]roughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable" (vv. 16-17). This was a life-and-death matter -- eternal life and death.
John had a transitional ministry. He was a great Old Covenant prophet. Jesus said of him, "For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John" (Matt. 11:10-13). John was great in the Old Covenant era, but he was a minimal figure compared to a typical person in the New Covenant era. This statement did not diminish John; it diminished the Old Covenant in comparison with the New Covenant.
John's message to the Jews was that they were living in the final days of the Old Covenant order. The axe was being laid to the tree. In this, the final phase of the Old Covenant, Jews should not pride themselves on being sons of Abraham, he said. They should understand the times. It was time to start giving generously. It was time to recognize the transitional nature of earthly wealth.
Economic Hierarchy
No society has ever existed without an economic hierarchy. The rules by which people advance themselves differ, society to society, but the hierarchical structure is universal. No church has ever enforced economic equality on its members over a long period of time. If it attempts to do this, it isolates itself, becoming a small sect and more likely a cult. Economic equality is utopian. Yet John seemed to advocate an egalitarian utopia -- the opposite of what Mary had prophesied: "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away" (Luke 1:53).(2) How can we explain this apparent discrepancy?
John recognized the transitional nature of both his ministry and the Old Covenant order. He knew that Jesus would replace him. John was the herald of a new order. When he told his listeners to share with the destitute, he was telling them to break with the existing social order. There was not much time remaining to do this. What was most important at that moment in Israel's history was not the preservation of personal wealth -- not even an extra cloak -- but entrance into a new kingdom. By giving to the truly destitute, a person would declare his confidence in the coming order and his lack of confidence in the traditional means of social advancement: wealth. John was not laying the foundations for the social theory of the new kingdom. He was announcing the end of the Old Covenant.
John lived as he preached. He lived in the wilderness, wearing a camel's hair loin cloth, "and his meat was locusts and wild honey" (Matt. 3:4). He was telling his listeners to adopt the mentality of an end-times prophet. Jesus later reminded His listeners about the kind of ministry John's had been. "And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee" (Matt. 11:7-10). People's sacrificial economic actions would serve as evidence of their belief that a new order was imminent.
John was not calling on every future generation to adopt an end-times prophetic witness. He was calling only his listeners to do this. That was because he was living in the last days -- the last days of the Old Covenant. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews later confirmed this. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds" (Heb. 1:1-2; emphasis added). Common people had come into the wilderness to hear John's message. This was his message: live as though the traditional hierarchy is about to be upended. Live for the sake of those in great need. Do not cling to extra wealth as if there were a future to such wealth. Acknowledge the fact that the axe is being laid to the tree.
He said this to Jews, who would be tempted to use their descent from Abraham as a justification for their continuing hope in the continuation of the Old Covenant order. He had a different message for Israel's Roman rulers.
Contentment Without Oppression "Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages" (vv. 12-14). Tax collectors and soldiers not only came to hear John, they accepted his kingdom message. But this means that they viewed themselves as under his covenantal warning. The soldiers were not Jews, yet they recognized their need for repentance. They recognized that John was not espousing a system of ethnic ethics. He was prophesying a radical change.
The tax collectors operated in a system known as tax farming. Investors would go to the Roman authorities and pay for the right to collect taxes, mainly import and export taxes.(3) They would pay the state less than they expected to extract from the public. At every level, there was a temptation to collect more than was assigned and then pocket the difference. This defrauding was basic to the tax farming system. John knew how this tax collection system worked. He told the tax collectors to collect only what they had been assigned. They were not to use the civil power to collect more than this. To do so would be a misuse of civil power. It would be fraud.
To the soldiers, he said much the same. Do not accuse anyone falsely. Do not use the civil power to gain anything beyond wages. Do not use lawful power for personal gain. In other words, do not oppress people. This had been the message of the prophets ever since the great prophet, Moses, confronted Pharaoh. The use of civil power to oppress people economically is wrong. There is always a temptation to use power in this way. This temptation should be resisted, John said.
This message challenged the misuse of civil authority. It placed limits on the bureaucrats who served the State. It was a call for legal predictability. Tax collectors were to collect only what was actually owed. Soldiers were not to extort money from people on threat of violence. Under such a restricted system, the public was supposed to be able to estimate the costs of civil peace that the State was established to secure. The public would then benefit from legal predictability. This is always an advantage. It allows people to count the cost (Luke 14:28-30).
The ethical issue was justice. John called on the rulers to act justly. Righteousness for rulers begins with the establishment of justice. Unrighteousness begins with oppression, i.e., the misuse of State power for personal advancement.
Conclusion John was a prophet. He brought a covenant lawsuit. It was a lawsuit against Old Covenant Israel. He warned his listeners that it was time to change their ways. The axe was being laid to the tree. A great time of change was imminent. It had to do with the advent of the promised Messiah.
John was telling his Jewish listeners to expect a great change. For economically oppressed Jews, it was time to begin sharing their wealth with their poorer brethren in expectation of this change. This would demonstrate their commitment to acting righteously. Fearless charity was an ethical principle for a time of covenantal transition, a mark of true brotherliness. This was not a universal denial of the legitimacy of economic inequality in society.
For Roman officials who heard his message, it was time to stop using the State to advance their personal fortunes. The strong are not to oppress the poor. The use of the State's monopoly of violence to gain personal economic advantage is wrong, John said. This remains a valid principle of civil justice. Theft is wrong, and oppression of the politically defenseless through State coercion is theft. This message is not limited to men who were living at the end of the Old Covenant order, yet outside its authority, as these Romans were.
Why isn't economic equality a valid principle for all time? Because of the covenantal principle of hierarchy. Different people have different skills, different degrees of responsibility, and different callings before God. One level of income does not fit all people. Building and running a society require the division of labor. Not all skills are equally valuable to consumers. People must be paid according to their contribution in satisfying consumers, who pay the bills. But what about after payment? Why not voluntary equality? Because people's responsibilities vary. They require different levels of wealth to achieve different levels of service.
John was not calling on every Jew to strip himself of wealth, the way that he himself had done. He was telling those Jews who recognized the radical nature of his ministry that the end of the Old Covenant order was at hand. God's axe was being laid to the roots of the trees. The old ways were no longer appropriate. The best way to acknowledge this was selfless charity to the destitute.
Jesus echoed John's warning throughout His earthly ministry, which was aimed at Jews. John's covenant lawsuit against Israel was also His. This is why Jesus' message of personal commitment mandated an unconventional degree of charity.(4) In a time of national disruption, some people will find themselves in great need. Those with extra assets should be ready to share with their impoverished brethren. Men recognize this principle during wartime. God was declaring war on Old Covenant Israel. "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21:43).
Footnotes:
1. Chapter 1, above.
2. See Chapter 1.
3. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: An Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1978), p. 208.
4. Chapter 25, below.
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