The Old & New
Via On The Spirit and the Letter
Chapter 40.— How that is to Be the Reward of All; The Apostle Earnestly Defends Grace
What then is the import of the All, from the least unto the greatest of them, but all that belong spiritually to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah—that is, to the children of Isaac, to the seed of Abraham? For such is the promise, wherein it was said to him, In Isaac shall your seed be called; for they which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls,) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger (Romans 9:7-12). This is the house of Israel, or rather the house of Judah, on account of Christ, who came of the tribe of Judah. This is the house of the children of promise—not by reason of their own merits, but of the kindness of God. For God promises what He Himself performs: He does not Himself promise, and another perform; which would no longer be promising, but prophesying. Hence it is not of works, but of Him that calls, (Romans 9:11) lest the result should be their own, not God’s; lest the reward should be ascribed not to His grace, but to their due; and so graceshould be no longer grace which was so earnestly defended and maintained by him who, though the least of the apostles, laboured more abundantly than all the rest—yet not himself, but the grace of God that was with him (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). They shall all know me, (Jeremiah 31:34) He says— All, the house of Israel and house of Judah. All, however, are not Israel which are of Israel, (Romans 9:6) but they only to whom it is said in the psalm concerning the morning aid (that is, concerning the new refreshing light, meaning that of the new testament), All you the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel. All the seed, without exception, even the entire seed of the promise and of the called, but only of those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). For whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified (Romans 8:30). Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed: not to that only which is of the law,— that is, which comes from the Old Testamentinto the New—but to that also which is of faith, which was indeed prior to the law, even the faith of Abraham,— meaning those who imitate the faith of Abraham—who is the father of us all; as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations (Romans 4:16-17). Now all these predestinated, called, justified, glorified ones, shall know God by the grace of the new testament, from the least to the greatest of them.
Chapter 42 [XXV.]— Difference Between the Old and the New Testaments
Hans Holbein the Younger, "Allegory of the Old & New Testaments" (1532-35)
I beg of you, however, carefully to observe, as far as you can, what I am endeavouring to prove with so much effort. When the prophet promised a new covenant, not according to the covenant which had been formerly made with the people of Israel when liberated from Egypt, he said nothing about a change in the sacrifices or any sacred ordinances, although such change, too, was without doubt to follow, as we see in fact that it did follow, even as the same prophetic scripture testifies in many other passages; but he simply called attention to this difference, that God would impress His laws on the mind of those who belonged to this covenant, and would write them in their hearts, (Jeremiah 31:32-33) whence the apostle drew his conclusion—not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart; (2 Corinthians 3:3) and that the eternal recompense of this righteousness was not the land out of which were driven the Amorites and Hittites, and other nations who dwelt there, (Joshua 12) but God Himself, to whom it is good to hold fast, in order that God’s good that they love, may be the God Himself whom they love, between whom and men nothing but sin produces separation; and this is remitted only by grace. Accordingly, after saying, For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them, He instantly added, For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34). By the law of works, then, the Lord says, You shall not covet: (Exodus 20:17) but by the law of faith He says, Without me you can do nothing; (John 15:5) for He was treating of good works, even the fruit of the vine-branches. It is therefore apparent what difference there is between the old covenant and the new—that in the former the law is written on tables, while in the latter on hearts; so that what in the one alarms from without, in the other delights from within; and in the former man becomes a transgressor through the letter that kills, in the other a lover through the life-giving spirit. We must therefore avoid saying, that the way in which God assists us to work righteousness, and works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure, (Philippians 2:13) is by externally addressing to our faculties precepts of holiness; for He gives His increase internally, (1 Corinthians 3:7) by shedding love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us (Romans 5:5).
