Chapter 1: The Fullness of Time and the Author of Evangelical Theology

The importance and difficulty of the work undertaken — Certain adversaries noted — The author of evangelical theology: the only-begotten Son of God — The time of His coming — What the fullness of time is — The peak of idolatrous worship, and of philosophy; also of human dominion — The expectation of the renewal of all things — The fullness of time appointed by God — What the "last days" are; the Jewish church.

I. We are hastening toward the end of the work, though we have not yet attained our purpose: we have undertaken to set forth Christian theology openly and deliberately, first and almost solely. And it was not the evangelical doctrine itself, but that disposition of our mind by which we embrace it, that was chiefly before our eyes when we entered upon the plan of this work. For this reason, we have deferred to this place those things which concern the proper subject of theologians, things pertaining equally to the theology of sinners of every kind. Yet I do not appear to have reached any other summit in this pursuit of heavenly wisdom than this: that when I discourse or speak of these things, I feel myself miserably stammering. For we are occupied with those things which we perceive only in part, and of which no one can drink in the full knowledge, unless he has been permitted to enjoy God face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Nor is there reason why we should be unwilling to admit that we are moved by shame at our own slenderness and even ignorance, since the apostle of that same epistle declares that the one who thinks he knows anything here (perfectly) knows nothing at all (ch. 8:2). Such indeed is the arrogance of certain men, especially young men who profess to have given their name to theology — that, although they are barely moderately equipped with the knowledge of evangelical doctrine from three or four books, they carry themselves with such a lofty brow, as if they alone were wise, or as if they judged themselves to deserve a name not unknown among the wisest. Indeed, it would be well if they were only their own Suffenus, and did not also, to their great harm, despise those who are truly imbued with that wisdom which these men boast most ineptly of having attained. It was truly said of old by Seneca: "I think many men could have arrived at wisdom, had they not thought they had already arrived." But these men consider all things, and assert everything with confidence, as Aristotle testifies — a disposition of soul than which nothing is more harmful to the study of theology. It has been said before, and must be said again: "New orators arise — foolish, young men" — of whom Jude v. 10 says: "those who speak evil of whatever things they do not know, but whatever things they know naturally, as brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves." If they know anything philosophically about the nature of things, they immediately swell with arrogance — which is the greatest corruption of the soul — and they scorn the mysteries of the gospel which they do not know. May God grant that students may at length understand that an entirely different matter is being dealt with here than in the schools of the philosophers; that a different disposition of mind is needed here, a different preparation of intellect and heart, than those with which they are accustomed to approach the encyclopedia of human sciences. Now, if I contribute anything of counsel that God has graciously pleased to turn to the benefit of the godly, I shall have attained, having accomplished the vow and purpose of this entire work, among many other things, what I shall also attribute to divine grace. But now let us return to our purpose.

II. The Jewish church having been utterly overthrown, the purely Mosaic theology upon which it rested lost its force to the extent that it could no longer lead anyone to God. God was therefore now about to lay His final hand upon His revelation. The church, having been educated through various stages of spiritual administration, had now grown up and was to be transferred into a state in its own kind perfect and immutable. For the accomplishment of this most holy and most wise work, the only-begotten Son of God, appointed from eternity and promised from the foundation of the world, was sent in the fullness of time. This the apostle teaches us expressly at Hebrews 1:1–2: "God," he says, "having spoken in many parts and in many ways of old to the fathers through the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in the Son" — who is therefore called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (ch. 2:1); and also the Author and Perfecter of faith (ch. 12:2). But the things that pertain to the person of Jesus Christ as the God-bearing supreme Messenger of God are not the subject of this work, and we have set them forth more fully elsewhere. The immediate author of evangelical theology, therefore, is Jesus Christ Himself, the only-begotten Son of God. We have indeed granted above that the theology of sinners in some sense may be called evangelical. Even as that theology was administered in whatever manner, its primary author was the Son of God Himself — the Spirit of Christ moving the holy men who declared it (1 Peter 1:11 and 2 Peter 1:21). He it was who several times manifested Himself to the patriarchs in human form; and the same was the Angel who was with the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). But with respect to the peculiar administration, that alone is called evangelical theology which the Son of God Himself, going forth from the bosom of the Father, set forth in His own person. He is therefore the singular Author of this theology; from where it follows that, as it is the most perfect, so it is the final revelation of God. Tertullian rightly says: "We have no need of curiosity after Jesus Christ, nor of inquiry after the gospel: when we believe, we desire to believe nothing further; for we believe this first — that there is nothing beyond which we ought to believe." — Prescription against Heretics.

III. The time of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore of the revelation of evangelical theology, must now be considered. I have no desire, however, to stir up chronological difficulties, nor to call the reckoning of years, days, and hours to calculation; for, to speak freely, I do not yet know what advantage has accrued to anyone from the most difficult and most intricate disputes of chronologists. I am pleased, for my part, by that passage of Plutarch in his Life of Solon, who, in order to show that he was unwilling to discredit the conversation of Solon with Croesus on the ground that some denied that Solon had lived at the time of Croesus, said: "I cannot bring myself to reject this story on account of certain chronological rules, as they are called, which six hundred correctors have hitherto been unable to establish with any certainty, so as to agree among themselves regarding the points of dispute." Now, there are things said about that time which pertain to theology. For Christ is said to have come in the "fullness of time" (Epistle to Galatians 4:4); He is also said to have come in the "last days" (Epistle to Hebrews 1:1); and therefore we must see in what sense these two designations of time precisely denote the same time.

IV. The first passage reads as follows: "When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son." Now the fullness of time is spoken of under two respects: namely, with regard to those things that are measured by time and the ages of this world, and with regard to the divine determination. Under both respects we shall see that Christ came in the fullness of time.

V. First, the world itself, and in it all things that in any way pertained to the administration of divine patience, had reached their fullness. These things can be referred to four heads. The first place was held by the worship of the gods. What idolatry was in the impious worship of false gods, the world had by then fully experienced at last. Idolatry had reached the peak of its glory, splendor, efficacy, and universality. We have set forth above how it crept forward gradually through an unutterable succession of times and years. From corrupt, foolish, and futile beginnings it had now grown to such great glory that the world had never seen, nor ever shall see, anything more glorious, sublime, or excellent that was destined to perish. What consolation, support, or reward was to be obtained from that superstition to whose service the human race had willingly bound itself, had by now been sufficiently perceived — which would not have been the case had God sent Christ sooner and sooner called men to repentance. From the day on which He bound the world to Himself by the unspeakable benefit of Christ's mission, nothing whatever was added to the glory, adornment, or ceremonies — that is, to the fullness — of idolatry. This part of the fullness of time Paul sets forth in Acts 14:15–16; 17:30.

VI. Second, that endeavor which we have described at greater length above — to restore natural theology through philosophy — had reached the limits set for it by the nature of things and by human genius. At that time, human wisdom attained its own perfection, insofar as a most imperfect and most uncertain thing can be called perfect. Philosophy had never had anything more intimate with the nature of the universe, nothing more sublime, nothing more useful, nor had it ever been set forth more elegantly, than at that time. The combined genius of the Greeks and Latins claims this honor for itself. That this progress of philosophy had looked to the peak of the fullness of time, the apostle teaches us at 1 Corinthians 1:21: "For since," he says, "in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" — that is, when it had been sufficiently seen, in the most wise ordering and patience of God, what that philosophical wisdom was capable of, what it aimed at, and what was to be expected from it, it pleased God to announce the gospel through His Son for the salvation of believers.

VII. Third, the glory of secular power, or of human empire, had raised itself to its supreme peak. What very many had vainly sought to achieve from the age of Nimrod, the Romans had accomplished. All earthly glory — whatever the innermost depths and recesses of perishing things can supply, whatever ambition, luxury, avarice, curiosity, and finally the wisdom of men, with human nature and the nature of nearly all things subjected and reduced to servitude, could extort — was, as it were, compacted and heaped together into one city, and set before the eyes and contemplation of all. What empire and dominion were, what human force, virtue, strength, and power were, what riches were, all the pomp of the age, what the luxury of life was, how high buildings could rise, how deep the shafts of mines could descend — that celebrated city exhibited all this. From that time forward, by a continuous series of events and outcomes, that glory was diminished, and something was daily lost from the height and splendor of affairs. By this fullness of time, those who were not utterly dull and wholly hindered by vices could easily perceive what was to be expected from all created things, when the very lords of affairs burned with avarice, envy, ambition, and lust no less than if they had suffered from the utmost want of all things.

VIII. Fourth, a wonderful and unusual expectation of the coming of the greatest King, of the beginning of happy times and eternal peace, of the entrance and first beginnings of the renewal of all things, had taken hold of the minds of men. The Jews daily longed for and awaited the appearance of the King Messiah; the Gentiles awaited the return of the golden age. That a report had become widespread that the East (as some said), or the nature of things (as others said), was about to immediately bring forth the greatest King — this is the constant and unanimous testimony of the most celebrated historians. And so, when the human race had exercised itself to the utmost of its powers in superstition and wisdom, in dominion and luxury, in vices and virtues — that is, in the fullness of time — God graciously sent His Son, announcing peace to those who were near and to those who were far off.

IX. Second, the fullness of time appointed by God from of old was at hand. That Christ had been foreknown before the foundation of the world, Peter testifies (1 Peter 1:20). That He would come, according to that foreknowledge and eternal appointment, God had promised from the foundation of the world through the prophets (Luke 1:70). Hence He was called "the Coming One." Such is the sense of the question of John (Matthew 11:3): "Are you the Coming One?" — and He had been desired from Adam onward: "the Desire of all nations" (Haggai 2:7). At the appointed time, therefore — that is, when the time destined for the fulfillment of the promises was at hand — the Son of God was manifested in the flesh. The Jews themselves do not dare to deny that the fullness of time had come at which the Messiah was to be sent; but they obstinately deny that He was sent. Why so? Because, they say, God, angered by their sins, has delayed His coming until now. We indeed acknowledge that their crimes were very great and very grievous; but we utterly deny that the unfaithfulness which ejected them from the roll of the people of God was able to make, or did make, God's own faithfulness void.

X. It is therefore certain that Christ came in the fullness of time. It remains, then, for us to see how He also came at the end of the days. For the fullness of time and the end of days hardly seem to denote the same time and the same days. Yet although so many ages have passed since His coming, and it is most uncertain how long this world will continue in God's patience, or what the duration of the age may be — as Tertullian says — it is most certain that Christ came in the last days. This the apostle testifies (Hebrews 1:1–3): "in these last days." Now a given time may be called "last days" absolutely, or with some particular respect. No reason can be given why so great a series of years — indeed of ages — as has flowed from the incarnation of Christ until now, with what remains to be completed until the consummation of all things, should be called the last days absolutely. Some judge that these last days are so called with respect to the dispensation of the divine will, of which the final revelation has now been made. Accordingly, on their reckoning, the entire time of evangelical preaching, from the incarnation or resurrection of Christ to the consummation of the age, is to be called the last days. But this opinion rests on no testimony and on no probable reason that I know of. That time is a new world — "the world to come" — not "last days" or "the last hour." The time of the coming of Christ is therefore called the last days with respect to the Jewish church. That church was already near its destruction. And the end of the Jewish church fell within the fullness of time. For this reason, the apostle affirms in the passage cited that God spoke to the Jewish people in the Son "in these last days" — namely, those which were then in the midst of passing, not yet ended, but about to end immediately. For throughout that entire Epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle assumes that the Jewish church existed at that time, and that its solemn worship had been so pleasing to God in His forbearance that no one was made worse by the observance of it, nor was any less accepted or pleasing to God. The Gentiles were indeed declared free from the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonies (Acts 15). But that faithful Jews observed the entire solemn Mosaic worship religiously for a long time afterward, we have shown above from Acts 21:20–22, 26. Some ancient manuscripts also read: "in the extremity of these days" — by which the condition of the Jewish church, already placed as it were between the altar and the rock, and standing at the extremity, is sufficiently clearly indicated.

XI. Furthermore, the discussion there concerns the ministerial office of Christ, or His apostolic function, which He exercised while He was on earth, where He is said to have been sent in the last days. That office pertained solely "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). Hence He was also called "a minister of the circumcision" (Romans 15:8). The Son and Heir was indeed to be sent into the same vineyard from which the servants had been repulsed (Matthew 21). And all acknowledge that He came to that church in her last days, when she had not yet quite perished.

XII. Those words, "in the last days," moreover, refer to those prophecies of the Old Testament which expressly denote the final times of the Jewish church. Jacob, about to set forth what would befall his posterity until the coming of the Messiah, begins his prophecy as follows (Genesis 49:1): "I will tell you what shall befall you in the last days" — which words the elders render as "in the last of the days." Similarly at Numbers 24:14, where the Holy Spirit uses the same words concerning the same time: "in the last of the days" — as many manuscripts present the apostolic passage. Christ, therefore, the author of evangelical theology, came "in the fullness of time" and "in the last days" — because the last days of the Jewish church fell within the fullness of the days.