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Page 44
But this was not enough. Man had sinned and was still constantly
sinning, his very nature being a sinful one. As already noted, the
divine Word was pledged that there must be punishment for sin. The
Son, who came to be a substitute, said: Put me in the sinner's place;
let me be the guilty one; let the blows fall upon me. And thus, He
"_who knew no sin was made sin_ (or a sin-offering) _for us_." He
"_was made a curse_," "_bore our sins_" and "_the iniquity of us
all_." He, the God-man, was regarded as the guilty one, treated as the
guilty one, suffered as the guilty one.
He suffered as God, as well as man. For the Divine and human were
inseparably united in one person. Divinity by itself cannot suffer and
die. But thus mysteriously connected with the humanity it could and
really did participate in the suffering and dying. And who will
calculate what Immanuel can suffer? What must it have been when it
crushed Him to earth, made Him cry out so plaintively, and at last
took His life! Our old theologians loved to say, that what the
sufferings of Christ lacked in _extensiveness_ or duration, they
made up in _intensiveness_. Thus there was a perfect atonement.
_All_ the punishment had been endured. A perfect righteousness
had been wrought out, and the Father set His seal to it in the
resurrection and ascension of His dear Son. Here, then, was real
substitution, and this is the _ground_ for our justification.
It has been asked, on this point, if Christ by His perfect life
wrought out a complete righteousness, which He needed not for Himself,
but intended for the sinner, why was not this sufficient? Why was His
death necessary? On the other hand, if His death is a perfect
atonement for all sin, why does the sinner, in addition to a full and
free forgiveness, procured by the death of Christ, need also the
application of the righteousness of the life of Christ? In a word, why
are both the life and death necessary to justify the sinner?
We answer: By His death or suffering obedience He wrought out a
_negative_ righteousness, the forgiveness of sins. By His life,
or active obedience, He wrought out a _positive_ righteousness.
The former releases from punishment. The latter confers character,
standing and honor in the kingdom of God.
To illustrate. Two persons have broken the laws of their land,
are guilty, condemned, and suffer the penalty in prison. To one comes
a message of pardon from the king. The prison doors are opened and he
goes forth a free man. The law cannot again seize him and condemn him
for the crimes of which he is pardoned. But as he goes forth among his
fellow-men he realizes that though released from punishment, and
_negatively_ righteous, he has no standing, no character, no
positive righteousness, unless he earn and merit it for himself.
To the other criminal also comes a message of pardon from his
king. In addition to pardon, or release from punishment, he is assured
that his king has adopted him as his son, will take him into his
family and endow him with his name and all the privileges of his
house.
Now this pardoned one has a double righteousness; Negatively,
pardon and release from punishment; positively, a name, standing,
character, honor, and the richest endowments of the kingdom.
Even thus has the Son of God wrought out for us a two-fold
righteousness, viz.: Negatively, by His sufferings and death, the
forgiveness of sin and release from punishment; and positively, by His
life of obedience, the appropriation of a perfect righteousness, a
name and a place in His kingdom, with all its honors and blessings.
In the procuring of this double righteousness, Christ wrought out
first the positive and then the negative. In the conferring of it He
gives first the negative and then the positive.
And therefore the two-fold message of consolation. Is. xl. 1, 2:
"_Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to_--(i.e., speak ye _to the heart of_)--_Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins._"
This justification has been purchased and paid for. But it is not
yet applied. The sinner has not yet appropriated it and made it his
own. How is this to be done? We answer: BY FAITH. Faith is the eye
that looks to Christ. It sees His perfect atonement and His spotless
righteousness. It is, at the same time, the hand that reaches out and
lays hold of Christ, and clings to him as the only help and the only
hope. This faith, springing from a penitent heart, that realizes its
own unworthiness and guiltiness, renouncing all claim to merit or
self-righteousness, casts itself on the divine Saviour, trusts
implicitly in Him, and rests there. This faith justifies. Not because
it is an act that merits or earns justification. No! In no sense.
Christ has earned it. Faith only lays hold of and appropriates what is
already purchased and paid for.
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