Book 2, Chapter 10, Section 1 to Book 2, Chapter 11, Section 14

[Alex, Moderator]

We continue our study by examining the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, comparing their similarities and differences.

10. THE SIMILARITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

1. Calvin begins by pointing to the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. From the beginning of time, all believers have received the same law and were provided the same way of salvation. “All men adopted by God into the company of his people since the beginning of the world were covenanted to him by the same law and by the bond of the same doctrine as obtains among us… The patriarchs… participated in the same inheritance and hoped for a common salvation with us by the grace of the same Mediator” (p. 429).

2. Calvin teaches that there is one covenant (a covenant of grace) that spans the Old and New Testaments but with differing modes of administration. “The covenant made with all the patriarchs is so much like ours in substance and reality that the two are actually one and the same. Yet they differ in the mode of dispensation” (p. 429). Calvin presents three points to support the unity between the Old and New Testaments (which we will see below).

3. First, the promises of the Old Testament were ultimately eternal (not temporal) in nature because these were rooted in the gospel. Calvin cites numerous passages to show how the gospel was present in the Old Testament (e.g., Rom. 1:1-3; 3:21; etc.). “Surely the gospel does not confine men’s hearts to delight in the present life, but lifts them to the hope of immortality… [Hence] the Old Testament was particularly concerned with the future life” (pp. 430-431).

4. Second, the promises in the Old Testament were based on “the free mercy of God” (not human merit). The gracious gospel was present in the Old Testament. “The gospel… declares nothing else than that sinners are justified apart from their own merit by God’s fatherly kindness” (p. 431).

Third, Christ was the Mediator of the Old Testament. Therefore, Jesus was able to say: “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Furthermore, “both the blessed Virgin and Zacharias in their songs called the salvation revealed in Christ the manifestation of the promises that the Lord had formerly made to Abraham and the patriarchs [Luke 1:54-55, 72-73]” (pp. 431-432). “The Old Testament always had its end in Christ and in eternal life” (p. 432).

5. & 6. As a distinctive Reformed teaching, the sacraments in the Old and New Testaments share the same substance. “The Lord not only provided them with the same benefits but also manifested his grace among them by the same symbols [cf. 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 11]… ‘They ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink’ [1 Corinthians10:3-4]” (p. 432).

The sacraments serve to point us to Christ. “Suppose you consider it a great and memorable miracle that the Lord gave heavenly food to his people through Moses that they might not starve in the desert, and sustained them by it for a short time. From this, then, infer how much more excellent is the food that imparts immortality” (p. 433). “When the Lord rained manna from heaven he did not do so merely to feed their bellies, but also bestowed it as a spiritual mystery, to foreshadow the spiritual quickening we have in Christ [1 Corinthians 10:1-5]... The Lord not only communicated to the Jews the same promises of eternal and heavenly life as he now [condescends] to give us, but also sealed them with truly spiritual sacraments” (p. 433).

7. to 10. Old Testament believers looked to a life beyond this one. If God’s blessings were limited to only this earthly life, Old Testament saints would be “the most miserable of all men” (p. 436). Indeed, most of them suffered greatly and “sustained extreme sorrow” during their earthly lives. They yearned for something greater.

They received the Word of God and were illuminated by the Holy Spirit. “There is such life energy in God’s Word that it quickens the souls of all to whom God grants participation in it. For Peter’s saying has always been valid, that it is an imperishable seed, which abides forever [1 Peter 1:23], as he also infers from Isaiah’s words [1 Peter 1:24; Isaiah 40:6].” (p. 434). Calvin names Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs as examples of those who truly knew God through the Word. To know God is to possess eternal life itself. God is never hindered by death. God’s care for his people is not broken by death. So he is called “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” long after their death [Ex. 3:6].

11. to 22. Calvin proves his point by calling on a long list of Old Testament saints, showing how most of them did not prosper in this life, but rather looked to a better future to come. This list parallel Hebrews 11. We will look at an abbreviated summary here:

Consider Abraham. “He [was] taken away from his country, parents, and friends, considered by men the sweetest things in life, as if God deliberately intended to strip him of all life’s delights… While in uncertainty he wanders about hither and thither for many years… Wherever he goes, he finds terribly barbarous neighbors who do not even let him drink water out of the wells that he had dug with great labor… When he has reached a worn-out old age, he finds himself childless… Beyond all hope, he begets Ishmael, but the birth of this son costs him dear… Isaac is born but with this condition — Ishmael, the first-born, is to be driven out and forsaken almost like an enemy. When Isaac alone is left, in whom the weary old age of the good man may repose, he is shortly after ordered to sacrifice him… For a son to be slaughtered by his own father’s hand surpasses every sort of calamity… In short, throughout life he was so tossed and troubled that if anyone wished to paint a picture of a calamitous life, he could find no model more appropriate than Abraham’s!” (pp. 437-438). Isaac also experienced many troubles: famine, oppression, familial strife (p. 438). So too with Jacob: “He asserts that he has passed his life in continual misery, and absolutely denies that he has experienced the prosperity which the Lord had promised him” (p. 439).

In the face of suffering, the patriarchs looked to the promise of eternal life. The promise of the Old Covenant was greater than the possession of an earthly plot of land. “The apostle very beautifully shows this: ‘By faith,’ he says, ‘Abraham sojourned in the Land of Promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For they looked forward to the well-founded city, whose builder and maker is God… These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and believed them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. By this they mean that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been struck with desire of that land which they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. But… they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city’ [Hebrews 11:9-10, 13-16]. For they would have been more stupid than blocks of wood to keep on pursuing the promises when no hope of these appeared on earth, unless they expected them to be fulfilled elsewhere” (p. 440).

Over and over again, Old Testament saints were reminded of their heavenly reward in the midst of affliction. Calvin supplies many examples (especially in section 16): “The righteousness of the godly endures forever; his horn will be exalted in glory” [Psalm 112:9]; “The righteous …will be remembered forever” [Psalm 112:6]; “The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants” [Psalm 34:22]; etc. (pp. 442-443). Calvin aptly summarizes the condition of the godly: “The Lord often leaves his servants not only to be troubled by the lust of the wicked but to be torn and destroyed. He lets good men languish in darkness and filth, while the wicked almost shine among the stars… [So] if believers keep their eyes fastened upon the present state of things, they will be smitten by very grievous temptation, as if there were for innocence neither favor nor reward with God [Ps. 73:2-3, 16-17]” (p. 443). But, the hope of the godly rises above present sufferings to the future life.

As a “solace of misery” and “remedy for suffering,” Old Testament believers were reminded to evaluate things from the eternal perspective. “[Looking] up to heaven, they acknowledged that the saints suffer the cross at the Lord’s hands ‘only for a moment’; ‘the mercies’ they receive ‘are everlasting’ [Isaiah 54:7-8]. On the other hand, they foresaw an eternal and never-ending ruin of the wicked who had for one day been happy as in a dream [Prov. 10:7; Ps. 116:15; Ps. 34:21; 1 Sam. 2:9]… However the saints were buffeted about, their final end was to be life and salvation, while the way of the wicked is a pleasant [contentment] by which they gradually slip into the whirlpool of death” (p. 445).

Even in the Old Testament, there was a general awareness of life after death and an expectation of a final resurrection to come. Job remarked, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and I shall be resurrected from the earth on the Last Day; … and in my flesh I shall see God my Savior. This my hope abides in my breast” [Job 19:25-27]. With the unfolding of redemptive history, the promise of eternal life became clearer. “Accordingly, at the beginning when the first promise of salvation was given to Adam [Genesis 3:15] it glowed like a feeble spark. Then, as it was added to, the light grew in fullness, breaking forth increasingly and shedding its radiance more widely. At last—when all the clouds were dispersed—Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, fully illumined the whole earth [cf. Mal., ch. 4]” (p. 446).

23. In summary, “the Old Testament fathers (1) had Christ as pledge of their covenant, and (2) put in him all trust of future blessedness” (p. 448). The Old Testament was not limited to carnal blessings, but contained promises of spiritual and eternal life. Furthermore, by faith, Old Testament saints participated in New Testament blessings. As such, Peter was able to say that the Jews were heirs to the gospel of grace because they were “the sons of the prophets, included in the covenant which the Lord of old made with his people” [Acts 3:25]. As proof of their participation in the New Testament blessings, many of them were raised from the dead at Jesus’ resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53). “In this [Jesus] has given a sure pledge that whatever he did or suffered in acquiring eternal salvation pertains to the believers of the Old Testament as much as to ourselves” (p. 449).

[Alex, Moderator]

11. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO TESTAMENTS

1. to 3. The cardinal differences between the Old and New Testaments relate to the administration of the covenant (of grace) rather than its substance. Calvin identifies five main differences (which we will see below).

First, the Old Testament used carnal ways to communicate eternal truths. The heavenly inheritance of the saints was symbolically represented by earthly benefits in the Old Testament, but directly presented in the New Testament as spiritual realities. “In the earthly possession [the Israelites] enjoyed, they looked, as in a mirror, upon the future inheritance they believed to have been prepared for them in heaven” (pp. 450-451). In the Old Testament, the land of Canaan was typological of the heavenly home, whereas expulsion from the land represented the terror of hell. Therefore, it is said, “The godly will possess the land” by inheritance [Proverbs 2:21], but “the wicked will perish from the earth” [Job 18:17; cf. Proverbs 2:22] (p. 452). “[God] willed that, for the time during which he gave his covenant to the people of Israel in a veiled form, the grace of future and eternal happiness be signified and figured under earthly benefits, the gravity of spiritual death under physical punishments” (p. 453).

4. to 6. Second, the Old Testament consisted of shadows. “In the absence of the reality, [the Old Testament] showed but an image and shadow in place of the substance; the New Testament reveals the very substance of truth as present” (p. 453). This is clearly taught in the book of Hebrews. Jesus fills the office of eternal high priest and accomplishes the purpose of the Old Testament ceremonies and sacrifices once and for all. “The Old Testament of the Lord was that covenant wrapped up in the shadowy and ineffectual observance of ceremonies and delivered to the Jews; it was temporary because it remained, as it were, in suspense until it might rest upon a firm and substantial confirmation. It became new and eternal only after it was consecrated and established by the blood of Christ” (p. 454). The Old Testament dispensation can be compared to childhood and redemptive history reached maturity with the revelation of Jesus Christ.

7. & 8. Third, the Old Testament was written on tablets of stone. The New Covenant is written on our hearts. This is evident from Jeremiah 31:31-34 and 2 Corinthians 3:6-11. “The Old Testament is of the letter, for it was published without the working of the Spirit. The New is spiritual because the Lord has engraved it spiritually upon men’s hearts [2 Corinthians 3:6a]… The Old brings death... The New is the instrument of life [2 Corinthians 3:6b]… The Old is the ministry of condemnation... The New is the ministry of righteousness [2 Corinthians 3:9]... For because the Old bore the image of things absent, it had to die and vanish with time. The gospel, because it reveals the very substance, stands fast forever [2 Corinthians 3:10-11]” (p. 457). The New Testament is an expansion in terms of the graciousness of the covenant and the incorporation of many more people. The New Testament is rich with “grace abounding” and incorporates a “multitude” from “all peoples.”

9. & 10. Fourth, the Old Testament enslaved. The New Testament liberates. “Scripture calls the Old Testament one of ‘bondage’ because it produces fear in men’s minds; but the New Testament, one of ‘freedom’ because it lifts them to trust and assurance… The Old Testament struck consciences with fear and trembling, but by the benefit of the New they are released into joy. The Old held consciences bound by the yoke of bondage; the New by its spirit of liberality emancipates them into freedom” (p. 458). This is not to say that the Old Testament was void of grace. Still, Old Testaments saints were saved by the same gospel as the New. “[Yet], however much they enjoyed the privilege that they had received through the grace of the gospel, they were still subject to the same bonds and burdens of ceremonial observances as the common people” (pp. 458-459).

“[The patriarchs] so lived under the Old Covenant as not to remain there but ever to aspire to the New, and thus embraced a real share in it. The apostle condemns as blind and accursed those who, content with present shadows, did not stretch their minds to Christ” (p. 460). Anyone who does not advance to Christ, but rather chooses to remain in the shadows is condemned.

11. & 12. Fifth, the Old Testament was focused on one nation, Israel. For a time, “‘[God] allowed all other nations to walk’ in vanity [Acts 14:16], as if they had nothing whatsoever to do with him… Israel was then the Lord’s darling son; the others were strangers. Israel was recognized and received into confidence and safekeeping; the others were left to their own darkness” (p. 460). The New Testament democratizes the gospel to all peoples. “‘But when the fullness of time came’ [Galatians 4:4] which was appointed for the restoration of all things, [Christ] was revealed as the reconciler of God and men; ‘the wall’ that for so long had confined God’s mercy within the boundaries of Israel ‘was broken down’ [Ephesians 2:14]. ‘Peace was announced to those who were far off, and to those who were near’ [Ephesians 2:17] that together they might be reconciled to God and welded into one people [Ephesians 2:16]” (p. 461). “The calling of the Gentiles, therefore, is a notable mark of the excellence of the New Testament over the Old… By this public calling the Gentiles not only were made equal to the Jews, but it also was manifest that they were, so to speak, taking the place of dead Jews” (pp. 461-462).

13. & 14. After listing these five distinctions between the Old and New Testaments, Calvin defends God’s freedom to do as he wills. “God ought not to be considered changeable merely because he accommodated diverse forms to different ages, as he knew would be expedient for each” (p. 462). Calvin provides several examples from everyday life as to why it can be perfectly appropriate to have differences in administration over time:

“If a farmer sets certain tasks for his household in the winter, other tasks for the summer, we shall not on this account accuse him of inconstancy, or think that he departs from the proper rule of agriculture, which accords with the continuous order of nature. In like manner, if a householder instructs, rules, and guides, his children one way in infancy, another way in youth, and still another in young manhood, we shall not on this account call him fickle and say that he abandons his purpose… If a physician cures a young man of disease in the best way, but uses another sort of remedy on the same person when he is old, shall we then say that he has rejected the method of cure that had pleased him before? No—while he perseveres in it, he takes into account the factor of age.” (pp. 462-463).

It was God’s purpose to administer the gospel in different ways to bring about the salvation of his people. “[God] has accommodated himself to men’s capacity, which is varied and changeable” (p. 463). The gospel becomes clearer with the coming of Christ. He is the substance of all the previous types, shadows, and figures. “It was necessary with one kind of sign to represent Christ absent and to proclaim him about to come; but it is fitting that, now revealed, he be represented with another. Since the advent of Christ, God’s call has gone forth more widely through all peoples, and the graces of the Spirit have been more abundantly poured out than before” (p. 463).

This concludes our brief study comparing the similarities and differences between the Old and New Testaments. At our next meeting, we will be studying the Person of Christ!