The opening paragraph lays down the famous contrast between the multiform and fragmentary character of the older revelation and the fullness of the light that came through Christ. 'God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers through the prophets in many parts and in many modes, hatli at the end of these days spoken unto us in a Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the efl'ulgence ([i7rai''7a(r/ia) of his glory, and tlie very impress of his essence (xapa-KTrip ttjs uTrotrrdcrfMs ai'ToO), and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purihcation of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on higli ' (l'"'). The history of revelation is here set forth under the categories of Platonic idealism. As this world is but a dim and flickering shadow of the eternal realities, thrown upon the screen of the passing present, the OT is a broken and changing expression of God's mind, given through luany different media, and sharing the imperfec- tion bound up in all of them, while the revelation in Christ is the full 'shining foi'th' of the Divine glory through the perfect image or embodiment of the eternal Majesty. Tlie real value of the OT Scriptures, therefore, is to jjoint forward to the
Light, and then to pass away as the shadow before the sunshine.
The author applies the same categories to the Law, by which, however, he means not the moral command that pressed so hard on tlie con.science of St. Paul, but the system of Levitical onliiiances, as carried through in the service of the Temple. This also was a 'cujiy and sliadow {I'lrddeiyfjia Kal iXKid) of the heavenly things,' an earthly adumbra- tion of the worship carried through in the eternal temple above (8'). As such, every part of the ritual had its significance (cf. esp. 9"'-)- Hut the Law itself was quite powerless to save. 'It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should lake away sins' (10^). It was equally impossible that high priests subject to tlie iiilirmities and mortality of human nature should )iy their daily and yearly .sacrifices, ottered continually and with- out change, ' make perfect them that draw near' (7ffiff. t)9ir. iQi'-). In these sacrifices remembrance was made of sins, and the worshipper's thoughts were thereby directed towards the perfect Sacri- fice yet to be oil'ered (10^). The ' very image ' (outt; r, ekiic), the clear, full expression of the ' good things' of which the Law was but a dim, un- certain ' shadow,' was found only in Christ, by the ottering of whose body sin was expiated once for all, and a ' new and living way ' opened tlirough tlie veil, ' that is to say, his flesh,' into the holy place where God is (lO'*-)- The Aaronic priesthood was thus as imperfect a channel of the mediation of grace as the prophets had been of the revelation of God's mind. Both were but foreshadowings of the 'new covenant' (S'"-), 'a parable for the time now present' (9"). The truest OT type of Christ was Melchizedek, coming, as He did, from the heavenly sphere, ' without father, without mother, without gene- alogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life,' to bear immediate witness to the Divine (7"f-).
i. Practical use of the Old Testament.— Chris- tian interest in the OT is by no means exhausted by such discussions as to its relation to the gospel. The main test of its 'inspiration' is ratlier the practical one of helpfulness ' for teaching, for judgment, for correction, for discipline in right- eousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work ' (2 Ti 3"*'-). Thus St. Paul not merely checks his own liery outburst against the high priest by calling to mind the injunction not to sjieak evil of a ruler (Ac 23'), but cites the Decalogue and other moral precepts of the OT as still binding upon his readers (cf. Ro 12"'-, 1 Co 9^ 2 Co 6'''- 9", Eph 6-, 1 Ti 5'8, 2 Ti 2"), and with equal freedom adduces OT heroes as examples or warnings {e.g. Adam in Ro 5'-''- ; Eve in 2 Co IP, 1 Ti 2'^; Abrah.am in Ro 4"f-, Gal 3""- ; Moses and the children of Israel in 1 Co lO'"'-). The fate of the rebellious Israel- ites is likewise held forth as a warning to Christian believers in He 3'-"- ; but the noblest instance of this practical use of the OT in the Epistle is found in the great roll-call of faith (ch. 11). In the remaining books the speculative interest has almost vanished, and the OT is cited mainly for its ethical value. Of the six quotations in James, five are unmistakably ethical ; and even the text from Gn 15", which St. Paul made the basis of his doctrine of justiHcation by faith, is adduced as a proof of jiistilication by works (as the necessary fruit of faitli). In the same way the Apostle refers to Kahab, Job, and Elijah as notable ex- amples of works, patience, and prayer respectively (.2=5511. i7t.) Even in 1 Peter, where the primitive conception of the OT as a body of predictions ful- filled in Christ finds clear expression (1""- 2™-), the actual use of the Scriptures is predominantly prac-