as to consign to relative insignificance the previous manifestation of these qualities in regard to the law. It is probably best to recognize, however, that the narrator is here not so much interested in the previous existence of these qualities as in stressing that they are now embodied in Jesus and that, since the new reality replaces the old, it is no longer relevant to claim them for the old. Such an assertion clearly anticipates the perspective on the controversy with Judaism that shapes the