idea does not recede in the Old Testament to be re-emphasized in the New. On the contrary, the New Testament emphasizes the recession, and lays the stress upon the cleansing and lIsfe- ging effect of the sacrifice of Christ. See John i. 29; Col. i. 20-22; Heb. ix. 14; x. 19-21; 1 Pet. ii. 24; 1 John i. 7; iv. 10-13.
The true meaning of the offering of Christ concentrates, therefore, not upon divine justice, but upon human character ; not upon the remission of penalty for a consideration, but upon the deliverance from penalty through moral transform- ation; not upon satisfying divine justice, but upon bring- ing estranged man into harmony with God. As Canon West- cott remarks: ‘The scripture conception of (tdéoxeoJat is not that of appeasing one who is angry with a personal feeling against the offender, but of altering the character of that which, from without, occasions a necessary alienation, and interposes an inevitable obstacle to fellowship” (Commentary on St. John’s Epistles, p. 85).
In the light of this conception we are brought back to that rendering of (Aactnpiov which prevails in the Septuagint, and which it has in the only other New-Testament passage where it occurs (Heb. ix. 5)—mercy-seat ; a rendering maintained by a large number of the earlier expositors, and by some of the ablest of the moderns. That it is the sole instance of its occur- rence in this sense is a fact which has its parallel in the terms Passover, Door, Rock, Amen, Day-spring, and others, applied to Christ. To say that the metaphor is awkward counts for nothing in the light of other metaphors of Paul. To say that the concealment of the ark is inconsistent with set forth is to adduce the strongest argument in favor of this rendering. The contrast with set forth falls in perfectly with the general con- ception. That mercy-seat which was veiled, and which the Jew could approach only once a year, and then through the medium of the High-Priest, is now brought out where all can draw nigh and experience its reconciling power (Heb. x. 19, 22; compare Heb. ix. 8). “The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. We saw and handled” (John i. 14; 1 John i. 1-8). The mercy-seat was the meeting-
Cu. IL] THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. AT
place of God and man (Exod. xxv. 17-22; Lev. xvi. 2; Num, vii. 89); the place of mediation and manifestation. Through Christ, the antitype of the mercy-seat, the Mediator, man has access to the Father (Eph. ii. 18). As the golden surface covered the tables of the law, so Christ stands over the law, vindicating it as holy and just and good, and therewith vindi- cating the divine claim to obedience and holiness. As the blood was annually sprinkled on the golden cover by the High- Priest, so Christ is set forth “in His blood,” not shed to ap- pease God’s wrath, to satisfy God’s justice, nor to compensate for man’s disobedience, but as the highest expression of divine love for man, taking common part with humanity even unto death, that it might reconcile it through faith and self-surrender to God.
Through faith. Connect with propitiation (mercy-seat). The sacrifice of Christ becomes effective through the faith which appropriates it. Reconciliation implies two parties. “‘No propitiation reaches the mark that does not, on its way, reconcile or bring into faith, the subject for whom it is made. There is no God-welcome prepared which does not open the guilty heart to welcome God” (Bushnell).
In His blood. Construe with set forth, and render as Rev., by His blood; 2.¢., in that He caused Him to shed His blood.
To declare His righteousness (els véecEw ris dixatoctvns avtod). Lit., for a shewing, etc. Rev., to shew. For practical proof or demonstration. Not, as so often explained, to shew God’s righteous indignation against sin by wreaking its penalty on the innocent Christ. The shewing of the cross is primarily the shewing of God’s love and yearning to be at one with man (John iii. 14-17). The righteousness of God here is not His “judicial” or ‘‘ punitive” righteousness, but His righteous character, revealing its antagonism to sin in its effort to save man from his sin, and put forward as a ground of mercy, not as an obstacle to mercy.