ole New Testament
doctrine is to be understood." This interpretation, however, is
objectionable, and destructive of the sense, [Hebrew: tvrh] never means
"doctrine," but always "law;" and the fact that it is only _the_ law of
God, the eternal expression of His nature, and common, therefore, to
both the Old and New Covenants, which can be here spoken of, and not a
new constitution for the latter, is seen from the reference in which
the giving in the inward parts and the writing on the heart (the tables
of the heart, 2 Cor. iii. 3), stands to the outward communication and
the writing on the tables of stone on Sinai. The law is the same; the
relation only is different in which God places it to man, ("_lex cum
homine conciliatur quasi_," _Michaelis_.) One might easily infer from
the passage before us a confirmation of the error, that the law under
the Old Covenant was _only_ an outward dead letter. Against this error
_Buddeus_ already contended, who, S. 117, acknowledges that it is a
relative difference and contrast only, which are here spoken of He
says: "This, of course, was the case with the Old Testament believers
also; here, however, God promises a richer fulness and higher degree of
this blessing." _Calvin_ declares the opinion that, under the Old
Testament dispensation, there did not exist any regeneration, to be
absurd, and says: "we know that, under the Law, the grace of God was
rare and dark; but that, under the Gospel, the gifts of the Spirit were
_poured_ out, and that God dealt much more liberally with His Church."
The idea of a purely outward giving of the Law is indeed one which is
quite inconceivable. God would, in that case, have done nothing else
towards Israel than He did to the traitor Judas, in whose conscience He
proclaimed His holy Law, without communicating to him strength for
repentance. But such a proceeding can be conceived of, only where there
is a subjective impossibility [Pg 438] of [Greek: anakainizein eis
metanoian]. Every outward manifestation of God _must_, according to the
constitution of human nature, be accompanied by the inward
manifestation, since it is inconceivable that He who knows our nature,
should mock us by the semblance of a blessing. As soon as we know the
outward fact of the deliverance from Egypt, we know, at the same time,
that God has then powerfully touched the heart of Israel. As soon as it
is established that the Law on Sinai was written on tables of stone by
the finger