Satisfaction For Sin
SATISFACTION FOR SIN
THE former two were in the condition of Adam's covenant: but this was not in it; for while there was no sin, there was no place for satisfaction for sin. But the new covenant behoved to be settled on the condition of a satisfaction for sin; because the broken law or covenant of works, insisted for it as a condition of life to sinners, in virtue of its penalty by them incurred. Howbeit, it was quite beyond their power to answer this demand of the law. If then the Mediator will have a seed brought from the state of death, into a state of life and salvation, he must buy them from the hand of justice, telling down a price for every soul of them, 1 Cor. 6:20. Accordingly, all the sins of every one of them, from the first sin they should be convinced and born in, to the last sin they should expire with, being foreseen of God from eternity, were summed up as so many breaches of the law or covenant of works: and it was made another conditionary article of the covenant, "That Christ, as a public person, should satisfy fully and completely for them all:" Isa. 53:6, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; compared with Lev. 16:21, "All the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins."
Now, in this article there were three things established.
First, "That Christ, as a public person, should satisfy for them by suffering:" Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered?" Sinners were liable to suffer for the satisfaction of justice: and nothing but suffering could be accepted, as a compensation of the injury done by sin, to the honour of God, in the violating of his holy law. Thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil, were at the Mediator's command; all the silver and gold, and the precious things of the earth and seas, were at his disposal: but none of these could be of use in this bargain; they were all of no value in a treaty for the redemption of the soul, Mic. 6:6, 7, 8; 1 Pet. 1:18. His own suffering could only avail here. That the Son of God should suffer, was indeed an amazing proposal; but it was necessary, in order to satisfy for our sin.
Secondly, "That he should suffer the same punishment they should have suffered in virtue of the penalty of the broken covenant of works;" and that was death in its full latitude and extent. This appears from the penalty of that covenant, from which the debt of satisfaction was stated, "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," Gen. 2:17; compared with Christ's dying for, that is, in the room and stead of sinners, so often mentioned in the Scriptures, Rom. 5:6, 8; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15; 1 Thess. 5:10. And it is confirmed from that the Scripture teacheth, that the all for whom Christ died, died in him, 2 Cor. 5:14, "If one died for all, then were all dead;" or, then the all died, to wit, in him; even as they sinned, and became liable to death, in Adam. So saith the apostle, "I am crucified with Christ," Gal. 2:20.
For clearing this purpose, two things are to be distinguished in that death which was the penalty of the covenant of works. 1. What was essential to it, wrapt up in the very nature of the thing itself called death in the stile of that covenant. And that may be compromised in these two: (1.) The curse, (2.) Infinite execution; the former making the death legal, the latter making it real and satisfactory. 2. What was accidental to it, arising, not from the nature of the thing in itself, but from the nature of the party dying that death. And this is of two sorts. (1.) There is something arising from the nature of the dying party, as he is a mere creature; such as the eternity of the punishment and despair of life. (2.) Something arising from the nature of the dying party, as he is a sinful creature, or subject of inherent sin; such as the extinction of the saving relation betwixt God and the soul, the divesting it of God's image, and the corruption and dissolution of the body.
Now, the essentials of that death we should have suffered in virtue of the penalty of the broken covenant of works, were laid, as a part of the condition of the covenant of grace, on Jesus Christ, to be suffered by him, for us. For he was "made a curse for us," Gal. 3:13, and "gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour," Eph. 5:2, that is, a sacrifice equalling the infinite offence arising from our sin; whence he is said, "by one suffering" to have "perfected for ever them that are sanctified," Heb. 10:14. But the accidentals of that death were no part of the condition of the covenant laid on him: nor could they at all have place in him; since he was neither a subject of inherent sin, nor yet a mere creature. Nevertheless, it was still the same death that we should have suffered; forasmuch as the essentials were the same. Thus the bodies of the saints, which are now weak and corruptible, shall at the resurrection be powerful and incorruptible, yet still the same bodies; since these qualities are but accidental to a human body. So in the case of clearing of debt, though, the borrower could not pay it, but in a great quantity of copper-money, and that advanced by little and little for a long time: which withal would ruin him: yet, if his rich cautioner should pay all at once, in a little gold; it is evident, it would be the payment of the same debt, providing only that it fully equalled the sum borrowed. Nay, confining our view to death itself, which is the general proper notion of the thing in question, let us put the case, that two men, equally guilty of the same crime, are laid under one and the same sentence of death; and it is execute on them both: but the one is by a miracle raised to life again, the other lies and rots in the grave. It is evident in this case, that the death they died, is the same death, answering the very same estimate which the law made of the crime; and that therefore the death of the former satisfies the law, as well as the death of the latter, so that it cannot reach his life again for that crime: howbeit, it is no less evident, that there is a huge difference between the death of the one and the other, in accidentals, particularly in the duration or continuance of it. Wherefore, we conclude, that as Christ gave the same active obedience to the law which we should have given in virtue of the condition of the covenant of works; so he suffered the same punishment of death that we should have suffered in virtue of the penalty of that broken covenant: forasmuch as, whatever difference there was in accidentals, the essentials were the same; it being laid on him, in the new covenant, to suffer death for us, equalling the infinite offence arising from our sins, being fully proportionate to the estimate the law and justice of God had made of our crime.
And thus, according to what is said, two grand points were established in the conditionary part of the covenant.
1. "That the curse of the law due to us for our sin, should be transferred on him as the second Adam, our representative; whereby he should instantly be a man dead in law for his seed." Either he or they behoved to bear the curse: for it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law." Since God had annexed the threatening of death to his first covenant, saying, "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die;" the truth of God secured the curse its taking place, as soon as sin should enter. Now, they were not able to bear it, without being ruined thereby. But that it might be borne, and they withal saved, it was provided, that he should be laid under it, in their room and stead; that as he was made sin for them, so he should also, in consequence thereof, be made a curse for them, Gal. 3:13.
The curse is the sentence of the broken law passed upon a person, binding him over to the revenging wrath of God, to the full satisfaction of justice. So that awful and tremendous mystery lies here. Christ must stand before the tribunal of the holy law, as a sinner; answerable for all the sins of all the elect, by virtue of his bond of suretiship registrate in the records of heaven: and sentence must pass upon him, adjudging and binding him over to suffer all that revenging wrath which their sins deserved. The Lamb of God said, "Lo, I come:" so it was done, he was made a curse for us. In token hereof, being convened before the Jewish sanhedrim, he was judged a blasphemer, and worthy of death; and compearing before Pilate the Roman governor, he was by him sentenced to die, and that upon the cross.
Behold the stupendous result of this awful transaction, the transferring of the curse on Christ the second Adam! 1. Hereby he was made the separated one of the elect society, separated unto evil, as the immediate effect of the curse is described, Deut. 29:21. He was made the devoted head, devoted to pay for all the rest. He was set up as the mark against which all the arrows of revenging wrath should be aimed. He was appointed to be the common receptacle of all the floods of vengeance, issuing from incensed justice towards the whole body of the elect, to swallow them up; here the current of all these was turned, that they should together flow in upon him. Hence he cries, Psalm 69:2, "I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." 2. Hereby he became the resting-place of revenging justice, where it was to prey, till it should be satisfied to the full; Isa. 53:10, "Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." In token hereof, when the officers came to apprehend him, he said, "If ye seek me let these go their way." Justice leaves the chase of the rebel-multitude, seeks him, and him only; since he was made a curse for them. Thus he was designed to be the sacrifice for all his seed, which the fire of revenging wrath should burn up, till it sent forth a sweet-smelling savour, a savour of rest to the incensed justice of an offended God.
2. Another grand point established here, was, "That the curse transferred on him, should be infinitely executed upon him as the second Adam, our representative; whereby he should die really for his seed, to the full compensation of all the injuries done to the honour of an infinite God, by all their sins." Vain is that curse which takes not effect: as the curse of the holy law was not causeless, so it could not miss of coming on, in its infinite weight, for the satisfaction of justice. Now, had it so come on them, they would have been eternally satisfying, but could never have ended their satisfaction. But coming on him, the church of God was purchased with his own blood, Acts 20:28, and "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John 1:7, the infinite dignity of the person dying, making the execution of the curse on him unto death to be infinite in value, fully compensating the infinite wrong, according to the estimate made of it by law and justice.
And here it was settled and agreed, "That the curse should be executed on the whole man;" that being their due; and therefore that he should "become poor," and "not have where to lay his head," that he should suffer huuger, for want of meat; thirst, for want of drink: that his name and reputation should be sunk, loaded with vile reproaches and slanders; his very friends going about to lay hands upon him as a mad-man; that he should be accounted a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people: his whole lot in the world afflicted, persecuted, and exceeding low; and that in end, being stripped of his garments, he should be hung up naked before the sun, between two malefactors, as if the worst of the three.
More particulary, here it was stipulated and agreed to,
1st, "That the curse should be executed on his blessed body;" forasmuch as their bodies were liable to it, as being instruments of sin and dishonour to God: that he should be hanged on a tree, that all the world might therein read the anger of God against the breaking of the first covenant, by eating of the forbidden tree; and his being made a curse for us, since it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree;" that the curse should go over, and death pass through, every part of that blessed body: that his head should be disgracefully wounded with a crown of thorns put upon it; his visage marred more than any man; his back given to the smiters; his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; his face not hid from shame and spitting; his tongue made to cleave to his jaws; his hands and feet pierced, nailed to a cross; all his bones drawn out of joint; his heart like wax, melted in the midst of his bowels; his blood shed; his strength dried up; and that in end it should expire and die, be separate from his soul, pierced with a spear, and laid in the dust of death.
2dly, "That it should be executed on his holy soul, in a special manner;" forasmuch as their souls were the principal actors in sin: that he should undergo the wrath of God in it, being all along his life a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and that towards the latter end, there should be an hour and power of darkness, wherein the malice of men, the power and rage of devils, should be jointly engaged against him, making their utmost efforts on him; and then the full floods of Heaven's revenging wrath should come rolling in upon his soul: that they should so overflow it, as to strike him with sore amazement, All him with trouble, load him with heaviness, and overwhelm him with exceeding sorrow: that there should be such a pressure of divine wrath on his holy soul, as should put him into an agony, even to his sweating great drops of blood; and should bring over it a total eclipse of comfort, and as it were melt it within him; that so, while he was dying a bodily death on the cross, he might die also a spiritual death, such as a most pure and holy soul was capable of.
Here was the death determined in the covenant, for the second Adam our representative; a death in virtue of the curse transferred on him, long-lasting and exquisite, for the full satisfaction of revenging justice. (1.) It was long-lasting death. He was a-dying, in the style of the covenant of works, not only upon the cross, but all along the time of his life; the death that was the penalty of that covenant, working in him from the womb, till it laid him in the grave. Wherefore he behoved to be conceived of a woman of low estate; and born in the stable of an inn, no room for him in the inn itself; laid in a manger, no cradle to receive him; his infant-blood shed in his circumcision, as if he had been a sinner; yea, his infant-life sought by a cruel persecutor, and his mother obliged to run her country with him, and go to Egypt. Returning, he behoved to live an obscure life in an obscure place, from which nothing great nor good was expected, John 1:46; and coming out of his obscurity, to be set up as the object of the world's ill-will and spite, obloquy and maltreatment, till by the hand of Jew and Gentile he was put to death on the cross. (2.) It was an exquisite death. No pity, no sparing in it: but the curse carried it to the highest pitch. No sparing from an angry God, Rom. 8:32. No sparing from wicked men let loose on him, pushing him like bulls, roaring on him and devouring him like lions, and rending him like dogs, when once their hour And power of darkness was come, Psalm 22:12, 13, 16. Not a good word spoken to him in the midst of his torments, by those that stood by; but cruelly mocked and insulted by them. Much less a good deed done him. Not a drink of water allowed him, but vinegar offered him, in his thirst caused through the fire of divine wrath drinking up his spirits and moisture. Nay, the very face of the heavens was lowring on him: the sun must not give him its light, but wrap up itself from him in darkness; because "light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing to behold the sun."
Lastly, In this article it was established, "That he should suffer all this voluntarily, submissively, and resignedly, out of regard to the wronged honour of God." Accordingly, speaking of his life, he saith, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself," John 10:18, compare Psalm 40:6, 7, 8. This the law demanded of them whom he suffered for, condemning all murmuring and impatience, and binding them to obedience and suffering conjunctly. But how could they have so borne the load of revenging wrath, who cannot bear a sharp fit of the gout or gravel, without some degree of impatience in the eye of the holy law? Wherefore it was provided, that Christ, as their representative, should bear their punishment voluntarily, and with perfect patience and resignation: that he should go "as a lamb to the slaughter," quietly resigning his human will to the divine will; and make his obedience in his sufferings, as conspicuous as his sufferings themselves: that, in midst of the extremity of his torments, he should not entertain the least unbecoming thought of God, but acknowledge him holy in them all, Psalm 22:3: nor yet the least grudge against his murderers; in token of which, he prayed for them while he was on the cross, saying, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do," Luke 23:34.
Thus far of the conditionary articles.
Thus, as we have shown, stood the important condition of the covenant of grace; and from thence the following inferences are fairly deducible.
Inf. 1. The redemption of the soul is precious. Is it not? Look to the price of the purchase, the ransom of souls, as stated in the covenant; the holy birth, righteous life, and satisfactory death of the Son of God; and ye must conclude it to be a costly redemption. Turn hither your eyes, (1.) Ye who value not your own souls. See here the worth of those souls ye sell for a thing of nought, for satisfying a corrupt passion, a pang of lust of one sort or another. Costly was the gathering of what ye thus throw away. Ye let them go at a very low price; but Christ could not have one of them at the hand of justice, but at the price of his precious blood. Ye cannot forego the vanities of a present world for them, nor spend a serious day or hour about them; but he, after a life-time of sorrows underwent a most bitter death for them. What think ye? Was he inconsiderate and too liberal in his making such a bargain for the redemption of souls? He was infinitely just, who proposed the condition; and he was infinitely wise, who went in to it. He was a Father that exacted this ransom for souls; and he was his own Son that paid it. Be ashamed and blush, to make so low an estimate of those souls, which Heaven set such a high price on. (2.) Ye who have cheap thoughts of the pardom of sin, and of salvation, correct your mistake here. You fearlessly run on in sin, thinking all may soon be set to rights again, with a God forgive me, have mercy on my soul; so as you may leap out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bosom. O fearful infatuation! Is the mean and low birth, the sorrowful life, and the bitter death of Jesus the Son of God, not sufficient to give men a just and honourable notion of the pardon of sin? Look into the condition of the covenant for pardon, written in the blood of the Lamb of God, and learn the value a just God puts upon his pardons and salvation. See, O sinner, that it is not words, but deeds; not promises and resolves to do better, but perfection of holiness and obedience; not drawing of sighs and shedding of tears, but shedding of blood; and not thy blood neither, but blood of infinite value, that could procure the pardon of sin, and salvation. And if thou have not upon thee by faith all that righteousness Christ fulfilled, to be presented unto God for a pardon, thou shalt never obtain it. Particularly, ye are apt to think light of the sin ye were born in, and the corruption cleaving to your nature; but know, that God does not think light of these. It behoved to be an article of the covenant, that Christ should be born holy, and retain the holiness of human nature in him to the end; else the unholy birth and corrupt nature we derived from Adam, would have staked us all down eternally under the curse. (3.) Ye that have mean thoughts of the holy law, rectify your dangerous mistake by the help of this glass. Ye make no bones of transgressing its commands; ye neglect and despise its curse: as it is a law, ye shew not so much regard to it as to the laws of men; and as it is a covenant, ye look upon it as out of date, being in no concern how it may be satisfied for you. And shall the honour of the holy law lie in the dust, in your case? Rather than it should so lie in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, God would have them laid in ashes with fire and brimstone. Yea, for vindicating the honour of the law, this whole world shall be burnt to ashes, and all the unholy cast out from the presence of the Lord for ever. And in the case of them that are saved, God would have the curse of the law executed upon his own Son as their Surety, and the commands of it perfectly obeyed in all points by him in their name. Sure, if you are possessed of any share herein, it will be great and honourable in your sight, as it is in the sight of God.
Inf. 2. The law is no loser, in that life and salvation are bestowed on believers in Christ. It is so far from being made void through faith, that it is established thereby, as the apostle witnesseth, Rom. 3:31. God would never dispense his pardons at the expence of the honour of his law; nor declare one righteous, without the righteousness of the law being fulfilled, either by him, or in him by another, Rom. 8:4. Wherefore, life and salvation being designed for the elect, the law's whole accounts of all it had to charge on them for life, were taken in; and an infallible method was laid down for clearing them, the burden of the payment being transferred on Christ their surety. By this exchange of persons the law had no loss. Nay, it was more for the honour of the law, that he was made under it, and satisfied it, in virtue of the claim it had upon him by the second covenant, than if they, being mere creatures, had satisfied it in all points. But the truth is, they being sinners, could never by any means have fully satisfied it; though it had eternally pursued them and exacted of them, it would never have had enough from them; whereas now, by Christ's taking their debt on him, it was paid to the utmost farthing.
Inf. 3. Faith hath a broad and firm bottom to stand on before the Lord. The believer hath a strong plea for life and salvation, which cannot miscarry; namely, the condition of the covenant fulfilled by Jesus Christ, even all righteousness: Having therefore, brethren, boldnesss to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus—let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith," Heb. 10:19–22. The broken boards of uncovenanted mercy, and men's own works, which presumption fixeth upon, cannot but fail, since the law admits no life for a sinner on these grounds. But forasmuch as there a gift of Christ and his righteousness proclaimed in the gospel is by the authority of heaven, he who by faith receiveth that gift, and makes the same his only plea before the Lord, cannot miss of salvation: Rom. 5:17, "They which receive (Gr. the) abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ;" where the abundance mentioned, relates not to different degrees of the grace or gift, but to the offence, as appears from ver. 20: As if he had said, "Who receive the grace and gift of righteousness which abound beyond Adam's offence saving them out of the gulf of ruin it plunged them into." Faith uniting a sinner to Christ the head of the second covenant, makes him partaker of Christ's righteousness, as really as ever his covenant-relation to Adam made him partaker of his guilt. So having all that Christ was, did, or suffered, for fulfilling the condition of the second covenant, to plead for life and salvation; it is not possible the claim can miscarry, justice as well as mercy befriending the plea of faith, as a righteous thing with God, 2 Thess. 1:6, 7.
Inf. 4. lastly, All who are in Christ the head of the covenant of grace, and so brought into it personally, are inherently righteous, or holy. For like as though Adam alone did personally break the first covenant by the all-ruining offence, yet they to whom his guilt is imputed, do thereupon become inherently sinful, through the corruption of nature conveyed to them from him; so, howbeit, Christ alone did perform the condition of the second covenant, yet those to whom his righteousness is imputed, do thereupon become inherently righteous, through inherent grace communicated to them from him by the Spirit. So teacheth the apostle in the forecited passage, Rom. 5:17, "For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." How did death reign by Adam's offence? Not only in point of guilt, whereby his posterity were bound over to destruction; but also in point of their being dead to all good, dead in trespasses and sins: therefore the receivers of the gift of righteousness must thereby be brought to reign in life, not only legally in justification, but also morally in sanctification, begun here, and perfected hereafter.
Accordingly, answerable to the three parts of the condition of the covenant of grace, undertaken and performed by the second Adam, to wit, holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and satisfaction for sin; there are three characters to be found in all capable subjects, who being personally brought into the covenant, have the righteousness of Christ upon them, and imputed to them.
Char. 1. They are all born again, and so made partakers of a new and holy nature: 2 Cor. 5:17, "Therefore," (namely, since he died for all, ver. 15,) "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Christ's being born holy, secured a holy new birth to them in him: so they are all new creatures, "created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Eph. 2:10; new made in Christ, as sure as they were marred in Adam. And how can it be otherwise? Can a man be ingrafted in the true vine, and not partake of the sap and juice of the stock, that is, the Spirit and grace of Christ? No, surely: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," Rom. 8:9. Or, can the Spirit and grace of Christ be in any, and yet no change made on their nature, but it still remain unrenewed? No, indeed: "If Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness," ver. 10. Consider this, ye who pretend to rely on the righteousness of Christ, but are very easy in this point, whether ye are born again, or not; whether there is a holy nature derived from Christ to you, or not. Believe it, sirs, if it be not so, ye have no saving interest, part, nor lot in Christ's righteousness. Ye may on as good grounds pretend, that howbeit the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to you, yet there was no corrupt nature derived from him to you; as pretend, that Christ's righteousness is imputed to you, while yet ye are not born again, your nature is not changed, by the communication of sanctifying grace from Christ, unto you. Deceive not yourselves; ye must be regenerate, else ye will perish: for "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," 1 John 3:3.
Char. 2. They are all righteous and holy in their lives; Isa. 60:21, "Thy people also shall be all righteous." Chap. 62:12, "And they shall call them the holy people." How did ungodliness, unrighteousness, and profanity, enter into the world, the which are now overflowing all banks? Was it not by one man, by Adam's sin, which is imputed to all mankind? Rom. 5:12. Then be sure, if the second Adam's righteousness be imputed to you, holiness of life will come along with it: 1 Cor. 6:11, "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified." Does sanctification then go before justification? No: but it hath a necessary dependence on justification, and evidenceth it to the world, and to one's own conscience. Unjustified, un sanctified; and unsanctified, unjustified. Did our blessed Saviour come into the world, and in our nature lead a holy righteous life, that men might live as they list? Nay, quite the contrary; even that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life," Luke 1:74, 75. If then Christ lived for you, assuredly ye shall live for him. Consider this, ye who are far from righteousness of life, living in the neglect of the duties either of the first or second table, or both. Your ungodly and unrighteous life declares you to be yet in your sins, under the curse, and far from righteousness imputed. There is indeed a righteousness of Christ; but alas! it is not upon you: ye are naked for all it, and stand exposed to revenging wrath.
Char. 3. The old man is crucified in them all: Gal. 5:24, "They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Therefore I say to you in the words of the apostle, Rom. 8:13, "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." When our Saviour hung on the cross, he hung there as representative of all that are his, with all their sins on him by imputation, that the body of sin might be destroyed in his sufferings for it, Rom. 6:6. He hung there as the efficient meritorious cause of their mortification, that by his death they might destroy the power of death in them; which appears not in any thing more, than in living lusts preying on their souls: Hos. 13:14, "I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues." See Tit. 2:14; Rom. 6:6, 7; Eph. 5:25, 26. And he hung there as the exemplary cause of their mortification; so that all who are his, and have sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, are likewise crucified and die to sin, after the similitude of his crucifixion and death; being crucified with him, Gal. 2:20; planted together (with him in the likeness of his death, Rom. 6:5; the fellowship of his sufferings making them conformable unto his death, Phil. 3:10. Will ye then live after the flesh, not wrestling against, but fulfilling the lusts thereof; living in sin and to sin, instead of being mortified to it; and yet pretend that the satisfaction of Christ is imputed to you for righteousness? Truly you may on as good grounds say, that the blood of Christ shed for you, hath proven ineffectual; and that he hath so far missed of his aim and design in suffering for you; or that he died for you, that you might live in your sin without danger. These would make a blasphemous profession. Accordingly, your presumptuous sinful life and practice, is a course of practical blasphemy against the Son of God, making him the minister of sin; and evidenceth your pretensions to the imputation of his satisfaction to be altogether vain. Nay, of a truth, if ye have any saving interest in the death of Christ, your old man is crucified with him, Rom. 6:6; and ye are dead with him, ver, 8; dead with him to sin, to the world, and to the law.
(1.) If ye have a saving interest in Christ's death, ye are dead with him to sin: Rom. 6:10, "In that he died, he died unto sin once." Ver. 11, "Likewise also reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin." While our Lord Jesus lived in the world, the sins of all the elect, as to the guilt of them, hung about him, and made him a "man of sorrows" all along; when he was upon the cross, they wrought upon him most furiously, stinging him to the very soul, till they killed him, and got him laid in the grave. Then they had done their utmost against him, they could do no more. So dying for sin, he died unto it, he was delivered from it: and in his resurrection he shook them all off, as Paul shook the viper off his hand into the fire, and felt no harm; rising out of the grave, even as he will appear the second time, without sin. Wherefore, if ye do indeed know the fellowship of his sufferings, if you really have fellowship with him in them, death will have made its way from Christ the head unto you as his members; his death unto sin cannot miss to work your death unto it also. If you are dead indeed with Christ, as ingrafted into him, sin hath got its death's wounds in you; the bond that knit your hearts and your lusts together, is loosed; and ye will be shaking off the viperous brood of them into the fire, in the daily practice of mortification. But if ye are not dead, but still living unto sin, it is an infallible evidence ye are none of the members of Christ: Rom. 6:2, "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Ver. 3, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?"
(2.) If ye have a saving interest in Christ's death, ye are dead with him to the world: Col. 3:1, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." Ver. 3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." The world hated him, and used him very unkindly while he was in it; and when he died he parted with it for good and all, John 17:11, "Now I am no more in the world—I come to thee." The quietest lodging that ever the world allowed him in it, was a grave: and coming out from thence, he never slept another night in it. He tarried indeed forty days in it after that; as many days as the Israelites' years in the wilderness; the former au exemplar, the latter a type of the Christian life, from conversion till the removal into the other world; nevertheless he was dead to the world still; he conversed now and then with his own, but no more with the world. Now, if ye are his, ye are dead with him unto the world too, in virtue of his death; being crucified unto it, Gal. 6:14. Union with Christ by faith lays sinners down in death, in Christ's grave; and so separates between them and the world for ever: and withal, it raiseth them up again with Christ into a quite new manner of life; no more that manner of life which they lived before their union with him, than that which Christ lived after his resurrection, was the manner of life he lived before his death: Rom. 6:4, "We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." If your title to heaven is indeed settled, by your receiving tire atonement, now is your forty days before your ascension into it now are ye no more of the world, although you be in it: your treasure and heart are no more there. Ye are no more indwellers in it, as natives: but travelling through it, as "strangers, coming up from the wilderness, leaning on the beloved," Cant. 3:5.
(3.) Lastly, If ye have a saving interest in Christ's death, ye are dead with him to the law also: Gal. 2:19, "I through the law am dead to the law." Ver. 20, "I am crucified with Christ." Our Lord Jesus took on our nature to satisfy the law therein: the whole course of his life was a course of obedience to it, for life and salvation to us; and he suffered to satisfy it in what of that kind it had to demand, for that effect: in a word, he was born to the law, he lived to the law, and he died to the law; namely, to clear accounts with it, to satisfy it fully, and get life and salvation for us with its good leave. He was "made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," Gal. 4:4, 5. And when once it fell upon him, it never left exacting of him, till it had got the utmost farthing, and he was quite free with it, as dead to it, Rom. 7:4. In token whereof he got up the bond, blotted it out, yea, rent it in pieces, nailing it to his cross, Col. 2:14. Now, Christ became dead to it, dying to it in his death on the cross: so that the holiness and righteousness of the man Christ did thereafter no more run in the channel in which it had run before, namely, from the womb to his grave; that is to say, it was no more, and shall be no more for ever, obedience performed to the law for life and salvation; these having been completely gained and secured by the obedience he gave from the womb to the grave. "Wherefore, my brethren," if ye be his, "ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ," which became dead to it on the cross, Rom. 7:4. As ye will not be libertines in your life and practice, being dead to sin and the world with Christ; so ye will not be legalists in your life and practice neither, being also dead with him to the law as a covenant of works. Your obedience will run in another channel than it did before your union with Christ, even in the channel of the gospel. Ye will serve in newness of spirit, in faith and love. The frowns of a merciful Father will be a terror to you to frighten you from sin; love and gratitude will prompt yon to obedience. The grieving of the Spirit of a Saviour will be a spring of sorrow to you; and his atoning blood and perfect righteousness will be the spring-head of all your comfort before the Lord; your good works but streams thereof, as they evidence your saving interest in these, are accepted through them, and glorify God your Saviour. Ye will not continue to serve in the oldness of the letter, as before; at what time the law was the spring of all the obedience ye performed; fear of the punishment of hell for your sins, and hope of the reward of heaven's happiness for your duties, being the weights that made you go, though for all them you often stopped; your sorrows springing from your ill works, under the influence of the law allenarly; and your comforts from your good works, under the same influence; ye being alive to the law and dead to Christ. Rom. 7:6, "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." If by faith you wholly rely on Christ's righteousness, the holiness of his nature, the righteousness of his life, and his satisfaction for sin, how is it possible but ye must be dead to the law? for the law is not of faith, Gal. 3:12. But if you perform your obedience for life and salvation, looking for acceptance with God on the account of your works, you go in a way directly opposite to the way of faith, and either altogether reject Christ's satisfying of the law, or else impute imperfection unto his payment of the bond. And "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace," Gal. 5:4.
Thus far of the first part of the covenant, namely the conditionary part.
In every covenant, whether it be a proper or improper covenant, there is a promise. And in a proper covenant, the promissory part answers to the conditionary part; being an obligation which the party-covenanter to whom the condition is performed, comes under for some benefit to be bestowed in view of the performance of the condition. This is the promise of a proper covenant, binding on him who makes it, providing the party contracting with him do his part. In every such case, where the thing is lawful and possible, it binds in point of truth and faithfulness, by virtue of compact: in some cases it binds also in point of remunerative justice; to wit, where the condition performed is properly equivalent to the benefit promised.
The covenant of grace, made between God and Christ as the head and representative of his spiritual seed, is a proper covenant. And in it there is a promissory part, answering to the conditionary part already explained: and it is God's part of the covenant, as the other was the Mediator's. Thereby God hath obliged himself to make the benefits therein condescended on forthcoming, upon the consideration of the performing of the condition. And forasmuch as the condition performed by Christ, was strictly meritorious of the benefits promised; the promises are binding and firm, not only in respect of the truth and faithfulness, but also of the justice of God.
Of what weight and importance the promissory part of the covenant is, will appear by the following considerations.
1. The covenant hath its name from this part of it, being called the covenants of promise, Eph. 2:12. Covenants, because, though still in itself but one covenant, yet from its first promulgation in paradise, it was often renewed, as to Abraham, Jacob, the Israelites in the wilderness, and to David: and as oft as it was renewed it was renewed in a promise. The first covenant had a promise of life: yet it is not called a covenant of promise: on the contrary, the law, or that covenant, is opposed to the promise; though not in its use, yet in its nature, Gal. 3:18, "If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise." For the law's promise of life was suspended on the condition of works, to be performed by men themselves: whereas in the second covenant, life and salvation are promised to sinners freely, for Christ's sake, without respect to any work of theirs as the condition thereof.
2. The covenant is described to us, by the Holy Ghost, as a cluster of free promises of grace and glory to poor sinners, in which no mention is made of any condition: Heb. 8:10, "This is the covenant—I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Ver. 11, "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." Ver. 12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." These promises with their condition, having been proposed to, and accepted by Christ as second Adam, and the condition performed by him; the covenant comes natively, in the gospel, to be set before us in them, to be by us received and embraced in and through Christ, by faith. Thus the promises are the covenant by way of eminency; even God's covenant, wherein he hath bound himself to perform his part, as the Mediator hath already performed his. And in this sense, indeed, the covenant of grace is not conditional, but consists of absolute promises; that is, promises become absolute, through the condition thereof actually performed already: but being considered in its full latitude, and in respect of Christ the covenant, and all the promises thereof, are properly and strictly conditional.
3. The promises of the covenant are the purchase of the blood of Christ; the fruit of his fulfilling all righteousness, in his birth, life, and death. As the curse came by the demerit of Adam's sin; so the promises are owing to the merit of Christ's righteousness; they are the new testament in his blood, 1 Cor. 11:25. From the promise of the bread and water, (Isa. 33:16.), to the promise of a seat with him on his throne, (Rev. 3:21.), they are all the purchase of his meritorious obedience even to death. Justly are they called exceeding precious promises, 2 Pet. 1:4, as being the price of his blood. Of what unspeakable weight and importance must they be, that cost such a price, between the Father and his own Son!
4. The great design and end of the covenant is accomplished in the performing of the promissory part thereof; and that is, the glory of God, and the salvation of sinners. The great glory to God, and grace to sinners, springing up from the whole of the covenant, meet together here, namely, in the accomplishment of the promises, as all the rivers meet together in the sea. The promises were the great thing the parties-contractors had in view, when they entered into the covenant: it was room for them the Father sought by his proposal of the covenant; and that was what the Son intended to purchase, by his fulfilling the condition. The condition of the covenant is the foundation of the promises; the promises the glorious superstructure reared upon that costly foundation. The administration of the covenant, is subservient to the accomplishment of the promises. The condition of the covenant was performed on earth, in the space of about thirty-three years; the promises have been a-performing more than five thousand years on earth, and will be a-performing in heaven, through the ages of eternity.
5. The happiness and comfort of all the elect, for time and eternity, depends upon the promises of the covenant. What keeps unconverted elect persons from dying in that state, and so dropping down to hell, but the promises of the covenant? What makes grace overtake them, when they are fleeing from it, but the promise? What preserves grace in them, like a spark of fire in an ocean, that it is not extinguished, but the promise? And what is their security and comfort in the face of death, but the same promise? 2 Sam. 23:5.
6. The glory of the man Christ, as Mediator, depends on the promise of the covenant. This was the security, in the faith of which he lived on earth, about the space of thirty-three years, in a very low condition; and in end died an ignominious death: Psalm 22:4, "Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them." He paid the price of the redemption of sinners, while as yet many of the redeemed were not born, nay nor as yet are; and several of them imbrewed their hands in his blood: but he rested on the promise of the covenant. He pleaded it when he was just entering into the swelling waves of death, where he was, like Jonah, to be swallowed up. John 17:5, "Now, O Father, glorify me with thyself." And in the faith of the accomplishment of the promise, he completed his performance of the condition: "for the joy that was set before him" in the promise, he "endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb. 12:2.
7. Lastly, God hath sworn the promise of the covenant: "I have made a covenant with my chosen: I have sworn unto David my servant." The apostle tells us, that "God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath," Heb. 6:17. A tender man will not swear a promise, but in a matter of weight. Of what unspeakable weight and importance then must the promise of the covenant be, which the God of truth hath confirmed with his oath?
Now, for clearing of this part of the covenant, we shall, 1. Consider the promises in general; and, 2. Take a more particular view of them.