Whether there is only one testament with regard to matter or substance.
Whether there is only one testament with regard to matter or substance.
§ 120. Although it is rightly said that there is one mode of reconciliation with God, one faith, one way of salvation, nevertheless it does not yet happen that there is only one testament with regard to matter or substance. To make this more clear, the stronger statements of Scripture which speak about the definition of and difference between the two testaments will be listed, and from them we shall gather some certain corollaries negatively and affirmatively.
Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah and all the judgments, and the whole people said with one voice: “All the words which Jehovah has spoken we shall do.” And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings; and Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled upon the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that Jehovah has spoken we shall do, and we shall be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and sprinkled the people and said, “Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exod. 24:3–8)
Jehovah our God made a covenant with us on Horeb. Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant but with us, who are all of us alive here this day. I stood between Jehovah and you at that time to declare to you the word of Jehovah. (Deut. 5:2, 3, 5)
Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they themselves made My covenant of no effect. But this is the covenant which I shall make with the house of Israel after those days, said Jehovah. I shall put My Law within them, and I shall write it upon their hearts; and I shall be their God, and they shall be My people. They shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I shall make propitiation for their iniquity, and I shall remember their sin no more. (Jer. 31:31–34)
Drink, this is My blood of the new testament. (Matt. 26:[27–]28; Mark 14:24)
God has made us fit ministers of the new testament, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministration of death, carved in letters on stone, was with glory, how shall the ministration of the Spirit not much more be in glory? For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, the ministration of righteousness abounds much more in glory. (2 Cor. 3:6–9)
These women are two testaments. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, and she is Hagar. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Gal. 4:24, 26)
Christ has become the surety of a better testament (Heb. 7:22). The priests of the old testament serve the example and shadow of heavenly things. But now, Christ has obtained a better ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better testament which is established on better promises. For if the former had been faultless, a place indeed would not have been sought for a second. Now in saying “a new,” He has made the former old. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near its end (Heb. 8:5–7, 13). Therefore He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of His death for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, those who were called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, the death of the testator must of necessity come in. Hence neither was the first indeed dedicated without blood. For when every commandment of the Law had been read by Moses to all the people, he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the testament which God has commanded to you” (Heb. 9:15–16, 18–20). You have come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new testament (Heb. 12:24). The God of peace brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the blood of the eternal testament (Heb. 13:20).