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The Holy
Spirit in the Old and New Testaments Our working theme of Galatians: “Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as taught in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone” CHARTING THE COURSE FOR THIS STUDY Ø Continuity And Discontinuity Between The Old And New Testaments CONTINUITY
AND DISCONTINUITY BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS A. The continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments is one of the biggest and most difficult questions of theology. 1. Jonathan Edwards wrote, “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines so much differ, as the stating the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ” (Works, New York, 1881, Vol. I, p. 160). 2. Anthony
Burgess a 17th century minister who served on the Westminster
Assembly wrote, “I do not find
in any point of Divinity, learned men more confused and perplexed (being like
Abraham's ram, hung in a bush of briars and brambles by the head) as here.” B. Galatians 3-4 is an important New Testament passage for looking at the continuity/discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments. 1. Promises given to Abraham 2. Mosaic Law 3. Gospel C. How you understand the continuity/discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments will affect your view on: 1. Infant baptism 2. Christian conduct (e.g. the relevance of the Ten Commandments). Was the standard of Christ’s earthly conduct different than the standard of Christian conduct? 3. Worship 4. The Church’s role in our culture a. Scripture governs all life including culture and politics (Abraham Kuyper, Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, John Frame, RPCNA). b. “Two Kingdoms” (Luther, Meredith Kline, Michael Horton) ANY
EXPLANATION OF CONTINUITY OR DISCONTINUITY BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
MUST CENTER UPON THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST (Galatians 4:4) A. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law & therefore our justification is through faith alone in Jesus alone (Galatians 3:10-14). 1. It is now the Law of Christ and not the Mosaic Law (Galatians 6:2; Matthew 5-7; 1 Cor.9:20-21; Rom.7:2,6; 2 Cor.3:7,11,13; Eph.2:15). 2. “A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you
also love one another” (John 13:34; cf. John 15:12). 3. In the Mosaic Covenant, the Ten Commandments were written on stone by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18; 32:15, 16; 34:1, 28; Deut.9:10). In the New Covenant the Law is written upon the heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:33//Hebrews 8:10; cf. Matthew 5:17-20; 2 Cor.3:3). B. Jesus is the
Seed of Abraham (Gal.3:16). C. Jesus is the
Son of God (Gal.4:4; cf. Gen.22:2,12-18; 2 Samuel 7:14//1 Chron.17:13; Psalm
2:7; 89:26-27; Isaiah 9:6; Matt 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). 1. Jews in the Old Testament “sons” and knew God as their “Father” (Exodus 4:22-23; Romans 9:30-33). a. Jews were kept custody (Gal.3:22-23). b. Jews were under the tutelage of the Law (Gal.3:24-25). c. Jews were minors (Gal.4:1-3). 2. Jesus is the full revelation of Sonship
(Gal.4:4; cf. Acts 13:32-33; Romans 1:1-4; 2 Peter 1:16-18). To reject Jesus is to reject Old Testament
sonship. a. Jesus’ baptism was a revelation of His Sonship, “This is My beloved Son…” (Matt.3:17; cf. Matthew 2:15). b. The Mount of Transfiguration was a revelation
of Jesus’ Sonship (Matthew 17:4-5). c. Peter’s
confession included the Sonship of Jesus, who do you say that I am?” d. Jesus’ oath before the High Priest was that He was the Son of God (Matthew 26:63,64). e. John’s Gospel was written “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). f. When
Paul was converted he immediately began to proclaim, “He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). D. God’s
acceptance of us is based on Jesus Christ’s obedience and not our keeping of
the Law.
F. The
relationship between the Old and New Testament was also an issue for Paul as
he was writing to the churches at Galatia.
However, both Paul and the Judaizers would have agreed on the
continuity between the two. Their disagreement
was over the centrality of Jesus Christ. 1. Paul’s
argument is that justification in the Old Testament was always by grace alone
through faith alone. 2. The Judaizers
heretically believed that justification in the Old Testament was based upon
works (Galatians 5:4). CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE AND
WORK IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS (Galatians 4:4)
James Hamilton Jr. “Old Covenant Believers and the Indwelling Spirit” Trinity Journal 24:1 (Spring 03) p. 54 |
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What change did the day of Pentecost bring about for
Peter and the other Apostles? Was
Peter justified before Pentecost? Was
Peter a child of God before Pentecost?
Did Peter have the Holy Spirit before Pentecost? A. There is continuity between New and Old Testaments in the Spirit’s work of justifying believers through faith alone (Galatians 3:6-7). B. There is continuity between New and Old Testaments in the Spirit’s work of adoption (Exodus 4:22,23; Numbers 11:12; Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:6,18; 2 Sam.7:12-14; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 68:5; 103:13; Isaiah 1:2; 45:10–12; 63:16; 64:8; Jeremiah 3:4,19; 31:9; Hosea 1:10; 11:Malachi 1:6; 2:10; Romans 9:4; Galatians 3:7; 4:4-6). C. There is continuity between New and Old Testaments in the Spirit’s work of sanctification (cf. Lev.11:44-45; 19:2; Deuteronomy 30:6; Hebrews 12:14; etc.).
1. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. 2. Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:32-36). Is our experience of the Holy Spirit different from the
experience of believers in the Old Testament?
(John 7:37-39; 14:17; 16:7)
1. “the Spirit was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39). 2. “that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). 3. “But I tell you the truth, it is to your
advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come
to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). Why was it
to the disciples’ advantage that Jesus was going away (John 16:7)? G. The work of the Holy Spirit as described in John is to make Jesus Christ known (John 15:26; 16:14). Without the Holy Spirit both Jews and Gentiles remain in darkness (cf. Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:16; Luke 1:79; Ephesians 5:8). 1. “The Law was given through Moses;
grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). 2. “So when He was raised from the dead,
His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scriptures
and the word which Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19-22). 3. “How can a man be born when he is
old…How can these things be” (John 3:1-9). 4. “So the disciples were saying to one
another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” (John 4:33) 5. “For if you believed Moses, you would
believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But
if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John
5:46-47). 6. “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is
not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven…” (John 6:31-34). 7. “Therefore the Jews were grumbling
about Him” (John 6:41). 8. “How can this man give us His flesh
to eat?” (John 6:52) 9. “It is the Spirit who gives life;
the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and
are life” (John 6:61-63). 10. John 7:37-39 is sandwiched
in-between the confusion of the people over Jesus’ teaching (John 7:33-36 and
7:40-44). 11. “Where is Your Father?” (John 8:19) 12. “Surely He will not kill Himself,
will He…” (John 8:22). 13. “Who are you” (John 8:25) 14. “They did not realize that He had
been speaking to them about the Father” (John 8:27) 15. “We know that God has spoken to
Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from” (John 9:29). 16. “We are not blind too, are we?”
(John 9:40) 17. “they did not understand what those
things were which He had been saying to them” (John 10:6). 18. “division occurred again among the
Jews because of these words. Many of
them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” Others were saying, “These are not the
sayings of one demon-possessed. A
demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?” (John 10:19-21). 19. “Let us also go, so that we may die
with Him” (John 11:16). 20. “Who is the Son of Man?” (John
12:34) 21. “Lord where are You going?” (John
13:36) 22. “Lord, we do not know where You are
going, how do we know the way?” (John 14:4-6) 23. “Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us
the Father, and it is enough for us’” (John 14:8-9) 24. “What is this thing He is telling
us…What is this that He says, “A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about”
(John 16:16-18). What explains
the perpetual ignorance of the Jews and disciples throughout the Gospel of
John and the other Gospels? (see Matthew 11:1-6; Luke 24:25-28, 44-49) 2 Corinthians 3:15-18 |
