<- Previous   First   Next ->

i. The contrast of the Old Revelation and the New (1, 2)

The contrast between the Old Revelation and the New is marked in three particulars. There is a contrast ( a ) in the method, and ( b ) in the time, and ( c ) in the agents of the two revelations.

( a ) The earlier teaching was conveyed in successive portions and in varying fashions according to the needs and capacities of those who received it: on the other hand the revelation in Him who was Son was necessarily complete in itself (comp. John 1:14, 18).

( b ) The former revelation was given of old time , in the infancy and growth of the world: the Christian revelation at the end of these days , on the very verge of the new order which of necessity it ushered in.

( c ) The messengers in whom God spoke before, were the long line of prophets raised up from age to age since the world began (Luke 1:70; Acts 3:21): the Messenger of the new dispensation was God's own Son.

The first contrast is left formally incomplete ( having...spoken in many parts and in many modes...spake ). The two latter are expressed definitely ( of old time to the fathers, at the end of these days to us—in the prophets, in Him Who is Son ); and in the original, after the first clause, word answers to word with emphatic correspondence: polumerw'" kai; polutrovpw" (1) pavlai (2) oJ qeo;" lalhvsa" (3) toi'" patravsin (4) ejn toi'" profhvtai" (5): no corresponding clause (1') ejpj ejscavtou tw'n hJmerw'n touvtwn (2') ejlavlhsen (3') hJmi'n (4') ejn uiJw'/ (5').

The consideration of these contrasts places the relation of Christianity to all that had gone before in a clear light. That which is communicated in parts, sections, fragments, must of necessity be imperfect; and so also a representation which is made in many modes cannot be other than provisional. The supreme element of unity is wanting in each case. But the Revelation in Christ, the Son, is perfect both in substance and in form. The Incarnation and the Ascension include absolutely all that is wrought out slowly and appropriated little by little in the experience of later life. The characteristics which before marked the revelation itself now mark the human apprehension of the final revelation.

The Incarnation, in other words, is the central point of all Life; and just as all previous discipline led up to it polumerw'" kai; polutrovpw" , so all later experience is the appointed method by which its teaching is progressively mastered polumerw'" kai; polutrovpw" . All that we can learn of the constitution of man, of the constitution of nature, of the ‘laws’ of history must, from the nature of the case, illustrate its meaning for us (comp. 1 Cor. 13:9 ff.).

These thoughts find their complete justification in the two clauses which describe the relation to the order of the world of Him in Whom God spoke to us. God appointed Him heir of all things , and through Him He made the world. The Son as Heir and Creator speaks with perfect knowledge and absolute sympathy.

But while the revelations of the Old and the New Covenants are thus sharply distinguished, God is the One Author of both. He spoke in old time, and He spoke in the last time. In the former case His speaking was upon earth and in the latter case from heaven (Heb. 12:25 note), but in both cases the words are alike His words. Not one word therefore can pass away , though


<- Previous   First   Next ->