Jesus gave his students the guide to effective practice of his teaching in these words (Matt. 13: 52): "Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." The orthodox religious mode of the times was strict obedience to the law of Moses, a code of ceremonies, doctrines, and rites. But the law of Moses as practiced in Jesus' time taught little of the spiritual import of the Word, which heals and which was the gospel, or good news, of Jesus' teaching.
So may it not be reasonably assumed that Jesus meant by things new and old a recognition of the old demands made by the law of the Commandments, plus the new understanding of man as a spiritual idea of God, ever at one with Him, which understanding enables one to be obedient to God's will? In the light of Christian Science, things new and old are seen as those spiritual concepts which are old in the sense that they existed in the divine Mind from the beginning, for God created all, and His work is finished; but these ideas are ever new as they are seen—unfolded—and understood by the individuality to which they appertain. Thus all of God's creation continues to bring forth things new and old throughout eternity by infinite spiritual progress and unfoldment.
In the light of this new understanding, the old commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3), becomes new through the understanding that man can have no other gods, for Spirit, God, is infinite and All, and man is Spirit's infinite expression, knowing only good. Jesus gave the same basic concept in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:8): "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
