History of the Old Covenant. By J. H. Kurtz [pp. 451-486]

Kurtz on the Old Covenant.
ART. III. -History of the Old Covenant. By J. H. Kurtz.
Vol. I. Berlin, 1848, 8vo. pp. 301.*
AMoNG the most interesting and important questions arising
in connexion with the study of the Old Testament is that which
concerns its relation to the New.: This too is confessedly one
of the most difficult and disputed questions in Biblical interpretation; and upon which as various and conflicting theories have
been entertained as upon any other. The difficulty lies in the
details, and in the attempt to give accurate definitions and lay
down precise rules. In the general it is very plain that the Old
Dispensation was preparatory to the New, and prophetic of it.
But there is much that is vague and intangible about such a
statement. And it is when we come to ask after its limits, and
to fix with exactness its meaning, when we come to inquire
definitely to what extent, in what sense, and in how large a part
of it the Old Testament is prophetic' of Christ, or preparatory
for his coming and work, that we begin to discern the difficulties with which the subject is encompassed.
That there are in the Old Testament both predictions and
types of a coming Messiah is very clear. That it awakened
among the Jews long before the advent expectations of his
coming-expectations, which were shared wherever the Scriptures were circulated, is matter of history. The unquestionable
authority of the New Testament too, both by express declarations and by frequent implication, requires us to believe that
Moses and the prophets wrote of Christ. The general position,
therefore, that Christ is spoken of in the- Old Testament is
impregnable. But how far is he to be found there?
If we admit nothing to be written respecting Christ, but those
specific statements of the prophets made ex professo respecting
a personal Messiah, we shall find indeed only scattered intimations of him here and there. He will not even thus be banished
from the Old Testament; but he will be confined to comparatively a very small compass in that portion of Holy Scripture.
* Geschichte des Alten Bundes von Joh. Heinr. Kurtz. u. s. w.
1851.]
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