which aspect the work of Christ is so prominently presented in the Scriptures. Again, Christ saves us as a sacrifice ; but a sacri- fice is a substitute ; it bears the sins of the offender ; dies in his stead, and by its vicarious death delivers the offerer from the penalty which he had incurred. A sacrifice is not a symbol of an inward conflict between good and evil ; its proximate design is not to effect a subjective change in the sinner ; it does not produce or communicate a new principle of life, much less its own generic life to the offerer by which his real redemption is effected.
In like manner the Bible teaches that Christ gave Himself as a ransom for many. But a ransom is a price paid. Those delivered by it are bought. They are delivered by purchase. A ransom meets and satisfies the claims of a third party. This is its es- sential idea, and cannot be omitted without rejecting the very truth, which the Scriptures, in the use of the term, design to teach. This again is an objective work. It is something which the person redeemed neither does, nor inwardly experiences ; but which is done for him and without him and not in him.
Moreover, the whole idea of redemption, the primary truth taught in setting forth Christ as a Redeemer, is that He delivers his people not by power, not by instruction, not by moral influ- ence, not by any subjective change wrought in them, and not by any new form of life imparted to them, but by purchase. This is the signification and the meaning of the word. The words airoXvTpuKTLs, Xvrpovv, ayopd&iv, c£ayo/>a£e«/, are never used in Scrip- ture in reference to the work of Christ in any other sense than that of deliverance by purchase or payment of % ransom ; and to substitute any other mode of deliverance, is to put man's thoughts in the place of God's truth ; it is to substitute the hu- man for the divine ; the worthless for the priceless.
Moreover, Christ is constantly represented as a rock, a refuge, a hiding place. The duty required of sinners is trust ; relying on Him and his work, as something out of themselves on which to place their hope toward God.
These Theories lead Men to trust to themselves.
3. This introduces the third great objection to this scheme. It makes redemption subjective. It is what we are ; what we be- come ; it is the Christ within us ; the new heart, the new nature, the new life, the divine-human life of Christ, or whatever else it may be called, which is at once the ground of our justification and the source of sanctification. This is utterly inconsistent with