Statements of the ancients about the distinction between Law and Gospel.
Statements of the ancients about the distinction between Law and Gospel.
§ 56. From all this, judgment can be made about the following statements of the ancients by which they refer the distinction between Law and Gospel to these main headings. They say that these two kinds of doctrine differ: (1) As a figure and its reality, as promise and fulfillment. Justin (Quaest. orthod.): “The Law announced the Gospel beforehand; the Gospel fulfilled the Law.” Ambrose (on Galatians 3): “Thus the Law was given long after the promise so that, because of that very distinction, the Law might be seen as one thing, the Gospel as another.” The same author (Offic., 1, ch. 48): “Here is the shadow, here the image; but there is the truth. The shadow is in the Law, the image in the Gospel, the truth in heaven.” Epiphanius (bk. 1, vol. 1):
Figures were in the Law, but truth in the Gospel. For in the former there was a circumcision of the flesh which was a servant to time until the great circumcision—that is, Baptism—which cut us off from sin and sealed us into the name of God. In the former there was the Sabbath which held us until the great Sabbath—that is, the rest in Christ—so that in Christ we keep the Sabbath without sin. In the former there was an irrational lamb that was sacrificed, taking us to the great heavenly Lamb, who was sacrificed for us and for the whole world.
Cyril (on John, bk. 1, ch. 21): “The Law led to the tabernacle, which was a figure for true things. The Savior” (or Gospel) “brought us into heaven and the true tabernacle which God built rather than man.” Bede (on John, bk. 1, ch. 1): “What the Law and the prophets declared was going to happen is revealed in the Gospel as having been done and completed.” Potho (De statu domus Dei, bk. 2): “The shadow is in the Law, the image in the Gospel, the truth in heaven. The house of God which is built in the shadow of the Law is imperfect because the Law brings nothing to perfection. The house of God which is built in the image is in the light. The house of God which consists of the truth is all light.”
(2) In the ministerial cause. Ambrose (on Romans 1): “As far as the master is from the slave, so far is the Gospel from the Law. This is not because the Law is bad but because the Gospel is better.”
(3) In the breadth of their preaching ministry. Eusebius (Demonstrat., bk. 1, ch. 6): “The Law of Moses had been bound to a certain place, but the Gospel has been given freedom and commands us to praise and worship God in any place.”
(4) In the universality of their subject. Eusebius (in the same place): “The Law of Moses, beginning with one race of men, first called the race of the Jews to the knowledge and worship of the one true God. But the Gospel brings the knowledge of God revealed more sublimely to all people and all nations which are anywhere on earth.”
(5) In severity and lenience. Chromatius (on Matthew 5): “In the Law there is severity; in the Gospel, grace. The former strikes unbelievers with terror; the latter fills believers with the gift of blessings.”
(6) In the diversity of their effects. Cyril (on John, bk. 2, ch. 53): “With the Law, Moses condemns all the earth. The Son frees the earth from the curse of the Law and heals the malady of the world with a surplus of mercy.”
** Chrysostom (on 2 Corinthians 3): “In the Law, he who commits sin is punished. But here the one who sins comes, is baptized, and becomes righteous. Being made righteous, he lives free from the death of sin. If the Law catches a murderer, it kills him; if grace receives a murderer, it brings him to light and life.” Ambrose (bk. 9, Letter 22): “Thus the Law has the severity of a sword as a teacher has his rod in order at least to frighten the weakness of an imperfect people with a declaration of punishment. But the Gospel has the forgiveness with which sins are condemned. Therefore Paul says of the Law: ‘It is the letter which kills, but the Spirit gives life’ [2 Cor. 3:6].” Jerome (on Eccles. 3): “Indeed, the Law, which is unbending, unkind, unsparing, kills the sinner. The grace of the Gospel has compassion on him and calls him to repentance.” Haymo (on Song of Songs): “In the Law no repentance is reserved. Rather, it orders the death of him who sins. The Gospel says, ‘I do not want the death of a sinner.’ ” **
Theodoret (on Deuteronomy, q. 43): “The Law condemns those who sin. But grace lifts them up, justifies them by faith, and gives them the remission of sins.” Primasius (on Romans 2): “The Law creates hearers; the Gospel, doers.” Bernard (on Song of Songs, sermon 30): “Let a man really give equal and careful consideration to that which condemns and that which comforts, that which demands and that which forgives, that which beats and that which embraces. Surely he will not, with equal intensity, take shadow and light, wrath and peace, judgment and mercy, figure and truth, the rod and the inheritance, the bridle and the kiss.”
(7) In the clarity and perfection of the blessings and doctrine which they bestow. Cyril (on John, 1, ch. 21): “The Law did give grace, teaching the distinction of good from evil and the knowledge of the true God and calling people away from the worship of idols. Yet it did not do this perfectly, but pedagogically and not usefully. But the truth or grace of the Only-Begotten bestows good things upon us neither with figures nor shadows but openly and clearly, and draws us to the perfect knowledge of faith with its doctrine.” In the same place: “The Law gave the spirit of slavery leading to fear; Christ gave the Spirit of adoption leading to freedom.” Jerome (Dial. advers. Pelag., bk. 1) expresses all of this as follows: “It is one thing to condemn the Law, which a Manichaean does; it is another to prefer the Gospel to the Law, which is the doctrine of the apostles. We say that in the Law is shadow; in the Gospel, truth. Slaves speak in the former; the present Lord speaks in the Gospel. The Law promises; the Gospel fulfills. In the former there is the beginning; in the latter, the fulfillment. In the former are laid the foundations of works; in the latter is placed the peak of faith and grace.”