The Principle of Redemptive Mediacy in Scripture

What we now need to do is to inquire in what way the principle of redemptively mediate revelation of the standard of ethics appeared in the time of the Old Testament.  In answer to this question we naturally tend to think at once of the Decalogue.  We often speak of God’s revealing himself in the Old Testament through the law and in the New Testament through the gospel.  There is much truth in this contrast, but as it stands it is misleading.  In the first place, it is misleading because God did not make his standard known to man by law only in the Old Testament.  In the second place, the law in the Old Testament cannot be contrasted to grace in any absolute way, because it is itself a part of the covenant of grace.  We should be clear on both points if we wish to see the relations of things correctly.

Cornelius Van Til, Professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary, “Christian Theistic Ethics,” Vol 3 of “In Defense of the Faith,” den Dulk Christian Foundation, 1974,  pp. 143, 144