This is an important parable, because it teaches us a fundamental truth. If this parable is recognized as such, it is usually explained that when we study the word, we learn new things, but also bring out the old.
52 …Therefore every scribe who is made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.
secrets
But in the context in which the Lord gives this parable, He has just taught His disciples new things, namely the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. In this context, these are also the new things that we, if we let ourselves be taught by the word, learn from Scripture.
new things
New things are about ‘old prophecies’ that get a new meaning. This new meaning does not replace the old, but the words get an extra fulfillment.
The apostle Paul leads us in this, for example by quoting a verse from Psalm 68 in Ephesians 4:8, which is about Israel and giving it a new application, namely to the ecclesia. Or when Psalm 110 speaks about the Messiah who would sit at God’s right hand and subdue all enemies, Paul reveals in Ephesians 1:20-23 that this is about Christ and the ecclesia, which is His body.
Paul was the steward (>householder) of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2) and to him was entrusted by God the stewardship (Eph. 3:9) to make known the mystery of Christ among the nations (Eph. 3:1-9). A secret that had been hidden until then (Col. 1:26).
Christ and the ecclesia
When Paul speaks about man and woman within marriage in Ephesians 5, he explains that man and woman are a picture of Christ and the ecclesia (Eph. 5:23). To further substantiate this, he points to what we find in the beginning of Scripture, in the story of Adam and Eve.
Ephesians 5
31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
What Paul mentions here was not hidden, but is the foundation for marriage ‘from the beginning’. But then Paul adds something to that:
Ephesians 5
32 This secret is great , but I say it with a view to Christ and the ecclesia.
a great mystery
The secret that Paul reveals here is that the story of Adam and Eve is a representation of Christ and the ecclesia. The secret of the unity of Christ and the ecclesia was already hidden therein. As Eve was formed from Adam, so the ecclesia is one body with Christ. And when a man and woman unite in marriage and become one flesh, that is a representation of Christ and the ecclesia. The fleshly unity of man and woman is a representation of the spiritual unity of Christ and the ecclesia!
As a scribe, Paul draws new things from the treasure of Scripture by removing the covering and revealing what this ancient history speaks of in its deepest sense.
another meaning
And once we know this principle, Scripture becomes an inexhaustible treasure, from which new things can always be dug up.
For example, Paul tells the Galatians that they wanted to be under the law, but did not listen to the law (Gal. 4:21). He then explains about the history of Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and the mothers of the children, Sarah and Hagar, that these things are figurative and a representation of spiritual truths. There are things hidden in these stories, the Galatians did not know this and Paul reproaches them for it.
As ‘scribes’ we may follow the Lord and Paul and discover what is hidden in the treasure of Scripture.
This is the last parable in Matthew 13 and for now we will conclude our discussion of the parables with it. However, since we find many other parables in the gospels, I hope to continue with this at a later time.