And here also it will be necessary, for the further clearing of the importance of this word, to examine the endeavour of the foremen- tioned expositor to corrupt the sense of it: “ Est vero,” saith he, “per- fectissima salutis causa, quia perfectissima ratione salutem affert; nihil illi deest, nec ad vires, ac facultatem, nec ad studium et voluntatem salutis nostree perficiendee. Nam et poenas peccatorum omnes a nobis potentia sud arcet, et vitam eternam largitur; spiritus nostros in manus suas suscipit; succurrit nobis in afflictionibus et opem prompté fert ne in fide succumbamus, inque poenas peccatis debitas ea ratione incidamus.”
This, indeed, is “the voice of Jacob,” but “the hands” of this doctrine “are the hands of Esau.” For whilst by these words, for the most part true, we have a description given us how and on what account the Lord Jesus Christ, as our high priest, is the author and cause of our salvation, that which is indeed the principal reason hereof, and without which the other consideration would not be ef- fectual, is omitted and excluded. For in the room of his satisfaction and expiation of sin by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself, we are supplied with a keeping off, or driving from us, the punishment due unto our sins. But this kind of delivery from the punishment of sin by Christ is unscriptural, both name and thing. The true way was
Alrios.
536 AN EXPOSITION OF THE - [CHAP. v.
that whereby he delivereth us from the curse and penalty of the law, so saving us from “the wrath to come.” And this was by his “bearing our sins in his own body on the tree;” by being “ made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” See 2 Cor. v. 21, Rom. viii. 3, Gal. iii, 13, 1 Pet. ii, 24, Isa. liii. 6-8. The other things mentioned by this author Christ doth indeed, in carrying on the work of our salvation, and many other things of the like nature which he mentioneth not; all which are here included, but all with respect unto that foundation which was laid in his satis- factory oblation,—which is by him here excluded.
We may therefore consider the Lord Christ as the “author of eternal salvation,” either with respect unto his own acts and works, whereby he wrought it or procured it; or with respect unto the effects of them, whereby it is actually communicated unto us: or we may consider him as the meritorious, procuring, purchasing, or as the efficient cause of our salvation. And in both respects the Lord Christ is said to be the author of our salvation, as the word doth signify him who is the cause of any thing in either kind, And where he is said to be the author of our salvation, nothing is to be excluded whereby he is so. In the first way, as the meritorious cause of our salvation, he is the author of it two ways:—1. By his oblation; 2. By his intercession. Both these belong unto the means whereby he procures our salvation. And these, in the first place, are respected, because the apostle treats immediately of our salvation as arising from the priestly office of Christ. And, 1. In his oblation, which was the offering of himself as an expiatory sacrifice for our sins, accom- panied with the highest acts of obedience, and the supplications mentioned, verse 7, two things may be considered unto this end: —(l1.) The satisfaction he made therein for sins, with the expiation of our guilt; which is the foundation of our salvation, without which it was impossible we should be partakers of it. (2.) The merit of his obedience therein, by which, according to the tenor of the cove- nant between God and him, he purchased and procured this salva- tion for us, Heb. ix. 14. On these two accounts was he in his obla- tion the author or cause of our salvation. 2. He is so also on the account of his intercession ; for this isthe name of that way whereby, with respect unto God, he makes effectual unto us what in his obla- tion he had purchased and procured, Heb. vii. 25-27. And this he doth as the meritorious cause thereof. But secondly, he is also the efficient cause of our salvation ; inasmuch as he doth by his Spirit, his grace, and his glorious power, actually communicate it unto us and collate it upon us. And this he doth in sundry instances, the principal whereof may be named:—1, He teacheth us the way of salvation, and leads us into it; which Socinus fondly imagined to be the only reason why he is called our Saviour, 2. He makes us meet
VER. 9.]” EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 537
for it, and saves us from the power of sin, quickening, enlightening, and sanetifying of us, through the administration of his Spirit and grace. 3. He preserves and secures it unto us, in the assistance, deliverance, and victory he gives us against all oppositions, tempta- tions, dangers, and troubles. 4. He both gives an entrance into it and assurance of it, in our justification and peace with God. 5. He will actually, by his glorious power, bestow upon us immortal life and glory, or give us the full possession of this salvation. In all these respects, with those many other streams of grace which flow from them, is the Lord Christ said to be the “author of our salvation.” This salvation is said to be “eternal ;” whereof see our exposition on chap. ii. 3. So the redemption purchased by this offering of Christ is said to be “eternal,” chap. ix. 12. And it is called so absolutely, comparatively, and emphatically. 1. Absolutely; it is eternal, endless, unchangeable, and permanent. We are made for an eternal duration. By sin we had made our- selves obnoxious to eternal damnation. If the salvation procured for us were not eternal, it would not be perfect, nor suited unto our condition. 2. It is also said to be eternal in comparison with and in opposition unto that or those temporal deliverances, or salvations, which the people under the law were made partakers of by the inter- position of their legal priests and their sacrifices. For there were tem- porary punishments, and excisions by death, threatened unto divers transgressions of the law, as it was the administration of a temporal covenant unto that people. From these they might be freed by the ministry of their priests and carnal atonements. But those who were delivered from those penalties, and saved from the sentence of the law, were not thereby absolutely secured of deliverance from the curse annexed unto the moral law as a covenant of works, Their salvation, therefore, was not eternal. And perhaps, also, respect may be had unto the deliverance of the people of old out of bondage, with their introduction into the land of Canaan, which was a tem- porary salvation only. But this is so absolutely; and, 3. Emphati- cally. It takes off indeed all temporal punishments as effects of the curse of the law. It gives temporal deliverance from fear and bondage by reason thereof. It supplies us with mercy, grace, and peace with God in this world. But all these things issuing in eter- nal blessedness, that being the end of them, being all bestowed on us in a tendency thereunto, the whole is emphatically called “eternal.” Lastly, There is a limitation of the subject of this salvation, unto whom the Lord Christ is the cause and author of it; it is to “all them that obey him,”—ro% iaaxotovow aire cuéow. The esi Smecle expression isemphatical. To all and everyone of them ow airy that obey him; not any one of them shall be excepted 7*”” from a share and interest in this salvation; nor shall any one of