by John Brown
originally published in 1853
paperback; 451 + xxxiv pages
The legal element in the Mosaic covenant primarily had reference to possession of the land of Canaan and to temporal blessings and cursings, but, according to the New Testament writers, it was merely typological in nature and found its spiritual fulfillment in Christ and the eternal blessings which He merited in behalf of and bestowed upon His people. Second Temple Judaism (Pharisaism) confounded the typical and atypical dimensions of the covenant, and, failing to see its true pedagogical function, they misconstrued it to be a system of spiritual works-righteousness in which salvation itself could be attained through the works of the law. The Judaizers with whom the Apostle Paul later contended, though accepting Jesus as the promised Messiah, likewise had this mistaken view of the law, and thereby insisted that Gentiles must be circumcised and submit to the law in order to be fully accepted by God. It was this latter heresy that is the subject of the Apostle Paul's epistle to the Galatians.
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