The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 19

Bon, made of e. woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. iv. 4, 5). It is evident from these passages that WI! :do not receive the adoption merely in virtue of Christ's incarnation. Some IQodern divines. qold that the adoption springs, not from the death, but from the birth of Christ; that its benefits are conferred upon every mert1ber of the human race by virtue oftP.11 J;ncarne.tion; that Christ being one with every man, the Root and Archetype of humanity, all men,are in him adopted e.nd saved, and that nothing remains for faith but to di11Cern this oneness and his salvation as already belonging to us. 1. This theo;ry,makee Christ, and not Ada.m, the Head of humanity. Yet Scripture makes Adam the true head of humanity, and Christ the Head of the, redeemed. Christ is no doubt called "the Read of every man" (1 Cor. xi. 9), in so far as he is "the Firstbom of every creature," and as "all. things were created" by him and for him; but the allusion is not to the Incarnation at all, but to the pre-existent state of the Son, and to the fact that, according to the original state of things, the worltl was constituted in him. But the whole race of man is represented as· in Adam (Rom. v. 1 2 ) . How else can we underste,nd. the parallel between the two .Adams? "That was not first· which was spiritual, but that which was natural." C' ,The first man. was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit," Is .it proper to regard Christ as the Archetype of fallen humQ.nity alienat_ed from. God, and needing to be created anew in the Divine image (Col. iii.10_; eh. iv. 2;1)? .2. Thi.a theory is inconsistent with Scripture, which makes the Incarnation and the cross inseparable. They are both means to an end : the expiation of sin, the v;indication of Div:ine justice-the meritc,rious obedience to be rendered to the Law; Jesus was bor,n th11,t he.might <lie. The event of Golgotha not only explains :but completes the event of Bethlehem. Our Saviour came to save the lost (Matt, xviii. 11); he came to give his life a ransom (Matt. xx. 28); he came into the woi:ld to save sinners (1 Tim. i. 15); he took part of flesh and blood to destroy death (Heh. ii. 1 4 ) ; he was manifested to destroy the works of the devil ( 1 John iii. 8 ) ; it was on ihe cross he triumphed over principalities and powers (Col. ii. 15). There are a hundred passages in Scripture which· a.scribe our salvation to his death to one passage ascribing it to his birth. It is a suggestive circumstance that he should. have appointed a festival to commemorate his death-the Lord's Supper.;...and should have appointed n:o similar festival to commemorate his birth. 'l'he effect, if not the design, of this theory is to destroy the necessity for the atonement, and thus to avoid the offence of the cross. The Incarnation is presented to us as .a remedial arrangement by virtue of its connec- tion with the cross, and the connection. of man with Christ is represented as corrective of his connection with Adam. Our primary connection is with the first Ada.m, and we only attain to conneotion with Christ by regeneration . . Ill. THAT ADOPTION IS FOB THOSE '\VBO ARE UNITED TO CHRIST' BY FAITII. Scripture is exceedingly plain in its testimony upon this point. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. iii. 26); " As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name" ( J oho i. 12); " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. viii. H). Yet it is said that faith does not make the sonship, but discerns it as already ours. The proper office of faith, however, is not to recoguize the blessing of adoption as ours, but "to receive and rest upon. Cbrist alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in. the gospel." The blessings of salvation are not conferred on all men prior to their faith or without their faith. The union between Christ and believers, of which the Scripture is so full, is not l).Ccomplished by· our Lord's assumption of our common nature, bµt is only realized through an appropriating faith wrought in each of us by the grace of God. . IV. THAT. !l'JIE ISSUE• OJ' TBE ADOPl'ION IS TO BRING BELIE VERB AT LAST D."'l'O OOM• MUNION. WJTH Goo HlllSELF. "Ye are Christ's, and. Christ is God's." We are brought into the Divine family-" the family in hea.ven and in earth" (eh, iii. 16~f which God is the Father;• for "ndoption finds its ultimate enjoyment and blessing in. Go~" If we are thus brought to God and beloug to God in virtue of our adoption, ought W6 not with a profound earnestness to aim at a high and spiritual tone of living ?-1'. C. Ver. 7.-Redemption through blood. "Redemption!' is a large and exclusiY6 term, implyiug deliverance from sin, Satan, and death. lt includes, not the mere remission of 16 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [OH. L 1-28