The Christadelphian September 1908, Islip Collyer

“Jesus the Author and Finisher of Our Faith”

Among the first principles of truth which can be translated into action in our daily lives, the sacrifice of Christ stands pre-eminent. It is, in fact, part of the preparation of the gospel of peace, with which our feet must be shod. “He is our peace,” says the apostle, “who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace.”

Again, in writing to the Romans, the same apostle says, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For the moment we are more concerned with the moral effect of this doctrine in the preparation of those who already understand and believe, than with what may be called the legal aspect of its first principles. Yet here again it is simply a matter of translating knowledge into action, or perhaps, more still, into growth. A thorough grasp of first principles is the necessary basis for all true development. A false conception of the atonement has most obviously evil results. It is not simply that it is the will of God for those who approach Him to understand the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice. We can see that an appreciation of the truth has an effect in the moulding of character, and that knowledge rightly applied will promote growth.

The harmful effect of false doctrine is equally obvious. If a man thinks of Christ’s death as substitutional, and imagines that the whole of his debt to God has been paid, he cannot approach the throne of grace in an acceptable manner. This idea of substitution and a debt discharged in full, is of one piece with the doctrine of immortal souls. It leads to the monstrous caricatures of religion to be seen in connection with death bed repentances, and sudden conversions.

Thus, the lords spiritual will agree with the civil authorities that a certain man is unfit to live on earth, and yet will think that the combined ministrations of parson and hangman will send him off to heaven. The cross is sometimes held up before people, and in answer to the question “What shall we do?” a preacher will reply, “Do nothing, Jesus has done it all.” Such ideas can never humble men under the mighty hand of God, and in the end it often happens that a man so instructed will use his reason rather more and lose his faith in the doctrine of the atonement altogether.

In a lesser degree the minor controversies which have arisen in connection with this matter have done a measure of harm. Some attempts have been made to explain the sacrifice of Christ as if it had arisen out of the complications and technicalities of imperfect human law. God’s law has been treated as if independent of His will, and the whole subject has been obscured.

Another evil has been the tendency of some speculative thinkers to raise the question, What would have occurred if the purpose of God had been in some respect different. There has been much disputing over such futile issues, in which it is perfectly safe to say that there has been at least an equality of ignorance, since we can none of us know what the will of God would have been if in any respect His purpose had been different from that which has been revealed.

It is, indeed, surprising that men who have had ample opportunity to study the Scriptures, whose eyes have been open to the elementary principles, and who have had access to excellent expositions, should raise these questions. It has frequently been asked, “Would Jesus have had to die as a sacrifice for his own cleansing if he had been the only one to be saved?” And there have been some who have actually regarded this as a serious question, and have thought it right to insist on a definite answer. The great sacrifice will never be much moral help to men in preparing them for the kingdom of God, if they spend their time in such fruitless contentions.

These problems would probably never be raised if there was an adequate recognition of the difference between the ways of God and the ways of man. Human legislation grows gradually, contains so many faults, and has such unexpected results, that “the law” seems to be a separate entity, a powerful instrument, which must be respected even when it is unreasonable. It may indeed be moulded and gradually changed, but while it remains “the law” it must be carried into effect, even if it has results totally at variance with the designs of those who framed it. Men sometimes resort to hasty expedients in legislation, that they may avoid some unforeseen consequence of the statutes they or their fathers have formulated, and occasionally we may behold the spectacle of a law having consequences which are deplored by almost everyone. Men say, “This is the law and it must be carried out; but in this connection it is thoroughly unjust, and should be amended at once.”

It is very different with the law of God. There are no discrepancies in His statutes, no unforeseen results, and there is no need for expedients. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” When God made laws, He made them with a full knowledge of all their effects right to the end of time, and thus the law of God is simply an expression of the will of God. It is true that sometimes we can gain a glimpse at God’s point of view, and see the reason for His laws, but we are on safe lines only so long as we are guided by the Word.

It was the will of God that sins should only be forgiven on the basis of a perfect sacrifice. Under spirit guidance we can see the reason for this law. It was because man had become unfit to approach the Father. God gave a law which condemned all, that He might show His mercy to those who had faith in Him, and “that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” Forgiveness is thus offered on a basis which humbles the creature and exalts the Creator. The sinfulness of man is emphasised, while the righteousness and holiness of God is declared “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

But when the apostles deal with this matter they speak of the purpose of God as it is, not as it might have been. Thus in speaking of the fact that God subjected His Son to a painful life and a painful death, the apostle says, “It became him, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.” And the Lord Jesus, in the hour of trial, submitting to the Father’s will, told his disciples that he might pray even then, and have legions of angels at his command, but “How, then,” he asked, “should the Scriptures be fulfilled”? There is not the slightest scriptural warrant for propounding the question what the will of God would have been had Jesus been the only one to be saved.

Perhaps those who have sometimes put the question would admit that it is not strictly legitimate, but excuse themselves on the ground that they only raise the issue to test whether there is a proper understanding of the position of the Lord Jesus. The question, however, is worse than useless for such a purpose, for like all such questions it tends only to place those who understand the least, and those who understand most, in the same category. Ask a child “What is electricity?” and he will admit that he does not know. Propound the same question to the most learned scientist of the day, and he also will confess ignorance. But ask a schoolboy who has attended a couple of lectures on the subject, and he will probably tell you at once.

Guided by the word of God it is easy to prove that Christ offered for his own cleansing as well as for his people. It is easy to demonstrate that in the revealed purpose of God, the holiest place was not to be entered except with a perfect sacrifice. We can clearly see that the offering of his body on the cross was the culminating act of our Saviour’s obedience, for which he is “highly exalted.” It was the will of God that the captain of our salvation should be made perfect through suffering. And it is the will of God that many should be saved through faith in his blood, and all that is involved in that expression.

Beyond this we cannot go. It is most unscriptural and most improper—to use no harsher term—to speculate on what the will of God would have been towards His Son, if it had been totally different toward all others. In this matter we are not arguing. We are simply mentioning facts which only need to be stated for their force to be felt.

When the apostles speak of the sacrifice of Christ they make no effort to develop a technical argument such as would appeal to a lawyer, and if only we can clear the mind of false impressions, and get back to apostolic definitions, the difficulties vanish. We could not desire a clearer exposition of the atonement than is given in the third chapter of Romans; and, like so many dissertations of the apostle Paul, exhortation arises in a perfectly natural manner out of the exposition. The chapter is very well known, but, unfortunately, it is possible for the best known chapters to make the least impression.

If a seeker after truth should read this chapter for the first time when his intellect was fully mature, it might give a clearer view by that one perusal, than the many readings of one who first became acquainted with the language used when the mind was incapable, or indifferent. It is wonderful how dead the brain can be to the meaning of words which have been familiar to the memory from the time of its earliest recollections, and sometimes nothing is needed in the way of exposition except to call a halt at every verse, or possibly present the idea in slightly different language that the brain may be stimulated by the change.

The apostle quotes from the Old Testament to show that the history of humanity is a history of evil, and no man has been perfect before God. He declares that no man shall be justified by the law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That is to say, that the law, with its clearly defined commands, made it evident to all reflective minds that they fell far short of perfection. “But now,” says the apostle, “the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” The purpose of God to justify men by faith was witnessed by nearly all parts of the Old Testament, from the time when coats of skins were made to cover the nakedness of the first transgressors, and our Mother Eve was given the promise of a sin-destroying seed.

It was witnessed by the call of Abraham and his trial of faith, especially by the words, “Abraham believed God, and he counted it to him for righteousness.” It was witnessed by the Psalms in the blessing pronounced on the man whose transgression is covered, in the promise that the man who has clean hands and a pure heart shall receive the blessing from on high and “righteousness from the God of his salvation,” and in the promise of a deliverer, “the son of God’s handmaid.” The man God made strong for Himself. It is witnessed by all the promises of a Messiah who should put an end to sin, and make reconciliation; who should please God, live a perfect life, make his soul an offering for sin, and become the father of the future age, since the travail of his soul should bring forth a numerous seed of glorified sons. It is witnessed by the severe law which condemned all who came under it, and convinced them all of sin. In fact, the whole of the Old Testament is a complete enigma apart from the explanation brought by the New.

But with Jesus as the keystone the whole building is “fitly framed together,” like the spiritual house it is instrumental in forming. The gift of righteousness from God is, indeed, witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith unto all who believe, for there is no difference.” That is, that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are alike under condemnation.

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” All men being sinners, they are dependent on the grace and mercy of God, and the gift of righteousness to those of pure heart. And it has pleased the Father to make this gift only through the Lord Jesus, “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.”

Some have regarded the word propitiation as conveying the idea of substitution. There is no justification for such an interpretation. Propitiation may be taken to mean the turning away of wrath, and that is indeed accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ; but the teaching of this passage is utterly contrary to the unscriptural, unjust and unreasonable idea of a substitute. There is no question of a debt discharged, no question of a “death incurred by Adam and inflicted on Christ,” that the technical demands of a law may be satisfied. The sins are forgiven “through the forbearance of God,” and the basis on which God offers remission is the declaration of His righteousness in the life and death of His Son.

Righteousness primarily means right conduct according to law. The supreme law-giver is God; therefore righteousness is to act in harmony with the law of God. In the case of man it involves a bending of the human will into harmony with the divine. Thus the perfect righteousness of the man Christ Jesus is expressed in the words he used, “Not my will but thine be done.” But the righteousness of God must necessarily mean something different from this. The will of the Father is the supreme law, and if righteousness simply means conformity to law, a declaration of His righteousness would simply mean a declaration of His consistency. Perhaps, rightly understood, this idea covers the whole subject. God has declared that He will not give His glory to another; and that He will be sanctified in those who approach unto Him. The righteousness of God thus involves more than we usually associate with the word. God set forth Jesus to be a declaration of His holiness, His supremacy, His consistency, and on this basis He offers forgiveness and the exercise of forbearance towards humble and believing transgressors. The apostle repeats the idea. “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded.”

All apostolic references to the atonement are in harmony with this clear exposition. We read that Jesus died to put away sin. How could sin be put away more effectually than by conquering all its impulses in life, and then submitting to the crucifixion of the flesh? We read that he died to condemn sin in the flesh. How could sin be condemned more effectually than by thus being put away? And how could the righteousness, the holiness and the supremacy of God be declared more emphatically than by the complete triumph over sin on the part of His Son, and the complete repudiation of the flesh involved in his perfect life and the final crucifixion of his body?

If, without any attempt to improve on the exposition of the apostle, we take a comprehensive glance at the whole subject of redemption, we obtain a glimpse of God’s point of view, which is in itself a perfect exhortation.

We see man in a sinful and hopeless condition, unfit to approach his Maker. We see a law given, which condemned all who came under it, and made it evident that they were sinners. At the same time, there were many evidences that God intended to exalt some of the sinful sons of men to the power of an endless life, and even the angels desired to look into these things. God made selection of a virgin of the house of Israel, and by the power of His Spirit, produced from her substance a man, made in all points like unto his brethren, subject to all fleshly weakness, and differing from them in nothing except his mental and moral strength. He was the “man God made strong for himself.” Begotten by the power of the Spirit of God, his character, as it unfolded, reflected the character of the Father. He “set his face like a flint,” to “choose the good and refuse the evil.” He was “obedient in all things, even unto the death of the cross,” and because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity, God has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. By every act of his life he condemned sin in the flesh, and declared the righteousness of God, and finally, by the free offering of his body on the cross, as the culminating act of obedience, he made a suitable basis for the exercise of God’s forbearance. Here is the weak body of sin subdued and controlled in life by the strong will of the Son of God, and finally slain on the cross, and thus completely put away. The flesh repudiated, man humbled, boasting excluded, and the holiness, majesty, and supremacy of God declared. This is our mercy-seat.

We are not told that our debt is paid, and there is nothing more to do. We are urged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to follow Christ, to obtain spirit-help from the Word of God, and play our part to make it possible that God can be just and yet our justifier.

“Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.”

I C