"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey-whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness?"
The same method has been used from the beginning. Why was atonement needed? Disobedience had brought man into a state "not at one with God"--an outcast from divine favor. He was driven out from the Lord's presence (Gen. 3:24)-"So He drove out the man." The way to life was barred and man's intimate relations with God was interferred with.
What could man do now? Nothing! It was God's privilege to decide the requirements of reconciliation and it was His will that from then on man must approach Him only through a victim, by whose shed blood the idea would be established in the mind of man that the wages of sin was death (Rom. 6:23).
This was one of the great principles which must be accepted and believed: that man in his natural state was a sinner in the eyes of God, and could only come near by sacrifice, which required the shedding of blood. Man had transferred his allegiance to another master, Sin.
A master must have service: so all men must give their lives, or, as Paul puts it: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey-whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16).
God's law in Eden had now established the principle that all mankind from then on were under the law of sin and death. And seeing that the wages of sin is death--whether it be physical or moral sin--all must die.
Let us define sin before we go on to deal with how God dealt with it. Moral sin is transgression of the divine laws. Physical sin has more to do with nature than with transgression. Paul describes it as "sin in the flesh," or flesh in which sin dwells. It is a natural urge in human flesh to rebel and to walk contrary to God's laws. It is this element called "sin" which entered into the constitution of our race through Adam's transgression.
Now we have established the fact that since Adam's sin and God's sentence on him, all are accounted sinners. As Paul says in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." What can man do about this situation? Nothing! Can he reverse this order? No, he cannot, and so the law, "Dying thou shalt die," remains the undeniable fact, and the inevitable end of all living things.
The sad fact was that man, God's most intelligent creation, was now "without hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). God's law had decided man's destiny, as Paul says, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men" (Rom. 5:12). Even the Master came under this sentence.
Now the question is, how was this state of things to be remedied? Man could not do it. Why? Because:
1. He had no authority, rights or claims to do so.
2. He had no power to accomplish it.
3. He had not the knowledge of what to do.
So here we see man a physical, moral sinner, destined to return to mother earth, for out of it he was taken, for dust he was and unto dust he would return (Gen. 3:19).
God now takes the initiative, not through man's suggestion, but through His own wisdom and mercy and forbearance. What does God do, forgive and forget? No. No! God had been disobeyed, dishonored, and ignored, and He was displeased. He said to man, in effect, "You can come back into favor only upon My terms, and My terms are going to be in accordance with what I deem just, and true, and finally merciful. You must fulfill My requirements, or perish."
So He established a way of atonement for man, which, if he do, he shall live by it. Paul in Titus 2:11 describes this--"The grace of God that bringeth salvation"-and he says it "hath appeared to men." Paul further says, "The kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."
Jesus Christ is our Savior. This is the fact which brings us together today to remember Christ, for it is through him and by him that atonement has been offered to men. All past offerings or coverings of atonement have their bearing on the offering of Christ, as the One Sacrifice which confirmed them all, if offered in faith.
As we have seen, based upon divine testimony, humans have no power of themselves to affect their own future and escape from death. Man's destiny was settled, and any change in that law could only come from God, which it did, but only in ways which God Himself deemed just, merciful and wise. This was done through His own Son Jesus Christ who, we are told in Matthew 18:11, came into the world to save that which was lost. Paul in Hebrews 10:10 tells us just how this was done: "Through the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
It may be thought that this alone was all that was necessary to reconcile men to God, and to wipe away the sins of men, and to establish that state of atonement with God.
But this is far from the truth. The truth lies in the fact that God, the great Lawgiver, has laid down conditions men must comply with and obey before it could be that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." (1 John 1:7).
Sin was, and is, man's greatest adversary, and it had all mankind in its deadly grip; and it was necessary for one to come who could get the victory over sin, before any deliverance could be obtained for man. This was accomplished by Jesus Christ, of whom in Revelation 1:5 it is said that, "He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
Just how did the offering of the blood of Christ affect the destiny of man? Did he die instead of man, and leave him free from the curse of death? This cannot be, for many reasons. First, it would not be just. This would be the just dying instead of the unjust, the good instead of the evil, the righteous instead of the sinner. Also, it would require Christ to remain in the grave forever, and let all men go free of the law that the wages of sin is death. Then the law that righteousness delivereth from death would have no practical meaning.
Again, if Christ died instead of men, it would mean that he paid our penalty or debt, and that man was let go free. If this was God's method of reconciliation, it by no means expressed His forbearance, and mercy, and forgiveness.
A debt that is paid--by whomsoever it may be-is not forgiven, but is exacted: so God by His actions in requiring payment would, in reality, be contradicting the glorious attributes of His Memorial Name, for He is shown to us as, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth " (Ex. 34:6). Therefore, we must conclude that the theory (which has no support in Scripture) that Christ died instead of man is ruled right out of God's plan of "reconciling the world unto Himself by Jesus Christ.
The idea of the blood of Christ delivering from sin and death, is a substantial fact when based upon the true understanding of the will of God. The shed blood of Christ, by itself, was of no material benefit to the world. His blood was like any other human blood because he obtained it from his mortal mother.
It was what it expressed that gave the blood-shedding its value. It showed to men certain facts and truths which, when believed in and complied with, enabled them through faith to get redemption. This redemption through Christ gives them forgiveness of their personal transgressions in the waters of baptism. This is what Paul means when he says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19).
In this way the great principle, Sin, that would hold men in the grave, is overcome. Men of faith and obedience can have eternal life by the One who came into the world possessing the God-like characteristics which enabled him to overcome the influence of sin.
Christ lived in complete harmony with God, while at the same time possessing our sin-stricken nature, in which state he won the victory. God used him as a representative of the human race to condemn sin, to justify Himself, and at the same time to deliver man from the very power which would destroy him.
Before Christ could do this for others, he had to obtain this for himself. He did this by living a life of complete obedience to the Father, and in his death repudiated sin in the flesh. His crucifixion showed the world how God viewed sin, and His method of dealing with it, even to the requiring of the death of His well-beloved Son, and our acceptance of it in humility and thanksgiving and love glorifies God, upholds righteousness, and repudiates our former master, Sin, with its wages of Death.
It is at this place we see the great wisdom of God, for had Christ been just an ordinary man, he could not have accomplished the work his Father gave him to do. No ordinary son of Adam could have shown such perfection of character. Being the Son of God he obtained the quality of moral greatness belonging only to God, enabling him to overcome the works of the adversary in himself. Christ's nature had to be like that of his brethren, before he could overcome that in human nature which destroys man. Paul, in Hebrews 4:15, tells us that "he was tempted in all points" like them, and, being like them, inherited a nature subject to those desires that lead to transgression of law, and was under that same sentence of death that passed upon all mankind because of Adam's transgression.
Now God's intention was to open a way out of this state both for Christ and also for those who would be like Christ; and the only way was through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There was a ceremonial aspect to this work. We see in this transaction, a righteous man, possessing a dying nature, willingly-that point is vital-willingly giving his life as an illustration to the world that sin had to be condemned in all its aspects, and that righteousness had prevailed.
Belief in this man, coupled with righteousness and faith, was the basis upon which God was willing to save men from the power of sin and death. This was the Way of Life. No other way will avail men anything. It is God's way.
Here we see that God had provided a man possessed with the right character and right nature to accomplish His purpose. God had been justified, and sin had been repudiated. This being accomplished, He was prepared to grant men forgiveness of their sins, if they believe and obey, and also to give them a share in the glory promised. These truths enable men to recognize their own helplessness and also their dependence upon the kindness and love of God: "But after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us .... That, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7).
Paul shows us the way: "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; Whom God hath 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" (Rom. 3:23-25).
Therefore belief in him, and obedience in him, would be the way in which men can become joint heirs with Christ in the redemption he gained by his victory over sin and death. We must follow the pattern he showed, and share the same faith and hope he had, if we are to join with him in the heritage he has gained.
Paul, in Romans 8, makes it very clear that, "If any have not the spirit of Christ" he does not belong to Christ (vs. 9); that if we "mind the things of the flesh" and are "carnally-minded," our end is death (vss. 5-6); that if we "live after the flesh," we shall die (vs. 13). But on the other hand, "If Christ is in us, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness" (vs. 10). And, "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in us, He that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) our mortal bodies, by His Spirit that dwelleth in us" (vs. 11).
By these few quotations we can clearly see that the sacrifice of Christ by itself without the accompanying knowledge, and faith, and understanding of what was expressed, or shown, in his deathwould avail men nothing as far as salvation is concerned. We see that the conditions God has seen fit to impose upon man are just as essential as the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. By itself, neither one would have effected man's deliverance, but taken together they illustrate the justice, the wisdom, and the mercy of God, all contributing to the glorious redemption we are offered in Christ. Paul says: "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Rom. 5:9).
He was truly the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The outcome of this work was to produce a class of people, taken out of Adam's race, under the same condemnation as he, who through faith have developed characters like Christ's, and who, like him, overcome sin in themselves, by the power, or use, of the Word of God influencing their lives; and who, living in hope of obtaining the inheritance Christ has, can share with him in the life of the future age.
The great deliverance comes only partially now, but fully in that great day. On this subject of Atonement and Redemption, brother Thomas says: "The creature, man, was made subject to evil, not willingly but by the arranging in hope that the Lamb of God would ultimately bear away the sin originated by the serpent. Christ in his own body would destroy the diabolos or sin in the flesh through death, and by a resurrection from the dead recover the creature from the bondage of corruption. Paul styles this the 'redemption of our body' (Rom. 8:23)."
The diabolos to be destroyed is styled by Paul, "the motions of sin" (Rom. 7:5). Brother Thomas described these motions of sin, as that physical principle, or quality of the flesh, styled "indwelling sin" (Rom. 7:20). It is scripturally called sin because the development of this evil in the flesh was the result of transgression.
Paul describes the sin condition in men, as "vile," and brother Thomas speaks of it as "unclean," and in our Statement of Faith it is termed "defiled" and this condition was transmitted to all of Adam's posterity.
This sin condition being the hereditary nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was a fit and proper sacrifice for sin, or the condemnation of sin in the flesh, especially as he was "innocent of the great transgression." His righteousness sustained him, and his flesh did rest in hope" of a resurrection from the dead; but his body being as unclean as the bodies of those he died for, he himself must of necessity have somewhat to offer, as an atonement for himself, and this offering he accomplished by pouring out his soul unto death (Isa. 53:12). The Scriptures say: "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22).
In and by him God redeemed man from the dominion of death, and "death hath no more dominion over him" (Rom. 6:9). This is why he "took not on himself the nature of angels," which needed no redemption, but he "took upon himself the nature of the seed of Abraham." This great work was accomplished in and for himself, when, "The God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 13:20-21).
Through this blood he obtained eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12) and by God's grace we are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, he himself being justified first (1 Tim. 3:16).
It is therefore through our Lord Jesus Christ that we have now received the atonement (Rom. 5:11), for which we rejoice and give thanks continually unto the God of all love and mercy.
(By F.J.)