We believe it is impossible to be honest with Christ’s contrasts in the Sermon on the Mount and fail to see that he is making new and higher moral demands than Moses ever made. Christ bases his demands or laws on grace. These laws flow from the power of his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, which resulted in the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Christ is saying things to his church, under the New Covenant, that Moses did not say to Israel, under the Old Covenant. We cannot logically deduce all of what Christ said from the laws Moses gave Israel. Apart from the New Testament Scriptures, we would not be able to know some of the truths that Christ taught. Without a change of covenants from the Old to the New, Christ could not have made some of these new de­mands. Covenant Theology cannot see this clear biblical distinc­tion between a covenant of law and one of grace as long as it bases its entire system on one covenant with two administrations.

We continue to insist that Christ is not contradicting Moses as if Moses were wrong. Christ is showing that grace goes beyond and supercedes the Mosaic law, while ac­know­ledging and honoring the validity of that law. Christ is contrasting a rule by law in the conscience, based on true justice alone, with a rule by grace in a renewed heart, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The two systems of rule simply cannot be in force over the conscience of the same people at the same time, even though the same basic content may pervade both. We do not promote a system of love, mean­ing no objective standards, against a system of law, meaning objectives standards. The contrast is between pure law and pure grace, with grace raising law to a much higher level by placing it on an entirely different foundation and mo­tive.

We have not taken seriously the words spoken by God on the Mount of Transfiguration until we see Christ as the new lawgiver. “This is my beloved Son” is the Father’s response to the disciples when they arrange Jesus, Moses, and Elijah into one equal group. God not only declares that Christ is unique in his person as God’s only Son, he also adds, “Listen to him.” As Luther wrote the word alone in the margin next to Romans 3:28, so we could write the word alone next to Mark 9:7. When we understand that Christ replaces Moses as well as Elijah, we will never again try to have Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, say, “Moses is the final authority on morals and ethics. Listen to him.” We will accept the But I say unto you contrasts as clear and sharp distinctions between: (1) the Old and the New Covenants; (2) law and grace; and most importantly; (3) Christ the new lawgiver and Moses whom he replaces.