turn ultro in se suscipit." Bretsclmeider (Rationalist) thus defines the word, " attollo et mihi impono, i. g., inipositum mihi porto,
tropice de poenis : poenani susceptam luo ; Heb. ix. 28 Vide
etiam Num. xiv. 38, dvoCaovat ryv -opveLuv vjxwv, poena vestrae perfidias ilHs persolvenda est." Wegscheider, the chief of the systematic theologians among the Rationalists,-'^ referring to this passage, 1 Peter ii. 24, says that almost all the New Testament writers regard the death of Christ " tanquam [mortem] expiatoriam, eandemque 'V'icariam, velut poenam peccatorum hominum omnium ab ipso sus- ceptam, etc." Calvin does not go beyond these Rationalists ; his comment is, " Sicuti sub lege peccator, ut reatu solveretur, victimam substituebat suo loco : ita Christus maledictionem peccatis nostris debitam in se suscepit, ut ea coram Deo expiaret. Hoc beneficium sophists in suis scholis, quantum possunt, obscurant."
Another form of- expression used by the sacred writers clearly teaches the expiatory character of Cl)rist"s work. Under the old economy, tlie great function of the high priest was to make expia- tion for sin, and thereby restore the people to the tavour of God, and secure for them the blessings of the covenant under which they lived. All this was typical of Christ and of his work. He cam<-- to save his people from their sins, to restore them to the favour of God, and to secure for them the enjoyment of the blessings of the new and better covenant of which He is the mediator. He, there- fore, assumed our nature in order that He might die, and by death effect our reconciliation with God. For as He did not undertake the redemption of angels, but the redemption of man. it was thf nature of man that He assumed. He was made in all things like unto his brethren, that He mio-ht be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, e(s to L\acr/<€o-^ai -as d/iap-tas toJ Aaov, to make expiation for the sins of the people. The word lAao-- Ko/xai (or i^txaaKoixaC) is the technical word in Hellenistic Greek to express the idea of expiation. In common Greek, the word means propitium reddere, and in the passive form it is used in this sense in the Septuagint as in Psalm Ixxix. 9. But in the middle and deponent foi*m followed by the word sins in the accusative, it always expresses the act by which that in sin is removed which hinders God from being propitious. This is the precise idea of expiation. Hence the word is so constantly rendered in the Vulgate by expiare, and is in Greek the renderino; of ^^2 Hence Christ as He who renders God propitious to us is called the iXaajj.6i -n-epl twv afLapriMy f][j.wv in 1 John ii. 2, and IkacnypLov in Romans iii. 25.
1 Instiltaiones Theohgia, § 136, 5th edit. Halle, 1826, p. 424. VOL. u. 33
514 PART III. Cii. VII. — SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
Still another form in which the doctrine of expiation is taught is found in those passages which refer our reconciliation to God to the death of Christ. The Greek word used to express this idea in Romans v. 10 ; 2 Corinthians v. 18, 19, 20, is «aTu/\A.acro-€a', to ex- change, or to change the relation of one person to another, from enmity to friendship. In Ephesians ii. 16; Colossians i. 20, 21, the word used is aTro/caraAAaTTetv, only an intensive form, to recon- cile fully. When two parties are at enmity a reconciliation may be effected by a change in either or in both. When, therefore, it is said that we are reconciled to God, it only means that peace i.s restored between Him and us. Whether this is effected by our enmity towards Him being removed, or by his justice in regard to us being satisfied, or whether both ideas are in any case included, depends on the context where the word occurs, and on the anal- ogy of Scripture. In the chief passage, Romans v. 10, the obvious meaning is that the reconciliation is effected by God's justice being satisfied, so that He can be favourable to us in consistency with his own nature. This is plain, —
1. Because the means by which the reconciliation is effected is " the death of his Son." The design of sacrificial death is expia- tion. It would be to do violence to all Scriptural usage to make the proximate design and effect of a sacrifice the removal of the sinner's enmity to God.
2. " Being reconciled by the death of his Son," in verse 10, is parallel to the clause " being justified by his blood " in verse 9. The one is exchanged for the other, as different forms of expressing the same idea. But justification is not sanctification. It does not express a subjective change in the sinner. And, therefore, the reconciliation here spoken of cannot express any such change.
3. Those reconciled are declared to be ex^P°'» i'l the passive sense of the word, "those who are the objects of God's just displeasure." They are guilty. Justice demands their punishment. The death of Christ, as satisfying justice, reconciles God to us ; effects peace, so that we can be received into favour.
4. What is here taught is explained by all those passages which teach the method by which the reconciliation of God and man ia effected, namely, by the expiation of sin. Meyei', on this passage, says, '^ KaTrjX.Xdyrj[xev and KaraXAayevrcs must of necessity be understood passively : ausgesohnt mit Grotty atoned for in the sight of God ; so that he no longer is hostile to us ; he has laid aside his anger, and we are made partakers of his grace and favour.'" The sam^ doctrine is taught in Ephesians ii. 16. " That he might reconcik
§6.] PROOF OF THE DOCTRINiS. 515
both unto God in one body by the cross." Here agaui the recon- cihation of God with man is effected by the cross or death of Christ, which, removing the necessity for the punishment of sinners, ren- ders it possible for God to manifest towards them his h)ve. The change is not in man, but, humanly speaking, in God ; a'chanoe from the purpose to punish to a purpose to pardon and save. There is, so to speak, a reconciliation of God's justice and of his love ef- fected by Christ's bearing the penalty in our stead. In 2 Corinth- ians V. 18, it is said, God " hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." This does not mean that God changed our heart, and made us love Him, and appointed the Apostle to announce that fact. It can only mean that through Christ, through what He did and suffered for us, peace is restored between God and man, who is able and willing to be gracious. This is the gospel which Paul was commissioned to announce, namely, as follows in the next verse, God is bringing about peace ; He was in Christ effecting this peace, and now is read}' to forgive sin, i. e., not to impute unto men their trespasses; and therefore the Apostle urges his readers to embrace this offer of mercy, to be reconciled unto God; i. e., to accept his overture of reconciliation. For it has a sure foundation. It rests on the substitution and vicarious death of Christ. He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It is impossible, therefore, that the reconciliation of which the Apostles speak as effected by the cross or death of Christ, should, in its pri- mary and main aspect, be a subjective change in us from LMimity to the love of God. It is such a reconciliation as makes God our friend; a reconciliation which enables Him to pardon and save sinners, and which they are called upon most gratefully to embrace. It is clearly, therefore, the doctrine of the New Testament, that Jesus Christ our Lord saves his people by acting for them the part of a priest. For this office He had all the requisite qualifications ; He was thereto duly appointed, and He performed all its functions. He was an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of men. He is not only repeatedly declared to be a sin offering in the Old Testament sense of that term ; but He is said to have borne our sins ; to have made expiation for the sins of the people ; and to have reconciled us, who were the just objects of the divine wrath, to God by his death, by his cross, by the sacrifice of Himself. These representa- tions are so frequent ; they are so formally stated, so illustrated, and so applied, as to render them characteristic. They constitute the essential element of the Scriptural doctrine concerning the method of salvation.
51G PART III. Ch. VU. — satisfaction OF CHRIST.