{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6738","native_reference":{"book_number":650,"chapter_from":8,"chapter_to":8,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":12,"verse_to":12},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Bede</b>: For what is the meaning of John's being born to elderly parents? Was it not to indicate the earthly birth of the one who was soon to follow, since by bringing forward the hidden spiritual mysteries of the new covenant, he would teach that the fleshly observance of the law and the priesthood of the old covenant were now to be brought to an end? For \"what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.\" And what does it mean that our Lord's precursor came from a father who was mute, a leader of the priests of that time? Is it not that, by the time our Lord appeared, the tongue of the ancient priesthood had to a large extent become mute as regards the spiritual sense of the law's teaching, since the scribes and those learned in the law were only concerned with teaching the keeping of the letter of the law? Moreover, in a number of instances, they were even falsifying the letter of the law by substituting their own traditions, as is proven by our Lord's having rebuked them more than once in the Gospels. And what does it mean that he was born to a barren mother? Is it not that the law, which was ordered to beget spiritual issue for God with the help of the priestly office, led no one to perfection, undoubtedly because it was unable to open up the gates of the kingdom to its followers? The author of the law himself, born under the law, took away from the law the opprobrium of its barrenness, for he pointed out that it was to be understood spiritually; and he taught that in it was formerly prefigured and, as it were, conceived, the gift of happiness from on high which now shines out clearly in the gospel.<br/><i>— Homilies on the Gospels 2.20</i></p><p><b>Ephrem the Syrian</b>: \"For I will be merciful\" to them, not with regard to their impurity but \"toward their iniquities,\" not with regard to the uncleanness of nocturnal dreams but to the sins which are performed in them through the power of the devil.Therefore in the new covenant that Jeremiah announced, \"The first has become old. Now what decayed and became old is near to vanishing away.\"<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS</i></p><p><b>Gregory of Nyssa</b>: The mighty Paul, knowing that the Only-begotten God, Who has the pre-eminence in all things, is the author and cause of all good, bears witness to Him that not only was the creation of all existent things wrought by Him, but that when the original creation of man had decayed and vanished away, to use his own language, and another new creation was wrought in Christ, in this too no other than He took the lead, but He is Himself the first-born of all that new creation of men which is effected by the Gospel.<br/><i>— AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.8</i></p><p><b>Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius</b>: All Scripture is divided into two Testaments. What preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old [Testament]; but what was written after his resurrection is named the New Testament. The Jews make use of the Old, we of the New. Yet, they are not dissonant. The New Testament is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both there is the same testator, even Christ who suffered death for us and made us heirs of his everlasting kingdom.… When, therefore, we who were in time past as it were blind, and as it were shut up in the prison of folly, were sitting in darkness, ignorant of God and of the truth, we have been enlightened by him, who adopted us by his testament; and having freed us from cruel chains, and brought us out to the light of wisdom, he admitted us to the inheritance of his heavenly kingdom.<br/><i>— DIVINE INSTITUTES 4.20</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities.\" To those who have gone before. Mercy is granted, having been left to us in baptism.<br/>\"and I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.\" For those forgiven in baptism are no longer remembered.<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p><p><b>Shepherd of Hermas</b>: And when the Lord saw that their repentance was good and pure, and that they were able to remain in it, He ordered their former sins to be blotted out.<br/><i>— Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: The law is suited to mortals, whereas the New Covenant guarantees us eternal life. It was therefore right for the former one to grow old, while the latter remains new forever in being associated with the ages that do not grow old.<br/><i>— INTERPRETATION OF Hebrews 8</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"b68b8543c6541bcaaa7d45d3eec6a4cac1c5fb3042ab462d0e143e274c077c54","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6738,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"2f213469539a18dc7dea48c5f06810038d9e486f1ee043e6a4d19550e2057913","translator":null,"work":null}