Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Bullinger and the “Conditions” of the New Covenant

In The Decades 3.vi Bullinger has this to say about the new covenant after pointing out that God’s covenant with mankind is “most excellently of all, most clearly and evidently” seen in Jesus:

“In that testament (ie the new testament) Christ alone is preached, the perfectness and fullness of all things; in it there is nothing more desired than faith and charity.” (Parker Edition p170)

The Latin is:

In eo solus praedicatur Christus perfectio et plenitude omnium, in eodem nihil post fidem et charitatem exigitur. (Peter Opitz, Sermonum Decades, p345)

The modern German translation is:

Darin wird Christus allein als Vollendung und Vollkommenheit aller Menschen verkündigt, darin fordert er nichts als Glauben und Liebe. (Heinrich Bullinger Schriften, TVZ 2006, p5)

Bullinger’s comment might be compared to the ideas expressed in “Love for God – A Neglected Theological Locus” by John A. Davies in John A. Davies and Allan M. Harman (eds.), An Everlasting Covenant: Biblical and Theological Essays in Honour of William J. Dumbrell (Reformed Theological Review Supplement #4 – Doncaster, Australia: 2010)

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