The designation of such a state for the church, and the present
VER, 5-10.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 479
introduction of it by the preaching of the gospel, is that whose con- firmation the apostle principally designs in this whole discourse; the sum whereof he gives us, chap. xi. 40, “ God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
2. The whole fountain and principal cause of this state, this grace, is the will of God, even that will which our Saviour tendered to accomplish, “By the which will we are sanctified’’ In the original it is, “In which will;’ “in” for “by,” which is usual. Wherefore we say properly, “ by which will;” for it is the supreme efficient cause of our sanctification that is intended. And in that expression of our Saviour, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” it is evident, (1.) That it was the will, that is, the counsel, the pur- pose, the decree of God, that the church should be sanctified. (2.) That our Lord Christ knew that this was the will of God, the will of the Father, in whose bosom he was. And, (8.) That God had determined (which he also knew and declared) that legal sacrifices could not accomplish and make effectual this his will, so as the church might be sanctified thereon, Wherefore the will of God here intended (as was intimated before) is nothing but the eternal, gracious, free act or purpose of his will, whereby he determined or purposed in himself to recover a church out of lost mankind, to sanctify them unto himself, and to bring them unto the enjoyment of himself hereafter. See Eph. 1. 4-9.
And this act of the will of God was, (1.) Free and sovereign, without any meritorious cause, or any thing that should dispose him thereunto without himself: “ He purposed in himself.” There are everywhere blessed effects ascribed to it, but no cause anywhere. All that is designed unto us in it, as unto the communication of it in its effects, were its effects, not its cause. See Eph. i. 4, and this place. The whole mediation of Christ, especially his death and suffering, was the means of its accomplishment, and not the pro- curing cause of it. (2.) It was accompanied with infinite wisdom, whereby provision was made for his own glory, and the means and way of the accomplishment of his will He would not admit the legal sacrifices as the means and way of its accomplishment, because _ they could not provide for those ends; for “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (3.) It was “immutable and irrevocable, it depended not upon any condition in any thing or person without himself: “He purposed in him- self.” Nor was it capable of any change or alteration from oppo- sitions or interveniencies, (4.) It follows hereon that it must be infallibly effectual, in the actual accomplishment of what was designed in it,—every thing in its order and season; it cannot in any thing be frustrated or disappointed. The whole church in
480 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [oHaP. X.
every age shall be sanctified by it. This will of God some would have not to be any internal act of his will, but only the thing willed by him, namely, the sacrifice of Christ; and that for this reason, because it is opposed to legal sacrifices, which the act of God’s will cannot be. But the mistake is evident; for the will of God here intended is not at all opposed unto the legal sacrifices, but only as to the means of the accomplishment of it, which they were not, nor could be.
Obs. XXVIII. The sovereign will and pleasure of God, acting itself in infinite wisdom and grace, is the sole, supreme, original cause of the salvation of the church, Rom. ix. 10, 11.
3. The means of accomplishment and making effectual of this will of God, is the “offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” Some copies after jy:aouévor éouév read of, and then the sense must be sup- plied by the repetition of jyiaouévor in the close of that verse, “who by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ were once sanctified.” But there is no colour for this supply, for the word “once” doth directly respect the offering of Christ, as the following verses, wherein it is explained, and the dignity of this sacrifice thence demonstrated, do prove. Wherefore this article belongs not unto the text, for it is not in the best copies, nor is taken notice of in our translation. Why and in what sense the sacrifice of Christ is called the “offering of his body,” was before declared. And “by which,” da rij¢, refers not to the cause of our sanctification, which is the will of God, but unto the effect’ itself. Our sanctification is wrought, effected, accomplished by the offering of the body of Christ, (1.) In that the expiation of our sin and reconciliation with God were per- fectly wrought thereby: (2.) In that the whole church of the elect was thereby dedicated unto God; which privilege they are called into the actual participation of through faith in the blood of Christ: (3.) In that thereby all the old legal sacrifices, and all that yoke, and bur- den, and bondage wherewith they were accompanied, are taken out of the way, Eph. 11. 15, 16: (4.) In that he redeemed us thereby from the whole curse of the law, as given originally in the law of nature, and also renewed in the covenant of Sinai: (5.) In that. thereby he ratified and confirmed the new covenant, and all the promises of it, and all the grace contained in them, to be effectually communicated unto us: (6.) In that he thereby procured for us, and received into his own disposition, in the behalf of the church, effec-_ tually to communicate all grace and mercy unto our souls and consciences. In brief, whatever was prepared in the will of God for the good of the church, it is all communicated unto us through the offering of the body of Christ, in such a way as tendeth unto the glory of God and the assured salvation of the church,