"A person who is righteous is not perfect and sinless, but deals with their sins through the means God has appointed. In the OT, the sacrificial system, in the NT by confession and repentance."
...do you see that as contradicting the understanding that every righteous person in the OT was righteous in Christ?
1) How is a person post-Jesus made right(eous) with God? By the death of Jesus, and repentance and faith applies that sacrificial death. And part of their ongoing righteous relation involves confession and repentance.
2) How does an OT believer, especially under the covenant at Sinai, become righteous before God? If you take the application part first, it's by trusting in the covenant and therefore carrying out what the covenant asks of you. And so the covenant is asking you to trust God's promise that the sacrificial system 'works'. But at the same time, and this is what Hebrews 10:4 is driving at, animal sacrifice is insufficient to atone for sins. In that sense, I think the whole OT sacrificial system is anticipatory of Christ's death.
So, I'd say it's about differentiating "effectual basis of justification" from "application of justification under different covenants". And I suspect Davies would say something similar.
Thanks for this, Seumas.
When Glenn Davies says that
"A person who is righteous is not perfect and sinless, but deals with their sins through the means God has appointed. In the OT, the sacrificial system, in the NT by confession and repentance."
...do you see that as contradicting the understanding that every righteous person in the OT was righteous in Christ?
oh, not at all. I'd put it like this:
1) How is a person post-Jesus made right(eous) with God? By the death of Jesus, and repentance and faith applies that sacrificial death. And part of their ongoing righteous relation involves confession and repentance.
2) How does an OT believer, especially under the covenant at Sinai, become righteous before God? If you take the application part first, it's by trusting in the covenant and therefore carrying out what the covenant asks of you. And so the covenant is asking you to trust God's promise that the sacrificial system 'works'. But at the same time, and this is what Hebrews 10:4 is driving at, animal sacrifice is insufficient to atone for sins. In that sense, I think the whole OT sacrificial system is anticipatory of Christ's death.
So, I'd say it's about differentiating "effectual basis of justification" from "application of justification under different covenants". And I suspect Davies would say something similar.
Gotcha. That helps resolve the tension. Thanks for explaining that.