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TESTIMONY OF THE BAPTIST,

in the doctrines of our Lord himself and his apostles, we are supplied with clear and abundant evidence that the death of Christ was sacrificial-that by it an atonement was made for the sins of men.

The earliest testimony, on this subject, recorded in the New Testament, is that of John the Baptist, who proved his understanding of the typical nature of ancient Jewish ceremony, when he pointed out Jesus to the people, saying, "Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world:" John i, 29; comp. ver. 36. The title here given to Jesus has an obvious relation to the fact, that he was foreordained to be, like the lamb of the passover, or the lamb of the daily burnt-offering in the temple, a sacrifice for sin; and it is probably on this principle alone that he is also described as taking away (or as taking up in order to bear on himself) the sins of the world.

In his own conversations with his disciples, our blessed Lord has not only presented himself to our attention in the general character of the Saviour of lost mankind; (Matt. xviii, 11; John iii, 17, &c.;) but, in the more definite one of the vicarious sufferer, who was to give his life for his friends, for the multitude of believers, and for the world at large. "This my commandment," said he to his disciples," that love one another as I have loved you;" and then,

is

ye

9 John i, 29. Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. The participle agwv may signify either qui aufert, or qui in se suscipit. The latter sense seems most accordant with the evidently sacrificial import of the passage. So the Syriac Peschito renders agwv, by a verb signifying portavit-gestavit. The verb algw has the same sense in Matt. xi, 29, where our Saviour says, "Take my yoke upon you"-agare Tòv Zuyóv mov—and in xxvii, 32, where it is applied to the taking up and bearing of the cross. Schleusner understands a gwv as here denoting auferens, but paraphrases the whole passage as follows: "Hic est agnus divinus qui culpas et scelera mortalium expiat:" in voc. No. 7.

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in evident allusion to his approaching sacrifice of himself, he added, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends :" John xv, 12, 13. "I am the good Shepherd," he cried, on another occasion: "the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ;" (John x, 11;) and still more comprehensive was his language, when he spake of himself as the bread of life-" I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world:" vi, 51.

When Jesus said to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life," he evidently alluded, first, to his crucifixion, and, secondly, to that salvation which is procured "through faith in his blood;" (see John iii, 14, 15; comp. xii, 32, 33;) but there are two other passages, in his discourses, which state, in terms yet more significant and decisive, the Christian doctrine of atonement. The first is recorded in Matt. xx, 28, where we find Jesus presenting himself to his disciples as an example of disinterestedness and humility, and declaring that "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and TO GIVE HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY:" comp. Mark x, 45. These remarkable expressions very simply, yet forcibly, convey the doctrine, that the death of Christ was to be sacrificial-that he was to give up own life as a sacrifice, in order to ransom or redeem many" from that eternal death to which they are exposed. And no less plain were the terms in which our Lord called the attention of his followers to the

his

416

OF THE APOSTLE PETER,

same doctrine, when, at his last paschal supper with them, he took bread and brake it, and said, "This is my body which is given for you;" (Luke xxii, 19;) or, "which is broken for you;" (I Cor. xi, 24;) and afterwards handed them the cup, saying, " Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament (or covenant) which is shed for many, for the remission of sins!" Matt. xxvi, 27, 28.

The mysteries of the kingdom of God, which were communicated to the apostles by their divine Master, "in darkness," they were to " speak in the light;" and that which they heard" in the ear," they were to preach "upon the house tops :" Matt. x, 27. No wonder, therefore, that those letters to the churches, which were given forth by the apostles after Jesus had died, and at a period when so plenary an illumination had been bestowed upon them through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, should abound still more than the recorded discourses of our Lord himself, in the declarations of the doctrinal part of Christianity, and especially of the atoning virtue of the Redeemer's death.

Having premised this general remark, I may now offer to the reader's attention a selection of apostolic testimonies on this great subject. We may begin with Peter, who, in his first general epistle, addresses the early Christian converts as persons who were " elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:" i, 2. This apostle was well aware of the divine efficacy of the sprinkling of that blood by faith on the heart. Accordingly, we soon afterwards find him exhorting his brethren, as follows: "Pass the time of your so

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journing here in fear; forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:" i, 17-19, In the two following passages, he incites the believers to a patient bearing of injury and persecution, by holding up to their view the highest of examples-by insisting, in strong terms, on the meritorious and vicarious sufferings of Christ himself. "For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth..... who, his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed:" ii, 21-24. Again" For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing; for, Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for (or, instead of) the unjust,' that he might bring us to God:" iii, 17, 18.

The apostle John has written on this subject, in a manner equally explicit. After reciting the words of Caiaphas, "It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not"— the apostle adds, "And this spake he not of himself; but being High-priest that year, he prophecied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather toge

1 δίκαιος ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων— “ the just instead of the unjust.” The preposition ὑπὲρ has sometimes the force of avri, signifying vice, loco: see Philem. 13; comp. Eurip. Alcestes, 705. That this is the sense of veg, in this passage, is evinced by the evident antithesis between díxaws and άdíxwv, and that particle, as applied to the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, may probably have the same meaning in Rom. v, 6. 8.

EE

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OF THE APOSTLE JOHN,

ther in one the children of God that were scattered abroad:" John xi, 50–52. In his first epistle he says, "If we walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light.... the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin:" I John i, 7. Again-"These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation (or atonement) for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world:" ii, 1, 2. Again" In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation (or atonement) for our sins:" iv, 9, 10. The strength and cogency of these simple yet full declarations of Christian doctrine will be allowed by every candid inquirer after scriptural truth. So also, in the Revelation, the blood of Christ is repeatedly mentioned as that which redeems from the penalties, and cleanses from the guilt, of sin. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,

66

• ἵλασμὸς propitiation or atonement. The meaning of this word is far too clear to be mistaken. 'Inva, is to be kind or propitious; see Odyss. Hom. iii, 380. ̓Αλλὰ ἄνασσ ̓ ἵληθι δέ μοι. But, O Queen, be propitious to me." iάoxe active, and iάoxeo Daι middle, is to propitiate, or make expiation for sin. So in Heb. ii, 17, Jesus Christ is said ἱλάσκεσθαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ — “ to make reconciliation (or more properly to make an atonement) for the sins of the people." 'Iλaoμòs, the substantive derived from these verbs, is properly the act of propitiating; but more usually, the sin-offering or expiatory sacrifice by which propitiation is effected. Thus, in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, it answers to the Hebrew words, UN a trespass-offering, on a sin-offering, an atonement: vide Trommii Conc. Schleusner's explanation of this substantive is quite in point: he says that it signifies, 1st. Propitiatio, expiatio, seu actio quâ læsus et offensus placatur; and 2ndly, Id quod vim expiandi habet, is, qui expiat, sacrificium ro peccatis expiandis oblatum, victima expiatoria: vide lex. in voc. In Rom. iii, 25, the word denoting_propitiation is iλaorýgiov, which is best understood as an adjective, agreeing with Juua or iɛgetov (a sacrifice) understood; in which sense the word is used by Josephus, in Mac. 18; see Magee on Atonement, 3rd. ed. i, 222.