(3) There are certain ohstarles to God's free for- giving grace vMch must be overcome.-^ (n) Such an obsitacle is not the ethical nature of God, or His justice, which demands a propitiatorj'' otterin,'{ or
substitute in punishment to make it possible for Him consistently to forgive. This idea is entirely out of harmony with the fiassages just referred to, which make God originate the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and which make Christ's act God's own. If God is Himself acting in Christ, St. Paul cannot anywhere mean that Jesus is seeking in His sacri- fice to obtain something from God which He is not willing to give. It has been well said, ' since God was working in Christ there was nothing in God to overcome' (Clarke). Certain passages, however, are said to teach a theory of expiation which has objective reference, and show the necessity of removing obstacles to forgiveness in the nature of God. Some of these are Ro 3^6, 2 Co 5-\ Gal 3^^ and Col 2^^. St. Paul, it is held, in these passages teaches that sin is an ofl'ence to the righteousness of God, and this righteousness must be vindicated and compensated before forgiveness is possible. Bearing in His death the punishment due to us, Christ has satisfied the Divine righteousness, so that God can consistently exercise His grace toAvard sinners. This makes Christ's vicarious sacrifice penal.
The interpretation is objectionable for the fol- lowing reasons :— (a) Judicial punishment and for- giveness are incompatible, for forgiveness means the withdrawal and not the infliction of such punishment. The disapproval of God is the soul of the punishment of sin, but this is withdrawn when forgiveness is extended. If it is the purpose of God to reconcile man to Himself, and if He is in the world in Christ seeking to bring this about, the attitude of disapproval of the sinner which makes the penalty of the sin has been cancelled by His own act, and there can be no moral necessity in God which demands a judicial rather than an ethical vindication of His righteousness. (/3) Punishment is non-transferable, and any infliction of it on a substitute is not punishment but some- thing else, (y) When St. Paul speaks of Christ's sacrifice in relation to us, he always uses virip i]/j.Qv 'in our behalf,' not avrl ij/j.Civ, 'instead of us.' (5) St. Paul's concejition of the righteousness of God is not judicial but ethical, and it is not satis- fied by something ofiered to it, but by such an expression of it as destroys sin in man. (e) It is difficult to see hoM', if our sins have been atoned for by a substitutionary sacrifice, faith in Christ is necessary to salvation. When a debt is paid the obligation is released, (f) The idea does not do full ju.stice to God's antagonism to sin, as the ex- tinction of it is more to be desired than the jjunish- ment of it.
The statement in Ro 3-' that God sent forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness, cannot mean that Christ's vicarious sacrifice is intended to make it righteous for God to forgive sin. eh Ivdei^iv means to slioAV, or demonstrate. Now, as Tynmis has said : ' Before the righteousness of an act can be shown, or proved, or demonstrated, it must actu- ally be righteous in itself. To say that a demon- stration of a thing or a quality can produce a thing, or confer the quality demonstrated, is absurd.' If God is in Christ, this whole line of interpretation must be cut out. The passage is contradictory and incapable of being understood, if with Sandaj- (' Romans ' in ICC) we reply to the question. Who is propitiated ?, ' the answer can only V)e "God."' The word IXacrTripiov has been given four interpretations, of which we prefer the tr. ' mercy- seat,' since this is its accredited meaning in Biblical Greek, and .since the symbolic significance of tlie mercy-seat made it a fitting fig\ire for the Apostle to use. This interpretation also best explains the phrase ' in his blood,' and the middle voice em- ployed in the Gr. verb irpoidero, ' set forth for
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VICARIOUS SACRIFICE
himself.' The thought, therefore, is that God sent forth His Son ' as the reality and fulhlment of all that was symbolized in the mercy-seat.' God will no longer look upon sin, or consider it, in the case of those who by faith in the blood of Christ accept His provision. Thus God's righteous- ness will be revealed in His grace.
(6) Nor is the obstacle to God's forgiveness ' the Law,' of which St. Paul makes so much, considered as a judicial principle, having riglits which must be met. It is often said that Christ suffered vicariously to satisfy the claims of the Law, and sometimes this idea of law is developed into a system of moral government which must be vindi- cated. Gal 3^^ says, ' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.^ ' The law ' here is manifestly the Mosaic law, and the ' us ' cannot mean those wlio never lived under this law, but m\ast refer to Hebrew Christians. The Jews who were under this discipline were freed from it when they be- lieved in Christ, for He established anew covenant. St. Paul's language must not here be made uni versal, for it applies only to a limited class of people. St. Paul clearly tells us that we are justified, not by anything done to or for law, but ' apart from law,' as a pure act of grace. All thought of justification on the principle of law is in Ro 3^" ruled out. As has been said, Christ's gospel is not a ' veiled legalism,' and He did not work out for men a ' law-righteousness which they could not have obtained for themselves.' Says W. N. Clarke (Oiiflinc of Theol. p. 336) : ' If grace comes simple and whole-hearted into the world, it does not come to satisfy legal demands or win law- righteousness. . . . God does not deal with men through Christ in the character of lawgiver, or judge, or in any special character, but in His real character as God, His own very self, in personal relations with His creatures as their very selves.' Indeed, what is the Law in any true sense but God revealing to men His nature as righteous ? It is not an abstract thing ai)art from God that has rights, or can make demands, or needs vindication. Our relations are with a person and not with a system.