(2.) That as he be a king, and have supreme government, so he be a. judge to put in execution his justice. Thus, "God is judge him- self," Ps. 1. 6; he is "the judge of all the earth," Gen. xviii. 25; Ps. xciv. 2; Ps. Ixxv. 7; Isa. xxxiii. 22, as in innumerable other places. Now, as God is thus the great governor and judge, he pursues the constitutive principle of punishment, his own righteous and holy will, proportioning penalties to the demerit of sin.
Thus, in the laying our sins on Christ, there was a twofold act of God, — one as a governor, the other as a judge properly: —
[1.] The first is " innovatio obligation is," the " innovation of the obligation," wherein we were detained and bound over to punishment • whereas in the tenor of the law, as to its obligation unto punish- ment, there was none originally but the name of the offender, — "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," and "Cursed is every one that continueth not," and " The soul that sinneth it shall die," — God now puts in the name of the surety, of Jesus Christ, that he might become responsible for our sins, and undergo the punish- ment that we were obliged to. Christ was uto vdfiov yivo/j^tvov, he was made under the law; that is, he was put into subjection to the
1 Vide of the Death of Christ, the Price he Paid, and the Purchase he Made, toI. x. * Vid. Diatrib. de Justit. Divin. translated, vol. x.
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obligation of it unto punishment. God put his name into the obli- gation, and so the law came to have its advantage against him, who otherwise was most free from the charge of it. Then was Christ " made sin," when, by being put into the obligation of the law, he be- came liable to the punishment of it. He was the " mediator of the new covenant," Heb. xii. 24, the " mediator between God and men,'^ 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; so a mediator as to " give himself a ransom" for them for whom he was a mediator, verse 6. And the "surety of the cove- nant" is he also, Heb. vii. 22; such a surety as paid that which he never took, made satisfaction for those sins which he never did.
[2.] The second act of God, as a judge, is " inflictio poense." Christ being now made obnoxious, and that by his own consent, the justice of God finding him in the law, layeth the weight of all on him. " He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." Well, then, it will be well with him; surely it shall be well with the innocent; no evil shall befall him. Nay but saith he, verse 10, " Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath 2:)ut him to grief" Yea, but what was the reason of this? why was this the will of God ? why did this seem good to the just "Judge of all the earth ?" The reason is in the very next words, " His soul was made an offer- ing for sin;" which before is expressed, " He bare our griefs, he was wounded for our transgressions." Being made liable to them, he was punished for them.
By that which is said, it is evident from this first expression, or the assignation of an action to God in reference to him, that this death of Christ was a punishment, he who had power to do it bring- ing in him (on his own voluntary offer) into the obligation to punish- ment, and inflicting punishment on him accordingly.
The second expression, whereby the same thing is farther evinced, is on the part of him that was punished, and this [occurs] in verse 4, " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;" or, which is more evident, verse 11, " He shall bear their iniquities."
For the right understanding of the words, I shall give a few brief previous observations, that may give light to the matter we treat of And the first is, —
1. That as this whole thing was done in the justice of God, as hath l^een declared, so it was done by the counsel and appointment of God. The apostles confess the death of Christ to have proceeded thence, Acts iv. 28, ii. 23. Now, as laying of our sins on Christ, being designed our mediator, and undertaking the work, was an act of God as the governor of all and the righteous judge, so this of the determinate counsel and fore-appointment, or the eternal designation, of Christ to his office, is an act of sovereign power and dominion in God, whereby he doth as he pleaseth, according to the counsel of his will. As he would make the world in his sovereign good plea-
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sure when lie might have otherwise done, Rev. iv. 11, so he would determine that Christ should bear our iniquities when he might otherwise have disposed of them, Eom. xi. 33-37.
2. In respect of us, this pre-appointment of God was an act of gi'ace, — that is, a sovereign act of his good pleasure, — whence aU good things, all fruits of love whatever, to us do flow. Therefore it is called love, John iii. 1 6 ; and so in the fruit of it is it expressed, Rom. viii. 32 ; and on this John often insists in his Gospel and First Epistle, 1 John iv. 9-11. His aim on his own part was the decla- ration of his righteousness, Rom. iii. 25, and to make way for the " praise of his glorious grace," Eph. i. 6; on our part, that we might have all those good things which are the fruits of the most intense love.