case is an act of sovereign grace. But since Christ acted by covenant, he has acquired by his performance of the stipulated conditions a strictly legal title to the salvation of all for whom he acted. As between God and the Mediator, the claim in right is perfect. As between God and the Mediator and sinful man, it is all free and amazing grace. (5.) Being the actual execution in strict rigour of justice of the unrelaxed penalty of the law in the person of the God-man, it is the most im- pressive exhibition to the moral universe conceivable of God’s inexorable determination to punish all sin. (6.) Being an exhibition of amazing love—of the costliest self-sacrifice, overcoming obstacles otherwise insuperable to the well-being of its objects—it effects what only such love can ; it melts the heart, subdues the rebellion, and dissipates the fears of sinful men,
CHAPTER IIL.
DEFINITION OF TERMS, AND SPECIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL POINTS INVOLVED IN THE ORTHODOX DOCTRINE OF THE ATONE- MENT.
-a]V ERY science has its technical terms, and much depends, of course, upon their being accurately understood and consistently used. There is, moreover, a constant tendency in the language of theology-—as is the case with all hving human speech —to change, to admit new terms, to drop old ones, and to modify the sense of others. Advocates of different schools of theological opinions use common terms In dif ferent senses, and one main cause of the futility of theo- logical controversy, and of the irritation with which it is accompanied, is due to the fact that they so inadequately understand each other’s speech. In order, therefore, to establish a common understanding with my readers, I shall in this chapter define the sense in which certain terms are used in the theological writings of the Re- formed Churches; and then enumerate several points involved in the statement of the orthodox doctrine of the Atonement before given, to which I desire the attention of my readers directed throughout the subsequent discussion _ of that Scriptural evidence by which they are established.
1. ATONEMENT.—This word has been generally used in late years, both in England and in this country, to express the specific thing which Christ wrought in order to our salvation. The old term, in use ever since the 3
CHAPTER ELE:
Necessity of techni- cal terms, and need of accu-
rate defi- nitions.
Of the
erm ** Atone- ment.”
CHAPTER Til.
32 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
days of Anselm, and habitually used by all the Re- formers in all the creeds and great classical theological writings of the seventeenth century, both Lutheran and Reformed, was Satisfaction. We prefer the old term
to the new one for the following reasons :—
(1.) The word Atonement is ambiguous. It is used many times in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word 7Ea—to. cover by making expiration. It appears but once in our English New Testament, and there (Rom..3 v.41) as the equivalent of the Greek word Karahrayi, reconciliation. Its etymology is not known, and is claimed by many to he at-one-ment. This the Socinians regard as the full force of the word, and as thus fully expressing the exact nature of Christ’s work —that is, a_reconciliation of God and-man. ‘Thus the word is sometimes understood to mean reconciliation, and sometimes that sin-capiatong,.God-propitiating work by which reconciliation was effected. When we say that we have “received the atonement,’ we mean that we have been reconciled to God. But when it is said that Christ, after the analogy of the ancient sacrifices,: has “made an atonement for us,” it means that he has done that which secures our reconciliation ; 2.¢., has satisfied all the demands of law upon which the favour and fel- lowship of God were suspended. On the other hand, the word Satisfaction is not ambiguous. It always means precisely that which Christ did in order to save his people, as that work stands related to the nature of God © and to his law.
(2.) The word Atonement, moreover, is too limited in its signification for the purpose assigned to it. It does not express all that Scripture declares Christ did in se to satisfy all the demands of God’s law. _ -
and nothing more, © It represents only that satisfaction which Christ rendered
DEFINITION OF TERMS. 33
to the justice of God in vicariously bearing the penalty cuarrm due to our sins, but it does not include that satisfaction “". which Christ: rendered in his vicarious obedience to the
law as a covenant of everlasting well-being. The word Satisfaction naturally includes both of these, while the
use of the word Atonement to express the whole of Christ’s work has naturally led to confused and defective
views as to the nature of that work.
The word SATISFACTION is neither ambiguous nor de- of “Satis-