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First, That temporal opulence and felicity was not the goal to which the Jews were invited to aspire,
but that they were admitted to the hope of immortality,
Secondly, That the covenant by which they were reconciled to the Lord was founded on no merits of their own, but solely on the mercy of God, who called them;
thirdly, That they both had and knew Christ the Mediator, by whom they were united to God, and made capable of receiving his promises.
For the Gospel does not confine the hearts of men to the enjoyment of the present life, but raises them to the hope of immortality;
For the preaching of the Gospel declares nothing more than that sinners, without any merit of their own, are justified by the paternal indulgence of God. It is wholly summed up in Christ. Who, then,
For he declared that he would be a God not to their bodies only, but specially to their souls. Souls, however, if not united to God by righteousness, remain estranged from him in death. On the other hand, that union, wherever it exists, will bring perpetual salvation with it.
Jacob, therefore, either formed a malignant and ungrateful estimate of the Lord's favour, or he truly declared that he had lived miserable on the earth. If so, it follows that his hope could not have been fixed on earthly objects.
If these holy Patriarchs expected a happy life from the hand of God, (and it is indubitable that they did), they viewed and contemplated a different happiness from that of a terrestrial life.
He who confesses that there is nothing solid or stable on the earth, and yet firmly retains his hope in God, undoubtedly contemplates a happiness reserved for him elsewhere.
This sanctuary was the final judgement of God, which, as they could not at all discern it by the eye, they were contented to apprehend by faith.
The last of these points being, that the Old Testament belonged to the Jews only, whereas the New Testament belongs to all; the calling of the Gentiles is shortly considered,
These belong to the mode of administration rather than the substance.
will be able to show, that they all belong to the mode of administration rather than to the substance.
But since the Scripture sometimes demonstrates that the earthly blessings thus bestowed were intended by God himself to guide them to a heavenly hope,
He therefore concludes that it was a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, and accordingly had no other office than to be an introduction to the better hope which is exhibited in the Gospel.
The point brought under discussion was, Whether or not the ceremonies ordained in the Law behaved to give way to Christ. Although
Hence, in general, the Old Testament is the name given to the solemn method of confirming the covenant comprehended under ceremonies and sacrifices.
Then only did it become new and eternal when it was consecrated and established in the blood of Christ.
It is now clear in what sense the Apostle said, (Gal 3: 24; 4: 1), that by the tutelage of the Law the Jews were conducted to Christ,
Accordingly, this slender measure of intelligence is designated by Paul by the term childhood,
For example, the Law everywhere[3] contains promises of mercy; but as these are adventitious to it, they do not enter into the account of the Law as considered only in its own nature.
The Old is deadly, because it can do nothing but involve the whole human race in a curse; the New is the instrument of life, because those who are freed from the curse it restores to favour with God.
In Scripture, the term bondage is applied to the Old Testaments because it begets fear, and the term freedom to the New, because productive of confidence and security.
so by the Law we are subjected to slavery, and by the Gospel alone regenerated into liberty.
In like manner, if a father of a family, in educating, governing, and managing his children, pursues one course in boyhood another in adolescence and another in manhood we do not therefore say that he is fickle, or abandons his opinions.
The latter similitude ought to be completely satisfactory. Paul likens the Jews to children, and Christians to grown men, (Gal 4: 1).
It deeply concerned us, that he who was to be our Mediator should be very God and very man.
so as to make us, instead of sons of men, sons of God; instead of heirs of hell, heirs of a heavenly kingdom.
because the only Son of God, to whom it entirely belonged, has adopted us as his brethren; and if brethren, then partners with him in the inheritance,
Another principal part of our reconciliation with God was, that man, who had lost himself by his disobedience, should, by way of remedy, oppose to it obedience, satisfy the justice of God, and pay the penalty of sin.
admit that in the first ordering of creation, while the state of nature was entire, he was appointed head of angels and men; for which reason Paul designates him "the first-born of every creature,"
Since from the earliest age, even before the Law was promulgated, there was never any promise of a Mediator without blood,
Thus, too, the prophets, in discoursing of him, foretold that he would be the Mediator between God and man.
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
In fine, the only end which the Scripture uniformly assigns for the Son of God voluntarily assuming our nature, and even receiving it as a command from the Father, is, that he might propitiate the Father to us by becoming a victim.
we have the brief answer, that when the Spirit declares that by the eternal decree of God the two things were connected together, viz., that Christ should be our Redeemer, and, at the same time, a partaker of our nature, it is unlawful to inquire further.
If, again, it is objected that this counsel of God depended on the fall of man, which he foresaw, to me it is sufficient and more to reply,
he was sanctified by the Spirit, so that the generation was pure and spotless, such as it would have been before Adam's fall.
Let us always bear in mind, that wherever Scripture adverts to the purity of Christ, it refers to his true human nature,
For we maintain, that the divinity was so conjoined and united with the humanity, that the entire properties of each nature remain entire, and yet the two natures constitute only one Christ.
This combination of a twofold nature in Christ they express so carefully, that they sometimes communicate them with each other, a figure of speech which the ancients termed "idiomaton koinonia", (a communication of properties). Section 2. Proof from passages of Scripture
Let us, therefore, regard it as the key of true interpretation, that those things which refer to the office of Mediator are not spoken of the divine or human nature simply[4].
As to the latter, there can be no question that he is called a Son in accordance with the phraseology of the Hebrew language, because he is of the offspring of Adam. On the other hand, I maintain that he is called a Son on account of his Godhead and eternal essence,
We must, therefore, know that the happiness which is promised to us in Christ does not consist in external advantages - such as leading a joyful and tranquil life, abounding in wealth, being secure against all injury, and having an affluence of delights, such as the flesh is wont to long for
but properly belongs to the heavenly life.
so Christ also enriches his people with all things necessary to the eternal salvation of their souls and fortifies them with courage to stand unassailable by all the attacks of spiritual foes.
but spiritual, it raises us even to eternal life, so that we can patiently live at present under toil, hunger, cold, contempt, disgrace, and other annoyances; contented with this, that our King will never abandon us,
but will supply our necessities until our warfare is ended,
that the kingdom of Christ consists in the Spirit, and not in earthly delights or pomp,
