420 REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. [SeR. I.
executioner of God's curse, and are taken captive by him at his will and pleasure, 2 Tim. ii. 26. This is the woful captivity and servitude of carnal men, that they fall as a ready prey into the mouth of the roaring lion. Now, for this they are liable to the curse and wrath of God ; therefore called ' children of wrath, even as others,' Eph. ii. 3 ; that is, obnoxious to his righteous displeasure and punishment. Thus were we lost in ourselves under sin, Satan, and the wrath of God, from which we could no way free ourselves ; and if grace had not opened a way for us to escape, what should we have done ?
[2.] To recover us, there was a price to be paid by way of ransom to God. We are not delivered from this bondage by prayer or entreaty, nor by strong hand or mere force, nor yet by the sole condescension and pity of the injured party, without seeking reparation of the wrong done, but by the payment of a sufficient price, and just satisfaction to provoked justice. This price was not paid indeed to Satan, who de- taineth souls in slavery as a rigid usurping tyrant or merciless jailor (from him indeed we are delivered by force), but the price was paid to God. Man had not sinned against Satan, but against God, to whom it belongeth to condemn or absolve. And God being satisfied, Satan hath no power over us, but is put out of office, as the executioner hath nothing to do when the judge and law is satisfied. Now, that redemp- tion implieth the paying of a price is clear, because the word importeth it, and the scripture often uses this metaphor : Mat. xx. 28, ' The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many ;' 1 Tim. ii. 6, ' Who gave himseh a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.' Eedemption in the general is a recovery out of our lost estate. God could have saved men by the grace of confirmation, but he chose rather by the grace of redemption. This recovery was not by a forcible rescue, but by a ransom. Christ, in recovering his people out of their lost estate, is sometimes set forth as a lamb, sometimes as a lion. In dealing with God, we consider him as the lamb slain, Kev. v. 5, 6 : in dealing with Satan, and the enemies of our salvation, he doth as a lion recover the prey. But why was a ransom necessary ? Because God had made a former covenant, which was not to be quit and wholly made void but upon valuable consideration, lest his justice, wisdom, holiness, veracity, authority should fall to the ground.
(1.) The honour of his governing justice was to be secured and freed from any blemish, that the awe of God might be kept up in the world : Eom. iii. 5, 6, and Gen. xviii. 25, ' That be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked ; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee : shall not the judge of all the earth do right ?' If God should absolutely pardon without satisfaction equivalent for the wrong done, how should God else be known and reverenced as the just and holy governor of the world ? Therefore Rom. iii. 25, 26, it is said, 'Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the for- bearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness ; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'
(2.) His wisdom. The law was not given by God in jest, but in the
Col. T. 14.] eedemption by christ. 421
greatest earnest that ever law was given. Now, if the law should be recalled without any more ado, the lawgiver would run the hazard of levity, mutability, and imprudence in constituting so solemn a transaction to no purpose. Paul was troubled when forced to retract his word, 2 Cor. i. 17, 18 ; that his word should be yea to-day, and nay to-morrow. Therefore, when God had said. Thus I will govern the world, he was not to part with the law upon light terms.
(3.) His holy nature would not permit it. There needed some way to be found out, to signify his purest holiness, his hatred and detesta- tion of sin, and that it should not be pardoned without some marks of his displeasure. His soul hates the wicked, and the righteous God loveth righteousness, Ps. xi. 6.
(4.) His authority. It would be a derogation from the authority of his law, if it might be broken, and there be no more ado about it. Now, that all the world might know that it is a dangerous thing to transgress his laws, and might hear and fear, and do no more pre- sumptuously, God appointed this course, that the penalty of his law should be executed upon our surety, when he undertook our reconcilia- tion with God, Gal. iv. 4.