“Before Christ’s coming, God’s grace was experienced in shadows and types. But Christ is the substance (Col. 2:17; cf. Jn 1:17). In and through the Mediator, God becomes our God and we become His people.
In light of this perspective, we may appreciate at once how all of God’s covenantal words in Holy Scripture (tota Scriptura) are profitable and how they are only so in and through Jesus Christ (solus Christus).
The various forms of God’s word bear the force of a blessing to us because they are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ through His incarnation, death, resurrection, enthronement, and bestowal of the Spirit.
Christ alone is the Mediator of every covenant blessing.
Consequently, it is only the faith that receives, rests, and relies upon Christ alone that is able to respond to God’s multifaceted covenant word: acknowledging its truth, obeying its commands, trembling at its threats, and embracing its promises.
By embracing the Christ graciously offered to us in the gospel, we are enabled to respond in gratitude to the full scope of God’s covenantal word.”
–Scott R. Swain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2011), 52.
Leave a Reply