John Calvin Commentary Luke 24:27

"And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." — Luke 24:27 (ASV)

And beginning at Moses. This passage shows us how Christ is made known to us through the Gospel. It is when light is thrown on the knowledge of him by the Law and the Prophets. For never was there a more able or skillful teacher of the Gospel than our Lord himself; and we see that he borrows from the Law and the Prophets the proof of his doctrine.

If it is objected that he began with easy lessons, so that the disciples might gradually dismiss the Prophets and pass on to the perfect Gospel, this conjecture is easily refuted. For we will afterwards find it stated that all the apostles had their understanding opened, not to be wise without the assistance of the Law, but to understand the Scriptures. Therefore, in order that Christ may be made known to us through the Gospel, it is necessary that Moses and the Prophets should go before as guides to show us the way. It is necessary to remind readers of this, so that they may not lend an ear to fanatics who, by suppressing the Law and the Prophets, wickedly mutilate the Gospel, as if God intended that any testimony which he has ever given concerning his Son should become useless.

How we must apply to Christ those passages concerning him which are to be found in every part of the Law and the Prophets, we do not now have leisure to explain.³¹⁵ Let it suffice to state briefly that there are good reasons why Christ is called the end of the law (Romans 10:4). For however obscurely and at a distance Moses may exhibit Christ in shadows, rather than in a full portrait (Hebrews 10:1), this, at least, is beyond dispute: unless there is in the family of Abraham one exalted Head, under whom the people may be united in one body, the covenant which God made with the holy fathers will be nullified and revoked.

Besides, since God commanded that the tabernacle and the ceremonies of the law should be adjusted to a heavenly pattern (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5), it follows that the sacrifices and the other parts of the service of the temple, if their reality is to be found nowhere else, would be an idle and useless game.³¹⁶ This very argument is copiously illustrated by the apostle (Hebrews 9:1); for, assuming this principle that the visible ceremonies of the law are shadows of spiritual things, he shows that in the whole of the legal priesthood, in the sacrifices, and in the form of the sanctuary, we ought to seek Christ.

Bucer, too, somewhere throws out a judicious conjecture that, amidst this obscurity, the Jews were accustomed to pursue a certain method of interpreting Scripture which had been handed down to them by tradition from the fathers. But so that I may not involve my inquiries in any uncertainty, I will satisfy myself with that natural and simple method which is found universally in all the prophets, who were eminently skilled in the exposition of the Law.

From the Law, therefore, we may properly learn Christ, if we consider that the covenant which God made with the fathers was founded on the Mediator; that the sanctuary, by which God manifested the presence of his grace, was consecrated by his blood; that the Law itself, with its promises, was sanctioned by the shedding of blood; that a single priest was chosen out of the whole people to appear in the presence of God in the name of all, not as an ordinary mortal, but clothed in sacred garments; and that no hope of reconciliation with God was offered to people except through the offering of sacrifice. Besides, there is a remarkable prediction that the kingdom would be perpetuated in the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).

The prophets themselves, as we have hinted, drew far more striking portraits of the Mediator, though they had derived their earliest acquaintance with him from Moses. For no other office was assigned to them than to renew the remembrance of the covenant, to point out more clearly the spiritual worship of God, to found the hope of salvation on the Mediator, and to show more clearly the method of reconciliation. Yet since it had pleased God to delay the full revelation until the coming of his Son, their interpretation was not superfluous.

³¹⁵ “Cela passeroit la mesure de ce present oeuvre;” — “that would exceed the limits of the present work.”;” — “that would exceed the limits of the present work.”

³¹⁶ “Un jeu d’enfans;” — “a game for children.”;” — “a game for children.”