I’m under the New Covenant and therefore I don’t need you or anyone to teach me.

The language of the New Covenant tells us that those who are parties to it will not need anyone to teach them to know God. They will all know Him from the least to the greatest (Jer 31:34; Heb 8:11). God will teach them directly. Also, during that time, no one will be a prophet. Anyone claiming to be a prophet will be put to death (Zech 13:3-6).

In contrast, however, the ministry of the New Testament provides for Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers (Eph 4:11). This is for the equipping of the saints unto the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12) until we all come to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God (Eph 4:13).

Sub-objection: John says we have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things and need no man to teach us. Isn’t that the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy (“all shall know Me” and “none shall teach any man to know God”)?

This is often quoted as evidence that we are living in the fulfillment of the New Covenant promise. However, consider that John was writing as an apostle and a teacher to teach the doctrine of Christ to the church. Regarding this statement, he said, “I write these things concerning those who seduce you.” The fact that they were being seduced and needed correction, which came from a teacher in the New Testament ministry, demonstrates that this is not a direct or literal fulfillment of the New Covenant terms.

John said that the anointing they had received would teach them to “abide” in Christ. He told them that the way to abide is to “let that message that they had heard from the beginning abide in them” (1 John 2:27). John’s epistle, like all the other apostolic epistles, serves as a warning to not be moved away from the gospel and seduced by other things that would get our eyes off what we have in Christ and result in our being led astray and brought into bondage to men (Gal 3:1; Galatians 5:1). These warnings will not be necessary under the New Covenant. Not only will they not need teachers, but God Himself will write His laws in their hearts and minds so that they will not depart from Him, and they will, in fact, walk in His ways (Jeremiah 31:33). They will not be seduced, led astray, carried off, or brought into bondage because of the glorious terms of the New Covenant He will make with the House of Israel (Jeremiah 31:31).

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