But how are these ends bi'ought about, that we should be BixaioO- fhivoi dupiclv, and yet there should be svdit^ig bix.aioalvrii'i
(3.) Ans. The means procuring all this is the blood of Christ; it is bia, TTJs oLToXurpuiffiag ttjs sv Xpiffr^ 'iriffov, — " by the redemp- tion that is in Christ Jesus." And how that redemption is wrought he expresseth when he shows how we are made partakers of it, dia rrii vidreug h rip alrou ai'/iari, — " through faith in his blood." The redemption wrought and procured by the blood of Christ is the pro- curing cause of all this. The causa 'Trporiyov/xhri is the grace of God, of which before ; the causa 'TrpoxaTapxrixri is this blood of Christ. This redemption, as here, is called a'TroXvrpuan;, Luke xxi. 28, Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14; XCrpuaig, Luke i. 68, ii. 38, Heb. ix. 12; Xvrpov, Matt. XX. 28, Mark x. 45; avrlXurpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6; and in re- spect of the effect, piiaig, Rom. vii. 24, xi. 26, Col. i. 13, 1 Thess. i. 10. This is the procuring cause, as I said, of the whole effect of God's free grace here mentioned. We are justified freely, because we have redemption by the blood of Christ ; he obtained it for us by the price of his blood.
I rather abide in the former sense of Xvrpov (from whence is a-ro- Xvrpuaig), to be " a price of redemption," than to interpret it by " lustrum," and so to refer it to the sacrifices of purification, which belong to another consideration of the death of Christ. And yet the consideration of the blood of Christ as a sacrifice hath place here also, as shall be discovered. This is that which is here asserted. We have forgiveness of sins by the intervention of the blood of Christ, obtaining redemption for us ; which is that we aim to prove from this place.
Grotius gives this exposition of the words : —
Christ by his obedience (especially in his death), and the prayers accompanying- it, obtained this of his Father, that he should not forsake and harden mankind, di'enched in grievous sins, but should give them a way of coming to righteousness by Jesus Christ, and should deliver them from a necessity of dying in their sin, by revealing a way whereby they might escape it.'
' " Christus per obedientiam suam (maximc in morte) et preccs ci accedentes, hoc a Patre obtinuit, ne is humauum genug gravibus peccatis immersum desereret atque ob-
528 VINDICI-iE EVANGELICiE.
[1.] It is well it is granted that the death of Christ respected Ood in the first place, and the obtaining somewhat of him ; which the annotator's friends deny.
[2.] That the purchase of Christ was not for all mankind, that they might be delivered, but for the elect, that they should be de- livered, has elsewhere been declared.
[8.] Christ by his death did not obtain of his Father that he should reveal or appoint that way of obtaining deliverance and sal- vation which by him we have. This, as the giving of Christ himself, was of the free grace and love of God. Nor is the appointment of the way of salvation, according to the covenant of grace, anywhere assigned to the death of Christ, but to the love of God sending his Son and appointing him to be a mediator, though the good things of the covenant be purchased by him.
[4.] This is all the effect here assigned to the blood-shedding of Jesus Christ, this is the redemption we have thereby: '•' He ob- tained of his Father that a better way of coming to righteousness 'than that of the law or that of philosophy might be declared to us" ! The mystery of the whole is : " Christ, by his obedience to God, obtained this, that himself should be exalted to give a new law and teach a new doctrine, in obedience whereunto we might come to be righteous;" which must needs be an excellent explication of these words, " We have redemption by his blood," which plainly express the price he paid for us, and the effect that ensued thereon.
Socinus goes another way. Says he: —
The intervention of the blood of Christ, though it moved not God to grant us dehverance from the punishment of sin, yet it moved us to accept of it being offered, and to believe in Christ. '
That is, the blood of Christ, being paid as a price of our redemp- tion, hath no effect in respect of him to whom it is paid, but only in respect of them for whoTii it is paid ; than which imagination nothing can be more ridiculous.
(4.) The means of application of the redemption mentioned, or participation in respect of us, is faith. It is bia 'rricTsug b ai^an ahroXi. Of this we have no occasion to speak.
(5.) The means of communication on the part of God is in these words, ''Ov TposdiTo 6 Qihg iXasTTjpiov — " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation." God set him forth for this end and purpose. The word Tposkro may design various acts of God; as, —
[1.] His purpose and determination or decree of giving Christ;
duraret, sed viam illis daret ad justitiam perveniendi per Christum, Esa. liii. 4, ita et KvoXvTpsvv aut ■^oiiTv XuTpatriv, Luc. i. 68. VsJ aut T'iB, id est, liberare, nempe a ne- cessitate moriendi in peccatis, viam patefaciendo per quam exire ista liceret."