Translated Text
On the Distinction between the Old and New Testament
Many indolent ones think it is not necessary to know the entire Scriptures of the New and Old Testament, that it is enough to read something in the Gospel, and they do not consider why God, from the beginning, had initiated, increased, and preserved this entire book for His Church. For this reason, a short reminder ought to be made.
The eternal God did not desire that His teaching and promise should creep into the world without a testimony, but rather, He always confirmed His Word again and again with great, wonderful testimonies, which are contained in this book from the beginning, through the fathers and prophets, up to the building of the Church according to the apostles. In contrast, all heathen religions have crept in in such a way that no one knows when or through whom. Therefore, this book of the fathers and prophets is a precious treasure. It gives us, first, the testimony that this teaching, which is in the Church, is the only true and original one given by God. Second, it follows from this that where this book is not, there the same assembly of God’s people certainly is not—like the heathen, Muhammadans, Turks, etc.—for they are unable to know God’s will concerning the forgiveness of sins and the savior. Third, this book throughout possesses two chief parts: the Law and the Promise of grace for the sake of the mediator, who was to be born of the seed of Abraham.
And before one speaks of Moses and the Old Testament, it must be known that both parts—Law and Promise—were known and revealed before Moses. And the same Law (which existed also before Moses) binds all people on earth, from beginning to end. For God has planted the knowledge of this same Law in all men, that they would know He is the eternal, almighty God, creator, etc., that they should be obedient to the same God, the creator, in these good works: that they should call upon Him alone, live purely in marriage or do nothing shameful outside of marriage, be subject to lawful authority, love His truth, keep fidelity and faith in honest promises, maintain fairness in buying and selling, await recompense from God for obedience, love and fear Him—also expect punishment for disobedience—and whatever else pertains to the doctrine of good manners, which human reason itself recognizes and understands.
Now, although such knowledge is implanted in human nature, the heart in the corrupt nature is disobedient and averted from God; therefore, this knowledge is not as clear as it was before. For this reason, God has already explained and confirmed the Law through His called servants with new revelations, that He may admonish men to repentance and show them in which works they should exercise obedience and the service of God. He also proclaimed the punishment against disobedience—and proclaimed it terribly—that all men may learn His law and true, serious wrath against sin.
Thus, He had the law, “You shall not murder,” preached to Cain, and afterward renewed it through Noah, and punished Cain for his murderous blow. He also gave the law of chaste living in paradise and condemned all intercourse except the honorable one between a husband and his espoused wife. This is why He gruesomely punished Sodom. In this way, God clearly revealed His will, Law, and wrath.
And this Law is binding on all men on earth, calls all to repentance, teaches all men without exception which works are necessary and which are to be avoided, and how God has punished disobedience from the beginning in these same commandments—thus He continues to punish—as one still daily sees that murder is wondrously punished. Even when worldly rulers are too weak, this unchangeable truth continually remains: “You are not a God who takes pleasure in the godless” (Ps 5). Also, “You shall strive to do nothing wrong against your neighbor; you shall not swear falsely, for My soul hates these things” (Zech 8). Although God has ordained eternal punishment for those who do not amend themselves, He also certainly punishes every manner of sin with gruesome plagues in this temporal life, to remind us of His Law and wrath, as the Psalm says, “God punishes men on account of their sins.”
For this reason, then, the dreadful stories from the beginning of the world are to be preached, that we may learn that God has thus revealed His Law, threat, and wrath from the beginning, as with Cain, the Flood, Sodom, Pharaoh, and so on. And we should thereby know that all subsequent punishments on earth are such works wherein God reveals His wrath again, as has often happened in the great wars and destruction of mighty kingdoms, where, during siege, people often devour one another. In such stories, one should consider God’s wrath against sin, fear Him, and turn to Him again in repentance.
Now, man by nature knows nothing but laws, and wrath would remain upon him, had God not revealed His grace and the forgiveness of sins out of great, inexpressible mercy. Therefore, from the beginning, the promise of the mediator, Jesus Christ, was given, and it was repeated and explained again and again, until the Lord Christ came and accomplished His sacrifice, rose again from the dead, and openly showed His Church how He shall take away sin, death, and so on. Moreover, all people on earth should know this promise and believe in it, and in this faith call upon God who revealed Himself and be obedient to Him. But the heathen have lost this eternal treasure.
Nevertheless, God spread this treasure among the heathen through Abraham, Joseph, and afterwards through the prophets. And God’s people and Church were solely the people who held to and believed this promise, and no one else is saved except through the knowledge of this promise. Thus, Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David were saved because they believed God forgave them their sins and saved them for the sake of the promised savior. They preached and declared this grace and savior, called upon God in this faith, and improved themselves.
This promise is fulfilled when Christ was born, suffered, rose again, and gave the Holy Spirit. And the proclamation of this fulfillment is the Gospel. There has never been another assembly nor people of God, nor will there be a people of God, except where this knowledge of the promise and the grace of the mediator, Christ, is taught and preached.
So that this promise would be preserved and there would be a certain place and people wherein God would reveal the testimony concerning His Word, God established a polity for the people of Israel in which polity His Church should dwell and preach this promise.
This polity is and is called the Old Testament, namely the declaration of the Law with the ordering of the external ceremonies and governance, with the promise of the appointed land and other goods that are necessary for governance, together with threats of punishment.
And that this is and is called the Old Testament is demonstrated by the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as 2 Corinthians 3 and Galatians 4, namely that the Old Testament is the covenant that was made when the Law was given. But the promise of the savior was given previously and was repeated again in the Law, as Deuteronomy 18 and other places indicate. The great, manifold public miracles took place not only for the sake of the Law, but also for a testimony to the promise, that all the world would know that both of these teachings, the Law and the promise, are God’s Word.
Although the promise of the land was a temporal matter and a particular gift, so that the Church would have a certain harborage until the suffering and resurrection of Christ, the promise of the savior and grace are an eternal matter. Thus also, although the civic ordinances had served for temporal governance and the ceremonies for temporal discipline and exercise, nevertheless, the foundation and beginning of the Law is not first and foremost a temporal, bodily matter, but rather the revelation of the eternal and unchangeable divine will, which shows that God is a wise and righteous God and demands from us righteousness and reminds us that the entire human race was created unto this righteousness. And because we are not so, the voice from heaven pronounces the verdict over all men that this corrupted nature is sinful and condemned. And thus, if we recognize our misery and search for the savior, then this voice teaches how we should be and is a testimony to the future, eternal life, namely, that God’s people shall in eternity be such a people as will, in perfect love of God and neighbor, eternally magnify and praise God. This must begin in this life through the help of the savior.
If one punishes a pagan ruler, to what end should your laws serve? What is the goal and end that is thereby intended? He says: for peace. In this manner, the great horde in Israel also possessed worldly, pagan thoughts about their governance, namely, they had these three errors.
First, as the promise of the land was physical, so also they understand the savior in terms of temporal peace and a worldly kingdom. Second, they imagined that they fulfilled the Law and that this would constitute righteousness before God if they did external works, even though the heart was in doubt concerning God and in error; it did not have the proper fear of or trust in God, and it possessed many and various disordered passions and unrighteous desires. Human nature did not give thought to these grievances and did not understand God’s Law—that there is an eternally terrifying judgment against human nature’s doubt and disorder. Third, they erroneously regarded the offerings, namely, that these ceremonies of the offering of calves and the like merited the forgiveness of sins before God and eternal salvation. They amassed more and more such ceremonies, daily inventing new divine services. Whenever they heard of a costly pagan idol, they would set it up and offer sacrifices to it as well. In order to merit much grace and render many great services to God, they burned their own children as an offering. Thus, God’s Church was dreadfully made into a pigsty and a den of murderers.
Nevertheless, God preserved in the people of Israel several right-believing individuals, as Isaiah says in ch. 1, “Had God not left us a remnant, then we would have become nothing, like Sodom and Gomorrah.” And there continually remained this contention among the people that the true prophets expounded the promise of the savior and made a distinction between the temporal possession of the land and eternal grace and salvation, the destruction of sin and death through the savior, and so on.
Second, they further taught that the Law—unlike the heathen laws— was not only aimed at living peacefully in this bodily existence, but was especially a judgment against sin, against the doubting and darkness in human nature concerning God, and so on. Therefore, it should drive all men to the knowledge of their sin and terrify them before God’s wrath, so that they seek forgiveness and grace for the sake of the promised mediator and redemption from sin, and that in this same faith they should call upon God and commence a new obedience.
Third, concerning ceremonies and civil laws, they taught that before all these, the foundation must first be laid in the heart, namely: fear of God’s wrath against sin, the knowledge of the promised savior, faith that God desires to forgive sins for the sake of the same, along with love, a right invocation of God, and a good conscience in this faith. When this foundation was laid, then the ceremonies and civil laws were a beautiful, noble exercise of faith and a confession towards God, as well as a holy, exalted obedience in governance, war, marriage, and every manner of common need.
Moreover, to the same true believers and saints, the ceremonies were a sacrament and testimony to the future savior. They knew well that the offering of calves did not merit the forgiveness of sins. They also saw that it did not take away sin and death. Rather, they recognized that it indicated and promised a future offering for sin, just as Isaiah and later John the Baptist interpreted the ancient offerings. Therefore, when they offered sacrifices, they called to mind the future savior and awakened their faith and invocation through this remembrance.
Thus, the saints had drawn the Law to the promise and rightly understood it. They held a distinction between eternal and temporal goods. They especially embraced what was eternal, while also thanking God for the temporal. That God had taken a certain dwelling and a certain place for the Church and a certain people wherein He desired to reveal Himself and give testimony to His Word is a great, lofty gift. And these same saints were already, through the promise, which is the voice of the Gospel, full heirs of grace, the Holy Spirit, and eternal salvation, as afterward were the apostles and all God’s children according to the apostles’ preaching.
Moreover, the prophets also chastised all blasphemy, and especially idolatry, which came forth out of the darkness—namely, that the people did not rightly understand the Law and promise and established their own worship, even though the one mediator was the promised savior. But because the kings, priests, and people did not possess a proper understanding of the Law and promise and did not want their error and idolatry to be rebuked, they persecuted the true prophets with murder and every manner of persecution. For this reason, God allowed manifold punishments, war, and destruction to come upon them. Nevertheless, He preserved His Church.
From all this it is clear what the Old Testament is, that is, the entire Law of Moses, together with the promise of the land and the preservation of the governance among this people, and how the Law was to be kept. And if it was not kept in faith, according to the promise and spiritual obedience, then it was sin and heathenish before God, which He also punished. St. Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 3: “Moses put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not completely look upon the Law. For their mind is blinded, and this covering remains on them until this day when they read the Old Testament.” Thus, St. Paul explains what the covering signified: namely, human, fleshly understanding, which they brought to the Law, in that they thought the promise was only temporal. Also, they thought they could keep the Law and that they were righteous before God through external works, that they merited the forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of calves, and so on. And there are many such statements in the prophets where they chastise this blindness, which would take too long to recount here.
Paul also teaches the right understanding of the Law in Romans 7, namely, that it is a terrifying judgment against all human flesh, inner and external, whereby the human heart is terrified and killed, and says, “The Law is spiritual,” that is, it does not speak of external worldly governance, like the imperial law, but rather it punishes sin in the heart, and it requires the knowledge of God and total heartfelt obedience towards God. It is not merely an abomination that you arrange protection and peace only for yourself in this temporal life, rather it is God’s voice concerning His eternal will, what is right and wrong, punishing sin, and teaching us how the obedience should be which must begin in us, and testifies that the Church shall afterward, in eternal life, praise God in this perfect obedience, and so on. In this way, all the saints, before and after Moses, have understood and begun to keep the Law—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Tobias, John the Baptist, Paul, and so on, which would be lengthy to discuss. Nevertheless, this has been sufficiently stated for the diligent as a reminder, lest they think that the people under Moses were without grace, the Holy Spirit, etc.
Furthermore, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the promise concerning the savior, that is, the birth, suffering, and resurrection of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the office of the preaching of this great redemption, and the beginning of the eternal kingdom, wherein sin and death are completely destroyed, which kingdom the apostles saw when Christ ascended into heaven.
This great redemption was darkly shown in the promise to the first fathers, then afterwards explained through the prophets, but it began and happened publicly after Christ’s resurrection. Thus, there is one and the same grace given through the promise to the fathers and through the Gospel—or New Testament—yet with this difference, that in the Gospel this right redemption is more clearly revealed and is spread out into all the world.
And because the New Testament began an external existence through the preaching office and a new birth through the Holy Spirit, this preaching is not bound to the ceremonies and the civil law of Moses. The common voice, however, certainly remains, and the eternal judgment of God against sin, namely, the Ten Commandments, which continually chastise all human sin. And God desires that this verdict, together with the threat of temporal and eternal punishment, be carried forth into all the world in the preaching of repentance, as Paul preaches with such a voice in Romans 1. Therefore, from all the histories, from the beginning to the end of divine Scripture, one should draw out the statements and examples wherein this teaching is continually preached, as the prophets and apostles have done. Indeed, each person in all the world should recognize God’s wrath against sin in his own chastisements, and thus flee to the savior, seek grace, and receive it through faith. In this way then he becomes free from the Law, that is, from the wrath of God.
Thus we, born of Gentiles, should know that we are grafted into the olive tree. For before the apostolic preaching, Israel alone had the great honor of knowing and preaching the promise. But afterwards, it was preached throughout all the world through the apostles and imparted to all peoples. Law and punishment remain over all, whether they are preached or not, but this grace cannot be where the voice of the Gospel is not. But wherever the Gospel is, there are God’s people, grace, and blessing, and those who believe in it become branches of the olive tree. And to these, the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation are promised, for the sake of the savior, according to the Gospel.
Although now, since the resurrection of Christ, the Church is a scattered people, as Daniel calls it, God still grants temporal gifts and dwellings to the Church, so that His Gospel is not extinguished, even though it is not bound to a particular place. He also bestows on all the saints various kinds of temporal aid, as can be seen from the examples in all the stories from the beginning, in Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and as Christ says, “Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all other goods shall be given to you in addition.” Thus Psalm 34, “Those who fear Him shall lack nothing,” and 1 Timothy 4, “the fear and love of God has the promise for temporal and eternal life.”
These and many more similar promises, even of temporal gifts, are attached to the Gospel and the Ten Commandments for three chief reasons. The first is that we learn and believe that temporal goods are God’s work and gifts, which He wondrously distributes according to His will. But the world thinks God has nothing to do with these, that these goods are like a heap of grass, to which anyone can run and grab as much as he can. We ought not to think in this way but rather know that God has also these goods in His hand, and that He can and desires to give of them to His children, according to His counsel and our prayer. The second reason is that He might comfort us, so that the Church may also endure in this temporal life. The third reason is that He wants us to exercise faith and invocation even in temporal needs, so that it may be strengthened in the expectation of eternal goods. Therefore, as it was previously said of the Law and its threats, so in contrast one should everywhere take note of the comforting promises which adhere to faith and good works, so that we may thereby be comforted unto faith and good works, and also in various needs.
This is said of the Gospel, of the Ten Commandments, and of the promises and threats that are attached to them. For this teaching remains common to the whole human race from the beginning to the end.
Now, as for what ought to be further taken for instruction from the ceremonies of Moses and the civil laws the learned should consider for you. It certainly requires sound understanding, so that one does not make monkey’s work out of it, as has unfortunately often happened. Because external sacrifices are found in Moses, some have made the mass into a sacrifice for sin, for the living and the dead, and so on. And such misunderstanding has been driven throughout the world.
It was a very beautiful order, the whole priesthood and office with teaching and the exercise of ceremonies, and everything was especially ordered unto the constant preservation of Holy Scripture, to remember the wonderful works which God continually performed among this people, and for the preservation of the promise and the Law in preaching. As for how the high priest Aaron signified the eternal priest, Christ, etc., and as for how the preaching office and the spiritual offerings were signified, that is, the true invocation of God and our suffering—which is not to be recounted here—the prudent can further contemplate this.
Similarly, although the civil law of Moses is not binding upon us, there is nevertheless a distinction to be maintained therein. What belongs to natural order is binding on all people for all time, such as that no one should intermingle with their closest relatives (which Lev 18 recounts) and that such intermingling can be no marriage—these are natural commandments.
Likewise, it is especially to be noted with civil laws that they are a clear testimony that worldly governance, civil life, judgment, punishment, just war, buying, and selling are good works and God’s order. But it is thereby to be noted that these elements must rest on the first commandment, namely: You shall love God with your whole heart. Additionally, this obedience proceeds in the knowledge of the promise. Where this foundation is laid, there governance and all of civic life is God-pleasing and a proper service to God. For it happens as an obedience towards God, proceeds in faith, is a daily and great exercise of faith, and is directed towards this righteous end, namely, to God’s praise, that is, for the preservation and promotion of right knowledge and invocation of God among the people among whom we govern and live. For God created the human race especially that they should dwell together, protect and serve one another, that we might spread the knowledge of Him, and in every manner of work and danger exercise His invocation, etc.
For this reason, it is to be noticed in Moses that the laws are not only concerning the protection of the body and goods, as is the case in heathen laws, but there are also two other elements concerning the punishment of public idolatry and blasphemy. There is likewise punishment for idolatry and all manner of fornication, which the heathen also do not observe. These elements are to be numbered among the natural laws. Such examples are prescribed to all authority in the divine Law in order to admonish them that they should not only serve the protection of the body, like a shepherd safeguarding a flock, but they are also obligated to serve the right knowledge of God and chaste living.
For although other elements in civil laws, which are not properly called natural laws, do not concern our government and are not binding on us, nevertheless those parts which are natural and moral laws are binding on us, as said above. Moreover, each one who has Christian understanding can take much useful admonition from the punishments which are prescribed in Moses, to consider the wrath of God against sin, and what blasphemy an earnest ruler ought to especially punish, whom God Himself also punishes with misfortune, sickness, war, destructions, and every manner of common and particular plagues, if they are slothful.
The heathen did not punish idolatry, blasphemy, and manifold unchastity, and the authorities still show little earnestness or zeal in these matters according to the heathen custom. Therefore, God punishes the kingdoms with manifold dire seditions and wars. One who is God-fearing ought to take this reminder from this part of divine Scripture, and there are many similar elements to be perceived therein, which would be too lengthy to recount here. For the external governance ordered by God is a beautiful mirror, wherein one who has Christian understanding can perceive much useful instruction.
Consequently, since it is distinctly important that one knows and maintains the proper distinction between the Law and the promise of grace, as well as between the Old Testament and the New Testament, that is, the revelation of the Law and the beginning of the eternal kingdom of Christ, I ask the reader to carefully contemplate these points. For as soon as these distinctions are lost, a great darkness thoroughly follows in the Church’s teaching, as happened with the Pharisees and afterwards with the monks. It is obvious that this article is not to be learned from the canonists, Thomists, and the books of those similar to them. Indeed, they have established Pharisaic errors about this and say: “There are three laws, the natural, the Levitical, and the evangelical, and each one has under his respective law merited the forgiveness of sins and salvation through such works and discipline.” This is sheer blindness, a rejection of the savior, and so on, which I do not say to shame anyone, but rather as a necessary warning to the youth so that they might give proper attention to these most important articles and be thankful to God that He has brought the right teaching about this to light again.
Moreover, divine Scripture reminds us quite often that we should prudently distinguish between the two Testaments. Indeed, God prefigured this reminder when He had His throne made in the tabernacle, to which He made the high and salutary promise that He would thereby preserve the teaching office and that He would hear the people’s prayer. For the same structure was to be an image of the entire Church, namely:
The ark in the tabernacle was named the ark of the covenant, that is, a chest which testified that God made a covenant with this people, that He accepted them, that they have His public service and teaching office, and thereby He would receive their prayer. The ark signifies the Church of all times, that is, the people with whom God made a covenant, accepted, and has given the promise to hear and save.
And Moses had the command to place the tablets of Moses into the ark. This signifies that the books of the prophets and afterwards of the apostles should always be and remain in the Church. This is also a special work of God and a special blessing for the Church, for which we ought to heartily thank God, namely, that these books continually remain in the Church.
Moreover, this signifies that the Church ought to be governed by God’s Word, that one should erect no strange entertainments beside it, as the heathen, heretics, monks, and others have done. Moreover, it signifies that this Word should live and reign in the hearts of the Church, through faith, proper invocation of God, and true obedience.
For this present mortal life, compared to the eternal, is to be regarded as the life of a child in the mother’s womb, compared to the life that follows after birth. The body in which we now live is the divine Word, in which we should remain, and we should not seek or set up a different teaching apart from the one doctrine concerning God and the obedience that we owe Him. As a child is destroyed if it is torn out before the proper time, so also the man torn away from the divine Word places himself in the devil’s snares, error, punishments, and so on, as seen with the heathen.
Next on the ark is a covering made completely of gold, which is called the mercy seat, because God said that in this place where He established the office of preaching, He also wishes to hear the people’s prayer. This covering signifies the savior, Christ, who from the beginning to the end protects His Church and is the mercy seat wherein God dwells and reveals Himself, and for whose sake God graciously receives us.
Over the mercy seat were two angels with wings touching one another. There are thereby signified two sermons or teachings. The first is the one revealed to the people in the Old Testament. The second is that which is spread abroad in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Law is revealed from heaven, and bodily governance, discipline, and exercise are thereby established. But the foundation was previously laid, namely, the promise of the Messiah. Without this foundation, the Law was a pure terror or hypocrisy. In the New Testament the fulfillment of the promise and of the Law is preached, and it did not come about for the sake of bodily discipline, but rather there began a new light in the heart and soul, the knowledge of God, trust in God, fear and love, eternal righteousness, and eternal life.
And the wings touched each other, that is, both preachings should follow one another, bear witness to each other, and not strive against each other, like the Pharisees, who, on account of their ignorance of the Law, persecuted the Gospel, and similarly the blinded Jews and monks who, due to their ignorance of the Law, contend against the Gospel.
The wings were the throne of God, that is, God desired His teaching office to be preserved there, and for this reason He desired to be invoked in this place and to hear His people’s prayer there. Thus, at all times the true preaching office is the throne of God. Through right preaching, God comes to us and speaks with us. And it is certain that where the right doctrine is, there is God’s Church, and there also must be there several who live, who are members of Christ, who ought to call upon God in the knowledge of His Word and be certain that God receives their prayers, as it is written in John 15: “If you remain in Me and My Word remains in you, whatever you wish to ask shall be done for you.” This is a great comfort that all those who are God-fearing should diligently consider. The human heart, which is in anguish and thinks about God’s wrath, cannot seek help from God if it does not know of the divine promise and how it should call upon Him. So that the promise might be known to the people of Israel, God determined a certain place, namely, the place of His preaching, and He promised to hear the people’s prayer there. This determination of the place is only a sign and reminder of the promise, and it contained so much in itself. Whoever recognizes and believes this teaching which was ordained for this throne shall be heard.
Thus it is with us as well. We ought to know the promise, and it ought to be proclaimed in the preaching office. In this promise, we should seek and call upon God. Yea, it is in the mercy seat that we should call upon this God, who revealed Himself in Christ, and trust that we will be heard for the sake of Christ.
Two angels also stand upon the mercy seat, that is, all preaching should be built upon Christ. It is mighty through Him and should proclaim Him.
The rings upon the ark, the poles, and all those who should bear it—this all signifies the ministers of the divine Word, who should bear the Church, preach the testament commended to them, and proclaim the mercy seat. This is no light burden, for the preaching office is persecuted, and the people who must also be borne are quite disparate. Every ruler experiences how difficult it is to deal with disparate people, to bring the weak into a better state, to punish disobedience, to soften the hardened, and to defend against the unfaithful.
I have affixed this as a reminder that the reader would consider that this article ought to be earnestly taught and contemplated. In 2 Corinthians 3, St. Paul calls the Old Testament a ministry of death, contained in writing upon stone tablets. For he wants it to be clear that the Old Testament is the revelation of the Law, which God has given with such great, serious testimonies, so that we should recognize and contemplate His judgment over all human sin.
In addition, He also established an external governance for the good of this people. For there needed to be a certain people and place wherein the savior Christ was to be born. Therefore, God also performed great, public miracles among this same people, which took place as public testimony of His Word and His presence.
The same stands in the Epistle to the Hebrews: The Old Testament was weak and useless—note this well—to take away sin and death and to give grace and eternal life. This word should especially be understood of the Law, which proclaims God’s wrath against sin and promises neither grace nor merit. But the promise of the coming savior offered grace and blessing and was not useless for grace.
Because of this and many other reasons, I have made the above distinction between the promise of the savior and the Old Testament and presented this definition: The Old Testament is actually the revelation of the Law, or the covenant, through which Israel was bound to the Law and this particular polity, to this end: that therein there would be preserved the promise of the future savior. Thus, this Law also possesses ceremonies which were signifiers of the same future savior.
Others construct this definition: The Old Testament is the covenant or accepting of the people Israel, on account of the promise of the savior. Moreover, this people was to be formed as a particular polity in which the Law is revealed so that God’s judgment against sin would be known. And because this people was accepted on account of the promise, the Law had many signs of this promise, so that they should have, arouse, and exercise their invocation and faith. I do not dislike this definition if it is understood rightly. But the difference between the two definitions, and which is more suitable or correct, that I ask the prudent to consider with diligence. For I have not written this to stir up strife, but as an admonition for myself and for others, and I would receive a clear review with thanksgiving. I am well aware that my understanding is not great, and that we ought to listen to another, and especially that we should gladly hear the churches, that is, the God-fearing exercised in God’s Word.
But this is easy for the simple to understand, and is highly necessary for all to know: The distinction is between the Law and the promise of grace; the forgiveness of sins is given for the sake of the savior, Christ, and not on account of our merit; the Law is God’s unchangeable will; we need to have faith in this promise, and so on.
This is sufficient on this matter, and I ask the Christian reader that he would consider this article well. But what the enemies of divine truth direct against it does not trouble me greatly, for they know very little about it, they do not seek the truth, and they cannot endure the light of truth. Such people ought not to be the judges of doctrine. For true teaching is foolishness to them, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. Rather, the God-fearing have regard for true doctrine, and they perceive and note which teaching accords with faith.