2. The act, ' He gave himself for us.' Where you have the giver, the gift, and the parties interested.
[1.] The giver, Christ. He voluntarily first assumed a body, and then parted with his life for this use.
[2.] The gift was himself. And both put together show that Christ was both priest and sacrifice ; as God the priest, as man the saci-ifice : Heb. ix. 14, ' He offered up himself to God through the eternal Spirit.' Under the law the priests and the sacrifices were distinct ; but our Lord Jesus was both the priest offering and the sacrifice offered. In his person he was the priest offering, and his human nature was the thing offered. Every priest must have somewhat to offer ; and when the great high priest comes, he must offer something beyond what was offered before, that the worthiness of the sacrifice and the dignity of the priest may suit and well agree together. What did Christ then offer? Heb. X. 5, ' When he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.' And therefore it is added, Heb. x. 10, 'We are sanctified through the offer- ing of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.' So that he gave himself, his body, his flesh, for the life of the world, John vi. 51.
[3.] The parties interested, ' for us.' It was for our sake, that God might pardon our sins, and bring about our salvation in a way most convenient for God's glory and our peace. Now Christ's death was a proper and convenient means — (1.) To demonstrate God's justice and holiness, that he doth hate sin, and will certainly punish it, if it be not taken away in the manner God hath prescribed in his new covenant founded in the death of Christ : Rom. iii. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins. (2.) To vindicate the honour
YeR. 2.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 181
of his goveitiment and law. God's authority was violated by man's transgression ; his law was holy and jnst, and our obedience reasonable. Now to keep up his authority, God would not dispense with the penalties of his law till Christ died for us : Gal. iv. 4, 5, ' But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.' (3.) To be a warning to sinners, not to sin presumptuously, and slight and despise the majesty of God : Eom. viii. 3, ' God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.' God hath put a brand upon sin. (4.) To declare the greatness of his love to us, in procuring our pardon and life at so dear a rate : 1 John iv. 10, * Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.'
3. The end, set forth by two notions, 'An offering and a sacrifice to God.' The first word, Trpoacj^opa, is a general word for anything offered to God ; dvala, sacrifice, the other word, is more limited, for all the offerings were not called sacrifices. Or, if you will, take the distinction between these two words thus. ' Offering ' implieth things without life, and ' sacrifice' referreth to living creatures. The one referreth to the fruits of the earth that were offered to God, and the other to beasts that were slain ; but whatever was offered to God was to be consumed, even such things as were destitute of life, as the meat-offering was to be burnt with fire. Lev. ii. 1, 2. Living creatures were to be killed, and the blood offered upon the altar ; for the apostle telleth us, Heb. ix. 22, ' Without shedding of blood there is no remission.^ We must understand the blood of some living thing that was sacrificed for free- ing a person from guilt and obligation to punishment. Well, then, all these things presignified Christ's death and bloody sufferings ; ' For he gave himself to be an offering and sacrifice to God.'
This notion puts us in mind of several things.
[1.] Of our misery ; for we have sins whereby we are liable to death, otherwise what needed there a sacrifice to be offered for us ? There is no need of a reconciliation where there is no bi-each, nor a propitia- tion where there is no offence, nor of a sacrifice where there is no sin to be expiated and taken away.
[2.] It puts us in mind of the mercy of God in Christ, who gave his Son for us, not only to be the high priest of our profession, but also to be our sacrifice : Eom. iii. 25, * Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.'
[3.] It puts us in mind of the manner of our redemption, by a sin- offering, or a propitiatory sacrifice : Isa. liii. 10, ' When he shall make his soul an offering for sin ; ' 2 Cor. v. 21, ' He was made sin for us,' Before sin can be taken away, there must be a propitiatory sacrifice, and such as God will accept as a full satisfaction for sin, so that he is fully content ; and as to a sacrifice and suffering for sin. there needeth to be no more done. Well, then, here is the true notion of Christ's death, that it is a mediatorial sacrifice, not a thank-offering, but a sin-offering made by Christ, by his condescending to a shameful accursed death for our sakes.