Torah’s Limits

At the outset of his Demonstratio Evangelica , Eusebius makes a case for the limitations of the Mosaic system and the universal applicability of the new covenant in Christ. The case has two remarkable features: First, it is an utterly pragmatic case; second, it is a case made from Torah.

Pragmatism first: Eusebius claims that Torah is inapplicable to all nations because it is centered in a single sanctuary within a particular land. He cites passage after passage that require Israelites to go to the place God chooses to offer sacrifice, seek cleansing, take vows, etc. Given this local orientation, even Jews of the diaspora could not keep the Torah as written.

All this, Eusebius shows, can be demonstrated from within the Torah itself. Torah is self -limited; Torah makes a universal, strict application of Torah impossible.

For Eusebius, the superiority of the new covenant doesn’t have anything to do with any superiority of spirit over flesh.Pragmatic again, Eusebius intends to show that in Christian practice, though, there is nothing that cannot be done everywhere by everybody. Christianity is therefore universal in a way Judaism could never be.