Before the Cross, After the Cross: One God, One Plan

The Continuity of Scripture and the Finality of Christ:

May 11, 2025

Introduction

What if the Bible is not a divided book of two incompatible halves—but one seamless story, flowing from creation to Christ, from promise to fulfillment? What if everything from Genesis to Revelation reveals a single purpose: to unveil the glory of God through His Son, Jesus Christ?

In an age where many claim new revelations, reject parts of Scripture, or fragment the Bible into disconnected covenants and contradictions, this work invites us back to the foundational truth that God has always had one plan, one covenant of grace, and one Savior.

This is not a new doctrine. It is the ancient faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). From Abraham to the apostles, the Church has testified to the continuity of God’s redemptive purpose. The goal is not to speculate but to trace the unbroken thread of God’s truth through His Word—anchored in Christ and preserved in the Scriptures.

This journey will lead us through prophecy and fulfillment, shadow and substance, doctrine and devotion. It is written not just to persuade the mind, but to warm the heart with awe for the God who ordains, reveals, redeems, and finishes what He begins.

Part I: The Fulfillment – Jesus and the Old Testament

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus made clear that He had not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). This declaration framed Jesus’ entire mission—not as a religious innovator, but as the long-promised fulfillment of everything the Scriptures had been building toward. His emphasis was not on negating the past but on revealing its completed meaning. He emphasized that not even the smallest letter or stroke of Scripture would pass away until all was accomplished (Matthew 5:18).

Jesus continually taught from the Hebrew Scriptures, treating them as authoritative and pointing toward Himself as their fulfillment. In the wilderness, when tempted by Satan, Jesus responded to each temptation with Scripture from Deuteronomy, saying, “It is written…” (cf. Matthew 4:4, 4:7, 4:10). He upheld the Torah’s moral standards, affirmed the prophets’ authority, and corrected those who misunderstood the Scriptures.

To the religious leaders, Jesus declared:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)

After His resurrection, Jesus explicitly showed that the Scriptures had always spoken of Him. On the road to Emmaus:

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

Later, to His disciples in the upper room:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44–45)

What Jesus revealed was not new in essence, but clarified through Him. The Old Testament was not obsolete—it was preparatory. The types, shadows, and promises of the Old found their fulfillment and true meaning in Him.

This continuity of Scripture leads to the important question: Why then do we call one the “Old Testament” and the other the “New Testament”?

The term “testament” comes from the Latin testamentum, translating the Greek diathēkē, which is better understood as “covenant.” So, what we call the Old Testament is the record of God’s covenantal dealings with His people before the coming of Christ—the covenant mediated through Abraham, Moses, and David. The New Testament is the record of the covenant instituted through Christ, the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 9:15).

The distinction, then, is not between true and false, or failed and improved—but between promise and fulfillment, shadow and substance, anticipation and realization. The Old Covenant pointed forward to what Christ would do; the New Covenant proclaims that He has done it.

Yet both covenants reveal the same holy, gracious, sovereign God. The Old was not contrary to the New—it laid the foundation. The New does not cancel the Old—it reveals its purpose. The two are inextricably linked, both authored by God, both centered on Christ.

Therefore, when we speak of the Old and New Testaments, we affirm one unfolding revelation of God’s redemptive plan—rooted in eternity, declared through the prophets, accomplished in Christ, and revealed fully by the apostles. of His ministry, Jesus made clear that He had not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). This statement framed His entire mission—not as a reformer discarding what came before, but as the one in whom all of God’s prior revelation finds its meaning. He emphasized that not even the smallest letter or stroke of Scripture would pass away until all was accomplished (Matthew 5:18).

Jesus consistently taught from the Hebrew Scriptures, showing their enduring authority. When tempted in the wilderness, He responded three times with, “It is written…” quoting directly from Deuteronomy. His teachings affirmed the authority of Moses, the prophets, and the writings. Even His rebukes to the Pharisees centered on their failure to rightly understand or obey the Scriptures they claimed to uphold (John 5:39).

After His resurrection, He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). This was not the introduction of new ideas but the unveiling of what was always present. He showed that the entire Old Testament—Genesis through Malachi—testified about Him.

Later, He appeared to His disciples in the upper room and said:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

Then He “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). This moment was transformative. Jesus was not giving them new doctrine but revealing the meaning of what they already knew. The apostles came to understand that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection were not detours or surprises—they were the very goal of the law, the sacrifices, the festivals, the promises, and the prophecies.

This revealed a fundamental continuity—that the God of Abraham is the same God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled the moral law by obeying it perfectly, the ceremonial law by becoming the final sacrifice, and the prophetic word by living out everything foretold. As such, He did not undermine the Old Testament; He confirmed it, fulfilled it, and brought it to its God-ordained climax.

Thus, Jesus’ use of the Old Testament and His teaching to the disciples clearly show that the foundation of Christian doctrine is not a new religion but the fulfillment of what was always written. The New Testament is not a replacement of the old but its Spirit-inspired interpretation and realization. (Matthew 5:17). This fulfillment is not merely about obeying laws—it is about revealing the deeper meaning of all of Scripture as pointing to Himself. After His resurrection, He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

In the upper room, He told His disciples:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

Jesus taught His disciples that the Hebrew Scriptures were not obsolete, but that they found their meaning in Him. The types, prophecies, promises, and institutions of the Old Testament were shadows; Christ is the substance. This revealed a fundamental continuity—that the God of Abraham is the same God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Part II: The Testimony – Apostolic Witness and the Continuity of Teaching

The apostles did not preach new doctrine. They proclaimed Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Scriptures, using both their knowledge of the Old Testament and their personal experience as eyewitnesses of His ministry, death, and resurrection.

Paul, for instance, went into the synagogues and reasoned with the Jews from their own Scriptures:

Acts 17:2–3 – “And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’”

Peter, in his sermon at Pentecost, quoted Joel, David from the Psalms, and other Hebrew texts to show that Jesus was the Messiah foretold by the prophets. This pattern of continuity runs through all apostolic preaching—they did not invent a message but revealed the meaning of what had already been written.

John wrote:

1 John 1:3 – “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

They did this not on their own initiative, but through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised:

John 14:26 – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

This is crucial: the apostles were not just inspired messengers; they were Christ’s chosen instruments, taught by Him directly and later enabled by the Spirit to remember, interpret, and proclaim His life and teachings.

Their writings, therefore, became the New Testament—not because they invented a new religion, but because they faithfully recorded and interpreted the life of Jesus as the fulfillment of all God’s promises. The New Testament is not a break from the Old, but the divinely inspired explanation of it. The apostles’ teaching affirms the unity of God’s revelation: one story, one Savior, one Gospel.

Part III: The Canon – Why the Scriptures Are Closed and Complete

The Scriptures, Old and New, form one unfolding, unified revelation. The early Church recognized—not invented—the canon. Paul’s letters were already being treated as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). The faith was described as:

“…once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

And Revelation ends with a warning:

“If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues… and if anyone takes away… God will take away his share in the tree of life…” (Revelation 22:18–19)

This completeness is rooted in Hebrews 1:1–2:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Jesus is the final Word. The idea that God continues to give new revelation undermines His declaration of completion in Christ.

The recognition of the biblical canon by the early Church was guided by several discernible criteria:

Apostolic origin – Books were accepted if they were written by an apostle or by someone with direct apostolic connection and authority.
Consistency of doctrine – The teachings of a text had to align with what was already received from the apostles and from the Old Testament.
Widespread usage – Canonical books were those commonly read in churches across different regions and used for instruction and worship.

This process of recognition was not arbitrary or politically driven—it was a discerning act of recognizing what God had inspired. Church councils later affirmed these judgments, but the authority of Scripture never came from the Church; it came from God Himself, and the Church humbly received it.

Thus, the canon is closed because revelation has reached its fullness in Christ, and all that the Church needs for faith and life has been given. To seek more is to suggest that Christ is insufficient or unfinished, which the New Testament forcefully denies.

“…once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

And Revelation ends with a warning:

“If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues… and if anyone takes away… God will take away his share in the tree of life…” (Revelation 22:18–19)

This completeness is rooted in Hebrews 1:1–2:

“In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”

Jesus is the final Word. The idea that God continues to give new revelation undermines His declaration of completion in Christ.

Part IV: Errors Arising “This Side of the Cross”

In the early 17th century, theological controversy arose in the Reformed churches of the Netherlands. A group of Dutch theologians, later known as the Remonstrants, followed the teachings of Jacobus Arminius and presented objections to the Reformed doctrine of predestination. In response, the Synod of Dort was convened in the city of Dordrecht from 1618 to 1619. This was an international council, with representatives from Reformed churches across Europe, including England, Germany, and Switzerland.

The Synod met to examine the Remonstrants’ five main points of disagreement, which emphasized human free will, conditional election, resistible grace, and the possibility of falling from grace. In response, the Synod produced what became known as the Canons of Dort, systematically affirming the doctrines of sovereign grace in five counterpoints—later summarized as the “Five Points of Calvinism” or TULIP:

Total Depravity – Humanity is completely affected by sin in every aspect of being, unable to choose God without divine intervention.
Unconditional Election – God’s choice to save some is based solely on His sovereign will, not on foreseen faith or merit.
Limited Atonement – Christ’s death was sufficient for all but effective only for the elect.
Irresistible Grace – The Holy Spirit effectually draws the elect to salvation.
Perseverance of the Saints – Those whom God has chosen and regenerated will persevere in faith to the end.

The Canons themselves are pastoral and precise, not abstract decrees but deeply theological responses grounded in Scripture. They affirm:

Canons of Dort I.7 – “Election is the unchangeable purpose of God whereby… he has chosen… a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ.”

Canons I.15 – “Such a decree… leaves in his just judgment those who have not been elected… and who have willfully persisted in their sin and unbelief.”

The Synod rejected the notion that predestination undermines human responsibility. Rather, it upheld the mysterious but biblical truth that God is both just and merciful. Reprobation is not God creating evil, but passing over sinners already condemned in Adam. Election is the overflow of mercy; reprobation is the outworking of justice.

Some claim that “this side of the cross,” sin no longer separates, all people are reconciled, or judgment is obsolete. Others suggest that a loving God could not possibly predestine some to eternal damnation. This section responds to both categories of error, using Scripture and Reformed theology to demonstrate that God’s eternal justice and sovereign election are not in conflict with His love.

The idea that God’s love negates the doctrine of reprobation fails to account for the full revelation of God’s character as both just and merciful. Scripture teaches:

Romans 9:22–23 – “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory?”

Proverbs 16:4 – “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

The question, “How could a loving God create and predestine someone for eternal damnation?” assumes a human-centered understanding of love and fairness. Scripture consistently affirms that God is not obligated to save anyone because all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). No one deserves mercy; it is by definition unmerited.

Romans 9:15–16 – “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

This truth humbles us and exalts God’s sovereign grace. As sinners, all people are under condemnation. That God saves anyone is an act of infinite mercy; that He does not save all is not injustice, but justice applied according to His holy will. His choice to save some and not others magnifies both His mercy and His justice.

John Calvin, Institutes III.23.1:

“If we cannot assign any reason for His bestowing mercy on His people but just that it pleases Him, neither can we assign any reason for His reprobating others but His will. When God chooses some and passes over others, the difference does not lie in man but in the divine purpose alone.”

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.7:

“The rest of mankind, God was pleased… to pass by and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice.”

This is not irrational cruelty, but the righteous judgment of a holy God. The cross demonstrates both sides of this reality. It is where God’s mercy is poured out for the elect and His justice satisfied for sin. Before the cross, judgment was already present (e.g., Sodom, Egypt, Canaan); but after the cross, the accountability is even greater because God’s fullest mercy has been revealed—and spurned by many.

Hebrews 10:29 – “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God… and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”

Therefore, emotional objections that “a loving God wouldn’t…” are answered by Scripture’s witness that God’s love and justice are never opposed. His love toward the elect is undeserved and eternal. His judgment upon the reprobate is just and righteous.

Jonathan Edwards, The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners:

“If God should cast you off forever, it would be most just; you deserve to be cast into hell, and it would be no more than your just desert.”

Part V: Sovereignty and Responsibility – Mystery, Not Contradiction

How can God predestine some and yet hold all accountable? This is not merely a philosophical question—it is a revealed paradox found throughout Scripture.

Genesis 50:20 – “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Acts 2:23 – “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

In both examples, humans acted freely—and wickedly—yet their actions fulfilled God’s sovereign purposes. This reflects the Reformed theological position called compatibilism: that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are not contradictory, but complementary.

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.1 – “God from all eternity did… ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures.”

This is not illogical or evasive. It is what theologians call supra-rational—beyond human reason but not against it. Just as in quantum physics light can behave as both wave and particle without contradiction, God’s sovereignty and our moral responsibility operate on distinct planes of causality without violating logic or truth.

In other words, God is the ultimate cause (ordaining what will happen), while humans are proximate causes (acting freely within that ordained framework). Scripture upholds both without flattening either:

God ordained that Christ would be crucified.
Lawless men crucified Him of their own accord.
Both are true.

We may not fully grasp how this works—but the Bible never asks us to resolve the mystery, only to submit to it.

Romans 11:33 – “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

This raises a further question: if God is sovereign over all, did He predestine Adam to sin?

The Reformed view affirms that even the fall was within God’s sovereign decree. God did not force Adam to sin, nor did He cause Adam to do evil in a coercive sense. Rather, God ordained the fall to occur by permitting Adam’s voluntary transgression, using even that disobedience to glorify Himself through redemption.

Ephesians 1:11 – “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…”

God’s eternal plan was not derailed by sin. Instead, it included sin as the backdrop against which His grace, justice, mercy, and love would be most clearly displayed. The fall was real, tragic, and the result of Adam’s free choice—but it was also under the sovereign hand of God who decreed all things for His glory.

2 Timothy 1:9 – “[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling… because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

Thus, we confess not that God is the author of sin, but that He ordained its existence to serve a higher purpose—one that culminates in the cross of Christ, where justice and mercy meet.

This leads to the theological reflection offered by many in the Reformed tradition: Why would God ordain the fall? According to Augustine, God permitted the fall “because He judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit any evil to exist” (Enchiridion, ch. 11). Calvin affirmed, “Man falls by the righteous ordination of God, yet God is not the author of sin” (Institutes, I.18.1). Jonathan Edwards wrote, “It is no argument that because sin is of such a hateful nature, therefore God would not permit it… if it be on the whole most for His own glory to permit it” (Concerning the Divine Decrees).

These thinkers agree: without the fall, there would be no occasion to display God’s justice in judgment, His mercy in forgiveness, or His grace in redemption.

Romans 11:32 – “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”

The Westminster Larger Catechism, Q.12 – “God did not merely permit sin but ordained it to fulfill His wise and holy purpose.”

The fall did not surprise God; it served the cosmic purpose of making known the riches of His glory (Romans 9:23). Redemption in Christ is not a backup plan—it was the plan from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). As grievous as sin is, it exists within God’s sovereign decree to magnify the beauty of His grace, so that no flesh may boast before Him, and all glory may be His alone.

Therefore, the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility is not a contradiction to be explained away, but a glorious mystery to be embraced, testified throughout redemptive history and consummated at the cross of Christ.

Final Word: No Greater Revelation, No Deeper Love

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

The cross is not the origin of God’s love—it is the ordained and climactic demonstration of His eternal, electing grace. Through it, God’s love for the redeemed and His justice toward the reprobate are revealed in perfect harmony. The cross is the axis upon which redemptive history turns, and beyond it, no greater act of revelation remains.

Hebrews 1:1–2 – “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Jesus is not merely the last in a series of prophets—He is the full and final revelation of the invisible God. In Him, the entire counsel of God is embodied, declared, and fulfilled. There is no deeper unveiling of God to come; no supplementary truth waiting to be disclosed. Any claim to post-apostolic revelation not only lacks authority—it stands in defiance of the testimony of Christ and His apostles.

Galatians 1:8 – “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

To look beyond Christ is to say God’s best was not enough. To seek further revelation is to call the sufficient Word of God incomplete. In a time when many chase after new words, visions, or modern prophecy, it is not humble to pursue more—it is arrogantly to declare what God has finished to be unfinished.

The canon is closed not because God is silent, but because God has spoken fully in His Son. That Word has been preserved in the Scriptures and confirmed by the apostles through the Spirit. To reject this is to reject God Himself.

There is no greater sacrifice.
There is no deeper mercy.
There is no higher revelation.

Let us cling to Christ alone, in whom all the promises of God find their “Yes.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Sola Scriptura. Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.

Appendix: Glossary of Key Terms

Supra-rational: A truth that is above or beyond human reasoning—not contradictory or illogical, but not fully graspable by finite minds. Often applied to mysteries such as the Trinity, divine sovereignty and human responsibility, or Christ’s dual nature.

Sola Scriptura: Latin for “Scripture alone.” This Reformation principle affirms that the Bible is the sole, final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

Solus Christus: Latin for “Christ alone.” This emphasizes that salvation is accomplished solely through the person and work of Jesus Christ—apart from any human effort or other mediators.

Soli Deo Gloria: Latin for “Glory to God alone.” It expresses that all glory is due to God alone for salvation and all aspects of life and creation.

Propitiation: Christ bearing God’s wrath in the place of sinners (Romans 3:25).
Forbearance: God’s patient restraint in judgment (Romans 3:25).
Justification: God declaring the believer righteous by faith alone.
Sanctification: The Spirit’s ongoing work to make the believer holy.
Election: God’s sovereign choice to save some out of the mass of fallen humanity.
Reprobation: God’s passing over others, leaving them in deserved condemnation.
Atonement: Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice reconciling sinners to God.
Covenant: God’s binding agreement with His people throughout redemptive history.
Canon: The complete, inspired Scripture acknowledged by the Church.
Revelation: God’s self-disclosure through creation, prophets, Scripture, and Christ.

Acknowledgment

Portions of this document were researched, edited, and refined with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI tool developed by OpenAI, to help structure and clarify theological content based on the author’s source material and theological direction.

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