That His Gospel was a fuller revelation, Jesus made abundantly plain. He did not re-enact the Ten Commandments, but only re-established the principles which underlay them (Mt 22%). He abrogated such provisions and implications of the Law as were adapted only to the earlier stages of civilization, thus: mere external conformity to statutes regarding moral conduct, Mt 57-4972 ; divorce, 51:32; the use of oaths, 5°"; the practice of retaliation, 5°; the pride of race, which made men despise other nations, 5-48. In these matters, which He dealt with as specimen cases, Jesus re- vealed an attitude, a method, and certain principles which He intended to be applied to the OT through-
. hets’ is a favourite one in Rare ee sare 72 with Pie G21; 2240 with Mic 129, Lie 102% But to this argument it may be replied that the Gospels of Mark and Luke, being written for use among the Gentiles, incorporated tradition from which many of the distinctly Jewish elements and phrases actually employed by Jesus had heen removed in the interest of a universal Gospel.
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out.* He did not repudiate the past, He did not even break with the best which the past had pro- duced ; He only developed and perfected the high ideal of life which had found embodiment in the Hebrew Bible. He did not set the seal of absolute duty and truth upon all that the lawgivers and prophets had taught, but He took up and reaffirmed the essential ethical principles and religious ideas which the Hebrew lawgivers had endeavoured to formulate and the Hebrew prophets had _ en- deavoured to instil into the lives of men. That Jesus regarded His own revelation of the will of God as immeasurably superior to that contained in the OT is most strikingly expressed when He says, ‘ Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is but little in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’ (Mt 112, ef. also Mt 131”). To the same effect is Mk 271-22 “No man seweth a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment; else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent is made. And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perisheth, and the skins.’ Full of a similar meaning, also, is Jesus’ parabolic statement in Mt 13° ‘Every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.’ + When, therefore, Jesus says, ‘I came not to de- stroy, but to fulfil’ (Mt 51”), He places in our hands the key to His relation to the OT,+ and bids us see the continuity of God’s purpose among men, the eternity of right and truth, and the absolute cer- tainty that the Divine ideal is to develop and triumph in the world. In these words is comprised all that Jesus was, and did, and taught; they de- scribe His mission. And He felt Himself competent to perform this mighty work, this manifestation of God to men, because He knew Himself to be chosen by God and qualified by Him for the conveyance of this revelation. Since He was superior to all pre- vious revealers of God, He was capable of passin judgment upon their teachings ; He was ainointed to pronounce what elements in those teachings were of permanent and what of transient value. And it was also His mission to unify, to perfect, and to establish the whole sum of religious and ethical ideas among men. For this service He had the
* Jesus attacked existing ideas, practices, and institutions only to the extent absolutely necessary for the establishment of His gospel. Many of the evils and wrongs of society He did not attempt to correct, many of the current misconceptions He left for subsequent teachers to remove. His purpose was to trans- form mankind, not to produce a social or political revolution, and He saw most truly that this transformation was a process for which abundant time must be allowed (Mt 1374-33, Mk 426-29), His work was not destructive but constructive, not negative but positive, as all true work for the world is. Progress involves the putting aside of old bottles for new, the correction of false ideas and practices, the clearing away of spurious accretions, the defeat of those who counsel stagnation ; but no one who follows Jesus’ example in advancing the Kingdom will labour exclusively, or even primarily, to overthrow the false ; rather will he lovingly and trustfully devote himself to the establish- ment of what is true. There is a radical difference between a critical and a helpful attitude in one’s work for the world.
+ On the interpretation of Mt 1352 see particularly Wendt, Lehre Jesu, ii. 349. :
t St. Paul’s conception of the relation between the Law and the Gospel is the same as that of Jesus, as may. be seen in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians. In Ro 33! St. Paul claims not to annul but to establish the Law; not in form and letter, but in substance and spirit. This is to acknowledge the great law of progress, or development, in the universe. An acorn fulfils its mission not by remaining an acorn, but by growing into an oak. A child fulfils its mission not by remaining a child, but by becoming a man. So the OT Law was fulfilled and established not by continuing in literal force when men were ready for something better, but by becoming in due time through Christ a perfected revelation (cf. Gal 44-5), adapted to the higher needs and possibilities of mankind. On the atti- tude of Jesus and St. Paul towards the Law, see esp. art. Law mw THE NT in vol. iii.