'The interpretation of this place by the Socinians is as ridiculous as any they make use of. Take it in the words of Volkelius : —
Add hereto that the mortal body of Christ, which he had before his death, yea, before his ascension into heaven, was not fit for his undergoing this office of priesthood or wholly to accomplish the sacrifice; wherefore the divine writer to the Hebrews, chap. x. 5, declareih that then he had a perfect body, accommo- dated unto this work, when he went into the world that is to come, which is heaven. 1
* " Adde quod corpus mortale, quo Christus ante mortem, imo ante suum in coelura ascensum praeditus erat, ad hoc sacerdotium obeundum et sacrificium pcnitus absol- vendum aptum non fuit; ideoquo tunc dcmum corpus, hide rei accomniodatum per- fectuni ci fuisse, diviuus author indicat, Ilcb. x. 5, cum in mundum, nempc futurum ilium, qui coelum est, ingrederetur." — Volkcl. de Vera Relig. lib. iii. cap. xxxvii. do sac. Christi, p. 146.
430 VINDICLE EVANGELIC^.
A heap of foolish imaginations ! First, The truth Is, no body but a mortal body was fit to be this sacrifice, which was to be accomplished, according to all the types of it, by shedding of blood; without which there is no remission. Secondly, It is false that Christ had a mortal body after his resurrection, or that he hath any other body now in heaven than what he rose withal. Thirdly, It is false that "the world," spoken of simply, doth anywhere signify the world to come, or that "the world" here signifies heaven. Fourthly, It is false that the coming into the world signifies going out of the zuorld, as it is here interpreted. Fifthly, Christ's bringing into the world was by his in- carnation and birth, Heb. i. 6, according to the constant use of that expression in the Scripture ; as his ascension is his leaving the world and going to his Father, John xiii. 1, xiv. 12, xvi. 28.
But I must not insist on this. It is the body that God prepared Christ for his obedience, — that is, his whole human nature, — that is asserted for the matter of Christ's offering ; for the clearing whereof the reader may observe that the matter of the offering and sacrifice of Christ is expressed three ways: —
(1.) It is said to be of the body and blood of Christ, Heb. x. 10. The offering of the body of Jesus and the blood of Christ is said to purge us from our sins, that is, by the sacrifice of it, and in his blood have we redemption, Eph. i. 7, 1 John i. 7; and by his own blood did he enter into the holy place, Heb. ix. 12, and most ex- pressly chap. xiii. 12.
(2.) His soul : Isa. liii. 1 0, " When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin."
(3.) It is most frequently said to be himself that was offered, Eph. v. 2, Heb. i. 3, ix. 14, 25, 26, vii. 27. Hence it appears what was the matter of the sacrifice of this high priest, even himself: he sacrificed himself, — his whole human nature; he offered up his body and soul as a propitiatory sacrifice to God, a sacrifice for atonement and expiation.
Farther to clear this, I must desire the reader to take notice* of the import of this expression, "He sacrificed himself," or Christ sacrificed himself. " He," in the first place, as it is spoken of the sacrificer, denotes the person of Christ, and both natures therein; "himself," as the sacrificed, is only the human nature of Christ, wherein and whereof that sacrifice was made. He makes the atone- ment actively, as the priest; himself passively, as the sacrifice: —
[1.] "He" is the person of Christ, God and man jointly and dis- tinctly acting in the work : —
Ist. As God: Heb. ix. 14, "Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God." His eternal Spirit or Deity was the principal agent, offering; and wherever there is mention of Christ's offering himself, it relates principally to the person, God-man, who offered.
OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 431
2dly. The free will of his human nature was in it also; so Heb. X. 7, " Lo, I come to do thy will." When God had prepared him a body, opened his ears, he says, " Lo, I come to do thy will," as it was written of him in the volume of God's book. And that this ex- pression, " Lo, I come to do thy will," sets out the readiness of the human will of Christ, is evident from that exposition which is given of it, Ps. xl. 8, " Yea, thy law is within my heart," or " in the midst of my bowels;" — "Thy law, the law of the mediator, that I am to undertake, it is in the midst of my heart;" which is an expression of the greatest readiness and willingness possible.
He, then, that offers is our mediator, God and man in one person ; and the offering is the act of the person.
[2.] " Himself," offered as the matter of the sacrifice, is only the human nature of Christ, soul and body, as was said ; which is evident from the description of a sacrifice, what it is.