Christ in the Law
Christ in the Law
The salvation for which the Bible instructs us is available “through faith in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, since Scripture concerns salvation and salvation is through Christ, Scripture is full of Christ.
Jesus himself thus understood the nature and function of the Bible. “The Scriptures,” he said, “testify about me” (John 5:39). Again, walking with two disciples after the Resurrection, from Jerusalem to Emmaus, he rebuked them for their folly and unbelief due to their ignorance of Scripture. Luke who tells the story adds:
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)
A little while later the risen Lord said to a wider group of his followers:
This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. (Luke 24:44)
Christ’s assertion was, then, not only that the Scriptures bore witness to him in a general way, but that in each of the three divisions of the Old Testament Scripture—the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (or “Writings”)—there were things concerning him, and that all these things must be fulfilled.
The fundamental relation between the Old Testament and the New Testament, according to Christ, is that between promise and fulfillment. The very first word Jesus uttered in his public ministry (in the Greek text of the Gospel of Mark) indicates this. It was the word “fulfilled”:
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15 RSV)
Jesus Christ was deeply convinced that the long centuries of expectation were over, and that he himself had ushered in the days of fulfillment. So he could say to his apostles:
In the light of this claim, we shall look first at the Old Testament in its three divisions, then at the New Testament, and try to see how our Savior Jesus Christ himself (in terms of promise and fulfillment) is Scripture’s uniting theme.
By the “Law” was meant the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. Can we really find Christ in them? Yes indeed.
To begin with, they contain some foundation prophecies of God’s salvation through Christ, which underlie the rest of the Bible. God promised first that the seed of Eve would bruise the serpent’s head, next that through Abraham’s posterity he would bless all the families of the earth, and later that “the scepter will not depart from Judah … until he comes to whom it belongs,” whom the people will obey (Gen. 3:15; 12:3; 49:10). Thus it was revealed—already in the first book of the Bible—that the Messiah would be human (descended from Eve) and Jewish (descended from Abraham and of the tribe of Judah), and that he would crush Satan, bless the world and rule as king forever.
Another important prophecy of Christ in the Law represents him as being himself the perfect Prophet. Moses said to the people:
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him…. “I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” (Deut. 18:15, 18)
It was not only by direct prophecies that the Law pointed forward to Christ, however, but also by more indirect pictures. In it the Messiah was foreshadowed as well as foretold. Indeed, God’s dealings with Israel in choosing them, redeeming them, establishing his covenant with them, making atonement for their sins through sacrifice, and causing them to inherit the land of Canaan all set forth in limited and national terms what would one day be available to all men through Christ. Christians can say today: God has chosen us in Christ and made us a people for his own possession. Christ shed his blood to atone for our sins and ratify the new covenant. He has redeemed us not from Egyptian bondage but from the bondage of sin. He is our great high priest who offered himself on the cross, as one sacrifice for sins forever, and all priest-hood and sacrifice are fulfilled in him. Further, by his resurrection we have been born again to a living hope, “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade,” and is reserved in heaven for us (1 Pet. 1:3–4).These great Christian words, which portray various aspects of our salvation through Christ—election, atonement, covenant, redemption, sacrifice, inheritance—all began to be used in the Old Testament of God’s grace towards Israel.
There is yet a third way in which the Law bears witness to Christ. It is elaborated by the apostle Paul in his Galatian letter:
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. (Gal. 3:23–24)
The law is vividly portrayed by the Greek words Paul used as a military garrison hemming us in (“held prisoners”), a jailer keeping us under lock and key (“locked up”) and a tutor charged with the discipline of minors (“put in charge”). All this is because the moral law condemned the lawbreaker without in itself offering any remedy. In this way it pointed to Christ. Its very condemnation made Christ necessary. It held us in bondage in order “to lead us to Christ,” who alone could set us free. We are condemned by the law, but justified through faith in Christ.