Having thus fully considered the threefold notion of the death of Christ, as it was a, price, a sacrifice, and a punishment, and discovered the foundation of righteousness in all this, proceed we now to manifest what are the proper effects of the death of Christ under this three- fold notion. Now these also, answerably, are three : — I. Redemption, as it is a price ; II. Reconciliation, as it is a sacrifice ; III. Satisfac- tion, as it is a punishment. Upon which foundation, union with Christ, vocation, justification, sanctification, and glory, are built
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Of redemption by the death of Christ as it was a price or ransom.
Having given before the general notions of the death of Christ, as it is in Scripture proposed, all tending to manifest the way and manner of the expiation of our sins, and our delivery from the guilt and punishment due to them, it remains that an accommodation of those several notions of it be made particularly and respectively to the business in hand.
I. The first consideration .proposed of the death of Christ was of it as a price ; and the issue and effect thereof is EEDEMPTION. Hence Christ is spoken of in the Old Testament as a Redeemer: Job xix, 25, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." The word there used is ''^iS, whose rise and use is commonly known.
?N3 is "vindicare, redimere;" ImXa/j^QdvegDai in Greek; which is com- monly used for " suum vindicare : " " On civ ng ex.Tr}fisvos fj, . . . . xai fi7)8ilg eviXdQTjrai, sdv ovroo ng hiavrov oriovv SXTTJ/Jjsvog . . . . /j^rj lt,iOru roiovTOV ■Krrifj.arog I'ffiXaQsgdai [ir^hiv avriXdovrog hiaurou, Plato de Legib. 12. And that may be the sense of the word s'TriXafiQdvsrai, if not in the effect, yet in the cause, Heb. ii. 16.
OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 509
The rise and use of this word in this business of our deliverance by Christ we have Lev. xxv. 25, " If any of his kin come to redeem it." ^"ij^n i?i<J, — "redimens illud propinquus." The next who is ''^^ [is to] redeem it, or vindicate the possession out of mortgage. On this account Boaz tells Ruth that, in respect of the possession of Elime- lech, he was goel, E.uth iii. IS, a redeemer; which we have translated " a kinsman," because he was to do that office by right of propinquity of blood or nearness of kin, as is evident from the law before mentioned. Christ, coming to vindicate us into liberty by his own blood, is called by Job his goel, chap. xix. 25; so also is he termed, Isa. xli. 14, 'n?^.^, " thy redeemer," or " thy next kinsman ;" and chap. xliv. 6, in that excellent description of Christ, also verse 24, chap, xlvii. 4, xlviii. 1 7, xlix. 26, liv. 5, lix. 20, Ix. 16, Ixiii. 16, and in sundry other places. Neither is the church of God at all beholding to some late exposi- tors, who, to show their skill in the Hebrew doctors, would impose upon us their interpretations, and make those expressions to signify deliverance in general, and to be referred to God the Father, seeing that the rise of the use of the word plainly restrains the redemption intended to the paying of a price for it; which was done only by Jesus Christ. So Jer. xxxii. 7, 8. Hence they that looked for the Messiah, according to the promise, are said to look for, or to wait for, Xurpuffiv, " redemption in Israel," Luke ii. S8 : and, in the accom- plishment of the promise, the apostle tells us that Christ by his blood obtained for us " eternal redemption," Heb. ix. 12. And he having so obtained it, we are "justified freely by the grace of God, 8ia, ryjg aToXurpwcswg r^s sv xpiffrOj 'Irjffov, — by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ;" sv for did, " in him," for " by him," or wrought by him, Rom. iii. 24. And this being brought home to us, " we have re- demption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14; whence he is said to be " made unto us dirokhrpMaig," or "re- demption," 1 Cor. i. 80.
How this is done will be made evident by applying of what is now spoken to what was spoken of the death of Christ as a price. Christ giving himself or his life Xbrpov and dvriXvrpov, a price of redemption, as hath been showed, a ransom, those for whom he did it come to have Xurpuetv and oc^roXurpuffiv, redemption thereby, or deliverance from the captivity wherein they were. And our Saviour expresses particularly how this was done as to both parts, Matt. xx. 28. He came Bovmi rrtv ■^MX'hv "kxirpov dvri 'xoXXuv, — that is, he came to be an dvri->^-jXos, one to stand in the room of others, and to give his life for them.
To make this the more evident and clear, I shall give a descrip- tion of redemption properly so called, and make application of it in the several parts thereof unto that under consideration: —
" Redemption is the deliverance of any one from bondage or cap-
510 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^.
tivity, and the misery attending that condition, by the intervention or interposition of a price or ransom, paid by the redeemer to him by whose autliority he is detained, that, being delivered, he may be in a state of liberty, at the disposal of the redeemer."