The old and new

The Old Testament is proved by the New. Christ divides the whole Old Testament into Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and thereby declares them all to be canonical, Luke xxiv. 44. That was then the usual way by which the Jews did divide the Old Testament. And here in the text Abraham sends Dives' brethren to Moses and the Prophets. And Christ, mentioning a place out of the Psalms, bears witness to the whole Old Testament under the name of" The Scripture:" "The Scripture cannot be broken," John x. 34, 35. And we find particular parts of the Old Testament proved in the New. In Matt. v., Christ confirms the Law of Moses, as to its divine authority, when he explains it; beside other places, in which he speaks of some particular laws. In Matt. xii. 38-42, and Luke iv. 25-27, and especially Heb. xi., the historical part of the Scripture is confirmed. And how many testimonies have we out of the Psalms and Prophets everywhere which do the same! The twelve lesser prophets are at once proved by Stephen's alleging them, in Acts vii. 42, where the testimony cited is out of Amos: but Stephen mentions the "book of the prophets;" that is, that volume of the smaller prophets which, among the Jews, was reckoned as one book. (2.) The New Testament is confirmed by the Old. For how often do Christ and his apostles prove their doctrine out of the Old Testament! When they quote the Old Testament, it is a good proof of its authority to any that own the New; and when by those quotations they prove their own doctrine, it is a good argument for the proof of the New Testament to them that believe the Old, as the case was of the Jews at that time. And therefore our Saviour Christ refers them to the Old Testament, particularly Moses, John v. 45, 46, for the proof of the great doctrine he held forth to them, -- that he was the Messiah that should come into the world. So Peter, in Acts iii. 22, 23, refers to Deut. xviii. 18, 19, to prove what he was preaching: "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you," etc. The same we may say of the types of the Old Testament, -- that they confirm the New, in which we find them fulfilled. If any say, "We find no particular confirmation of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in the New Testament;" I answer, They are confirmed by our Saviour Christ in his general division of the Old Testament, according to the Jewish account, into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, under which these books were contained, the whole volume of the Hagiographa going under the name of "The Psalms." John Owen