Sect. 231The Church of the Old TestamentThe Church of the Old Testament

In the Divine economy of Revelation and Redemption, three stages can be distinguished: the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian (supra, § 6). Hence in the Church, too, which is the organ of revelation, and the means of applying the fruits of redemption, the same three stages can be distinguished.

I. We read in the early chapters of Genesis of a religious society, “the sons of God,” distinct and separate from the impious “sons of men.” These “sons of God” possessed a supernatural revelation of God’s existence and attributes, of His law and worship, of the angels and a future life, and especially of a coming Redeemer. So, too, the supernatural gifts of grace, and the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, were conferred on those who did what was required on their part. Moreover, they professed their faith not only with the heart, but with the mouth (Rom. 10:10); and not only by word, but also by act—by sacrifices and sacraments (see St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xvi. 9, 10). But just as Revelation in those primitive times was scanty and vague, so, too, the bond of union among the members of the Church was not close. The functions of sacrificing, ruling, and teaching were indeed carried on; but much was left to be determined by individual Patriarchs or heads of families. It may therefore be said that the union, such as it was, consisted in the profession of the same true faith, and the worship of the same true God. With the call of Abraham we have the promise of a fuller revelation and a closer union, which, although far inferior to the revelation and the society which were ultimately to come, were yet a marked advance upon the Patriarchal stage.

II. Under the Mosaic dispensation God chose a people, the Israelites, to be His own peculiar people, and made to them a revelation gradually increasing in extent as the time went on, and also a more definite form of Church. The worship of God was to be observed by certain determinate sacrifices, sacraments, rites, and solemnities; and the unity of this society was symbolized and secured by permitting only one single tabernacle or temple in which sacrifice could be offered up. The priesthood, too, was restricted to the members of a certain family, the lower ministry to the members of a certain tribe, by whom the whole people were to be governed in all sacred matters. “If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter … arise, and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge that shall be at that time; and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall show thee the truth of the judgment; and thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say that preside in the place which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee, according to His Law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. But he that will be proud and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at the time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel” (Deut. 17:8, sqq.). Moreover, the priests possessed teaching authority to preserve and interpret the Divine Law. “The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the Law at his mouth, because he is the angel [the minister and messenger] of the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 2:7, cf. Lev. 10:10, 11).

III. Nevertheless, even this Mosaic dispensation was only a preparation for a higher dispensation which was to come. “The Law was our pedagogue in Christ (παιδαγωγὸς εἰς Χριστόν)”—a tutor to bring us unto Christ (Gal. 3:24); “The Law brought nothing to perfection, but was the bringing in of a better hope” (Heb. 7:19); “You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption of sons” (Rom. 8:15). It was imperfect in all three of the functions which a Church should fulfil. “The Law having a shadow of the good things to come not the very image of the things, by the self-same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers thereunto perfect.… But Christ, being come a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand … neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His own blood entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 11:1; 9:11, 12). So, too, their government was concerned with “the works of the Law,” “the law of a carnal commandment” (Heb. 7:16); and their teaching was necessarily meagre and obscure in comparison with the full and definite teaching of the Gospel: “called out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Hence the priesthood which exercised these imperfect functions was itself imperfect and preparatory. “If perfection was by the Levitical priesthood … what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedech, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being translated, it is necessary that a translation also be made of the Law” (Heb. 7:11, 12). Only in the Church of Christ, “which is the fulness of Him who is filled all in all” (Eph. 1:23), are these functions and this priesthood found perfect. Even while yet militant on earth, she teaches and believes in faith, she rules and obeys in hope, she sanctifies and is sanctified in charity: “a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people” (1 Pet. 2:9). See St. Leo, Serm. lix. (al. 57), c. 7; Serm. lxvi. c. 12; St. Thomas, 1, 2 q. 101; Franzelin, De Ecclesia, thes. iii., iv.