The Bible and the Cross

men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know; Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay. — Acts ii. 22,23.

‘Ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life. — Acts iii. 14, 15.

HE present series of studies assumes

that the Christian religion is the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Bible is its authoritative exposition.

Of the Christian system, the Cross of Christ is the central truth. It is at once a profound mystery, and a most glorious revelation. As to its deepest and hidden method it is a mystery; in its unveiling of the heart of God, and in the declara-THE DEATH OP JESUS:

tion of the possibility of the forgiveness of sins, it is a revelation.

Our purpose is to gather about the Cross in order that we may consider it in the light of Bible teaching. I shall endeavour resolutely to avoid making any appeal to speculations or philosophies which are not founded on acceptance of the authority of Scripture.

The two passages which indicate our starting-point contain much teaching with which I do not propose now to deal. I refer to them because they set forth certain truths of supreme importance to our argument. The quotations are taken respectively from the first and second discourses of Peter, delivered in the power of the outpoured Spirit. It has often been pointed out that a comparison of the Apostles before and after Pentecost reveals a most remarkable change in them, resulting from the coming of the Spirit. In nothing was this change more marked than in their attitude to the Cross. In the last days of our Lord’s ministry, during which He foretold His Cross with great distinctness, these men quite honestly believed that the Cross would inevitably mean the defeat of His purpose, and disaster to His enterprise. Immediately after the reception of the Spirit they referred to the Cross in such language as to make it plain that there had come to them an entirely new conception of its meaning.

In each of these passages Peter emphasized two facts: first, that of the sMess-Tipgg nf .Tpans; and Secondly, that of the sin of His murder. The sinlessness of Jesus is declared in the first in the words, “Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of Cod tmto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves know.” The meaning of the Apostle is perfectly plain. He affirmed that the Man Jesus was proven by His miracles and wonders and signs to be a perfect Man.

When, in the second passage, the Apostle charged those to whom he spoke with having slain “the Holy and Righteous One,” his words were carefully chosen. The word “holy” describes inward purity, which is the perfection of character. The word “righteous” describes active recti-THE DEATH OP JESUS;

tude, wMcli is perfection of conduct. Thus Peter affirmed that Jesus Whom they slew was both “holy,” that is, pure in character; and “righteous,” that is, true in conduct.

He moreover, in each case charged upon the men to whom he was speaking that their putting to death of a sinless Man was an act of sin. We are thus confronted with a problem which we are compelled to recognize, and of which we must attempt to find the solution. That solution is not found in these passages, and we shall not reach it in this study. The matter of first importance is that we should recognize the problem.

Let me state that problem briefiy. In the midst of that universe which the Bible declares to be under the government of God, the one perfect Man m all human history is put to death by the hands of sinful men. Men of impure character slay the one Man of purity of character. Men of unrighteous conduct put to death the one Man of righteous conduct. The fact thus barely stated suggests the problem.

Let us attempt to see this more clearly.

This we shall do if we consider the teaching of the Bible concerning death and Jesus; for such consideration must inevitably reveal the fact that the death of Jesus was unnatural — that is, something out of the regular order, something that demands explanation beyond that which accounts for the death of other human beings.

What does the Bible teach concerning death? In answer to that inquiry I shall first state the case in general propositions, and then make one or two references to particular passages of Scripture. The Bible teaches that death in the case of man is the direct outcome of sin, and the penalty thereof. It declares, moreover, that death essentially consists in the separation of the spirit of man from the Spirit of Life, which is the Spirit of God. It further teaches that this separation of the spirit of man from the Spirit of God involves ultimately, if not immediately, the separation of man’s spirit from man’s body. It finally teaches that the separa-THE DEATH OP JESUS:

tion between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God may be an age-abiding separation. In this connection it must carefully be borne in mind that this teaching refers to human nature, which is more than animal nature. Between the two there is a great gulf fixed. Whatever the process of human creation may have been, the Scripture clearly teaches that man became a “living soul” by the direct act of God, and that there is an impassable gulf between man and every other form of life. This moreover, is acknowledged true as the result of investigation, as well as in the light of Scripture teaching. I do not think it necessary for me to argue that at length, yet it is necessary to state it if we are to imderstand the meaning of death in the case of man. Man is the offspring of God, made in His image, and in His likeness. That declaration has no reference to anything that is merely physical or animal in man’s life. Human personality to-day has a physical basis, an animal tenement in which man dwells; but, according to the uniform teaching of Scripture, man is essentially spirit, as God is Spirit. Death, therefore, fundamentally and finally is the separation of the spirit of man from the Spirit of God. It is, moreover, a penalty, and a penalty ceases to be a penalty if the person upon whom it is imposed cease to exist. The death penalty is essentially that of the separation of man, as a spirit, from God Who is Spirit. The issue of this separation is separation between the spirit of the man and his body, though that may not immediately follow the fundamental separation. Death as separation may become age-ahiding.

According to the Genesis story, the warning given to the first man was, ‘‘In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”; and in the day of their disobedience our first parents died, in that they were separated by that act from God. After they had sinned God said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” This word was not uttered until sin had been committed. That was the sentence of death. The spirit of man in the moment of its rebellion lost its connection with the Spirit of God, and the separation

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