The Atonement

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” 1 CoR. xv. 3.

THE Bible is a wonderful treasury of truth, containing history, biography, poetry, prophecy and ethics; it covers all time, and looks over into eternity; it deals

The central
truth.

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with every part of the duty of man in relation to God, and in relation to his fellowmen; it reveals everything concerning human opportunity in relation to eternity. It is a book with an infinite fullness of truth, meeting every legitimate question of the soul, and answering all human need; and yet it has one truth that is central to all other truths, one truth which is the heart of it all, which is the one great emphatic and first thing in it all, and that is, ‘’ Christ died.”

That Christ’s death had a relation to sin, all admit. There is no question about that anywhere among Christians, but what that relation was has been the subject of endless theorizings and philosophizings. There is probably some element of truth in most of these theories; but the fact that *’ Christ died for our sins “not according to this or that theory, but “according to the scriptures,” sends us to the

‘According to the
Scriptures/*

I Cor. XV.
3.

anb dottier Snterpretationsf Scriptures for an interpretation of the cross.

From Genesis to Malachi there is an incessant reference to death for sin. In a certain sense it is the topic of the Old Testament, the scarlet thread that runs through all Scripture.

It is made perfectly clear that there is no possibility of remission for sin apart from sacrifice. No amendment of life; no change of attitude toward God; no sorrow for sin, no repentance, no faith, no works; nothing can possibly avail for sin, according to the universal testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, but death. The New Testament again and again refers back to it, and always emphasizes that point.

It is stated in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, the sacrificial chapter, that “without shedding of blood there is no remission”; and the New Testament everywhere adopts

Gen. iv.
3-5.

Ex. xii. 12,
13.

Lev. iv.
27-35.

Isa. liii.
1-12.

Heb. ix. 22.

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Old Testament language and uses I Cor. V. 7. Old Testament incidents; ‘’Christ our passover is sacrificed for us “; ‘’ This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Sacrifice for sin, in both Testaments, precedes forgiveness.

Matt. xxvi.
27, 28.

Vicarious,
Lev. i. 4.

Isa. liii.
4-6.

I Pet ii.
24.

2. Death for sin, in both Testaments, is always vicarious. ‘* It shall be accepted for him,” is the formula; the offering takes the place of the offerer, and is invariably associated with the idea of substitution. ‘* All we like sheep have gone astray... and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Efficacious,

Ex. xii. 13.

John xii,
32, 33.

Rom. V. 9,
10.

2 Cor. V.
21.

Eph. ii. 13.

3. Death for sin is perfectly efficacious, the offering is accepted for the offerer; his sin is forgiven him, and he is not required to do something in addition to that. God requires sacrifice for sin, but requires, as the condition of forgiveness.

anb 0tfitv SnterpretationsJ nothing more than sacrifice. We are not saved by Christ’s death and something else, but by His death, and by that alone.

Our faith even adds nothing to that sacrifice, nor does it add anything to our own merit, any more than it is meritorious for a beggar to take the loaf of bread which you give him. He takes it because he needs it, and knows his need. He may love you for giving it to him, but that does not make the bread any more nutritious; out of gratitude he may joyfully serve you, but that does not affect the quality of the bread. It is the bread which satisfies his hunger.

Just as the sprinkled blood on the door posts, and that alone, secured the children of Israel from death, so the cross of Christ, and the cross alone, is our perfect security from judgment. It is necessary, — nothing but death will avail. It is vicarious or substitutional — a

Heb. ix.

II, 12, 26.

Heb. X.

10-17.

I John i. 7.
Rev. i. 5.

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life for a life. It is perfectly effi-Actsiv. 12. cacious — For there is none other

name under heaven given among

men, whereby we must be saved.”

Mysterious,

Rom. iii.
26, 27,

His death saves us. Beyond the plain teaching of Scripture we may not take one sure step. There are depths in the atonement which we may not fathom, depths which have not been revealed. The problem was God’s problem; how could He be just and save a sinner? The atonement is God’s solution of the problem; and while the facts are set before us with great plainness, surely all its mystery, all that lay in the Divine mind concerning it, is not revealed.

The desolate cry.

Matt, xxvii.
46.

The mystery itself is put once for all in our Lord’s desolate cry, ‘’ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” That the sinless One was forsaken the cry itself proves, but why was He forsaken? All anb (letter Snterpretationss theories of the atonement must start from that utterance, and must hold an adequate answer. If Jesus died as a spectacle, as a touching and supreme object lesson in altruism, as the law of life, and if there was no other meaning in His death, then His forsaking can mean nothing but the Divine condemnation of His act.

Then, if ever, the heavens should have opened over the cross, and the approving voice of God have resounded. But the blackness of midnight shrouded the unresponsive heavens. That explanation of the death of Christ is inadequate, unsatisfactory. It may be part of the truth, but obviously can not be all of the truth.

Without, then, trying to compass Godward and manward all the meanings of the cross of Christ, is it possible, upon the sure ground of Scripture, to say what, at least, is the central truth? I believe it is.

Tht ctniral
truth.

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Luke xxiii.
39-43.

Rom. iii.
19.

Heb. ix. 26.

I Pet ii.
24.

Isa. liii. 6.

Christ did something that dreadful, blessed day, which made it possible for Him to say to a dying thief, ‘’ To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.’’ Surely it was all done for this dying man. His own hands and feet were nailed to a cross; he could neither run nor work for God. The law condemned him because of his wicked life. He could not make restitution to those whom he had robbed, he could do nothing but cry, “Lord, remember me!”

What was that thing which Jesus did? The Scriptures answer, “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” ‘’ Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” He bore our sins in

his own body on the tree.

All

we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

There is God’s view of the cross, looking down. His problem in human salvation differed widely from the same problem, as we must solve it. How to be just, and yet a justifier of guilty sinners, was part of God’s problem. That solved, there remained the problem of reconciliation. How shall guilty man be won to repentance and faith?

Now when God looked down upon the cross, He saw in it the solution of both problems. His holiness in judging the unbelieving was so vindicated that without lowering the sanction of His law He could pardon the believing. And there was also in the cross so great manifestation of His love that any heart, not fixed eternally in the love of sin, must be won by it.

Then there is man’s view of the

Reconciliation,

Rom. iii.
24-26.

Rom. iii,
31.

John iii.
16.

I. John iv,

9, ID.

I John iv.
19.

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John iii.
14, 15- ..
Matt, xxvii.
46.

Matt. xxvi.
56.

Heb.ix. 26..

Isa. liii. zi

Cleansing.

John xiii.
14.

cross, looking up. And If he looks aright, with true faith, he sees first of all a holy Being suffering, forsaken by God and man. He sees, in Him, full atonement for his sins, sees them judged, and forever put away by the sacrifice of Christ. He is satisfied, the law is satisfied, God is satisfied, Christ, seeing the travail of His soul, is satisfied, and the believing sinner is reconciled to God, through the death of His Son.