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Q&A

Perfected, Perfection, and the Old and New Testaments

Peggy Frye

Question:

I teach adult classes at my church, and the topic is how the Old Testament kingdom of David prefigured the New Testament Church, which is the restored kingdom of David. Would the following statements be correct? (1) The New Testament Church is the kingdom of David brought to perfection. (2) The New Testament Church is the restored and perfected kingdom of David. (3) The Old Testament kingdom of David has been perfected into the spiritual kingdom of God, the Church. I am concerned that the words perfected and perfection may not be the correct words to use and may have too strong of a meaning.

Answer:

This is more than a perfecting of the kingdom of David; This is a fulfillment, much like Jesus “fulfilled” the law. In each case, he takes both “the kingdom” and “the law” to a level that could not have been imagined by the people of God before the coming of Christ. “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34) is truly a new commandment or new law because it transcends the Old Law (while not contradicting or destroying it) as far as the east is from the west.

Why? Because Christ gives us the grace to be able to love beyond our human capacity. Analogously, the kingdom of David is fulfilled in that the promises of the kingdom are fulfilled, but they are exceeded immeasurably, because Jesus’ kingdom is “not of this world” and surpasses the kingdom of David to the point that St. Paul says, “Eye had not seen nor has ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

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