TX001057_1-Content-Jesus_Fulfills_the_Covenant_and_Salvation

Living in Christ Series Document #: TX001057

Jesus Fulfills the Covenant and Salvation

History

The word fulfillment is often used in connection with Jesus. The Church teaches us that Jesus Christ is the

complete fulfillment of Divine Revelation, meaning that everything that God wants us to know for our

salvation has been revealed in the life and words of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the New Covenant and

New Law, meaning that he has fulfilled the purpose of the Old Covenant and the Old Law. The Church also

teaches us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament roles of priest, prophet, and king. He is also the

fulfillment of God’s wisdom, reflecting the development of Israel’s wisdom tradition. Thus, because he is the

fulfillment of all these things, we conclude that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of salvation history. In this article

we look more closely at what we mean when we say that Jesus fulfills salvation history.

A Growing Understanding of the Covenant

God’s plan for human salvation proceeds through a number of stages. These stages can be organized in

different ways; the following is a commonly accepted outline:

1. After Adam and Eve’s fall from original holiness, God calls a Chosen People to be a blessing for the

nations (see Genesis 12:3). This stage is told in the stories of the patriarchs and in the Book of Exodus.

This understanding of covenant is picked up by Isaiah when he calls the servant of the Lord a “light for

the nations” (Isaiah 42:6), a passage Christians later see fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

2. In the next stage, God gives the Israelites the original (Old) Law to teach the Chosen People how to live

in right relationship with God. The Bible presents this Law as proclaimed by God through Moses.

However, scholars believe the exact formulation of the Law given in the books of the Pentateuch was a

later development in Israelite history. Various formulations of the Law are presented in the Books of

Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

3. After the Israelites settle Canaan, they first exist as a tribal confederacy. When this seems inadequate

to protect them from external and internal threats, they petition God to be ruled by a king. This begins

their experiment with a theocracy. When most of the kings and many of the people prove to be

unfaithful to the spirit and the letter of the Covenant Law, God sends many prophets to be his voice,

calling people, especially the kings, to be faithful to the covenant. This is the stage of the kings and

prophets.

4. The next stage begins after the Exile; its focus is on Temple worship and sacrifice. Ruled by foreign

powers after the Exile, in this stage the chief priests and the Temple are the heart of Jewish identity.

God has revealed to the Israelites—now referred to as the Judeans or Jews—that they do not need to

have a king to be his Chosen People. The prophets both initiate this development (see especially

Ezekiel) and also critique its abuse.

5. A final stage is the development of a greater sense of personal accountability and responsibility in living

a life pleasing to God. God reveals this in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, prophesied just prior

to the Exile. It is also reflected in the development of the wisdom literature, the Books of Proverbs,

Sirach, and Wisdom, with their emphasis on practical virtues and personal responsibility. A result of this

stage is the growth of the Pharisees, with their emphasis on a strict observance of the Law.

All of these stages can be understood under the overall concept of covenant. The Israelites’

understanding of the original covenant was not static or unchanging. These different understandings are

expressions of the Israelites’ evolving awareness as God revealed what it meant to be in a covenant

relationship with him. The Israelites grew in their understanding of what God was promising them, and how

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they had to live to receive those promises. Keep the following three points in mind as we look to how Jesus

is the fulfillment of all these various understandings of covenant:

x It is best to see these stages as cumulative rather than successive. That is, the understanding of

the previous stages did not disappear with the development of a new stage of understanding. Thus

by the time of Jesus, different people were embracing all these different understandings of

covenant: kingship, prophetic challenge, Temple worship, law, wisdom, personal responsibility.

x The Gospels and other historical documents mention different groups that existed at the time of

Jesus that emphasized one of these particular understandings of covenant: the chief priests and

Sadducees emphasized Temple worship and sacrifice, the Herodians emphasized kingship, the

Essenes emphasized prophecy, the Pharisees emphasized law and personal responsibility, and the

scribes emphasized wisdom. These groups did not necessarily deny the other understandings; they

just emphasized their own understanding as the best.

x Jesus’ life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension reveal the true, complete, fulfilled covenant. Often

he had to confront and correct a person or group’s impartial or incorrect understanding of covenant.

The authors of the New Testament teach us the meaning of the fulfilled covenant in their accounts

of Jesus’ earthly ministry and through their apostolic teaching.

How Jesus Fulfills the Covenant

With these diverse understandings of the covenant of God in the background, we now look briefly at how

Jesus fulfills these understandings of the covenant according to the New Testament authors.

Jesus Is the Light of the World

Israel was to be a blessing for all nations, a light leading them to communion with God. The Gospel authors

are careful to connect Jesus to this promise by showing how he is a descendant of Abraham; see the

genealogies in Matthew, chapter one, and Luke, chapter three.

But more important, Jesus completely fulfills this covenant understanding by becoming the perfect

mediator between God and all humanity (see 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15). The Beatitudes in Matthew and

Luke emphasize that even the most unfortunate of people will find blessing in him. Jesus tells the disciples

that they are blessed in what they see and hear (see Luke 10:23), and he tells the crowds that they are

blessed in hearing and doing the Word of God as he has proclaimed it (see 11:28). In the Gospel of John, he

calls himself the light of the world (see 8:12).

Jesus Is the New Law

God gave Israel the Law, the Torah, to teach them how to live in communion with him and with one another.

In his words and his actions, Jesus Christ fulfills the Law by showing us its true meaning and by

accomplishing its purpose through his death and Resurrection. Jesus’ extended teaching on this is shown

most clearly in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (see chapters 5–7) and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke

(see chapter 6). In this extended teaching, Jesus says several times, “You have heard that it was said,” and

then he interprets an Old Testament law to reveal its deeper meaning.

In his teaching on faith and the Law, Paul further helps us to understand how Jesus fulfills the Law.

Paul makes it clear that it isn’t following laws perfectly that saves us; rather, it is faith in the lawgiver, Jesus

Christ, that saves us. See Romans 3:19–31 for a summary of this teaching.

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Jesus Christ, Perfect King and Prophet

The Gospel authors are clear in their intention to connect Jesus to the line of Israelite kings, particularly King

David (in fulfillment of God’s promise to David, see 2 Samuel 7:16). David’s name is mentioned fourteen

times in Matthew, specifically calling Jesus “Son of David.” In the triumphal entry to Jerusalem, the crowds

say, “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!” (11:10). They see Jesus as their new king

who will fulfill their hopes for a glorious Israelite nation.

However, Jesus’ fulfillment of the covenant understanding of kingship completely confounds many of

the Jewish people of his time. He emphasizes that true leadership is found in the sacrificial service of others.

The king of the heavenly banquet will open up the doors to all, especially the poor and marginalized. The

wealthy and powerful of this world will even reject the true king who fulfills the covenant. Christ is the

sacrificing, crucified king who brings salvation to all who believe, and who now reigns in Heaven.

It is hard to find explicit examples of how Jesus is the fulfillment of covenant prophecy because his

every word and action is prophetic; he is the perfect, complete, and final Word of God. One Gospel example

to point out, though, is the account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (see Luke 24:13–31). In this

account we read how Jesus interpreted former prophecy to apply to his life, death, and Resurrection: “Then

beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures”

(verse 27).

Jesus Christ, the Perfect Sacrifice and Perfect Priest

Throughout their history the Israelites practiced cultic sacrifice in their covenant relationship with God. They

acknowledged the evil of human sacrifice, so they sacrificed the best of their plants and animals to God. In

this way they acknowledged that all they had was a gift from God. The priest who made the sacrifice was a

theological acknowledgment of the need for a mediator between God and the people.

Jesus Christ fulfills this understanding of the covenant by becoming both the perfect sacrifice and the

perfect priest. Many allusions to this are found in the New Testament. The clearest example of Jesus as the

perfect sacrifice is in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus is called the Lamb of God at the very beginning of

the Gospel (see 1:29,36). Jesus is killed on the day before Passover, the day the Paschal lamb is

slaughtered (see 19:14). The clearest teaching on Jesus as the perfect priest is in the Letter to the Hebrews,

chapters 5–10.

Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God

The Old Testament wisdom books speak eloquently of the wisdom of God, sometimes personified with

feminine attributes, who is a gift to human beings to lead us to God. The wisdom tradition emphasizes our

responsibility to live a life pleasing to God. Jesus fulfills this covenant understanding by teaching us how to

fulfill this responsibility. Christ’s parables echo the stories and proverbs of the Old Testament wisdom writers.

At one point he says, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” and then compares

the person who listens to and acts on his words to a wise person who builds his house on a firm foundation

(Luke 6:46–49; see also Matthew 7:24–27).

Paul has a significant reflection on God’s wisdom at the beginning of the First Letter to the Corinthians

(see 1:17—2:16). In it he describes how God’s wisdom was hidden from our full understanding until it was

revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God. “It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who

became for us wisdom from God” (1:30). Paul emphasizes that human wisdom is folly to God and that God’s

wisdom is foolishness to many people.

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Old Testament Prophecies and Salvation History

Completing and perfecting these various understandings of the original covenant was not the only way

that the first Christians saw Jesus fulfilling salvation history. They also saw the events of Christ’s life

fulfilling specific Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Looking back over the writings of the

prophets, they saw some prescient connections between Christ’s life and certain prophetic oracles.

(Today we might say this practice comes close to proof texting!) It is better to see these connections as

confirmation of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah rather than as proofs of his messianic role. The following

shows some of the most common prophetic connections with events in Christ’s life; many others can be

found by doing an Internet search.

Event

Old Testament Prophecy

New Testament Fulfillment

The Savior will be

born of a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14

: “Therefore the Lord

himself will give you this sign: the virgin

shall be with child, and bear a son, and

shall name him Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:22

–23:

“All this took place to

fulfill what the Lord had said through the

prophet:

‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and

bear a son,

and they shall name him

Emmanuel,’

which means ‘God is with us.’”

The Savior will be

born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:1

–4a: “But you, Bethlehem

Ephrathah

too small to be among the

clans of Judah,

From you shall come

forth for me

one who is to be ruler in

Israel

. . . .”

Luke

2:4–7:

“And Joseph too went up from

Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea,

to the city of David that is called Bethlehem.

. .

While they were there, the time came

for her to have her child, and she gave birth

to her firstborn son.”

The Savior will be

full of zeal for

God’s house, the

Temple.

Psalm 69:10

“Because zeal for your

house consumes me,

I am scorned by

those who scorn you.”

John 2:17

: “His disciples recalled the

words of scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will

consume me.’”

The Savior will be

filled with the Spirit

of God.

Isaiah 61:1

–2:

“The spirit of the Lord

OD is upon me. . . .”

Luke 4:16

–21:

“[Jesus] unrolled the scroll

and found the passage where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

.’ . . .

said to them, ‘Today this scripture passage

is fulfilled in your hearing.’”

The Savior will

come into his glory,

arriving on an ass

(donkey).

Zechariah 9:9

“See, your king shall

come to you;

/ a just savior is he, /

Meek, and riding on an ass,

on a colt,

the foal of an ass.”

Matthew 21:4

–5:

“This happened so that

what had been spoken through the prophet

might be fulfilled

. . . .

‘Behold, your king

comes to you,

meek and riding on an ass,

and on a colt, the foal of a beast of

burden.’”

The Savior will be

betrayed for thirty

pieces of silver.

Zechariah 11:12

–13: “And they

counted out my wages, thirty pieces of

silver.

”

Matt

hew 27:3–10:

“Judas, his betrayer,

seeing that Jesus had been condemned,

deeply regretted what he had done. He

returned the thirty pieces of silver

. . . .”

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The Savior will

suffer and die.

Psalm 22

“My God, my God why have

you abandoned me?

. . . All who

see

me mock me

. . . . As dry as a

potsherd is my throat

. . . . T

hey divide

my garments among them; for my

clothing they cast lots.” (Read the whole

Psalm for many more connections to

Jesus’ Crucifixion.)