(2) The benefits procured by Christ's sacrifice are coextensive with the blessings of tlie gospel, and may be distinguished as primary and derivative. The primary effects are that it sets man in a new relation, on the one hand to God, on the other to sin. By St. Paul special prominence is given to the new relationsliip which it establishes between God and the sinner ; on this ground the sinner is justified or accepted as righteous (SiKaioi<n!, Ko 3-''"*), adopted (vloeeaia., 8">), and placed on a foot- ing of reconcUiation {KaraWayi), S"). Elsewhere tlie emphasis is laid rather on its efficacy in pro- curing the forgiveness of sin, i.e. in saving from the penal consequences which otherwise the curse of tlie broken law inevitably entails. It is upon this aspect that Clirist fastens our attention in speaking of His Covenant-sacrifice {S.<pecni rdv afiapTiuv, Mt 26^) ; the idea of cancelling guilt, of which a vital moment is liability to punish- ment, is associated with Clirist's sacrifice in He 2", 1 Jn 2- (VKiaKeaBai witli d/iopr/os as object, and 60 ' to expiate ') ; and the redemption series of terms (Xirrpop, diroXurpunris, i^ayopa.^ei.i>), while com- prehensive of all the aspects of spiritual deliver- ance in Christ, has spec^ial reference to emancipation from the curse of sin or its merited penalties (Eph 1', Col 1"). Upon these fundamental boons of i)eace with God and forgiveness follow, in the order of grace, the gifts of the Spirit as the energy of sanctitication (Gal 5'-'^-), and as the spring of boundless consolations — v\z. peace, joy, hope, assurance, with their fruits (ito S'"'-), while the consummation is reached in the heavenly inherit- ance that is the meet portion of the sons of God (Ro 8"). In brief, the sacrifice of Christ is represented as the ground of all filial communion with God, as the condition of pardon, as the source of all noble endeavour and true comfort in the life which now is, and as onr one warrant for con- fidence as to the world to come.
(3) The conditions on which the blessings are pro- cured, on which the hypothetical becomes actual, are repentance (Mfrdj/om) and faith (irfirret). As to the necessity of these conditions the NT writers speak with one voice. Even St. James must have considered faith of vital importance, since otherwise he need not have become a Christian
at all. The one question in regard to which the teaching is somewhat fluid is as to the precise object of the faith which unlocks the treasury ol reuomption. In Hebrews the conception is very generiil — tlie object is God and| His promises. In tlie I'auline theology it is brought ii.to ilie most intimate connexion with Christ, and includes belief in Him as Messiah, crucified Saviour, and risen Lord (Ro 4** 10", 1 Th 4'''), issuing in union with the crucified and exalted Christ in trust and self-surrender (Gal 2-").
(4) The nature of Christ's offerinq, and (5) The mode of its operation, are two questions which are so closely inter-connected that they may best be discussed in conjunction. So far we have been dealing with the facts of the Atonement as to which the biblical teaching is full and express. These data are, to adopt an old formula — the disease, sin ; the remedy, Christ's sacrifice ; the application of the remedy, salvation here and hereafter on the ground of repentance and faith But the medical analogy suggests that the remedy may cure the disease, while yet it may be obscure to the patient wherein precisely the virtue of the curative agent lay, and how it aflected his system so as to overcome the disease. Similarly, theology has its questionings, which the NT teaching does not unmistakably answer, as to the precise ' what ' of Christ's offering, and as to ' the principle on which the forgiveness of sins is connected with it* sacrificial quality' (Ritschl, ii. p. 185).
(a) Tlie references of ChriH to His own death, while representing it as conditioning the highest blessings, do not elucidate the connexion between the work and its eti'ects.
The passage in which Christ speaks of Himself as come 'to pive his life a ransom for many' (ilk 10*2-*^, Mt 20'*), has been supposed to contain in ntice the solution of the problems of the Atonement. A ransom implies captives (sinners), a hostile power which holds them in thrall (God as the repre- sentative and indicator of the outraged moral law), operation of the ransom (the death of Christ accepted as a substitute (or that of sinners), specific effect (dehverance of sinners from the penalties of sin). This elaboration has, however, been chal- lenged at almost every point. It is maintained by Ritschl that the key-word of the passage is erroneously rendered ' ransom,' that as the equivalent of "irs it has the significance of a protec- tive covering, and that the way in which it operates to protect us is by stimulating us to sel(-den.\-ing imitation of Christ {Recht/. u. Vers. ii. S5). Wendt adheres to the ransom idea, but maintains that the specific effect is to deliver from bondage to Buffering and death, and that it accomplishes this by teaching us to adopt Christ's sanguine valuation of these eWls {Lehre Jesxt, ii. 237). According to Beyschlai;, the evil from which it was to emancipate was worldly ambition and similar forms of sin, which could not survive the ruin of earthly hopes in the tragedy of the Cross {Seutest. TheoL i. 153). The error of this group of interpretations lies in disconnecting Christ's death from the immediate specific effect of expiation or the forgiveness of sin, while the older interpretation unduly exploited the metaphor. All that the passage teaches is that the death of Christ was the means of effecting a redemption from sin (ireXurpma-K) which accrues to the benefit of many. The institution of the Lord's Supper supplies an important reference to our Lord's death: — 'This is my blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for many'(Mk 14^4); 'this cup is the new Covenant in my blood ' (1 Co 11^5), to which St. Matthew adds the definition of the specific effect—' for the remission of sins' (26'-^). These words are important as comparing the death of (Christ to the Covenant-sacrifice which accompanied the giving of the I.aw at Sinai (Ex '24*^, and as suggesting that it resembles the latter in its operation and effect. As to the effect of both sacrifices there is not much room for doubt. The Covenant-sacrifice of Sinai ratified the legal covenant between God and His people, the Covenant-sacrifice of Calvary established the Covenant of grace foretold in Jer 3131^ in which the cardinal boon, as specified in St. Matthew's addition, is ths remission of sins. As to the manner of its efficacy we are hampered by the uncertainty as to how the sprinkling ot the people with blood in the Sinaitic sacrifice operated, or was understood to have operated, in establishing the Old Covenant. According to the traditional view, the blood of the animal victims, slain in room of the guilty people, and sprinkled on them, was accepted as atoning for their gTiilt, and hallowed them for entrance on their new relation with God. Again, it has been supposed that the fundamental idea was that the victim represented the two parties in the Covenant, and the killing of it meant that so far as the Covenant was concerned they had no longer will or life, ».e. the (^>veuant was iramutabl*