Did Moses and Elijah appear at the transfiguration to represent Law and Prophecy?
"Moses is more than the lawgiver; for he is also prophet prefiguring Him to whom the people will hearken (Deut. xviii, 15), and he is one whose converse with God was mouth to mouth (Num. xii, 8) and face to face (Deut. xxxiv, 10). Elijah is more than the prophet: he is the final precursor of the Messiah, with a unique mission of restoration. Thus by appearing together Moses and Elijah sum up the entire drama of the old order from its beginning to its end: the one is the predecessor, the other is the precursor of the Messiah...But 'mere representativeness is not enough', as Miss Maisie Spens has said. Moses and Elijah were men alive unto God; they had conversed with Him on a mountain; they had served Him and suffered with Him on a mountain; they had served Him and suffered for Him in history, and they had not ceased to be His servants. So now 'they come not as dumb apparitions, but are with Jesus in living intercourse and speak with Him; their presence shews His communion with the heavenly world' (Schlatter)."
Arthur Michael Ramsey, The Glory of God and the Transfiguration of
Christ (1949; Eugene: Wipf & Stock reprint), pages 114-115.
Later on (pages 130-131) Ramsey points out that a "constantly recurring theme" in patristic homilies and expositions is "the
unity of the scriptures."
