The death of the custodian
Subtitle: the case of the missing tutor
By: by W. Carl Ketcherside.
Publisher: New Life Books
Published: 1976
Place of publication: Cincinnati
Language: eng
Number of pages: 152
Subjects: Covenant theology; Law (Theology); Grace (Theology)
Other titles: Other editions were published under different titles. Although the book was originally copyrighted by the publisher, permission has since been granted by the Ketcherside family to place the work in the public domain.
Description: In this Ketcherside classic, the author describes, compares, and contrasts the covenants of God since the creation. His primary focus is on the identity of the "new covenant," which, he maintains, is not a covenant of law but of grace. The first or former covenant (given through Moses), consisting only of 10 commandments, has been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross— replaced with a new covenant of grace described in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16, in which the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:33 is quoted.

The new covenant, established as an act of God in which he writes his laws (all of which are fulfulled by divine love) upon the heart of every believer, granting them a "knowledge" of him by causing his Spirit to reside in their hearts. It is the pouring out of his divine love into their hearts (Romans 5:5) that enables them to share in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), by which they come to "know" him— from the least to the greatest— since he cannot be truly "known" in any other way (Ephesians 3:19).

The 27 books, most commonly referred to as the “New Testament,” do not make up the new covenant. Rather, in Ketcherside's preferred terminology, they are simply the "new covenant scriptures" in which an understanding of the new covenant is revealed.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Chapter 1: The God of Covenants; title: Chapter 2: The Covenant with Noah; title: Chapter 3: The Covenant with Abraham; title: Chapter 4: The First Testament; title: Chapter 5: Analysis of the Covenant; title: Chapter 6: The Covenant of Law; title: Chapter 7: Weakness of the Law; title: Chapter 8: The Time of Reformation; title: Chapter 9: The Freedom of Maturity; title: Chapter 10: Answering Objections; title: Chapter 11: The Commandments of Jesus; title: Chapter 12: Summary and Conclusion