I have recently traded letters to the Editor of CEN (Church of England Newspaper) with a staunch paedobaptist. In the dialoge he asked me to show where there is the discontinuity between the Old Covenant and the New. I invited him to consider the following examples:
Jesus speaks in terms of the new wine requiring new skins.
Time and again Jesus says “But I say unto you….”
St Paul sets out clearly the radical transition made by Christians, outgrowing the paedagogos that leads us to Christ.
Animal sacrifice is made redundant because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
We see the price of the discontinuity where Jesus says “Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
The Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 was an exercise in managing the discontinuity.
Paul in Philippians – What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Lo! We turn to the Gentiles.
All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers. (Jn 10)
Discontinuity is there in abundance, making Christianity a new start for mankind rather than the formation of a sect within Judaism.
