Christ in the Scriptures

In the Gospel, Christ proclaims, "I have come not to abolish but to complete them." (Mt 5: 17). Thus indicating how the New Covenant, which He inaugurates, rests on the building foundations of the Old Covenant contained in the Law and the Prophets all the way to Him. For the Law and the Prophets announced to Israel the coming of the Messiah, and prepared the chosen people to recognize Him when He would come.

That is why Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is at the center of Sacred Scripture, since He is at the same time the One toward Whom the promises announced in the Old Covenant all converge, and the One who began the New Covenant with Israel, sealed in His messianic Incarnation. As the saying goes, a truth so admirably expressed by Saint Augustine, the New Testament is hidden in the Old, while the Old is unveiled in the New:

"The New hides in the Old and in the New the Old reveals itself" (St Augustine, Hept. 2, 73: PL 34, 623).