I " Interventus sanguinis Christi, licet Deum ad liberationem banc a peccatorum nostrorum poena nobis concedendum movcre non potuerit, movit tamen nos ad earn nobis oblatam accipicndam, et Cbristo fidem habendam." — Socin. ubi sup.
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whence our translators have in the margin rendered it " fore- ordained," as the word is used Eph. i. 9, "Hi/ vpoUsro iv aurSj, — "Which he fore-purposed in himself" Or, —
[2.] God's proposal of him beforehand in types and sacrifices to the Jews, the preposition vpo being often in composition used in that sense in this epistle, chap. iii. 9, xi. 35, xv. 4. Or, —
[3.] For the actual exhibition of him in the flesh when God sent him into the world. Or, —
[4.] It may refer to the o^ien exposition, and publication of him in the world by the gospel; for, as we shall afterward show, the en- suing words hold out an allusion to the ark, which now in Christ, the veil being rent, is exposed to the open view of believers. Hence John tells us, Rev. xi. 19, when the temple was opened, " there was seen in it the ark of the testament;" which, as it was not at all in the second temple, the true Ai'k being to be brought in, no more was it to be seen upon the opening of the first, where it was, being closed in the holiest of holies. But now in the ordinances of the gospel, the Ark is perspicuous, because ©so? TpoUsro, — God hath set it forth to believers.
Now, he was set forth iXacT-zipiov, " a propitiation." There is none but has observed that this is the name of the covering of the ark or the mercy-seat that is applied to Christ, Heb. ix. 5; but the true reason and sense of it hath scarce been observed. Ours generally would prove from hence that Christ did propitiate God by the sacri- fice of himself That may have something from the general notice of the word referred to, the " sacrificia," '/XagriKd (whereof afterward), but not from the particular intimated. The mercy-seat did not atone God for the sins that were committed against the law that was in the ark, but declared him to be atoned and appeased. That this is the meaning of it, that as the mercy-seat declared God to be atoned so also is Christ set forth to declare that God was atoned, not to atone him, Socinus contends at large, but to the utter confusion of his cause; for, —
[1.] If this declares God to be " pacatus " and " placatus," then God was provoked, and some way was used for his atonement. And, —
[2.] This is indeed the true import of that type and the applica- tion of it here by our apostle. The mercy-seat declared God to be appeased; but how? By the blood of the sacrifice that was offered without, and brought into the holy place. The high priest never went into that place about the worshijD of God but it was with the blood of that sacrifice, which was expressly appointed to make atone- ment. Lev. xvi. God would not have the mercy-seat once seen, nor any pledge of his being atoned, but by the blood of the propitiatory sacrifice. So it is here. God sots out Jesus Christ as a propitiation,
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and declares himself to be appeased and reconciled ; but how ? By the blood of Christ, by the sacrifice of himself, by the price of redemp- tion which he paid. This is the intendment of the apostle : Christ by his blood, and the price he paid thereby, with the sacrifice he made, having atoned God, or made atonement with him for us, God now sets him forth, the veil of the temple being rent, to the eye of all believers, as the Mercy-seat wherein we may see God fully re- conciled to us.
And this may serve for the vindication of the testimony to the truth insisted on; and this is the same with 2 Cor. v. 18.
It would be too long for me to insist in particular on the full vin- dication of the other testimonies that are used for the confirmation of this truth ; I shall give them, therefore, together in such a way as that their efficacy to the purpose in hand may be easily discerned.
We are bought by Christ, saith the apostle: 'Hyopasdnn, "Ye are bought," 1 Cor. vi. 20. But this buying may be taken metaphorically for a mere deliverance, as certainly it is, 2 Pet. ii. 1, " Denying the Lord that bought them," — that is, delivered them, — for it is spoken of God the Father. It may be so, the word may be so used, and therefore, to show the propriety of it here, the apostle adds n/MT^g, "with a price :" "Ye are bought with a price." To be bought with a price doth nowhere signify to be barely delivered, but to be deli- vered with a valuable compensation for our deliverance. But what is this price wherewith we are bought? 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, "Not with silver and gold, but r//z,/w alfjban Xpierou," — " with the precious (honourable) blood of Christ." Why r//j.iov aT/xa, "the precious blood?" That we may know that in this business it was valued at a sufficient rate for our redemption, and it did that which in temporal, civil redemption is done by silver and gold, which are given as a valuable considera- tion for the captive. But what kind of price is this blood of Christ? It is XvTpov, Matt. XX. 28, that is, a " price of redemption;" whence it is said that " he gave himself for us, ha Xvrpugrirai rifji-oig," Tit. ii. 14, " that he might fetch us off with a ransom." But it may be that it is called Xurpov, not that he put himself in our stead, and under- went what was due to us, but that his death was as it were a price, because thereon we were delivered. Nay, but his life was Xvrpov properly; and therefore he calls it also avTiXvTpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6. 'Avri in composition signifies either opposition, as 1 Pet. iii. 9, or substitu- tion and commutation, as Matt. ii. 22. In the first sense, here it can- not be taken ; therefore it must be in the latter. He was avriXvrpov, — that is, did so pay a ransom that he himself became that which we should have been ; as it is expressed. Gal. iii. ] 3, "He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." To whom he paid this price was before declared, and the apostle expresseth it, Eph. v. 2. What now is the issue of all this? We have redemption thereby: Chap.