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Here are the reformers, the puritans, the
early church, the confessing church – all united in upholding Christ as the
One Word from the Father, the One source of light and life in ages past
and into eternity. Would that our
modern evangelical churches be so clear on this crucial point.
We’re working on getting the exact references,
please bear with us…
JOHN CALVIN
John Calvin’s three essentials to be borne in mind when reading
the OT: “First, we hold that earthly
prosperity and happiness did not constitute the goal set before the Jews
to which they were to aspire... Secondly, the covenant by which they were
bound to the Lord was supported, not by their own merits, but solely by
the mercy of the God who called them.
Thirdly, they had and knew Christ as Mediator, through whom they
were joined to God and were to share in His promises.”.
“No one sees the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” [Matt. 11:27] – surely they
who would attain the knowledge of God should always be directed by that
eternal Wisdom. For how could
they either have comprehended God’s mysteries with the mind, or have
uttered them, except by the teaching of Him to whom alone the secrets of
the Father are revealed?
Therefore, holy men of old
knew God only by beholding Him in His Son as in a mirror. When I say this, I mean that God has
never manifested Himself to men in any other way than through the Son,
that is, His sole wisdom, light and truth. From this fountain Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
others drank all that they had of heavenly teaching. From the same fountain, all the
prophets have also drawn every heavenly oracle that they have given
forth.
In
fact, when faith is discussed in the schools, they call God simply the
object of faith, and by fleeting speculations… lead miserable souls
astray rather than direct them to a definite goal. For, since ‘God dwells in inaccessible
light’ [1 Timothy 6:16], Christ must become our intermediary.
For Christ not only speaks of his own age, but comprehends all
ages when he says: ‘This is eternal life, to know the Father to be the
one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent’ [John 17:3]… From this
it follows that no worship has
ever pleased God except that which looked to Christ.”
Commentary on 1
Corinthians 10 – “Now he repeats that all these things happened to the
Israelites to serve us as types, examples by which God sets his judgments
before our eyes. I am aware that others philosophize more subtly over
these words; but I think I have understood the mind of the apostle when I
say that by these examples, as by painted pictures, we are taught what
judgment is waiting for idolaters, fornicators, and others who treat God
with contempt; they are living images which present God to us as angry
with such sins. This explanation, besides being simple and valid, has the
advantage of shutting the mouth of those madmen who twist this passage to
prove that the people in old times were given nothing but [empty]
shadows. First they assume that the people of Israel were only a figure
[form without content] of the church: and from this they conclude that
everything God promised and did among them, every good, every punishment,
was a mere figure of that which was to become actual after the coming of
Christ. This is but a pestilential madness, an atrocious
injury to the holy fathers, and a more atrocious injury to God. The
people [of Israel] was a figure of the Christian church; but it was
itself the true church; its condition was a sketch of our own; but as
such it had even at that time the proper character of the church. The
promises made to it anticipated the gospel, so as in fact to include it;
its sacraments served as figures of our own, but even in that age the
inherent efficacy of their presence made them true sacraments. In short,
those who used rightly the doctrines and the signs given them were
endowed with the same spirit of faith as we ourselves. These words of
Paul, therefore, give no support to those insane people who would have it
that the things done at that time were types in the sense of unreal and
empty shows. Nay, more, as we have explained, they teach us plainly that
these types are pictures which depict events useful for our admonition.”
Even the Old Covenant declared that there is no faith in the
gracious God apart from the Mediator…
The law plainly and openly taught believers to seek salvation
nowhere else than in the atonement that Christ alone carries out. I am only saying that the blessed and
happy state of the church always had its foundation in the person of
Christ… So, then, the original
adoption of the chosen people depended upon the Mediator’s grace. Even if in Moses’ writings this was
not yet expressed in clear words, still it sufficiently appears that it
was commonly known to all the godly.
For before a king had been established over the people, Hannah,
the mother of Samuel, describing the happiness of the godly, already says
in her song: “God will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of
his Messiah” [1 Samuel 2:10]…
Therefore David proclaims: “Jehovah is the strength of his people,
the saving power of his Christ” [Psalm 28:8]… From this it is now clear
enough that, since God cannot without the Mediator be propitious towards
the human race, under the law Christ was always set before the holy
fathers as the end [objectum] to which they should direct their
faith.
“When
faith is discussed in the schools, they call God simply the object of
faith, and by fleeting speculations, lead miserable souls astray rather
than direct them to a definite goal….
Jesus calls himself “the light of the world” [John 8:12] and
elsewhere “the way, the truth and the life” for no one comes to the
Father except through Him [John 14:6], because He alone knows the Father
and those to whom He wishes to reveal Him [Luke 10:22]. On this ground, Paul declares that he
considers nothing worth knowing apart from Christ [1 Cor 2:2]…. Indeed, it is true that faith looks to
one God, but this must be added, “to know Jesus Christ whom He has sent”
[John 17:3].”
The hope of all the godly has ever reposed in Christ alone.
The Law was given, not to restrain the folk of the old covenant
under itself, but to foster hope of salvation in Christ until His coming.
The fathers, when they wished to behold God, always turned their
eyes to Christ. I mean not only
that they beheld God in his eternal Logos [sermone], but also they
attended with their whole mind and the whole affection of their heart to
the promised manifestation of Christ.
Faith in God is faith in Christ.
God willed that the Jews should be so instructed by these prophecies
that they might turn their eyes directly to Christ in order to seek
deliverance… apart from Christ
the saving knowledge of God does not stand. From the beginning of the world he had consequently been
set before all the elect that they should look upon him and put their
trust in him… God is comprehended
in Christ alone… So today the Turks, although they proclaim at the top of
their lungs that the Creator of heaven and earth is God, still, while
repudiating Christ, substitute an idol in place of the true God.
There is no other way in which God can be known but through
Christ, who is the image and pattern of his substance… Although Jews, Turks, and other
infidels boast that they worship God the Creator of heaven and earth, yet
they worship an imaginary God: however obstinate they may be, they follow
vague and uncertain opinions instead of truth; they grope in the dark and
worship their own imagination instead of God. In short, outside of Christ, all religion is deceitful and
transitory and every kind of worship ought to be abhorred and condemned.
MARTIN LUTHER
All the promises of
God lead back to the first promise concerning Christ of Genesis
3:15. The faith of the fathers in
the Old Testament era, and our faith in the New Testament are one and the
same faith in Christ Jesus… The
faith of the fathers was directed at Christ… Time does not
change the object of true faith, or the Holy Spirit. There has always been and always will
be one mind, one impression, one faith concerning Christ among true
believers whether they live in times past, now, or in times to come.
The Barmen Declaration
– first article:
Jesus Christ, as he is
attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to
hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could
and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides
this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and
truths as God’s revelation.
JOHN OWEN
… a revelation was
made of a distinct person in the Deity, who in a peculiar manner did
manage all the concernments of the church after the entrance of sin.
He by whom all things
were made, and by whom all were to be renewed that were to be brought
again unto God, did in an especial and glorious manner appear unto our
first parents, as he in whom this whole dispensation centred, and unto
whom it was committed. And as,
after the promise given, he appeared ‘in human form’ to instruct the
Church in the mystery of his future incarnation, and under the name of
Angel, to shadow out his office as sent unto it and employed in it by the
Father; so here, before the promise, he discovered his distinct glorious
person, as the eternal Voice of the Father.
Genesis
18.
Neither is there any
ground for the late exposition of this and the like places, namely, that
a created angel representing the person of God doth speak and act in his
name, and is called Jehovah; an invention to evade the appearances of the
Son of God under the old testament, contrary to the sense of all
antiquity, nor is any reason or instance produced to make it good.
Genesis
19:24
…in this place it is
Moses that speaketh of the Lord, and he had no occasion to repeat ‘The
LORD’ were it not to intimate the distinct persons unto whom that name,
denoting the nature and self-existence of God, was proper; one whereof
then appeared on the earth, the other manifesting his glorious presence
in heaven… There is therefore in
this place an appearance of God in human shape, and that of one distinct
person in the Godhead, who now represented himself unto Abraham in the
form and shape wherein he would dwell amongst men, when of his seed he
would be ‘made flesh’. This was
one signal means whereby Abraham saw his day and rejoiced; which Himself
lays upon His pre-existence unto His incarnation, and not upon the
promise of His coming, John 8:56, 58.
Genesis
32:24-30
From what hath been
spoken, it is evident that he who appeared unto Jacob, with whom he
earnestly wrestled, by tears and supplications was God; and because he
was sent as the angel of God, it must be some distinct person in the
Deity condescending unto that office; and appearing in the form of a man,
he represented his future assumption of our human nature. And by all this did God instruct the
church in the mystery of the person of the Messiah, and who it was that
they were to look for in the blessing of the promised Seed.
Exodus
3:1-6
He is expressly called
an “Angel” Exod. 3:2 – namely, the Angel of the covenant, the great Angel
of the presence of God, in whom was the name and nature of God. And he thus appeared that the Church
might know and consider who it was that was to work out their spiritual
and eternal salvation, whereof that deliverance which then he would
effect was a type and pledge.
Aben Ezra would have the Angel mentioned verse 2, to be another
from him who is called ‘God’, verse 6: but the text will not give
countenance unto any such distinction, but speaks of one and the same
person throughout without any alteration; and this was no other but the
Son of God.
That the faith of all
believers, from the foundation of the world, had a respect unto him
[Christ], I shall afterwards demonstrate; and to deny it, is to renounce
both the Old Testament and the New.
From
the giving of that promise [Genesis 3:15] the faith of the whole church
was fixed on him whom God would send in our nature, to redeem and save
them. Other way of acceptance with him there was none provided, none declared,
but only by faith in this promise. The design of God in this
promise--which was to reveal and propose the only way which in his wisdom
and grace he had prepared for the deliverance of mankind from the state
of sin and apostasy whereinto they were cast, with the nature of the
faith and obedience of the church will not admit of any other way of
salvation, but only faith in him who was thus promised to be a saviour.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
From ‘A History of the Work of Redemption’
When
we read in sacred history what God did, from time to time, towards His
Church and people, and how He revealed Himself to them, we are to
understand it especially of the Second Person of the Trinity. When we
read of God appearing after the fall, in some visible form, we are ordinarily, if not
universally, to understand it of the Second Person of the Trinity... John
1:18. He is therefore called the image of the invisible God - Col 1:15 -
intimating that though God the Father be invisible, yet Christ is His image
or representation, by which He is seen.
It is now revealed to
Abraham, not only that Christ should come; but that he should be his
seed; and promised, that all the families of the earth should be blessed
in him.
Thus you see how much
more fully the covenant of grace was revealed and confirmed in Abraham’s
time than ever it had been before; by means of which Abraham seems to
have had a clear view of Christ, the great Redeemer, and the future
things that were to be accomplished by him.
The main subjects of
these songs were the glorious things of the gospel; as is evident by the
interpretation that is often put upon them in the New Testament: for
there is no one book of the Old Testament that is so often quoted in the
New, as the book of Psalms. … here Christ is spoken of by his ancestor
David abundantly, in multitudes of songs, speaking of his incarnation,
life, death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, his satisfaction,
intercession; his prophetical, kingly, and priestly office; his glorious
benefits in this life and that which is to come; his union with the
church, and the blessedness of the church in him; the calling of the
Gentiles and the future glory of the church near the end of the world,
and Christ’s coming to the final judgment. All these things, and many more, concerning Christ and his
redemption, are abundantly spoken of in the book of Psalms.
CHARLES HODGE
The
plan of salvation has, under all dispensations, the Patriarchal, the
Mosaic, and the Christian, been the same. On this subject much diversity of opinion, and still more
of mode of statement has prevailed.
Socinians say
that under the old economy, there was no promise of eternal life; and
that the condition of salvation was not faith in Christ. The Remonstrants admitted that the patriarchs were saved,
and that they were saved through Christ, [i.e. in virtue of the work
which the Redeemer was to accomplish], but they also questioned whether
any direct promise of eternal life was given in the Old Testament, or
whether faith in the Redeemer was the condition of acceptance with God…
In opposition to these different views the common doctrine of the Church
has ever been, that the plan of salvation has been the same from the
beginning. There is the same
promise of deliverance from the evils of apostasy, the same Redeemer, the
same condition required for participation in the blessings of redemption,
and the same complete salvation for all who embrace the offers of divine
mercy.
BLAISE PASCAL - Pensees
#752. Moses first teaches the Trinity, original sin,
the Messiah.
JUSTIN MARTYR
And Jesus
the Christ, because the Jews knew not what the Father was, and what the
Son, in like manner accused them; and Himself said, “No one knoweth the
Father, but the Son; nor the Son, but the Father, and they to whom the
Son revealeth Him.” Now the Word
of God is His Son, as we have before said. And He is called Angel and
Apostle; for He declares whatever we ought to know, and is sent forth to
declare whatever is revealed; as our Lord Himself says, “He that heareth
Me, heareth Him that sent Me.”
From the
writings of Moses also this will be manifest; for thus it is written in
them, “And the Angel of God spake to Moses, in a flame of fire out of the
bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
God of Jacob, the God of thy fathers; go down into Egypt, and bring forth
My people.” And if you wish to
learn what follows, you can do so from the same writings; for it is
impossible to relate the whole here. But so much is written for the sake
of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being
of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and
sometimes in the likeness of angels; but now, by the will of God, having
become man for the human race, He endured all the sufferings which the
devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though
they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses, “And the angel
of God spake to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush, and said, I am that I
am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” yet
maintain that He who said this was the Father and Creator of the
universe.
Whence also
the Spirit of prophecy rebukes them, and says, “Israel doth not know Me,
my people have not understood Me.”
And
again, Jesus, as we have already shown, while He was with them, said, “No
one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and
those to whom the Son will reveal Him.”
The
Jews, accordingly, being throughout of opinion that it was the Father of
the universe who spake to Moses, though He who spake to him was indeed
the Son of God, who is called both Angel and Apostle, are justly charged,
both by the Spirit of prophecy and by Christ Himself, with knowing
neither the Father nor the Son. For they who affirm that the Son is the
Father, are proved neither to have become acquainted with the Father, nor
to know that the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the
first-begotten Word of God, is even God. And of old He appeared in the
shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other
prophets; but now in the times of your reign,
having,
as we before said, become Man by a virgin, according to the counsel of
the Father, for the salvation of those who believe on Him, He endured
both to be set at nought and to suffer, that by dying and rising again He
might conquer death.
And that which was said out of the bush to Moses, “I am that I am,
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and the
God of your fathers,” this
signified that they, even though dead, are yet in existence, and are men
belonging to Christ Himself. For they were the first of all men to busy
themselves in the search after God; Abraham being the father of Isaac,
and Isaac of Jacob, as Moses wrote.
IRENAEUS
Irenaeus III.6.1 ‘The Holy Ghost, Throughout the Old Testament
Scriptures, Made Mention of No Other God or Lord, Save Him Who is the
True God.
Therefore neither would the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the
apostles, have ever named as God, definitely and absolutely, him who was
not God, unless he were truly God; nor would they have named any one in
his own person Lord, except God the Father ruling over all, and His Son
who has received dominion from His Father over all creation, as this
passage has it: “The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies
Thy footstool.” Here the [Scripture] represents to us the Father addressing
the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected to
Him all His enemies. Since, therefore, the Father is truly Lord, and the
Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by the title of
Lord. And again, referring to the destruction of the Sodomites, the
Scripture says, “Then the Lord
rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven.” For it here
points out that the Son, who had also been talking with Abraham, had
received power to judge the Sodomites for their wickedness.’
Irenaeus,
Fragment LIII ‘With regard to Christ, the law and the prophets and the
evangelists have proclaimed that He was born of a virgin, that He
suffered upon a beam of wood, and that He appeared from the dead; that He
also ascended to the heavens, and was glorified by the Father, and is the
Eternal King; that He is the perfect Intelligence, the Word of God, who
was begotten before the light; that He was the Founder of the universe,
along with it (light), and the Maker of man; that He is All in all:
Patriarch among the patriarchs; Law in the laws; Chief Priest among
priests; Ruler among kings; the Prophet among prophets; the Angel among
angels; the Man among men; Son in the Father; God in God; King to all eternity.
For it is He who sailed [in the ark] along with Noah, and who guided
Abraham; who was bound along with Isaac, and was a Wanderer with Jacob;
the Shepherd of those who are saved, and the Bridegroom of the Church;
the Chief also of the cherubim, the Prince of the angelic powers; God of
God; Son of the Father; Jesus Christ; King for ever and ever. Amen.’
Irenaeus,
IV. 8 writing against the ‘Vain Attempts of Marcion and His Followers,
Who Exclude Abraham from the Salvation Bestowed by Christ’
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