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14. In carefully planning and preparing the salvation of the whole
human race the God of infinite love, by a special dispensation, chose
for Himself a people to whom He would entrust His promises. First
He entered into a covenant with Abraham (see Gen. 15:18)
and, through Moses, with the people of Israel (see Ex.
24:8). To this people which He had acquired for Himself, He
so manifested Himself through words and deeds as the one true and
living God that Israel came to know by experience the ways of God
with men. Then too, when God Himself spoke to them through the
mouth of the prophets, Israel daily gained a deeper and clearer
understanding of His ways and made them more widely known among the
nations (see Ps. 21:29; 95:1-3; Is. 2:1-5;
Jer. 3:17). The plan of salvation foretold by the sacred
authors, recounted and explained by them, is found as the true word of
God in the books of the Old Testament: these books, therefore,
written under divine inspiration, remain permanently valuable. "For
all that was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and
the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom.
15:4).
15. The principal purpose to which the plan of the old covenant was
directed was to prepare for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all
and of the messianic kingdom, to announce this coming by prophecy (see
Luke 24:44; John 5:39; 1 Peter 1:10), and to
indicate its meaning through various types (see 1 Cor.
10:12). Now the books of the Old Testament, in accordance
with the state of mankind before the time of salvation established by
Christ, reveal to all men the knowledge of God and of man and the
ways in which God, just and merciful, deals with men. These books,
though they also contain some things which are incomplete and
temporary, nevertheless show us true divine pedagogy. [28] These
same books, then, give expression to a lively sense of God, contain
a store of sublime teachings about God, sound wisdom about human
life, and a wonderful treasury of prayers, and in them the mystery of
our salvation is present in a hidden way. Christians should receive
them with reverence.
16. God, the inspirer and author of both Testaments, wisely
arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be
made manifest in the New. [29] For, though Christ established the
new covenant in His blood (see Luke 22:20; 1 Cor.
11:25), still the books of the Old Testament with all their
parts, caught up into the proclamation of the Gospel, [30] acquire
and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament (see Matt.
5:17; Luke 24:27; Rom. 16:25-26; 2 Cor.
14:16) and in turn shed light on it and explain it.
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