Prologue — Leviticus 26:10

^26:10^ You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old.

1. These words befit the present epistle in which the Apostle reproves the Galatians who had been so deceived by false teachers as to observe at once the rites of the law and those of the Gospel. For this the Apostle rebukes them with the above words: the new coming on, you shall cast away the old.

In these words the Lord suggests a fourfold oldness. First, the oldness of error: the old error is passed away (Isa 26:3). This is removed by the newness of the doctrine of Christ. What is this new doctrine? (Mark 1:27).

The second oldness is that of figure: behold, the days shall come, says the Lord: and I will perfect, unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah, a new testament not according to the testament which I made to their fathers (Heb 8:8). Here he shows first of all that the first testament is old and that it is made new by the newness of grace or of the reality of Christ’s presence. The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth (Jer 31:22).

The third is the oldness of guilt: because I was silent (not confessing my sins), my bones grew old (Ps 31:3). And this is made new by the newness of justice. So we may walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4).

The fourth is the oldness of punishment. My skin he has made old (Lam 3:4). And this will be made new by the newness of glory, of which newness it is said: behold I will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 66:22). And he who sat on the throne said: behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5).