The New Testament is implied in the Old the same way the man is implied in the boy. The fact that the boy grew up into the man is not surprising. It was all there before, but now it is grown into its full form. The New Testament is present in seed form in the Old.
The Old Testament is obvious in the New the same way the man has the same eyes he had as a boy. In his grown face you can see his younger self. The Old Testament is present in quotation in the New.
Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
"Nothing is more patently taught in the pages of the New Testament than the continuing and abiding authority of the Old. This passage is one such place, but there are many more."
-- Douglas Wilson, Not as the Scribes: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount
All that to say, you cannot pit the Old against the New. You can speak of them uniquely the way you can speak of a boy who became a man, but you cannot discuss them as separate people. The man and the boy are the same person, but in different forms. The New was there in the Old and the Old is here in the New. There is no tension to resolve because there is no tension between good friends.
"The Bible teaches that grace and law are found in the Old Testament, and grace and law are found in the New." -- Douglas Wilson, Not as the Scribes: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount
No comments:
Post a Comment