Now, this also our Saviour himself maketh apparent, !^^att. xx. 28. He came dovvai rrjv -^uy^rni aiiTov X'jrpov avri rroXXuv, — " to give him- self a ransom for many." The word dvrl always supposeth a com- mutation, and change of one person or thing instead of another, as * Aufert, sustulit, tulit.
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shall be afterward declared : so Matt. ii. 22 ; so 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; 1 Pet. iii. 18, "He suffered for us, the just for the unjust;" and Ps. Ixix. 4, "I restored" (or paid) " that which I took not away," — namely, our debt, so far as that thereby we are discharged, as Rom. viii. 34, where it is asserted, upon this very ground, that he died in our stead. And so the several parts of this first argument are confirmed.
II. If Jesus Christ paid into his Father's hands a valuable price and ransom for our sins, as our surety, so discharging the debt that we lay under, that we might go free, then did he bear the punish- ment due to our sins, and make satisfaction to the justice of God for them (for to pay such a ransom is to make such satisfaction) ; but Jesus Christ paid such a price and ransom, as our surety, into his Father's hands, etc. : ergo, —
There be four things to be proved in the assumption, or second proposition: — First, That Christ paid such a price and ransom. Secondly, That he paid it mto the hands of his Father. Thirdly, That he did it as our surety. Fourthly, That we might go free. All which we shall prove in order: —
First, For the first, our Saviour himself affirms it. Matt. xx. 28. He "came to give his life Xurpov," a ransom or price of redemption " for many," Mark x. 45 ; which the apostle terms av-iXurpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6, a ransom to be accepted in the stead of others : whence we are said to have deliverance hia rr,; drroXurpuiSiug, " by the ransom-paying of Christ Jesus," Rom. iii. 24. " He bought us with a price," 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; which price was his own blood, Acts xx. 28 ; compared to and exalted above silver and gold in this work of redemption, 1 Pet. i. 18, So that this first part is most clear and evident.
Secondly, He paid this price into the hands of his Father, A price must ])e paid to somebody in the case of deliverance from cap- tivity by it ; it must be paid to the judge or jailer, — that is, to God or the devil. To say the latter were the highest blasphemy; Satan was to be conquered, not satisfied. For the former, the Scripture is clear: It was his "wrath" that was on us, John iii. 36. It was he that had " shut us all up under sin," Gal. iii. 22. He is the great king to whom the debt is owing, Matt, xviii. 23-34. He is the only " law-giver, who is able to save and to destroy," James iv. 12. Na}^, the ways whereby this ransom-paying is in the Scripture expressed abundantly enforce the payment of it into the hands of his Father; for his death and blood-shedding is said to be irfoaipopd and ^veia, " an oblation and sacrifice," Eph. v. 2; and his soul to be ^'i'^, a sacrifice or " offering for sin," Isa. liii. 10. Now, certainly offerings and sacri- fices are to be directed unto God alone.
Thirdly, That he did this as surety, we are assured, Heb. vii. 22. He was made f'y/u&g, a " surety of a better testament ;" and, in per- formance of the duty which lay upon him as such, " he paid that
282 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [l300K 111.
which he took not away/' Ps. Ixix. 4. All which could not possibly have any other end but that we might go free.
III. To make an atonement for sin, and to reconcile God unto the sinners, is in effect to make satisfaction unto the justice of God for sin, and all that we understand thereby; but Jesus Christ, by his death and oblation, did make an atonement for sin, and reconcile God unto sinners: ergo, —
The first proposition is in itself evident ; the assumption is con- firmed, Rom. iii. 24, 25. We are justified freely by the ransom-pay- ing that is in Christ, whom God hath set forth to be 'iXagrripiov, a propitiation, an atonement, a mercy-seat, a covering of iniquity ; and that ilg ivdsi^iv rns biTtaiosuv-ng, for the manifestation of his justice, de- clared in the going forth and accomplishment thereof So likewise Heb. ii. ] 7, he is said to be a " merciful high priest, g/'s to iKda'/.isdai Tag aixafr'iag rov Xaov," — "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people," to reconcile God unto the people : the meaning of the words being, iXdcfxsffdai Tov Qshv 'xepl ruv a/u^apriuv rou Xaov, — to reconcile God, who was offended witli the sins of the people; which reconciHation we are said to "receive," Rom. v. 11 (the word xaraXXay/} there, in our common translation rendered " atonement," is in other places in tlie same rendered "reconciliation," beiug, indeed, the only word used for it in the New Testament.) And all this is said to be accomplished bi' hog fi/xa/w/xarog, — by one righteousness or satisfaction ; that is of Christ, (the words will not bear that sense wherein they are usually rendered, " By the righteousness of one," for then must it have been hd diy.aiu- /xuTog rou ivcc.) And hereby were we delivered from that from which it was impossible we should be otherwise delivered, Rom. viii. 3.