Chapter 9. That Christ, Although He Was Known to the Jews Under the Law, Yet Was Delivered Only by the Gospel

Because it pleased God in the old time not vainly by expiations and sacrifices to declare himself a Father, and not in vain he did consecrate a chosen people to himself, even then without doubt he was known in the same image, wherein he now appears to us with full brightness. Therefore Malachi, after that he had bidden you Jews to take heed to the law of Moses, and to continue in study thereof, (because after his death there should come a certain interruption of the office of the Prophets) did immediately declare, that there should arise a Son of Righteousness. In which words he teaches, that the law avails to this purpose to hold the godly in expectation of Christ to come: but yet that there was much more light to be hoped for, when he should have come indeed. For this reason does Peter say, that the Prophets did make search, and diligently inquire, of the salvation that is now opened by the Gospel: and that it was revealed to them, that they should minister, not to themselves, nor to their own age, but to us, those things that are declared by the Gospel. Not that their doctrine was unprofitable to the people in old time, or nothing availed themselves: but because they enjoyed not the treasure which God sent to us by their hand. For at this day the grace whereof they testified, is familiarly set before our eyes. And whereas they did but a little sip of it, there is offered to us a more plentiful enjoying thereof. Therefore Christ himself, which affirms that he had witness borne him by Moses, yet extolls the measure of grace whereby we excel the Jews. For speaking to the Disciples, he said: Blessed are the eyes that see that which you see, and blessed are the ears that hear that which you hear. For many kings and Prophets have wished it, and have not obtained it. This is no small commendation of the revealing of the gospel, that God preferred us before the holy fathers that excelled in rare godliness. With which sentence that other place disagrees not, where it is said, that Abraham saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced. For though the sight of a thing far distant was somewhat dark, yet he wanted nothing to the assurance of good hope. And from there came that joy which accompanied the holy Prophet, even to his death. And that saying of John Baptist, No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten that is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him to us, does not exclude the godly which had been dead before him, from the [reconstructed: fellowship] of the understanding and light that shines in the person of Christ. But comparing their estate with ours, he teaches that those mysteries, which they saw but darkly under shadows, are manifest to us: as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews does well set out, saying, that: God diversely and many ways spoke in old time by the Prophets, but now by his beloved Son. Although therefore that only begotten one, which is at this day to us the brightness of the glory, and the point of the substance of God the Father, was in old time known to the Jews, as we have in another place cited from Paul, that he was the guide of the old deliverance: yet is it true, which the same Paul elsewhere teaches, that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has now shined upon our hearts to set forth the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: because when he appeared in this his image, he did in a manner make himself visible, in comparison of the dark and shadow-like form that had been of him before. And so much the more foul and detestable is their unthankfulness and perverseness, that are here so blind at midday. And therefore Paul says, that their minds are darkened by Satan, that they should not see the glory of Christ shining in the gospel, though there be no veil set between them and it.

Now I take the Gospel for the clear disclosing of the mystery of Christ. I grant truly, that in that respect that Paul calls the gospel the doctrine of faith, all the promises that we here and there find in the law, concerning the free forgiveness of sins, whereby God reconciles men to himself, are accounted parts thereof. For he compares faith against these terrors, wherewith the conscience should be troubled and vexed, if salvation were to be sought by works. Therefore it follows that in taking the name of the gospel broadly, there are contained under it all the testimonies that God in old time gave to the fathers, of his mercy and fatherly favor. But in the more excellent signification of it, I say it is applied to the publishing of the grace given in Christ. And that meaning is not only received by common use, but also hangs upon the authority of Christ and the Apostles. Therefore this is properly ascribed to him, that he preached the Gospel of the kingdom. And Mark makes his preface in this manner, The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is no need to gather passages to prove a thing sufficiently known. Christ therefore by his coming has made clear the life and immortality by the Gospel. By which words Paul means, not that the fathers were drowned in darkness of death, until the Son of God did put on flesh: but claiming this prerogative of honor to the gospel, he teaches that it is a new and unwonted kind of message, whereby God performed those things that he had promised, that the truth of his promises should be fulfilled in the person of the Son. For although the faithful have always found by experience, that same saying of Paul to be true, that in Christ are all the promises, yes and Amen, because they were sealed in their hearts: yet because he has accomplished all parts of our salvation in his flesh, therefore that selfsame lively delivering of the things rightfully obtained a new and singular title of praise. Therefore comes that saying of Christ: Hereafter you shall see the heavens open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. For though he seems to have relation to the ladder shown in a vision to the patriarch Jacob: yet he sets out the excellence of his coming by this mark, that he opened the gate of heaven to all men, that the entry thereof may be familiarly open to all men.

But yet we must take heed of the devilish imagination of [reconstructed: Servetus], which when he goes about, or at least feigns that he goes about, to extol the greatness of the grace of Christ, utterly abolishes the promises, as if they were ended together with the law. He lays down that by the faith of the Gospel there is brought to us the accomplishment of all the promises: as though there were no difference between us and Christ. I did indeed even now declare that Christ left nothing unperformed of the whole sum of our salvation: but it is wrongfully gathered thereupon, that we do already enjoy the benefits purchased by him, as though that saying of Paul were false, that our salvation is hidden in hope. I grant indeed, that we by believing in Christ, do also pass from death to life: but in the meantime we must hold this saying of John, that although we know we be the children of God, yet it has not as yet appeared, till we shall be like to him: that is, till we shall see him such as he is. Therefore although Christ offers to us in his Gospel present fullness of spiritual good things, yet the enjoying thereof lies still hidden under the keeping of hope, till being unclothed of the corruptible flesh, we be transfigured into the glory of him that goes before us. In the meantime the Holy Ghost bids us to rest upon the promises, whose authority ought with us to put to silence all the barkings of that filthy dog. For as Paul witnesses, godliness has a promise as well of the life to come, as of the life present. For which reason he boasts that he is an Apostle of Christ, according to the promise of life that is in him. And in another place he puts us in mind, that we have the same promises, which in the old time were given to the holy men. Finally, he sets this as the sum of felicity, that we are sealed up with the Holy Spirit of promise, but yet we do no otherwise enjoy Christ, but so far as we embrace him clothed with his promises. Whereby it comes to pass, that he indeed dwells in our hearts, and yet we wander in journey abroad from him: because we walk by faith and not by sight. And these two things do not ill agree together: that we possess in Christ all that pertains to the perfection of the heavenly life: and yet that faith is a beholding of good things that are not seen. Only there is a difference to be noted in the nature or quality of the promises: because the Gospel shows with her finger that thing, which the law did shadow under figures.

And hereby also is their error convinced, which do never otherwise compare the law with the Gospel, but as they compare the merits of works with the free imputation of righteousness. Although indeed this comparison of contraries is not to be rejected: because Paul does often understand by the name of the law, a rule to live righteously, wherein God requires of us, that which is his, not giving us any hope of life, unless we in all points obey it: and on the other side adding a curse if we do never so little swerve from it: that is in such places as he disputes, that we do freely please God, and are by pardon reckoned righteous, because the observation of the law, to which the reward is promised, is nowhere found. Therefore Paul does fittingly make the righteousness of the law and of the Gospel, contrary the one to the other. But the Gospel did not so succeed in place of that whole law, that it should bring any diverse means of salvation, but rather to confirm and prove to be of force, whatever the law had promised, and to join the body to the shadows. For when Christ says, that the law and the Prophets were until John: he makes not the fathers subject to the curse, which the bound servants of the law cannot escape: but rather only that they were instructed with certain rudiments, so as they stayed a great way beneath the height of the doctrine of the Gospel. Therefore Paul calling the Gospel the power of God, to salvation to every believer, immediately adds, that it has witness of the law and the Prophets. But in the end of the same Epistle, although he shows that the [reconstructed: title] of praise of Jesus Christ is the revelation of the mystery kept secret in everlasting times: yet he does qualify that saying, with adding an exposition, teaching that he is openly shown by the writings of the Prophets. Whereupon we gather, that when we are to treat of the whole law, the Gospel differs from the law only in respect of the plain disclosing thereof. But yet for the inestimable flowing store of grace, which has been laid open for us in Christ, it is not without cause said, that at his coming the heavenly kingdom of God was erected on earth.

Now between the law and the Gospel came John, which had an [reconstructed: office] that was mean and of affinity to them both. For though when he called Christ the lamb of God, and the sacrifice for the cleansing of sins, he showed forth the sum of the Gospel: yet because he did not express that same incomparable strength and glory, which at length appeared in his resurrection, therefore Christ says, that he was not equal to the Apostles. For so do those words of his mean: that though John excels among the sons of women, yet he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he (Matthew 11:11). Because he does not there commend the persons of men, but after he had preferred John before all the Prophets, he advances the preaching of the Gospel to the highest degree: which preaching we see in another place signified by the kingdom of heaven. But whereas John himself does answer that he is but a voice (John 1:23), as though he were inferior to the prophets, he does not that for feigned humility's sake, but means to teach that the proper office of the Ambassador was not committed to him, but that he only executes the office of an apparitor: as it was foretold by Malachi (Malachi 4:5): Behold, I send Elijah the prophet, before that the great and terrible day of the Lord does come. And truly he did nothing else in the whole course of his ministry, but endeavor to get disciples to Christ: as also Isaiah proves, that this was enjoined him from God. And in this sense Christ is called a candle burning and shining (John 5:24), because the broad day had not yet appeared. And yet this is no hindrance, but that he may be reckoned among the publishers of the Gospel, like as he used the same Baptism, which was afterward delivered to the Apostles. But that which he began, was not fulfilled but by the Apostles, with free proceeding, after that Christ was taken up from them into the heavenly glory.

Because God was pleased in ancient times to declare Himself a Father meaningfully through expiations and sacrifices, and not in vain did He consecrate a chosen people to Himself, He was undoubtedly known at that time in the same image in which He now appears to us in full brightness. For this reason Malachi, after urging the Jews to heed the law of Moses and continue studying it — since after his death there would be a gap in the prophetic office — immediately declared that a Sun of Righteousness would arise. By those words he taught that the law serves to hold the godly in expectation of Christ's coming, but that far greater light was to be hoped for when He actually came. This is why Peter says that the prophets searched and inquired carefully about the salvation now made known through the Gospel, and that it was revealed to them that they were ministering not to themselves or their own generation, but to us — those things that the Gospel has declared. Not that their teaching was unprofitable to the ancient people or of no benefit to themselves — but because they did not enjoy the treasure God sent to us through their hands. Today the grace to which they testified is set clearly before our eyes. While they could only sip a little of it, we are offered a far richer share. Therefore Christ Himself, who affirms that Moses bore witness to Him, still extols the degree of grace by which we surpass the Jews. Speaking to His disciples, He said: 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, and blessed are the ears that hear what you hear. For many kings and prophets longed to see it and did not.' It is no small commendation of the revelation of the Gospel that God has placed us above the holy fathers who excelled in extraordinary godliness. This statement does not conflict with the passage where it is said that Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. Though the sight of something so distant was somewhat dim, he lacked nothing for the assurance of sure hope. And from that hope came the joy that accompanied this holy patriarch to his death. John's statement — 'No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made Him known to us' — does not exclude the godly who had already died from participating in the understanding and light that shines in the person of Christ. Rather, by comparing their condition with ours, he teaches that the mysteries they saw only dimly under shadows are now made plain to us — as the author of the letter to the Hebrews explains well: 'God spoke in various ways and at many times through the prophets in the past, but now He has spoken through His beloved Son.' Although the only begotten Son — who is today to us the radiance of glory and the exact imprint of God the Father's nature — was known to the Jews in ancient times (as we have cited from Paul elsewhere: that He was the guide of their ancient deliverance), it is nonetheless true, as Paul teaches elsewhere, that 'God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' For when He appeared in this His image, He made Himself visible in a way that far exceeds the dim and shadowy form in which He had previously been known. All the more foul and detestable, then, is the ingratitude and stubbornness of those who remain blind at midday. Therefore Paul says that their minds are darkened by Satan, so that they cannot see the glory of Christ shining in the Gospel, even though no veil stands between them and it.

I take the Gospel to mean the clear disclosure of the mystery of Christ. I grant that in the sense Paul calls the Gospel 'the doctrine of faith,' all the promises found here and there in the law concerning the free forgiveness of sins — by which God reconciles people to Himself — are counted as parts of it. For he sets faith over against those terrors that would trouble and torment the conscience if salvation had to be sought by works. It follows that in this broad sense, the term 'Gospel' encompasses all the testimonies God gave to the fathers in ancient times of His mercy and fatherly favor. But in its most precise and excellent meaning, I say it refers to the proclamation of the grace given in Christ. That meaning is not only the one commonly accepted but also rests on the authority of Christ and the apostles. So it is properly said of Him that He preached the Gospel of the kingdom. And Mark begins his account with these words: 'The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.' There is no need to pile up passages to prove what is well enough known. Christ therefore, through His coming, has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. By these words Paul does not mean that the fathers were drowned in the darkness of death until the Son of God took on flesh. Rather, he is claiming this high honor for the Gospel — that it is a new and extraordinary kind of message, through which God fulfilled what He had promised, so that the truth of His promises was accomplished in the person of the Son. Although the faithful have always experienced what Paul says — that in Christ all the promises are 'Yes and Amen,' because they were sealed in their hearts — yet because He accomplished every part of our salvation in His flesh, this living delivery of those blessings rightly earned a new and singular title of praise. Hence Christ's saying: 'From now on you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.' Although He seems to be alluding to the ladder shown in vision to the patriarch Jacob, He describes the excellence of His coming by this mark: that He opened the gate of heaven to all people, so that the entrance is now freely accessible to all.

We must, however, guard against the devilish fantasy of Servetus, who, in attempting — or at least pretending to attempt — to magnify the greatness of Christ's grace, abolishes the promises entirely, as though they ended together with the law. He claims that the Gospel's faith brings us the fulfillment of all the promises, as if there were no difference between our condition and Christ's. I did acknowledge just now that Christ left nothing unfinished in the whole sum of our salvation. But it is wrong to conclude from this that we already enjoy the benefits He purchased — as if Paul's statement were false that our salvation is hidden in hope. I grant that by believing in Christ we have already passed from death to life. But we must also hold to John's statement: that although we know we are children of God, it has not yet appeared what we will be, until we are made like Him — that is, until we see Him as He is. Therefore, although Christ offers in His Gospel a present fullness of spiritual blessings, the enjoyment of them remains hidden under hope until, stripped of this corruptible flesh, we are transformed into the glory of the One who goes before us. In the meantime, the Holy Spirit bids us to rest upon the promises, whose authority ought to silence all the barking of that unclean dog. As Paul testifies, godliness holds a promise both of the life to come and of the present life. For this reason he boasts of being an apostle of Christ according to the promise of life that is in Him. In another place he reminds us that we have the same promises that were given to the holy men of old. Finally, he sets this as the sum of blessedness: that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Yet we possess Christ only in the measure that we embrace Him clothed with His promises. The result is that He dwells in our hearts, and yet we are still traveling away from Him — for we walk by faith, not by sight. These two things fit together well: that we possess in Christ everything that belongs to the perfection of the heavenly life, and yet that faith is a seeing of things not yet seen. There is only this difference to note in the nature of the promises: the Gospel points to what the law had shadowed under figures.

This also refutes the error of those who compare the law and the Gospel only as they compare the merits of works with the free imputation of righteousness. That contrast is not to be rejected — for Paul often uses the word 'law' to mean the rule of righteous living in which God requires what is His, offering no hope of life unless we obey it in every point, and adding a curse for the slightest deviation. In such passages Paul is arguing that we please God freely and are counted righteous through pardon, because the obedience to which the reward is promised is found nowhere. So Paul rightly sets the righteousness of the law and of the Gospel in opposition to each other. But the Gospel did not succeed the whole law in a way that introduced a different means of salvation. Rather, it confirmed and sealed as effective whatever the law had promised, and joined the body to the shadows. When Christ says that the law and the prophets were until John, He is not making the fathers subject to the curse that enslaved servants of the law cannot escape. He is only saying they were trained in certain basics and therefore stood far below the height of the Gospel's teaching. So Paul, calling the Gospel the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, immediately adds that it has the testimony of the law and the prophets. And at the end of that same letter, although he shows that the glory of Jesus Christ is the revelation of the mystery kept secret for ages, he qualifies that by adding that it is now openly shown through the writings of the prophets. From this we gather that when we consider the whole scope of the law, the Gospel differs from it only in the clarity of its disclosure. And yet, given the immeasurable abundance of grace poured out for us in Christ, it is not without good reason that we say His coming erected the heavenly kingdom of God on earth.

Between the law and the Gospel stood John, whose office was a bridge between them, related to both. When he called Christ the Lamb of God and the sacrifice for the cleansing of sins, he was setting forth the heart of the Gospel. Yet because he did not declare that incomparable power and glory that finally appeared in the resurrection, Christ says that he was not equal to the apostles. That is what Christ's words mean: though John is greater than any son born of women, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matthew 11:11). He is not comparing individuals there — rather, after placing John above all the prophets, He elevates the preaching of the Gospel to the highest rank, which in another passage is signified by the phrase 'the kingdom of heaven.' When John calls himself merely a voice (John 1:23), as though he were inferior even to the prophets, he does not do so out of false humility. He means to teach that the proper office of the ambassador was not given to him — he only served as a herald preparing the way, as Malachi foretold (Malachi 4:5): 'Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.' Throughout the entire course of his ministry he did nothing other than labor to win disciples for Christ — which Isaiah also confirms was the task appointed to him by God. In this sense Christ is called a lamp burning and shining (John 5:35) — because the full light of day had not yet broken. Yet this does not prevent John from being counted among the proclaimers of the Gospel, just as he used the same baptism that was later given to the apostles. But what he began was not brought to completion until the apostles carried it forward freely, after Christ had been taken up from them into heavenly glory.