Now, this being thus cleared, if withal ye will remind what was said before concerning the inveterate hatred of that people towards the Gentiles, and the ingrafted opinion they had concerning their own sole interest in the redemption procured and purchased by their Messiah, it will be no difficult thing for any to discern the aim of the apostle in this place, in the expression so much stuck at. " He," saith he, " is the i}ropitiation for our sins," — that is, our sins who are believers of the Jews ; and lest by this assertion they should take occasion to confirm themselves in their former error, he adds, " And not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world," or, " The chil- dren of God scattered abroad," as John xi. 51, 52, of what nation, kindred, tongue, or language soever they were. So that we have not here an opposition between the effectual salvation of all believers and the ineffectual redemption of all others, but an extending of the same effectual redemption which belonged to the Jewish believers to all other believers, or children of God throughout the whole world.
(2.) For the aim and intention of the apostle in these words, it is to give consolation to believers agamst their sins and failings : " If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins." The very order and series of the words, without farther enlargement, proves this to be so. That they were believers only to whom he intended this consola- tion, that they should not despair nor utterly faint under their in- firmities, because of a sufficient, yea, effectual remedy provided, is no less evident: for, — First, They only have an advocate; it is confessed that believers only have an interest in Christ's advocation. Secondly, Comfort, in such a case, belongs to none but them; unto others in a state and condition of alienation, wrath is to be denounced, John iii.SG. Thirdly, They are the "little children" to whom he writes, 1 John ii. 1 ; whom he describes, verses 12, 13, to have " their sins forgiven them for his name's sake," and to "know the Father." So that the aim of the apostle being to make out consolation to believers in their fail- ings, he can speak of none but them only. And if he should extend that whereof he speaks, namely, — that Christ was a propitiation to all
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and every one, — I cannot conceive how this can possibly make any thing to the end proposed, or the consolation of believers; for what comfort can arise from hence to them, by telling them that Christ died for innumerable that shall be damned? Will that be any re- freshment unto me which is common unto me with them that perish eternally? Is not this rather a pumice-stone than a breast of conso- lation ? If you ask how comfort can be given to all and every one, unless Christ died for them? I say. If by all and every one you mean all believers, Christ is, as in the text asserted, a propitia- tion and an advocate for them all. If all others, reprobates and unbelievers, we say that there is neither in the death of Christ nor in the word of God any solid spiritual consolation prepared for them ; the children's bread must not be cast to dogs.
(3.) The meaning and purport of the word " propitiation," which Christ is said to be for "us," and "the whole world," is next to be considered : —
Fu'st, The word in the original is tXaff/ji,6s, twice only used in the New Testament, — here, and chap. iv. 10 of this same epistle. The verb also, /Xairxo/xa;, is as often used ; — namely, Heb. ii. 1 7, translated there (and that properly, considering the construction it is in) " to make reconciliation;" and Luke xviii. 13, it is the word of the publi- can, 'D.dsdrirl fj^oi, " Be merciful to me." There is also another word of the same orighial and a like signification, namely, iXaer^piov, twice also used ; — Rom. iii. 25, there translated " a propitiation ; " and Heb. ix. 5, where it is used for, and also rendered, " the mercy-seat : " which will give some light into the meaning of the word. That which, Exod. xxv. 17, is called capporeth, from caphar, properly to cover, is here called iXaar^pwv, that which Christ is said to be, Rom. iii. 25. Now, this mercy-seat was a plate of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, like the uppermost plate or board of a table ; that was laid upon the ark, shadowed over with the wings of the cherubim. Now, this word ^"|.23 comes, as was said, from "i^S, whose first native and genuine sense is " to cover,'' (though most commonly used [for] "to expiate.") This plate or mercy- seat was so called because it was placed upon the ark, and covered it, as the wings of the cherubim hovered over that; the mystical use hereof being to hide, as it were, the law or rigid tenor of the cove- nant of works which was in the ark, God thereby declaring himself to be pacified or reconciled, the cause of anger and enmity being hidden. Hence the word cometh to have its second acceptation, even that which is rendered by the apostle /Xaffr^^/oi/, "placamen," or " placamentum," — that whereby God is appeased. This that did plainly signify, being shadowed with the wings of the cherubim, denoting God's presence in power and goodness ; which were made crouching over it, as the wings of a hen over her chickens. Hence