Third, from a comparison of Christ with Moses.
Third, from a comparison of Christ with Moses.
§ 67. (III) Third, [they say:] “People are commanded to hear Christ as [they hear] Moses, to whom He is said to be similar (Deut. 18:15). He is also compared with Moses as Lawgiver with lawgiver (Heb. 2:2; 3:2–3). Therefore Christ is a lawgiver no less than Moses is.”
We respond. (1) The statement “The Lord will raise up a prophet like me” [Deut. 18:15] does not mean that Christ would be a lawgiver exactly like Moses but shows that Christ would be a prophet and teacher of similar authority, truth, faithfulness, and glory and would be one whom all the people must hear. Just as Moses freed his people from physical bondage, so also the Prophet promised there has freed us from the bondage of sin. Augustine (on John, tract. 51): “I shall raise up a prophet similar to you in form of flesh, not in eminence of majesty.”
(2) The Epistle to the Hebrews compares Christ with Moses not as a lawgiver with a new lawgiver, in the proper sense of the word, but as a master with a slave, as a son with a servant of the same master, as is evident from the text (Heb. 2:2–3): “For if the message declared by angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation” (offered through the Gospel, which as a consequence is called “the word of salvation”) “which was declared at first by the Lord” (whose proper teaching was the word of grace) “and attested to us by those who heard Him?” “Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who made” (appointed) “Him, just as Moses was faithful in all his house. Yet Jesus is worthy of as much more glory than Moses as a builder of a house has than the house. And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, but Christ was faithful in His house as a Son” (Heb. 3:1–3, 5–6).
(3) [The Gospel] is called “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; 1 Pet. 1:2), “the commandment of God, that we should believe in the name of His Son” (1 John 3:23). Of course, in this respect Christ could be called a Lawgiver, though only in an extended sense [improprie].
(4) As a prophet and teacher of the church, Christ taught not only the Gospel but also the Law. Also in this respect He is a Lawgiver; that is, we should call Him a Lawgiver to whom we owe an obedience that is greater in proportion to His greatness over all the teachers of the church (Heb. 13:17).