tified. The resurrection of Christ was necessary for our justification, inasmuch as it was the formal acceptance of his sufferings, as the expia- tion for our sins. Had he not risen we should be yet under condemna- tion, 1 Cor. 15 : 17. But as he rose from the dead, he was accepted of the Father, and appeared as the first-fruits, i. e. the forerunner and pledge of the resurrection, and complete salvation of all his people. In the epistle to the Hebrews the apostle presents this idea under another form. As it was necessary, on the great day of atonement, that the high priest should not only slay the victim at the altar, but enter into the most holy place, and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy-seat; so our High Priest, having suffered in the outer court, has passed into the heavens with his own blood, there to appear for our justification ; that is, to secure for us the continued application of the merits of his death. Either, therefore, as the evidence of the acceptance of his sufferings as our substitute, or as a necessary step towards securing the application of their merit to our benefit, the resurrection of Christ was essential to our justification.
bOCTRINES.
1. Faith is an operative assent to the divine testimony, not the recep- tion of truth, as something which can be proved by our own arguments, vs. 18, 20.
2. When faith is genuine it is founded on correct apprehensions of the divine character, and has a controlling influence over the heart and life, vs. 20, 21.
3. The method of salvation has never been changed ; Abraham was not only saved by faith, but the object of his faith was the same as the object of ours, vs. 24, 17.
4. The resurrection of Christ, as an historical fact, established by the most satisfactory evidence (see 1 Cor. 15), authenticates the whole gos- pel. As surely as Christ has risen, so surely shall believers be saved, V. 25.