Axe at the Root: John the Baptist and the New Covenant

Host Steve Lennart examines John the Baptist's confrontation with the Pharisees in Matthew 3, highlighting that they came to be baptized and introducing the new covenant meanings behind repentance, baptism, and judgment. Referencing Hebrews 6, Romans 7, and Colossians 2, the episode explains key "terms of art"—dead works, the axe at the root, and the baptism of fire and the Spirit—to reveal how the new covenant's judicial system works. This episode begins a series that reframes familiar gospel passages by teaching the distinct language and legal framework of the new covenant.