The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

"John xv. 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches he that abideth in Me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."
MEYER adds, as a proof-text, that e˙sti "is the copula of the
symbolic or allegoric sense:"
Gal. iv. 24. Which things are an allegory. For these (autai) are the
two covenants.
LANGE, for the allegorical and symbolical occurrence of e˙sti, adds
to Meyer and De Wette as proof, only Ex. xii. 11. Ye shall eat it (the lamb)
in haste; it is the Lord's passover.
OLSHAUSEN, to show that the sense of "signifies" is possible,
cites: I Pet. i. 28. The word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is
(touto de esti) the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Philem. 12. Thou, therefore, receive him, that is (touvt∆ estin), mine own
bowels. John x. 7. I am the door of the sheep; x. 9. I am the door: by Me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved.
In other writers, both of earlier and later date, we have these citations,
as assumed parallels to the sacramental words: Gen. xli. 26. The seven
good kine are seven years; the seven good ears are seven years.
With the Calvinists, in their theory of exhibitive sign, these texts were
favorites: Titus iii. 5. The washing of regeneration--as if Baptism were
called regeneration. 1 Cor. x. 4. They drank of that spiritual rock that
followed them, and that rock was Christ. John i. 32. I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove--as if it were said the Spirit is the
dove. One of the most recent writers against the Lutheran view lays stress
on the passage: "All flesh (is) grass," which he thinks indisputably means
"All flesh is LIKE grass;" and thus proves that "is" may mean "is like,"
and that the proposition of the Supper, stated in full, is: "This bread is like
My body." It is true the word "is" is not in the original of either Isaiah or
Peter, but if it were, the interpretation proposed would stand, in general,
where it now stands; for when we change such a phrase as: "All flesh is
grass" into "all flesh is like grass," the word "like" is derived, not from the
"is," (especially when it is not there,) but from the "grass." Consequently,
we may