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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 22:59:09 GMT -5
I have edited portions here: the full link;https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/boettner/TheAtonementLoraineBoettner.pdf
During the latter part of the public ministry Jesus spoke repeatedly
and insistently of the death which He was to suffer at Jerusalem.
"From that time," says Matthew, marking the beginning of a Period,
"began Jesus to show unto His disciples, that He must go unto
Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed," 16:21. "He took unto Him the twelve," says
Luke, "and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all
the things that are written through the prophets shall be
accomplished unto the Son of man. For He shall be delivered up unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit
upon: and they shall scourge and kill Him," 18:51-33. When Moses
and Elijah appeared in glory at the time of the Transfiguration their
talked with Jesus concerning "His decease which He was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem," Luke 9:31. We are told that when the time
drew near that He should be received up "He steadfastly set His face
to go to Jerusalem," Luke 9:51, knowing full well what awaited Him
there. With such majestic determination did He press forward
toward the cross that the disciples were "amazed" and "afraid," Mark
10:32. "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I
straightened till it be accomplished," He said to the disciples, Luke
12:50. Loving His people with an infinite love, and having come to
earth specifically for their redemption, He longed to suffer and to
accomplish His appointed work. In these and numerous other
statements He shows His preoccupation with His death, and that in
such a manner as to make clear that in His mind it constituted the
most significant part of His work.
That the specific purpose of Christ's death was to secure forgiveness
for others is taught directly in Scripture. "This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins," said
He as He instituted the Lord's Supper which through all succeeding
generations was to be observed as a memorial of His death, Matt.
26:28. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," Mark 10:45. "I lay
down my life for the sheep," John 10:15. "Therefore doth the Father
love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one
taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself," John 10:17, 18.
It is not enough to recognize Christ as a teacher while rejecting Him
as the atoning Savior. In the conversation with Nicodemus He
promptly brushed aside the complimentary words, "we know that
thou art a teacher come from God," and declared that until one is
born anew he cannot even so much as see the kingdom of God. And
similarly the pity of the "Daughters of Jerusalem," although
doubtless sincere, was rejected apparently because it did not
recognize the fact that His suffering was not for Himself but for
others,--"Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves," Luke 23:25.
And the rending of the veil of the temple, which symbolized that the
way into the presence of God had been opened for all men, occurred
not at His baptism, nor at the Sermon on the Mount, but at His
death.
The same teaching concerning the death of Christ is found
throughout the New Testament. The Apostle Paul, for instance,
pointedly conscious that he had received the cleansing which comes
through faith in Christ, places His atoning death at the very heart of
his theological system. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us," Gal. 3:13. "Him who knew no sin
He [that is, God] made to be sin on our behalf [that is, laid on Him
the punishment due for sin]; that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him," II Cor. 5:21. "Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures," I Cor. 15:3. He is the One whom "God
set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood," Rom, 3:25.
"I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified," I Cor. 2:2.
Peter declares that "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous
for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God," I Peter 3:18; and
again that He "bare our sins in His body upon the tree," I Peter 2:24.
John says, "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin," I
John 1:7; and "He is the propitiation for our sins," I John 2:2. "Apart
from shedding of blood there is no remission," wrote the author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, 9:22; and again, "Now once at the end of
the ages hath He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself," 9:26. And in John's Revelation the triumphant Christ is
pictured as "arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood," 19:13.
Even in the Old Testament this doctrine was clearly anticipated. In
the Messianic 53 rd chapter of Isaiah we read: "He was wounded for
our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way ; and Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all ... He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people to whom the stroke was due... When thou shalt make
His soul an offering for sin ... He shall justify many; and He shall
bear their iniquities. . . .He bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors," vss. 5-12.
In appointing the lamb as the principal animal for the morning and
evening sacrifice in ancient Israel, God chose the animal which is at
one and the same time the most harmless and gentle and the most
attractive and pleasing of all the domestic animals, and thus
emphasized both the innocence and the inherent value of the victim
whose life was taken. The people were thus taught that their sins
were forgiven and their lives spared only because another who was
innocent and virtuous took their place and died in their stead. The
term "Lamb of God," when applied to Christ, calls to mind the Old
Testament sacrifices and invariably refers to His sacrificial death.
John the Baptist, for instance, pointed out Jesus as "the Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sin of the world," John 1:29. Peter says
that we were redeemed, "not with corruptible things, with silver or
gold ...but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot, even the blood of Christ," I Peter 1:18, 19. In the Book
of Revelation the redeemed are portrayed as those who have "washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," 7:14.
And since Christ in His relationship with His people manifests so
preeminently the attributes of gentleness and tenderness, and since
He rules them in and through love, we are further given to
understand that all opposition to Him is unprovoked and malignant.[/font][/font]
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:02:57 GMT -5
Significance of the Term "Blood"
The term "blood" as used in theological language is, of course, to be
understood as a figure of speech. It is used as a synonym for Christ's
atoning death, and it designates the price which He paid for the
redemption of His people. There are, as might be expected, many in
our day who take offense at the term "blood," and wish to earn their
salvation by their own good works. But the New Testament, as if
anticipating this very offense, not only repeatedly asserts that
salvation is not by works, but makes direct reference to the "blood"
of Christ some thirty-five or forty times; and in the Old Testament
there are innumerable references to the blood of the animals which
were used in the ceremonies and rituals which prefigured the death
of Christ. Salvation in all ages has been through Christ alone; and the
Old Testament saints who worshiped God in His appointed way of
sacrifice and poured-out blood looked to the same Savior as do we
who live in the Christian era. "The life of the flesh is in the blood,"
said the Lord to Moses, "and I have given it to you upon the altar to
make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh
atonement by reason of the life," Lev. 17:11. When the blood is
poured out, the person or animal dies. Under the ceremonial law the
blood with which atonement was made was secured in such a way
that the life of the victim was always forfeited. In the twelfth chapter
of Exodus we are given an account of the Passover, with its
sprinkling of blood and the deliverance of all the firstborn of Israel
from death. On the day of annual Atonement the high priest was to
sprinkle the blood of the bullock and of the goat over the mercy seat
and upon the horns of the altar, Lev. 16:1-34. The various Old
Testament blood rituals were but prophetic types or prefigurements
of the great sacrifice which later was to be made by Christ when He
offered Himself for the sins of His people.
The teaching of the New Testament concerning the blood is very
explicit. We have seen that Jesus' own words in instituting the Lord's
Supper were, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many unto remission of sins," Matt. 26:28. Paul repeatedly
asserts this truth: "Now being justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from the wrath of God through Him," Rom. 5:9. "Jesus Christ
in whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace," Eph. 1:3, 7.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were afar off are made nigh in
the blood of Christ," Eph. 2:13. Christ has "made peace through the
blood of His cross," Col. 1:20. The writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, contrasting the work of Christ with that of the high priest
in ancient Israel says that "Christ having come a high priest ... not
through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood,
entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats and bull, and the ashes of a
heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the
cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God"
Heb. 9:11-14. John writes, "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us
from all sin," I John 1 :7. And in the songs of praise to the Redeemer,
recorded in the book of Revelation, we hear the words, "Worthy art
thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast
slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe,
and tongue, and people, and nation. . . . Worthy is the Lamb that
hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and
might, and honor, and glory, and blessing," Rev. 5 :9, 12.
So let no one take offense at the term "blood." Since salvation was
purchased for us by the vicarious suffering and death of Christ, and
since that suffering and death is symbolized by the blood, it is but
natural that both the Old and the New Testament should mention
the blood repeatedly. Many persons have tried to gain salvation by
other methods, by church membership, pledge signing, good
resolutions, meritorious works, etc., only to find that such methods
invariably end in failure. So clearly and constantly and emphatically
do the New Testament writers assert that the efficacy of Christ's work
is to be ascribed to His death, His blood, His cross, that we are
justified in asserting that the Scripturalness or un-Scripturalness of
the various present day theories of the atonement can be fairly tested
by the place which they give to His death.
To the unsaved nothing seems more unreasonable and meaningless
than the assertion that salvation is to be obtained through the blood
of Christ. The Scriptures, of course, recognize this condition of the
unregenerate heart, and declare that, "The word of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness," and then add by way of contrast, "but
unto us who are saved it is the power of God," I Cor. 1:18. Those who
have experienced the cleansing and forgiveness which comes through
this faith know that the crucified and risen Lord is able to save to the
uttermost those who draw near unto God through Him, and that
there is no salvation in any other.
And unless Christ did thus give His life a sacrifice for others we are at
a loss to know why He died. We have seen that the penalty which
God originally prescribed for sin was the loss of life,--and like any
other penalty it can be justly inflicted only where the law has been
violated. But Christ suffered the penalty of death even though He had
no sin of His own. Consequently He must have died for the sins of
others. Unless He did thus die, His voluntary surrender to death, and
that at the early age of thirty-three, must be looked upon as utter
foolishness, as, in fact, criminal suicide.
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:04:51 GMT -5
Not Merely a Martyr's Death
There are many who deny that the death of Christ had any value as
an atonement. The most common alternative view is that He died
merely as a martyr. But apart from the fact that a mere martyr's
death would leave most of the distinctive Christian doctrines without
any adequate foundation, the narratives themselves make it quite
clear that something profoundly different was involved. Compare His
feeling, in view of death, with that of Paul: "having the desire to
depart," Phil. 1:23; ''The time of my departure is come. I have fought
the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to
me only, but also to all them that love His appearing," II Tim. 4:6-8.
Jesus, on the other hand, was filled with anguish. "Now is my soul
troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour," John
12:27. We are told that "His sweat became as it were great drops of
blood falling down upon the ground," Luke 22:44. And as He hung
on the cross we hear the despairing cry, "My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27:46. As Dr. A. H. Strong has said, "If
Christ was simply a martyr, then He was not a perfect example; for
many a martyr has shown greater courage in prospect of death, and
in the final agony has been able to say that the fire which consumed
him was 'a bed of roses.' Gethsemane, with its mental anguish, is
apparently recorded in order to indicate that Christ's sufferings even
on the cross were not mainly physical sufferings."
As Jesus hung on the cross He was, in His human nature, the true
sin-offering for His people, and as such, it was necessary that He
suffer alone. God can have no association whatever with sin, since in
His sight it is infinitely heinous. And, as in the Old Testament ritual
for the sin-offering, this was symbolized by the burning of the flesh
of the bullock outside of the camp (even the offering itself being
treated as offensive and polluted since in the mind of the offerer it
stood representative of and was in some way associated with his sin),
so Jesus, as He bore in His own body the full weight of the penalty of
sin, was temporarily cut off from the Father's presence and paid the
entire cost of redemption without help from any other. The darkened
heavens, and the cry, "My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken
me?" indicate as much. He was acutely conscious not only of the pain
from the nails, but also of a break in that intimate and loving
fellowship which He had always enjoyed with the Father. Since Jesus
in His human nature was subject to the limitations which are
common to men, it was as possible for Him to experience the sense
of separation from the Father as it was for Him to be ignorant of the
time of the end of the world, or to suffer pain or hunger. But during
the crucifixion, as He bore a burden of sin such as had never been
borne and could never be borne by any mere man, He went through
an experience far more awful and terrifying than is possible for any
mere martyr. In contrast with His sufferings, the Christian martyrs
were deeply conscious of God's presence as they yielded up their
lives. If Christ's death was only a martyr's death it might well fill us
with terror and despair, for it would show that the holiest man who
ever lived was utterly forsaken by God in the hour of His greatest
need.
Death is primarily the separation of the soul from God; and physical
death, or the separation of the soul from the body, is only a by
product and a relatively unimportant consequence of that greater
catastrophe. Jesus did not suffer the pangs which are experienced by
lost souls in hell, but in paying the penalty for His people, He did
suffer death in its most essential nature, which is separation from
God. And while His sufferings were not identical, either in intensity
or in length of time endured, with those which His people would
have suffered had they been left to their own sin, in view of the
infinite worth and dignity of the Sufferer they were nevertheless a
full equivalent to those sufferings.
Let us keep in mind that it was not Christ's divine nature, but only
His human nature, which was subject to suffering and death, as it
was only His human nature which was subject to temptation, hunger,
thirst, sleep, etc. While we do not fully understand the relationship
which exists between His two natures, we have a faint analogy in our
own persons in which a spiritual and a physical nature are united;
and on the basis of our own experience we know that what He
experienced in either nature He experience as a person, that is, as the
God-man. This latter fact is of the utmost importance since it
explains why His work of redemption was possessed of infinite value,
sufficient to save all those who put their trust in Him. And again,
while we do not fully under stand the relationship which exists
between the two natures, and while the analogy does not hold at all
points, we may picture His divine nature during the crucifixion as
not only fully sympathetic with His human nature, but as looking
down upon His human nature calmly and serenely as the moon in its
majesty looks down upon the troubled sea.
It seems quite evident that the work of redemption, which together
with its wider effects may also he designated as the spiritual
Reformed-creation of the souls of men, was a greater work than the
original creation of the universe. When the starry heavens were
brought into existence and spread throughout the vast bounds of
space, that work, while requiring great power and wisdom, was
accomplished at God's spoken command. Such creation was
comparatively easy, and is referred to as but "the work of His finger,"
Ps. 8:3. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood
fast," Ps. 33:9. But when the work of redemption was to be
accomplished, God, in the person of Christ, took upon Himself
human nature with its attendant weaknesses, was born a helpless
babe in low condition, underwent the hardships of this life, was
scoffed at and rejected by the religious and political rulers of the
nation, suffered the cruel pain and cursed death of the cross, was
buried, and continued under the power of death for a time. While the
work of creation was accomplished through a mere exercise of power
and wisdom, the work of redemption was accomplished only at an
infinite cost of suffering on the part of God Himself. As man's soul is
of incomparably greater value than his body, so the redemption of
the souls of men was an incomparably greater work than the original
creation of the universe. Christ's work of redemption is now seen to
have been the central event of all history.
We do not mean to imply that man's salvation was completed by the
work of Christ on the cross. His words, "I have accomplished the
work which thou hast given me to do," John 17:4, and "It is finished,"
John 19:30, relate to the objective atonement which He provided for
the sins of men. But the great purpose of His coming, that of making
men subjectively just and holy, was not yet fulfilled. As the work of
providence follows the work of creation, so the subjective cleansing
of the sinner is a continuing process as the redemption which was
purchased by Christ is applied by the Holy Spirit to those for whom it
was intended. Here enter the works of regeneration, justification,
adoption, sanctification, and glorification. But this opens up a whole
new field of theology, that of the person and work of the Holy Spirit,
which we have not space to discuss in this present work.
Thus the death of Christ emerges as the central truth in the Christian
doctrine of redemption. It is the link which holds together all of the
other distinctive doctrines. The mark of His blood is upon them and
signifies their ownership, as the scarlet thread running through every
cord and rope of the British navy signifies that it is the property of
the crown. It hardly seems possible that, with this central truth
written so plainly and so repeatedly across the pages of Scripture,
any honest or serious minded persons could arise, as do the
Unitarians and Modernists, and declare that the essence of
Christianity consists in our following the example of Christ in lives of
social service, or that the chief purpose of the Church is to build a
new social order in this world. It is very evident, of course, that in
our daily lives we are to follow the example of Christ as closely as
possible. And in due course of time a new social order, based on
justice and improved living conditions, will gradually arise as
Christian principles are applied first to the lives of individuals and
through them to the life of the community. In many limited social
groups we already see the effects of this uplifting process. But
Christ's expiatory death is no more an object for out imitation than is
the creation of the world. For in His death He took man's place and
rendered to divine justice a satisfaction which man himself was
utterly unable to render. That Christianity is not primarily a social
movement, but a redemptive religion, setting forth a way of escape
from sin, is as plain as it is possible for words to make it
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:07:49 GMT -5
Holiness Is Prior to and Conditions Love
The most fundamental attribute of God's nature is, not love, but
holiness. His holiness may be defined as His self-perpetuating
righteousness or purity, in virtue of which He eternally wills and
maintains His own moral excellence. He has constituted the
universe, and humanity as a part of it, so that it shall express His
holiness,-positively by connecting happiness with righteousness, and
negatively by connecting unhappiness or suffering with sin. Love, in
itself, is irrational and capricious except as it is governed by holiness.
And the fact that holiness is logically prior to and conditions love
makes it impossible for sin to be pardoned without an atonement.
There must be an adequate infliction of misery to offset that sin.
Many of the Greek gods were notoriously immoral. But our God is a
God of holiness, a God of perfect morality; and He can tolerate no
sin. If the forgiveness of sin depended only on the sovereign will of
God, there would, of course, be no need for an atonement. In
Muhammadanism, for instance, where the sovereignty of God is so
emphasized that all other attributes are dwarfed beside it, no need is
felt for satisfying divine justice. Muhammadanism holds that God
can pardon whom He will, and on whatever grounds He pleases. The
immeasurable superiority of Christian theology is evidenced by its
clear and emphatic demand that the justice and holiness of God must
be maintained and that the affront which has been offered to it by
human sin shall not go unpunished, The tendency in some modern
systems of theology is to merge holiness and love and to assume that
God can forgive sin without an atonement. But such an easy-going
optimism either does not know what the holiness of God involves, or
fails utterly to understand the heinous nature of sin.
That God is love is, of course, one of the clear revelations of
Scripture. And to us who would be forever lost if it were not for His
love, that is the crowning revelation of Christianity. But love is not all
that God is, and can therefore never adequately express all that God
is. It is equally true that God is just and that He must punish sin. The
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that His attitude toward the
workers of iniquity is that of "a consuming fire" (12:29). The popular
literature of our day abounds with many ill-considered assertions of
the indiscriminate love of God, as though He were too broadly good
to hold man to any real account for sin. But we can never know the
depth of the meaning of God's love until it is thrown up against the
background of those other lofty conceptions which arise from and
are based on a true view of His holiness, righteousness and justice. In
brief, we may say that whereas the Modernist reasons, God is love
and therefore there is no need for an atonement, the truth is, God is
love and therefore He provides an atonement.
This brings us to the question, What is true love? We may say that
one person truly loves another when he has a greater desire to please
that person than he has to please himself. And the correlated truth is:
One person truly loves another when he would rather suffer himself
than see that one suffer. In the final analysis there are just two moral
principles which may govern one's action: the first is that which has
one's own interests as its final motive or supreme object, and is
therefore the selfish principle; the second is that which has the
interests of others as its final motive and is therefore the self-giving,
sacrificial principle. This second is the principle which God manifests
in His relations with His people. Consequently the greatest message
that any one can hear is that "God is love," (I John 4:16) ; for that
means that God's holy nature seeks to express itself actively toward
him, and that he will therefore be fitted for the divine presence.
On Calvary more than anywhere else the great loving heart of God
has been revealed to man. There was love, unspeakable love, "When
God the mighty Maker died for man the creature's sin." This
redeeming love originated in the Trinity and was first exhibited in
God's attitude toward man, not in man's attitude toward God; for
man showed only opposition and hatred for everything that was
good. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us,
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," I John 4:10.
"God commendeth His own love towards us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us," Rom. 5:8. The atonement is not the
cause, but the effect, of God's love for His people. Because He loved
them He redeemed them. In the cross there was revealed to us the
love of the Father who proposed the covenant of grace, the love of the
Son who in His own body freely accomplished that redemption, and
the love of the Holy Spirit who makes that love effective in our
hearts. This general thought has been beautifully expressed in a
recent book by Dr. Wm. C. Robinson. Says he: "In the very being of
God Himself there are eternal love relationships: 'God is love.' And
hence out of that self-moving and self-motivated love ever existing
between the Persons of the adorable Trinity love came forth into this
world of sin. Out of God's great eternal love, out of the heart of the
Trinity came the love of Calvary. Before the foundation of the world
He did in love predestinate us unto the adoption of sons through
Jesus Christ unto Himself (Eph. 1:4, 5). The eternal Son brought the
love of heaven into this world of hate, and lifted it so high on that hill
called a skull that every nation shall behold its light, every age be
mellowed by its glow," (The Word of the Cross, p. 118.)
The great classical passage with reference to the Atonement is Rom.
3:25, 26. There Christ is declared to be the One "Whom God set forth
to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood, to show His
righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime,
in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of His
righteousness at this present season: that He might Himself be just,
and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus." Here we are told, (1)
that God set forth Christ as an effective propitiatory offering; (2) that
man is saved by the exercise of faith in the substitutionary suffering
and death of Christ; (3) that while up to this time God, in His mercy
and in anticipation of the certain coming of a Redeemer. had saved
men without exacting an adequate punishment for their sins. He
determines that at this time He will provide that adequate and public
exhibition of the punishment of sin; and (4) that the purpose of this
sacrifice is that God Himself may be just while forgiving and saving
the sinner. Because God had in pre-Christian times saved sinners
while allowing their sins to go unpunished His own righteousness
had been lost sight of and obscured, and it was necessary that an
adequate exhibition of the punishment of sin be made before men
and angels. The sacrifices of animals in Old Testament times were
not real atonements, but only signs and tokens pointing to the real
atonement which was to come later. As the Baptist theologian, Dr. A.
H. Strong, has boldly expressed it, "Before Christ's sacrifice, God's
administration was a scandal,--it needed vindication. The Atonement
is God's answer to the charge of freeing the guilty."
Hence- the first and primary effect of the atonement is upon God
Himself in that through it He is enabled to remain righteous even
when pardoning the sinner,--"that He might Himself be just, and the
justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus." Because God Himself, in the
person of Christ, has borne the penalty for sin, He is now able to
show Himself as perfectly just and holy while at the same time He
grants forgiveness and eternal life to those who put their faith in
Christ.
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:10:57 GMT -5
Christ Alone Able to Redeem Men
We have said that man's condition after the fall was one of absolute
helplessness, that he was morally alienated from God, and that his
whole attitude toward God, so far as he thought of God at all, was
one of opposition and enmity. In Scripture language he was "dead" in
trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5). In that fallen state, however, he was
still able to do works which considered only in themselves or in
reference to his fellow men were good,--he was still able to love his
family, to deal honestly with his neighbors, to feed the hungry and
comfort the sorrowing, etc. But in doing these things he acted only
from selfish or humanitarian motives. In no instances were they
done with the purpose of honoring or glorifying God. He might give a
million dollars to build a hospital, but he could not give so much as a
cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of Christ. However good
his works might appear in themselves, none of them were done with
right motives toward God. All of them, therefore, had a vitiating
principle, a fatal defect, and could in no wise merit salvation. Man's
vital need, then, was not good advice, nor an impressive example of
right conduct, but to be "made alive" spiritually (Eph. 2:1, 5), to be
"born anew" (John 3:3), to experience "regeneration" and "renewing"
by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
Since men were in that ruined and helpless condition there was only
one possible way by which they might be saved. That was for another
person of infinite value and dignity to take upon himself their nature,
that is, human nature, and, with the consent of God, suffer the
penalty which was due to them. His higher personality would give
unlimited value to his suffering, which would then be a just
equivalent for that which was due to them. And at this point comes
in the importance of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. For God is
not only unity, but tri-personality, so that there are within the
Godhead three Persons, each possessing full Deity, the same in
substance and equal in power and glory. Hence because of this fact
alone it was possible that there might be One who would offer
Himself as Mediator between God and man, One possessing a
personality of infinite value and dignity who therefore as man's
Agent could work out an atonement of infinite value. Christ, the
second Person of the Trinity, did offer Himself as such a Mediator
between God and man. In order to accomplish that work He became
incarnate, uniting Deity and humanity in His person as intimately
and harmoniously as our souls and bodies are united in ours. Only
Christ, then, in His Divine-human person, that is, as the God-man,
was qualified to accept that penalty and discharge that obligation. No
other person in all the universe was capable of assuming that role.
The sacrifice of no creature could have availed anything. Nor could
either the Father or the Holy Spirit as such have performed that
work. Only the two-natured Christ was capable of providing
redemption. And only in His organic and official union with His
people can we find that vital relation which makes His vicarious
suffering either possible or just. The entire Bible from Genesis to
Revelation is God's account of the work that He has done for man. In
strict literalness it might have been called, "The History of
Redemption," for the main features dealt with are the original
creation of man, his fall, his condition after the fall, God's merciful
staying of the full execution of the penalty, the long course of
preparation for the coming of the Redeemer, the nature of the work
performed by the Redeemer when He did come, His ascension to
heaven and His future coming when He shall assign all men their
eternal rewards.
Consequently, we find that in the accomplishment of that work
Christ did not die a natural death. The kind of death that He died was
particularly designed to show that satisfaction was being made to
divine justice, that somehow He was dying because the penalty of sin
is death. Had He been unexpectedly assassinated, or died as a result
of accident, or disease, or old age, there would have been no
appearance of a satisfaction having been made to satisfy the
demands of divine justice. But when He is placed as a criminal before
a tribunal, accused, overpowered by the testimony of witnesses,
officially condemned to death, and crucified and His life taken from
Him in the very prime of His manhood, we are given to understand
that on this righteous Person was inflicted the punishment due to
criminals, to malefactors,-in short, the punishment due to us as
sinners. He died not merely a corporal death, but a particular kind of
death in which He experienced the severity of the divine vengeance
against sin. By paralleling even in detail the Old Testament ritual for
the sin-offering it was made plain that He was our sin-bearer. What
He did and suffered He did and suffered, not for any sin of His own,
but for that of His people, in their name and on their account. Hence
Paul could say, and we can say with him, "I have been crucified with
Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." Gal.
2:20.
Since man's sin was directed against God, who is an infinitely holy
and just Being, and since fallen man if left to himself would have
continued to sin throughout endless ages as do the evil and the fallen
angels, it is very evident that nothing less than an atonement of
infinite value could have rescued him from that condition. This does
not mean that Christ suffered as much during the space of one
lifetime as His people would have suffered in an eternity of
punishment. But it does mean that since the divine and human
natures were united in the person of Christ, His suffering possessed a
value equal to or rather greater than that which all of His people
deserved, and that it was therefore amply sufficient for the
redemption of all who put their trust in Him. His suffering was not
the same as theirs either in kind or in duration; for He could suffer
no remorse because He had no personal sin, and His was terminated
within a few hours whereas theirs, due to their endless persistence in
sin, would have continued through all eternity. A finite being could
never have exhausted that penalty, but an infinite Being can exhaust
it in a comparatively short time. But while not identical with the
sufferings that sinners would have borne, His sufferings were of such
kind and degree and duration as divine wisdom, interpreting divine
justice, decreed was a full legal equivalent of that penalty when
suffered vicariously by a divine person. Only when Calvary is
regarded as revealing eternal principles of the divine nature can we
see how the sufferings of those few hours can suffice to save millions
of mankind. Certainly the fundamental conception of Christ's
redeeming work as it is set forth in the Scriptures is that through His
vicarious suffering and death He made full satisfaction to the justice
of God and by His vicarious obedience He has merited eternal life so
that all those who by faith accept Him as their Lord and Savior
receive, firstly, deliverance from the guilt of sin, so that they are no
longer under obligation to suffer for it; secondly, emancipation from
the power of sin, so that they are cleansed from it and enabled to live
a holy life; and, thirdly, a life of eternal blessedness in heaven.
To those who are accustomed to look upon man as sufficient for all
things, the death of Christ and redemption through blood atonement
is, of course, nonsense. When it was first announced it was "unto
Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness," but unto
them that believed it was "the power of God, and the wisdom of
God," I Cor 1:23. Some call it repulsive. It is indeed repulsive and
humiliating to the self-confident natural man. 'When Unitarians and
Modernists represent it as a cruel demand on God's part and as an
expiation from without in which one man's sin is laid on another
while they themselves profess to believe in a God of love, they
consciously or unconsciously caricature the Christian doctrine. For
the plain and repeated teaching of Scripture is that it was not an
outsider but God Himself in the person of Christ who met the
demands of His own justice in order that He might be free to save
man. For "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," II
Cor. 5:19. Nor is this doctrine difficult to understand. A little child
can understand its essential features, and can receive it to the
salvation of his soul. And certainly it is not a system of human
invention, for all men naturally feel that they should earn salvation
by their own good works. A system of salvation by grace is so
radically at variance with what man sees in the natural world where
every thing and person is evaluated in terms of works and merits that
he has great difficulty in bringing Himself to believe that it can be
true. There is real point in the words of the great English preacher, C.
H. Spurgeon: "The doctrine of substitution must be true; it could not
have been invented by human wit." In one way or another all of the
pagan religions and all of the philosophical systems teach that man
must earn his own salvation. Christianity alone sets forth a system of
salvation by grace. Time and again the Scriptures repeat the
assertion that salvation is by grace, as if anticipating the difficulty
which men would have in coming to the conclusion that they could
not earn it by their own good works
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:12:38 GMT -5
4. THE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST
We have said that the two great objectives to be accomplished by
Christ in His mission to this world are, first, the removal of the curse
under which His people labored as a result of the fall, and second,
their restoration to the image and fellowship of God. It is perfectly
evident that both of these elements were essential to salvation. In the
preceding section we pointed out that because of the federal
relationship which, through appointment of God, Adam bore to his
posterity, all mankind since that time have been born into the state
into which he fell, and that the purpose of Christ was to rescue His
people from that condition and to bring them into a state of holiness
and blessedness. In order that He might accomplish that purpose He
entered into a vital relationship with them by taking their nature
upon Himself through incarnation. Then, acting as their federal head
and representative in precisely the same manner that Adam had
acted when he plunged the race into sin, He assumed their place
before the divine law fulfilling, on the one hand, its every precept,
and on the other, receiving in His own person the penalty due for
their transgressions. He thus lived the particular kind of life and
suffered tile particular kind of death that we read of in the Gospels.
These two phases of His work are known as His "Active" and His
"Passive" obedience.
Throughout the history of the Church most theological discussions
have stressed Christ's passive obedience (although not often calling it
by that name), but have had very little to say about His active
obedience. The result is that many professing Christians who readily
acknowledge that Christ suffered and died for them seem altogether
unaware of the fact that the holy, sinless life which He lived was also
a vicarious work in their behalf, wrought out by Him in His
representative capacity and securing for them title to eternal life.
A moment's reflection should convince us that the suffering and
death of Christ, although fully effective in paying the debt which His
people owed to divine justice, was in a sense only a negative service.
Being of the nature of a penalty it could relieve His people from the
liability under which they labored, but it could not provide them with
a positive reward. Its effect was to bring them back up to the zero
point, back to the position in which Adam stood before the fall. It
provided for their rescue from sin and its consequences, but it did
not provide for their establishment in heaven. Life in heaven is the
reward for the perfect keeping- of the moral law through a
probationary period. Had the work of Christ stopped with the mere
payment of the debt which was owed by His people, then they, like
Adam, would still have been under obligation to have earned their
own salvation through a covenant of works and, also like Adam,
subject again to eternal death if they disobeyed. But the covenant of
works had had its day and had failed. Very evidently if salvation is to
be attempted a second time it will be on a different plan. For what
would be the sense of rescuing a man from a torrent which had
proved too strong for him merely to put him back into the same
situation? Having rescued his people once God would not permit
them to be lost a second time and in precisely the same way. This
time not man but God will be the Actor; not works but grace (which
is the free and undeserved love or favor of God exercised toward the
undeserving, toward sinners) will be the basis; and not failure but
complete success will crown the effort. Hence Christ, in His human
nature and as a perfectly normal man among men, rendered perfect
obedience to the moral law by living a sinless life during the thirty
three years of His earthly career, and thus fulfilled the second and
vitally important part of His work of redemption.
The Sinless Life of Christ
That Christ did live this life of perfect love and unselfish service to
God and man is clearly set forth in Scripture. He "did no sin, neither
was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2.22. He was "holy guileless,
undefiled, separated from sinners," says the writer of the epistle to
the Hebrews. 7 :26. "I do always the things that are pleasing to Him,"
said Jesus, John 8:29. "Which of you convicteth me of sin?" was His
challenge to His enemies, John 8:46. Even the demons bore witness
that He was "the Holy One of God," Luke 4:34. As He was being
crucified He prayed, "Father, forgive them." But never did He pray,
Father, forgive me. It is not uncommon for the greatest of saints,
when they come to the hour of death, to pour out their souls in fresh
confessions; desiring to obtain renewed consciousness of sins
forgiven. But there is no trace of sin-consciousness to be found
anywhere in the life of Jesus. He made no confession of sin, nor did
He at any time offer a sacrifice for Himself in the temple. At the time
of His death there was no shadow of a cloud between Him and the
Father except as He assumed the consequences of sin on behalf of
others.
By that life of spotless perfection, then, Jesus acquired for His people
a positive righteousness which is imputed to them and which secures
for them life in heaven. All that Christ has done and suffered is
regarded as having been done and suffered by them. In Him they
have fulfilled the law of perfect obedience, as also in Him they have
borne the penalty for their sins. By His passive obedience they have
been rescued from hell; and by His active obedience they are given
entrance into heaven.
Salvation by Grace
Paul's teaching that we are saved, not by a self-acquired, but by an
imputed righteousness is very clear and definite. He strongly
rebuked those of His own race who, "being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, did not subject
themselves to the righteousness of God," Rom. 10:3; and he declared
that he willingly suffered the loss of all things in order that he might
"gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of
mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ," Phil. 3:9. "Him who knew no sin He made to be sin
on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him," II Cor. 5:21,-that is, our guilt and punishment was transferred
to Christ, in order that His righteousness and purity might be
transferred to us. To the Ephesians he wrote, "We are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
afore prepared that we should walk in them," 2:10. Notice that he
does not say that this change in character came about because we did
good works, but that he ascribes the workmanship to God and says
that its purpose was that we might bear fruit in good works and that
these were not original on our part but that they were afore prepared
or planned out that we should do them. In his declarations that, "If
there had been a law given which could make alive, verily
righteousness would have been of the law," Gal. 3:21, and "If
righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought," Gal.
2:21, he disposes completely of the notion that man can earn his own
salvation by good works. If we had been able to have worked out our
own salvation there would have been no need for Christ to have
become incarnate and to have submitted to such humiliation and
suffering. And, of course, in that case He most certainly would not
have done so. How profoundly grateful we should be that not only
our suffering for sin, but also our probation for heaven, has been
assumed for us by Christ, that each of these is now a thing of the
past, and that we are safe forever in God's care !
The salvation which the Scriptures offer to mankind is therefore a
salvation provided entirely by God Himself. It is not adulterated in
any way by human works. And because it is of this nature the
Scripture writers never tire of asserting that it is by grace and not by
works. Even the faith through which salvation is received is induced
by the Holy Spirit and is a gift: "By grace have ye been saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works,
that no man should glory," Eph. 2:8, 9. We are "justified freely by His
grace," Rom. 3:24. Man's own righteousness, in the words of Isaiah,
is as but "a polluted garment" (or, as the King James Version
expresses it, "as filthy rags") in the sight of God, 64:6. "Not by works
done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His
mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit," Titus 3:5. To Paul's assertion that Christ
is "all, and in all" in matters of salvation, Col. 3:11, we can add that
man is nothing at all as to that work, and has not anything in himself
which merits salvation. We are, in fact, nothing but receivers; we
never bring any adequate reward to God, and we are always receiving
from Him, and shall be unto all eternity. Good works are in no sense
the meritorious ground, but rather the fruits and proof of salvation.
They are performed not with the purpose of earning salvation, but as
an expression of love and gratitude for the salvation which has
already been conferred upon us. Good works, done with right
motives toward God, are a result of our having been regenerated, not
the means of our regeneration. Our part in this system is to praise
God, to honor Him by keeping His commandments, and to reflect
His glory in all possible ways. And just because salvation is by grace
and does not have to be earned by works it is possible even for one
who repents on his death bed, or for one like the thief on the cross, to
turn to Jesus in the last hour and be saved.
In another connection the present writer has said: "We hold that the
law of perfect obedience which was originally given to Adam was
permanent, that God has never done anything which would convey
the impression that the law was too rigid in its requirements, or too
severe in its penalty, or that it stood in need either of abrogation or
of derogation. We believe that the requirement for salvation now as
originally is perfect obedience, perfect conformity to the will and
character of God, that the merits of Christ's obedience are imputed to
His people as the only basis of their salvation, and that they enter
heaven clothed only with the cloak of His perfect righteousness and
utterly destitute of any merit properly their own. Thus grace, pure
grace, is extended not in lowering the requirements for salvation, but
in the substitution of Christ for His people. He took their place
before the law and did for them what they could not do for
themselves. This Calvinistic principle is fitted in every way to
impress upon us the absolute perfection and unchangeable
obligation of the law which was originally given to Adam. It is not
relaxed or set aside, but fittingly honored so that its excellence is
shown. In behalf of those who are saved, for whom Christ died, and
in behalf of those who are subjected to everlasting punishment, the
law in its majesty is enforced and executed."--The Reformed
Doctrine of Predestination, p. 154.
This doctrine of the sufficiency of Christ's work in regard both to His
active and passive obedience is beautifully set forth in the
Westminster Confession, which declares that "The Lord Jesus, by
His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the
eternal Spirit offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of
His Father; hath purchased not only reconciliation, but an
everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom
the Father had given Him" (Ch. VIII, Sec. 5). And in the Shorter
Catechism in answer to the question, "What is justification?" we are
told that "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He
pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight,
only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by
faith alone."
But while it enables us to understand more clearly and fully the work
which Christ has accomplished for us, if we view it as having an
active and a passive side, we must not imagine that these two phases
can be separated in His life. We cannot even say that His active
obedience was accomplished by His life and His passive obedience by
His death. For in varying degrees these two works were
accomplished simultaneously and concurrently. Throughout all of
His life He was perfectly obedient to the moral law in all that He
thought and said and did. And in varying degrees every moment of
His life on earth involved humiliation or suffering or both,--it
involved humiliation beyond our power to comprehend for the King
of Glory, the Creator of the universe, the One who is altogether holy
and blessed and powerful and rich to be born a helpless babe, and
that in the most humble condition, to subject Himself to the
limitations of incarnate man for a period of thirty-three years, to
endure the temptations presented by the Devil, to bring His holy and
sensitive nature into close association with sinful men so that He
would hear their failings and curses and be confronted with their
ingratitude and opposition and hatred, to experience fatigue and
hunger, and to look forward through all of His public ministry to the
most shameful and painful death by crucifixion. And nowhere else
was His active obedience so prominently displayed as on the cross,
for there in particular as He suffered He also resisted all temptation
to doubt God, or hate His enemies, or commit the slightest offense
against those who treated Him so shamefully. Throughout His entire
life as He actively obeyed He passively endured, and as He passively
endured He actively obeyed. These two aspects of His work, while
distinct in nature, were inextricably intertwined in time. Together
they secure the wonderful, full salvation which was wrought out
vicariously for us
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:20:25 GMT -5
5. CHRIST AS OUR RANSOMER
In numerous places in Scripture Christ's work of redemption is
declared to have been accomplished through the payment of a
ransom. Nowhere is this set forth more clearly than in our Lord's
own teaching. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," said He
concerning His own mission. Matt. 20:28. These same words are
repeated in Mark 10:45. Paul doubtless had these words in mind
when he declared that Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all," I Tim.
2:6. To the Corinthians he wrote, "Ye are not your own; for ye were
bought with a price," I Cor. 6:19, 20. The elders from the church at
Ephesis were admonished to "feed the church of the Lord which He
purchased with His own blood." Acts 20:28. "Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," he wrote to
the Galatians, 3:13. In the epistle to Titus he declares that Christ
"gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for
good works," 2:14. While it is the privilege of a disciple to "lose" his
life in the service of his Lord (Matt. 10:39; Luke 9:24), it was the part
of the Lord to "give" His life voluntarily for His people (John 10:15;
Gal. 2:20).
Closely parallel with this is Peter's teaching: "Ye were redeemed, not
with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of
life handed down from the fathers; but with precious blood, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ," I
Peter 1:18, 19. In his second epistle he warns against those who
"bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought
them," 2:1. And in the book of Revelation praise is ascribed to Christ
in the words, "Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy
blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation," 5:9.
To "ransom" means specifically to buy back, to deliver by means of
purchase; and the kindred expression, to "redeem," means to deliver
by payment of a ransom. We are taught that Christ is our Ransomer,
and that He has purchased our redemption at a tremendous cost, the
price being His own life. The one pre-eminent service which Jesus
came into the world to perform was that of dying--giving His life a
ransom in behalf of others who themselves deserved to die, in order
that they might not have to die. No person can understand the
purpose and meaning of the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ
until he grasps this central truth, that Jesus came into the world to
give Himself a ransom for others. The numerous Scripture references
to redemption or to the payment of a ransom invariably imply that
redemption has cost something, indeed, that it has cost much. The
inability of man to redeem himself or any other man turns precisely
on his inability to pay the price which the commission of sin has
made mandatory. Christ, and Christ alone, was able to pay the price
which would free His people from the curse of sin.
The meaning of the ransom terminology as used in Scripture is set
forth by Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield in the following paragraph:
"Lutron, usually in the plural lutra, designates an indemnification, a
pecuniary compensation, given in exchange for a cessation of rights
over a person or even a thing, ransom. It is used for the money given
to redeem a field, Lev. 25:24-the life of an ox about to be killed, Ex.
21:30--one's own life in arrest of judicial proceedings, Num. 35:31,
32, or of vengeance, Prov. 6:35--the first born over whom God had
claims, Num. 3:46, 48, 51; 18:15, etc. It is ordinarily used of the
ransom given for redemption from captivity or slavery, Lev. 19:20;
Is. 45 :13, etc." (Biblical Doctrines, p. 342).
A present day English writer has set forth the implications of the
term very clearly in these words: "I do not merely decide that Christ
shall be my Lord. He is my Lord, by right. I was a slave of sin and
Satan, and, try as I would, I could not obtain my freedom. I was
never a free man, 'I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity.' A slave!
And there would I be now, were it not that Christ came and 'bought
me with a price.' What follows 'Ye are not your own.' I am still not
free! I have been bought by a new Master ! I am a slave, the bond
servant of Christ ! He is my Lord, for He has bought me. He does not
merely 'demand my soul, my life, my all;' He has bought them, they
are His. I am His, because He is my Lord, because He owns me,
because He has bought me with His own precious blood,"--Dr. D.
Martyn LloydJones
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2024 23:21:33 GMT -5
6. THE REPRESENTATIVE PRINCIPLE
We have said that at the beginning of the race Adam stood not only
for himself but as the federal head and representative of the entire
human race which was to follow, and that Christ in His turn in both
His active and passive obedience stood for all of those who were to be
saved. This representative principle pervades all Scripture, and is the
basis for the doctrine of original sin and for the doctrine of
redemption. It was, in fact, only because the race as originally
created was so constituted that one person could stand as its official
and responsible head that Christ, coming at a later time and basing
His work on the same principle, could redeem His people. It is as if
God had said, If sin is to enter, let it enter by one man, so that
righteousness also may enter by one man.
The Scriptures teach that the race is a unit, a family, descended from
a common ancestor, and bound together by blood ties. This is in
contrast with the order followed in the creation of the angels, for they
were created not as a race but independently of each other and all at
the same time. Each angel stood his test personally and individually.
In virtue of the vital unity of the human race it was possible for God
at the very beginning to enter into a "covenant of works" with the
ancestor of the race, in which he, bearing their nature and acting
therefore in precisely the same way they would have acted, stood trial
for them. This afforded a wonderful opportunity for Adam to secure
for himself and for his posterity an inestimable-we may even say, an
infinite--blessing. For it was so arranged that if he stood his
probation and rendered the perfect obedience which was required
(and thereby proved himself a grateful, law-abiding son who could be
trusted), eternal life would have been conferred upon him and them.
But if he did not stand his probation, but committed sin, the penalty
of eternal death would be inflicted not only upon him but equally
upon all of his descendants. That covenant involved the most solemn
responsibilities. It was freighted with possibilities for infinite good or
evil.
As originally created, man was perfect of his kind, possessing a
positive inclination toward virtue, yet fallible. He was perfect as the
bud is perfect and capable of developing into the flower, or as the
acorn is perfect and capable of developing into the oak tree. He was
not created as a machine or automaton, but as a free moral agent
who might choose evil and plunge himself and everything connected
with him into disaster. It is apparently true, as Dr. Fairbairn has
said, that "Moral perfection can be attained, but cannot be created;
God can make a being capable of moral action, but not a being with
all the fruits of moral action garnered within him." Had Adam
chosen good, then, by that very action he would have produced moral
goodness, and God would have confirmed him (that is, made
permanent his character) in that goodness as He has confirmed the
holy angels in heaven in their goodness.
In language which is at once childlike and profound the third chapter
of Genesis tells us of the fall of the human race. Man had his most
fair and favorable chance there in the Garden of Eden; and with his
eyes open and in spite of the dearest warning as to what the
consequences would be, he chose evil instead of good. The Scriptures
assert, and the experience of the race from that hour to this bears
witness to the truth of the assertion, that Adam fell and that all of his
descendants are born into that same state of moral depravity into
which he fell. But they also teach that because of the organic unity of
the race it was possible for Christ to enter into a "Covenant of
Redemption" with God the Father whereby He should act for His
people in precisely the same capacity as Adam had acted for the race,
providing, on the one hand, that the penalty for their sin should be
laid on Him, and on the other, that the merits of His sinless life and
of His suffering should be set to their account.
That the fall of Adam did involve the fall and ruin of the entire
human race, and that by a parallel arrangement the righteousness of
Christ is similarly imputed to His people, is made clear by the
Apostle Paul when he says: "As through one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for
that all sinned....Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression,
who is a figure of Him that was to come. . . . If by the trespass of the
one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift of
the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many.... for
if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much
more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness reign in life as through the one, even Jesus Christ. So
then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to
condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift
came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one
man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through
the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous," Rom.
5:12-19. And again, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall al
be made alive," I Cor. 15:22. (The meaning here, as the context
makes clear, is that as all descended from Adam partake of his sin
and die, so also all who by faith are "in Christ" shall be made alive. In
the writings of Paul to be "in Christ" means to be vitally connected
with Him, to be saved. He repeatedly declares that those who are "in
Christ" have been made alive spiritually, Those who are not "in
Christ" are still spiritually dead).
In Christian theology there are three separate and distinct acts of
imputation. In the first place Adam's sin is imputed to all of us, his
children, that is, judicially set to our account so that we are held
responsible for it and suffer the consequences of it. This is commonly
known as the doctrine of Original Sin. In the second place, and in
precisely the same manner, our sin is imputed to Christ so that He
suffers the consequences of it. And in the third place Christ's
righteousness is imputed to us and secures for us entrance into
heaven. We are, of course, no more personally guilty of Adam's sin
than Christ is personally guilty of ours, or than we are personally
meritorious because of His righteousness. In each case it is a judicial
transaction. We receive salvation from Christ in precisely the same
way that we receive condemnation and ruin from Adam. In each case
the result follows because of the close and official union which exists
between the persons involved. To reject any one of these three steps
is to reject an essential part of the Christian system.
But while on the basis of the unity of the human race it was possible
for man to be redeemed through the work of a substitute,
redemption by such means does not seem to have been possible
among the fallen angels. We read of "angels that kept not their own
principality, but left their proper habitation," and are now "kept in
everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great
day," Jude 6. And the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, after
saying that Christ became incarnate in order that He might perform
His redemptive work, adds: "For verily not to angels doth He give
help, but He giveth help to the seed of Abraham," 2:16. Since each
angel stood his test individually, he is therefore personally and solely
responsible for his own condition. But mankind which fell through
the act of a representative without personal guilt can be redeemed
through the act of a representative without personal merit.
The representative principle is certainly not foreign to our way of life,
nor is it difficult to understand. The people of a state act in and
through their representatives in the Legislature. If a country has a
good president or king, all of the people share the benefits; if a bad
president or king, all suffer the consequences. Children are
recognized as the rightful and legal heirs of their parents' wealth and
good name, and to a considerable extent inherit even their mental
and physical characteristics. In a very real sense parents stand
representative for, and to a large extent decide the destinies of, their
children. If the parents are virtuous, wise and thrifty, the children
reap the blessings; if they are immoral, foolish and indolent, the
children suffer. In law we have "power of attorney," and the person
for whom the attorney acts assumes full legal responsibility for his
acts, whether they are beneficial or injurious. In business we have
trusteeship. In a thousand ways the well-being of individuals is
conditioned by the acts of others, so inwrought is this representative
principle in our every day life.
In the following section Dr. Charles Hodge, one of the ablest
theologians that America has produced, has given a very clear
exposition of this subject: "This representative principle pervades the
whole Scriptures. The imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity is not
an isolated fact. It is only an illustration of a general principle which
characterizes the dispensations of God from the beginning of the
world. God declares Himself to Moses as one who visits the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children
unto the third and to the fourth generation, Ex. 34:6, 7 ... The curse
pronounced on Canaan fell on his posterity. Esau's selling his
birthright shut out his descendants from the covenant of promise.
The children of Moab and Ammon were excluded from the
congregation of the Lord forever, because their ancestors opposed
the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. In the case of Dathan and
Abram, as in that of Achan, their wives, and their sons, and their
little children perished for the sins of their parents. God said to Eli
that the iniquity of his house should not be purged with sacrifice and
offering for ever. To David it was said, The sword shall never depart
from thy house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the
wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.' To the disobedient Gehazi it
was said: 'The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy
seed forever.' The sin of Jeroboam and of the men of his generation
determined the destiny of the ten tribes for all time. The imprecation
of the Jews, when they demanded the crucifixion of Christ, 'His
blood be on us and on our children,' still weighs down the scattered
people of Israel... This principle runs through the whole Scriptures.
When God entered into covenant with Abraham, it was not for
himself only but for his posterity. They were bound by all the
stipulations of the covenant. They shared its promises and its
threatenings, and in hundreds of cases the penalty for disobedience
came upon those who had no personal part in the transgressions.
Children suffered equally with adults in the judgments, whether
famine, pestilence, or war, which came upon the people for their
sins.. .. And the Jews to this day are suffering the penalty of the sins
of their fathers for their rejection of Him of whom Moses and the
prophets spoke. The whole plan of redemption rests on this same
principle. Christ is the representative of His people, and on this
ground their sins are imputed to Him and His righteousness to them.
No man who believes the Bible, can shut his eyes to the fact that it
everywhere recognizes the representative character of parents, and
that the dispensations of God have from the beginning been founded
on the principle that the children bear the iniquities of their fathers.
This is one of the reasons which infidels assign for rejecting the
divine origin of the Scriptures. But infidelity furnishes no relief.
History is as full of this doctrine as the Bible is. The punishment of
the felon involves his family in his disgrace and misery. The
spendthrift and drunkard entail poverty and wretchedness upon all
connected with them. There is no nation now existing on the face of
the earth, whose condition for weal or woe is not largely determined
by the character and conduct of their ancestors. The idea of the
transfer of guilt or of vicarious punishment lies at the foundation of
the expiatory offerings under the Old Testament, and of the great
atonement under the new dispensation. To bear sin is, in Scriptural
language, to bear the penalty of sin. The victim bore the sin of the
offerer. Hands were imposed upon the head of the animal about to
be slaughtered, to express the transfer of guilt. That animal must be
free from all defect or blemish to make it the more apparent that its
blood was shed not for its own deficiencies but for the sin of another.
All this was symbolical and typical ... And this is what the Scriptures
teach concerning the atonement of Christ. He bore our sins; He was
a curse for us; He suffered the penalty of the law in our stead. All this
proceeds on the ground that the sins of one man can be justly, on
some adequate ground, imputed to another." --Systematic Theology,
ii, pp. 198-201.
Strange as it may seem, there are many professing Christians in our
day who, while readily acknowledging that our salvation comes from
Christ, deny that we inherit any guilt and corruption from Adam.
Such a position is, of course, utterly inconsistent, and can have no
other effect than to undermine true Christianity. If we accept the
doctrine of salvation through Christ we have no right to deny the
supplementary and equally Scriptural doctrine of condemnation and
ruin through Adam. Unless we are fallen in Adam there is, in fact, no
reason why we should be redeemed through Christ. The federal
headship of Christ in the covenant of redemption presupposes the
federal headship of Adam in the covenant of works. The latter is the
necessary basis for the former, and the work and position of Christ in
relation to His people can be understood only when it is seen in its
true relation to the work of Adam. The Scriptures teach that the
principles upon which sin and misery came upon the race through
Adam are identical with those upon which righteousness and
blessedness come upon the elect through Christ. False views
concerning our relation to Adam and the effect that his work has had
upon the entire race must inevitably produce false views concerning
our relation to Christ acid His work of redemption. These two
doctrines are strictly parallel, and must stand or fall together. They
cannot be separated without destroying the logical consistency of the
Christian system
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