refer either to the two parties betwixt which he deals, pleading for God to men and for men to God, or to the two natures, mediator of God, having the divine nature, and of men, having the human nature upon him ; one mediator, not of redemption only, as the papists grant, hut of intercession too. We need no other master of requests in heaven, but the man Christ Jesus, who being so near us, in the matter of his incarnation, will never be strange to us in the business of intercession. ' A ransom,' the Greek avriXvrpov, is a counter-price such as we could never have paid, but must have remained and even rotted in prison, but for our all-sufficient surety and Saviour. The ransom that Christ paid was a real testimony of his mediatorship betwixt God and men, whereby he reconciled both. ' The man Christ Jesus.' Paul speaks not this to exclude his divinity from this office of mediatorship, for he is ' God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16, and ' God hath purchased his church by his own blood,' Acts xx. 28 ; but to shew that, in his human nature, he paid the ransom for us, and that, as man, he is like unto us, Heb. ii. 10; and therefore all sorts and ranks of men have a free access by faith unto him, and to his sacrifice. He is also called a Kedeemer, ' I know that my Eedeemer liveth,' Job xix. 25. The word redeemer in the Hebrew is very emphatical, Goel; for it signifieth a kinsman, near allied unto him ; one that was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, i Christ is of our kindi*ed by incarnation, and redeems us by his passion. The words are an allusion to the ceremonial law, where the nearest kins- man was to take the wife and buy the land, Ruth iii. 9, 12, 13, and iv. 4, 5. We were Satan's by nature, but Christ our brother, our kinsman, hath redeemed us by the price of his own blood, and will deliver us from hell, and bring us ' to the inheritance of the saints in light,' John xx. 17 ; and therefore deserves the name of a redeemer, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; Col. i. 12. Jesus Christ is near, very near, yea, nearest of kin to us, Eph. v. 30 ; he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, and blood of our blood : ' Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same,' Heb. ii. 14. Now it is evident, by the old law of redemption, that the nearest kinsman was under a special obligation to redeem ; as you may see by comparing Ruth iii, 12, 13 with iv. 4, 5. Boaz was a kinsman, and had right to redeem ; yet because there was a nearer kinsman, he would not en- gage himself, but upon his refusal : ' If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it ; but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know ; for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee,' Now Jesus Christ is nearest of kin to us, and therefore, upon the strictest terms and laws of redemption, he is Goel, our Redeemer. If we con- sider Jesus Christ as a kinsman, a brother, we must say, that he had not only a right to redeem us ; but that he was also under the highest ' obligation to redeem us. There is a double way of redeeming per- sons : — (1.) By force and power : thus when Lot was taken prisoner by those four kings that came against Sodom, ' Abraham armed his servants,' and by force and power redeemed them, Gen. xiv. 14, 16. We were all Satan's prisoners, Satan's captives, but Christ our nearest
1 Some read the words thus, ' 1 know that my kinsman, or he that is near to me, liveth.'
360 THE COVENANT OF KEDEMPTION