MOSES AND CHRIST NOT CONTRASTED
By James White
The Jewish and Christian dispensations, systems of religion, institutions, and ministrations are compared in the sacred writings; but are not held in contrast. Moses and Christ also are compared. God did not devise two plans by which to save men, one for the Jewish age, and one for the Christian age, the one opposed to, and held in contrast with, the other. The plan of salvation through Jesus Christ is one plan, and only one. And in the development of this unit plan in the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian ages, there are degrees of light and glory which may be compared. But there is in the minds of the masses dense theological fog about this subject, which otherwise is as clear as when the sun shines from the cloudless heavens in his strength. Ministers preach, and write, and talk, in a manner to give the vague impression that Christ is the saviour of sinners only in the Christian age, while somebody else, or something else, perhaps Moses or the law, was the saviour of the men of past ages. Some carry this matter so far in their eagerness to degrade the moral code in the minds of their hearers and readers, and to deaden their consciences to its claims, as to represent the Jewish age, in contrast with the Christian age, as one of merciless rigor and gross darkness, in which God gave his people laws in themselves bad, and such as they could not observe. And these blind leaders of the blind do not fail to class the moral code with the bad things of the past dispensation; for to pour contempt upon that code which Paul declares to be holy, just, and good, and to quiet the consciences of the people as to the claims of the fourth commandment, are the main objects of their efforts. But this one grand truth stands out in bold relief upon the Sacred Page, from Genesis to Revelation, that in God's plan of the redemption of man, Jesus Christ is the only saviour of sinners in all the ages. Hence he is represented as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. “For there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. While it is admitted that, in the development of the unit plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, there have been degrees of light and glory in the several ministrations, it is denied that these ministrations of the same plan, all devised by the same Divine Mind for the salvation of the same race of sinners, to bring them all to the same Heaven, so far differ as to be properly held in wide contrast. And to hold Moses and Christ in contrast, as though Moses was the author of what is called the Jewish code and the Jewish system, and Christ the author of what is called the Christian code and the Christian system, is most absurd. Moses was not the lawgiver of the Jews; neither is Christ the Christian’s lawgiver. Moses did not legislate; neither did Christ. In this sense, there has never been but one lawgiver. “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.” James 4:12. This one lawgiver is neither Moses nor Christ, but the eternal Father. Our opponents should save themselves the labor of contrasting Moses and Christ as lawgivers; for neither assumed the position. Christ emphatically says: “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.” John 7:16. “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” Chap. 8:28. “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say.” Chap. 12:49. “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Chap. 14:24. Moses and Christ received the word from the Father, and gave it to the people; but neither assumed the position of independent lawgivers. As prophets, or teachers of the people, Moses and Christ were not in contrast, but were alike. To sustain this proposition, we have the best testimony, directly to the point. The Lord said to Moses, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. 18:18. As a prophet, Christ was to be like Moses. The Father was to put his words into the mouth of Christ, as he had put them in Moses’ mouth. And this truth is regarded of such importance as to be rehearsed by Peter, in Acts 3:22, and by Stephen, in chap. 7:37, under circumstances which give it great force. And yet ministers will blindly go on in their mad career against the law of God holding Moses and Christ, and the Jewish and Christian ministrations, in widest contrast possible. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, speaks of Moses and Christ in such connection as to call out words favoring a contrast between them, if any such thing could exist. He speaks of the house of Moses, and the house of Christ. But does he contrast Moses and Christ as standing opposed to each other? Does he contrast the house of Moses and the house of Christ? As an answer to these important questions, we give just what Paul has said upon the subject. “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house.” Heb. 3:1–3. After a careful reading of what Paul has said of Moses and Christ, and of the house of Moses, and of the house of Christ, in the foregoing quotation, it will be clearly seen, 1. That the apostle does not in the least degree favor the custom of holding these in contrast. 2. His statement, that Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses, illustrated by the figure of a house and its builder, shows that Christ was the builder of Moses, in the sense of a teacher and leader, and the founder of the whole typical system. 3. That Christ is represented as the builder of Moses’ house, inasmuch as all things relating to redemption, given to Moses in type, came from the Redeemer. We close with the impressive words of Christ, in which he most emphatically indorses Moses and his writings as in harmony with himself, and his doctrines, “There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” John 5:45–47.