Chapter IX.
Being a second part of the former digression — Arguments to prove the satisfaction of Christ.
I. If Christ so took our sins, and had them by God so laid and imposed on him, as that he underwent the punishment due unto them in our stead, then he made satisfaction to the justice of God for them, that the sinners might go free; but Christ so took and bare our sins, and had them so laid upon him, as that he underwent the punishment due unto them, and that in our stead: therefore, he made satisfaction to the justice of God for them. The consequent of the proposition is apparent, and was before proved. Of the assumption there be three parts, severally to be confirmed:— First, That Christ took and bare our sins, God laying them on him. Secondly, That he so took them as to undergo the punishment due unto them. Thirdly, That he did this in our stead.
For the first, that he took and bare our sins, ye have it, John i. 29, Ὁ αἴρων,1 etc., — “Who taketh away the sin of the world;” 1 Pet. ii. 24, Ὁς ἀνήνεγκεν, — “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body;” Isa. liii. 11, הוּא יִסְבֹּל, — “He shall bear their iniquities;” and verse 12, נָשָׂא, — “He bare the sin of many.” That God also laid or imposed our sins on him is no less apparent: Isa. liii. 6, “The Lord, הִפְגִּיעַ, made to meet on him the iniquity of us all;” 2 Cor. v. 21, Ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησε, — “He hath made him to be sin for us.”
The second branch is, that in thus doing our Saviour underwent the punishment due to the sins which he bare, which were laid upon him; which may be thus made manifest:— Death and the curse of the law contain the whole of the punishment due to sin, Gen. ii. 17, מוֹת תָּמוּת, “Dying thou shalt die,” is that which was threatened. Death was that which entered by sin, Rom. v. 12: which word in these places is comprehensive of all misery due to our transgressions; which also is held out in the curse of the law, Deut. xxvii. 26, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” That all evils of punishment whatsoever are comprised in these is unquestionably evident. Now, Jesus Christ in bearing our sins underwent both these: for “by the grace of God he tasted death,” Heb. ii. 9; by death delivering from death, verse 14. He was not “spared, but given up to death for us all,” Rom. viii. 32. So also the curse of the law: Gal. iii. 13, Γενόμενος κατάρα, — he “was made a curse for us;” and ἐπικατάρατος, “cursed.” And this by the way of undergoing the punishment that was in death and curse: for by these “it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief,” Isa. liii. 10; yea, οὐκ ἐφείσατο, “he spared him not,” Rom. viii. 32, but “condemned sin in his flesh,” verse 3. It remaineth only to show that he did this in our stead, and the whole argument is confirmed.
Now, this also our Saviour himself maketh apparent, Matt. xx. 28. He came δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, — “to give himself a ransom for many.” The word ἀντί always supposeth a commutation, and change of one person or thing instead of another, as shall be afterward declared: so Matt. ii. 22; so 1 Tim. ii. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 18, “He suffered for us, the just for the unjust;” and Ps. lxix. 4, “I restored” (or paid) “that which I took not away,” — namely, our debt, so far as that thereby we are discharged, as Rom. viii. 34, where it is asserted, upon this very ground, that he died in our stead. And so the several parts of this first argument are confirmed.
II. If Jesus Christ paid into his Father’s hands a valuable price and ransom for our sins, as our surety, so discharging the debt that we lay under, that we might go free, then did he bear the punishment due to our sins, and make satisfaction to the justice of God for them (for to pay such a ransom is to make such satisfaction); but Jesus Christ paid such a price and ransom, as our surety, into his Father’s hands, etc.: ergo, —
There be four things to be proved in the assumption, or second proposition:— First, That Christ paid such a price and ransom. Secondly, That he paid it into the hands of his Father. Thirdly, That he did it as our surety. Fourthly, That we might go free. All which we shall prove in order:—
First, For the first, our Saviour himself affirms it, Matt. xx. 28. He “came to give his life λύτρον,” a ransom or price of redemption “for many,” Mark x. 45; which the apostle terms ἀντίλυτρον, 1 Tim. ii. 6, a ransom to be accepted in the stead of others: whence we are said to have deliverance διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως, “by the ransom-paying of Christ Jesus,” Rom. iii. 24. “He bought us with a price,” 1 Cor. vi. 20; which price was his own blood, Acts xx. 28; compared to and exalted above silver and gold in this work of redemption, 1 Pet. i. 18. So that this first part is most clear and evident.