There is, however, according to St. Paul, one thing necessary in order to make it pos.sible for (Jod to forgive, and that is, His opposition to sin must be shown. He must be Himself revealed as One who wants men to leave off sinning and become righteous. God could not be satisfied without pro- viding some adequate levelation of this fact, and He has provided it in Christ.
(4) The reconciliation which God desires to effect is accomplished by the vicarious sacrifice of Christ ; for this Christ was sent into the world ; for this He lived, suffered, and died. St. Paul makes much of the cross. It is the heart of his theology, because it is God's supreme self-expression in sacrifice to sinful man. In 2 Co 5^^ we read : ' He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.' No clearer passage is needed to show that God's forgiving grace is medi- ated through the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and that His inmost heart is thus made manifest. Christ became man's Saviour {a) by His absolute obedience. ' For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous' (Ro 5^^). Christ lias resisted sin unto suffering, sacrificed the creature will to the Avill of God, become obedi- ent unto death, even the death of the cross (Ph 2^), and so has conquered sin by breaking tlirough its general dominion. To those who join themselves to Him, He im])arts the same power through the influence of the Spirit. (6) He has also vicariously borne our sins. St. Paul does not say that He has
borne the consequences of them, or the punishment of them, but He has taken our sins on Himself in such a waj^ that they have been a burden to His heart and caused Him to suffer. He has borne them in the sense that He has borne with them. To God incarnate in Christ, sin, as the despoiler of those Avhom He loves and wishes good, must be offensive, must be an affliction, a source of suffering and pain. God's sympathy is ahvays being taxed by the evil of the world. His holiness is ahvays being offended, and His iieart is ever being grieved. In a real and vital way this is sin-bearing — this enduring it in iiatience, this carrying it upon the heart. Another way in which Christ bears our sins is in labouring to overcome them. Sin puts on God a great task, that of suffering and labour- ing to save the world. This sin-bearing is what St. Paul refers to when he says, ' Him who knew not sin he made sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him ' (2 Co 5-^). This does not mean that He made Him a sinner, for God was in Christ ; but in His work of express- ing God's love for men, Christ so identifies Him- self witli humanity that He feels its sin as a personal burden. It is an utter mistake to interpret this passage, as many have done, to mean that Christ was made to suffer the punishment of sin, or that guilt was imputed, or transferred to Him, which is an ethical impossibility. The bold figure simply refers to such -an identification with men as to make their burden of sin Christ's om'u. Tlie much quoted passage in Gal. (3'^), ' Christ redeemed us from tiie curse of the law, having become a curse for us ; for it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree,' is to be explained in a similar manner. This is a strong expression based on Dt 21"- -^. Christ's death on the cross had the outward appearance of His being an accursed criminal, and by metonymy expresses the humilia- tion and sin-bearing of Christ in ' His vicarious identification with man under the curse of the law.' Says Terry : ' He entered into the depths of human suffering, and felt most keenly tlie bitter exposure of sinful man to the cvirse of violated law ; and, being Himself personally without sin and without any condemnation from law, He was the more cajiable of becoming ' ' greatly amazed and sore troubled " over the desperate situation of sin-cursed humanity under tlie curse of holy law ' (c) In bearing sin, Christ condemns it and estab- lishes God's righteousness, establishes it by mani- festing it. The punishment of sin is not the strongest way of exjaressing one's condemnation oi it ; a stronger way is to be willing to endure sacri- fice to save one from it. It must be an aMfnl thing, if God will go to such lengths of suffering to rescue men from its evil (Jn 3^^). Men risk their lives only to save their fellows from calamitous dangers. God suffers in Christ, only because He looks at sin as an awful, destructive fact. Nowhere is the righteousness of God, as over against sin, seen so clearly as in the death of Jesus, (d) The vicarious sacrifice of Christ also expresses God's Avillingness to save. ' God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while Ave were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Ro 5^'") It is a voluntary expression of interest in us that Avithholds not at the greatest possible cost ; and wins gratitude and response if anything can awaken them. LoA'e can go no farther. In such a Avork God does His utmost to bring men to Himself. The vicarious element in Christ's life satisfies God, for it is God's highest effort for man's recovery ; and it satisfies man, for it shoAvs Jesus as his personal Saviour.