CHAPTER III - The Authority of the Father
CHAPTER III - The Authority of the Father This chapter concerns the agent or chief author of the work of our redemption, agency being distinctly ascribed to the person of the Father.
I. The Joint Effort of the Trinity The agent and chief author of this great work of our redemption, is the whole blessed Trinity. This is because all the works which outwardly belong to the Deity are undivided. They belong to each person of the godhead equally, observing their distinct manner of subsistence and order. It is true, there were various other instrumental causes in the oblation (or passion) of Christ, but the work cannot in any sense be ascribed to them
[i.e. to Judas, the Jews, the Roman guards, etc.]. With regard to God the Father, the result of their endeavors was contrary to their own intentions. In the end, they did nothing but what the "hand and counsel of God had before determined should be done," Acts 4:28. And with regard to Christ, they were incapable of accomplishing what they aimed at, for he laid down his own life and no one was able to take it from him, John 10:17, 18. So they are to be excluded from this consideration. The Scripture proposes distinct and various acts or operations uniquely assigned to each of the several persons of the holy Trinity, the joint author of the whole work. And, according to our weak way of understanding, we are to consider them severally and apart. We will do so, beginning with those ascribed to the Father.
II. The Role of the Father There are two specific acts in this work of our redemption by the blood of Jesus that may be properly assigned to the person of the Father. First, sending his Son into the world for this employment. Secondly, laying on him the punishment due to our sin.
1. The Father Sends the Son The Father loves the world, and sent his Son to die: He "sent his Son into the world that the world might be saved through him," John 3:16, 17.
"Sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,"
Rom. 8:3,4. He "set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood," Rom. 3:25. For "when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons," Gal.
4:4, 5.
More than twenty times, the Gospel of John mentions this sending of the Son. Our Savior describes himself as, "Him whom the Father has sent,"
John 10:36; and he describes the Father as, "He who sent me," chap. 5:37.
So this action of sending is appropriate to the Father, according to his promise that he would "send us a Savior, a great one, to deliver us," Isa.
19:20; and according to the profession of our Savior, "I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me," Isa. 48:16. Hence, the Father himself is sometimes called our Savior: 1Tim. 1:1, "According to the commandment of God our Savior." Some copies, indeed, read, "of God and our Savior." But the interposition of that particle "kai" arose, doubtless, from a misapprehension that Christ alone is called Savior. The phrase is the same one found in the direct parallel passage of Titus 1:3, "According to the commandment of God our Savior." Here, there is no interposition of the conjunctive particle "kai." The same title is also ascribed to him in other places, such as Luke 1:47, "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." Also,
1Tim. 4:10, "We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those who believe." Though, in this last place, it is not ascribed to him with reference to redeeming us by Christ. Instead, it is ascribed to him by saving and preserving us all by his providence. See also Tit. 2:10,
3:4; Deut. 32:15; 1Sam 10:19; Ps. 24:5, 25:5; Isa. 12:2, 40:10, 45:15; Jer.
14:8; Micah 7:7; and Hab. 3:18. Most of these places refer to his sending Christ. This is divided into three separate acts, which we must lay down in order:
(1.) The Father imposes the Office of Mediator There is an authoritative imposition of the office of Mediator. Christ embraced it by his voluntarily acceptance. He willingly underwent the office in which the Father exercised a kind of superiority by his dispensation. The Son, though "in the form of God," humbled himself to it,
Phil 2:6-8. This commissioning may be conceived as having two parts:
[1.] There is a purposed imposition of the Father's eternal counsel for setting apart his Son incarnate to this office. He said to him, "You are my
Son; this day I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the furthest parts of the earth for your possession," Ps. 2:7, 8. He also said to him, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool," for "the Lord swore, and will not repent, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek," Ps. 110:1,
4. He appointed him to be "heir of all things," Heb. 1:2, having "ordained him to be Judge of the quick and the dead," Acts 10:42. To this, he was
"ordained before the foundation of the world," 1Pet. 1:20, and "determined, (NT:3724, horizo), to be the Son of God with power," Rom.
1:4, "so that he might be the first-born among many brethren," chap. 8:29.
I know that this imposition of the office of Mediator is an act eternally established in the mind and will of God. And so it is not to be arranged in order with the other acts, which are all temporary, and had their beginning in the fullness of time. This is the spring and fountain of all those others according to James in Acts 15:18, "All his works from the beginning of the world are known to God." Yet, aiming at truth and not exactness, we present it in this arrangement. It is not unusual to say that the purpose is understood in what brings its accomplishment.
[2.] Then there is the actual inauguration of Christ into his office. This involves "committing all judgment unto the Son," John 5:22; "making him to be both Lord and Christ," Acts 2:36; "appointing him over his whole house," Heb. 3:1-6. This is the "anointing of the most Holy," Dan. 9:24;
God "anointing him with the oil of gladness above his fellows" Ps. 45:7.
The actual setting apart of Christ to his office is by anointing because all of those holy things which were types of him, such as the ark, the altar, etc., were set apart and consecrated by anointing, Exod. 30:25-28, etc. To this inauguration also belongs the public testimony by countless angels from heaven at his nativity, and declared by one of them to the shepherds.
"Behold," he says, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for a Savior is born to you this day in the city of David, which is Christ the Lord," Luke 2:10, 11. This message was closed with that triumphant exultation of the host of heaven, "Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, towards men good will," verse 14. Afterward, it was repeated by that voice which came from the excellent glory, "This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well-pleased," Matt.. 3:7, 17:5; 2Pet. 1:7. If these things ought to be distinguished, and placed in order, then they may be considered in these three separate acts:
First, the Father made the glorious proclamation at Christ's nativity, when he "prepared him a body," Heb. 10:5. He brought his Firstbegotten into the world saying, "Let all the angels of God worship him" chap. 1:6, sending them to proclaim the message that we recounted before.
Secondly, he visibly sent the Spirit, in the form of a dove, to light upon him at the time of his baptism, Matt. 3:16. This is when he was endowed with a fullness of the Spirit to accomplish the work and discharge the office he was designed for. It was attended with that voice by which he owned him from heaven as his only-beloved.
Thirdly, He "crowned him with glory and honor" in his resurrection, ascension, and sitting down "at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Heb. 1:3. He set "him as his king upon his holy hill of Zion," Ps. 2:6, when "all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth," Matt,
28:18, and "all things were put under his feet" Heb. 2:7, 8. He was highly exalted, and "given a name above every name," Phil. 2:9-11. It pleased him to appoint witnesses of all sorts: angels from heaven, Luke
24:4, Acts 1:10; the dead out of the graves, Matt. 27:52; the apostles among the living, Acts 2:32; and along with those, more than five hundred brethren, to whom he appeared at once, 1Cor. 15:6.
Thus he was gloriously inaugurated into his office, God saying to him, "It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles that you may be my salvation to the ends of the earth," Isa.
49:6.
Between these two acts, a twofold promise of God intercedes:
One is giving a Savior to his people, a Mediator, according to his former purpose as revealed in Gen. 3:15, "The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head;" and, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come; and to him shall be the gathering of the people," Gen. 49:10. He also foreshadowed this with many sacrifices and other types, and with prophetical predictions: "the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently concerning this salvation.
They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for the time or manner that the Spirit of Christ in them signified. It testified beforehand about the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that would follow. To them it was revealed that they ministered, not to themselves but to us, the things now reported to you by those who have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; these are things the angels desire to look into," 1Pet 1:10-12.
The other is a promise to apply the benefits purchased by this Savior, so designed for those who would believe on him. They are to be given in the fullness of time, according to the former promises. The Father told
Abraham that "in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed," and he justified himself by this same faith in the promise, Gen, 12:3,
15:6. But these blessings belong entirely to the application, which was equal both before and after his actual mission.
(2.) The Father Furnishes the Son for his Office The second act of the Father in sending the Son, is furnishing him with a fullness of all the gifts and graces that might in any way be requisite to,
1. the office he was to undertake, 2. the work he was to undergo, and 3. the charge he had over the house of God.
Indeed, in Christ there was a twofold fullness and perfection of all spiritual excellences:
First, there was the natural all-sufficient perfection of his Deity. He was as one with his Father with regard to his divine nature, for his glory was "the glory of the only-begotten of the Father," John 1:14. He was "in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God," Phil. 2:6, being the "fellow of the LORD of hosts," Zech. 13:7. From which we have that glorious appearance in Isaiah 6:3, 4, when the seraphims cried one to another saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of the one who cried, and the house was filled with smoke." And the prophet cried,
"My eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts," 6:5. Concerning this vision, the apostle says, "Isaiah saw him, and spoke of his glory," John
12:41. As it were, he emptied himself of this glory for a season when he
was "found in the form" or condition "of a servant, humbling himself unto death," Phil. 2:7, 8. He laid aside the glory that attended his Deity, outwardly appearing to have "neither form, nor beauty, nor comeliness, that he should be desired," Isa. 53:2 But we do not treat of this fullness. It was not communicated to him, but essentially belonged to his person, which is eternally begotten of the person of his Father.
The second fullness in Christ was a communicated fullness. It was in him by dispensation from his Father, bestowed on him to fit him for his work and office. He was and is the "Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus," 1Tim. 2:5. This fullness is in him, not as he is the "LORD of hosts," but as he is "Emmanuel, God with us," Matt. 1:23. It is in him as he was a "son given to us, called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, with the government upon his shoulders," Isa. 9:6. It is a fullness of grace. It is not that essential nature of the Deity, but what is habitual and infused into his humanity, as personally united to his other nature. Though it is not absolutely infinite, as his other nature is, yet it extends itself to all perfections of grace, with regard to both its parts and degrees. There is no grace that is not in Christ. Every grace is in him, and in the highest degree. So whatever the perfection of grace requires, either for the several kinds or respective advancements of that grace, is in him habitually. It is in him by his Father's arrangement for this very purpose, and to accomplish the work designed for him. This work, though not properly infinite, is boundless and endless. It is in him as the light is in the beams of the sun, and as water is in a living fountain which can never fail.
He is the "candlestick" from where the "golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves" (Zech. 4:12) and into all that are his. For he is "the beginning, the first-born from the dead, in all things having the preeminence; for it pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell;"
Col.1:18, 19. In him God caused to be "hid all the treasurer of wisdom and knowledge," Col. 2:3; and "in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (NT:4985, somatikos)," that is, substantially or personally, verse 9.
And this, so that "of his fullness we might all receive grace for grace" (John 1:16), in a continual supply. And so, setting upon the work of redemption, he first looks at this. "The Spirit of the Lord God," he says, "is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he
has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn," Isa. 61:1, 2.
This was the "anointing with the oil of gladness" which he had "above his fellows," Ps. 45:7; "it was upon his head, and ran down to his beard, indeed, down to the skirts of his garments," Ps. 133:2, so that everyone covered with the garment of his righteousness might be made partaker of it. "The Spirit of the LORD rested on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD," Isa. 11:2. And this spirit was not granted in parcels and beginnings, as it is in us, proportioned to our measure and our degrees of sanctification. Instead, it was granted in fullness, for "he received not the Spirit by measure," John 3:34. That is, it was not limited in him when he came of age, as in Eph. 4:13. For until that point it was in fact manifested and amassed in him by degrees, for he "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," Luke 2:51. To this was added "all power in heaven and earth, which was given to him," Matt. 28:18; and "power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as he would," John 17:2. We might branch out into many particulars, but this much will suffice to affirm the second act of God in sending his Son.
(3.) The Father establishes a Covenant with the Son The third act in this sending is entering into covenant and compact with his
Son. It concerns the work to be undertaken, and the result or event of that work. There are two parts to this covenant:
The Father promises to protect and assist the Son First, the Father promises to protect and assist the Son in accomplishing and perfectly fulfilling the whole dispensation in which he was employed, or which he was about to undertake. Upon undertaking this great work of redemption, the Father engaged himself that the Son would not lack any assistance in his trials. He would not lack strength against opposition, encouragement against temptations, nor strong consolation in the midst of terrors. He would not lack whatever might be necessary or requisite in any way to carry him on through all difficulties to the end of so great an employment. Upon this promise, the Son undertakes this heavy burden which is so full of misery and trouble.
For the Father, before this engagement, requires no less of him than that he "become a Savior, and be afflicted in all the affliction of his people," Isa.
63:8, 9. Although he is "the fellow of the LORD of hosts," he would endure the "sword" that was drawn against him as the "shepherd" of the sheep,
Zech. 13:7; "treading the winepress alone, until he became red in his apparel," Isa. 63:2, 3. He would be "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted; wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; to be bruised and put to grief; to make his soul an offering for sin, and to bear the iniquity of many," Isa 53. He is to be destitute of comfort so far as to cry, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Ps. 22:1.
It is no wonder that, upon the Son's undertaking, the Father promised to make "his mouth like a sharp sword, to hide him in the shadow of his hand, to make him a polished shaft, and to hide him in his quiver, to make him his servant in whom he would be glorified," Isa. 49:2, 3. Though "the kings of the earth set themselves against him, and the rulers take counsel together, yet he would laugh them to scorn, and set him as king upon his holy hill of Zion," Ps. 2:2, 4, 6. Though the "builders rejected him," yet he would
"become the head of the comer," to the amazement and astonishment of all the world, Ps. 118:22, 23; Matt. 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11,
12, 1Pet 2:4. Indeed, he would "lay him for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation," Isa. 28:16, so that "whoever fell upon him would be broken, and upon whomever he fell he would grind him to powder,' Matt. 21:44.
From this arose our Savior's confidence during his greatest trials. He was assured by his Father's engagement in this covenant and treaty about the redemption of man, that the Father would never leave him nor forsake him.
"I gave," he says, "my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair: I did not hide my face from shame and spitting,"
Isa. 50:6. With what confidence, blessed Savior, you underwent all this shame and sorrow! Why, "The Lord GOD will help me; therefore I shall not be confounded: therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He who justifies me is near; who will contend with me? Let us stand together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is the one who condemns me?
Behold! They shall all wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up," verses 7-9. With this assurance, he was brought as a "lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent; he did not open his mouth," Isa.
53:7. For "when he was reviled, he did not revile back; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he committed himself to the one who judges righteously," 1Pet. 2:23. So the ground of our Savior's confidence and assurance in this great undertaking, and a strong motive to exercise the graces that he received in his greatest endurings, was the engagement of his
Father in this compact of assistance and protection.
The Father promises success The Second Part of this covenant is the Father's promise of success, or a good result from all his sufferings. He promises a happy attainment of the purpose of his great undertaking. Now, of all, this is the primary consideration. It is directly conducive to the business proposed, but would not have been so clear without the former considerations. For whatever God promised his Son would be fulfilled and attained by him, it was certainly this at which the Son aimed in the whole undertaking. He designed it as the end of the work that was committed to him, and which he alone could and did claim upon accomplishing his Father's will. In Isa. 49, you have what this was, and the promises surrounding it:
"You shall be my servant," says the Lord, "to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful."
And he will certainly accomplish this engagement:
"I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for the one who has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim," Isa.49:6-12.
By all these expressions, the Lord evidently and clearly engages himself to his Son, that he would gather to himself a glorious church of believers. He would gather them from among Jews and Gentiles, from throughout the world. They would be brought to him and certainly fed in full pasture. They would be refreshed by springs of water, all the spiritual springs of living water which flow from God in Christ for their everlasting salvation. This, then, is what our Savior certainly aimed at as the promise upon which he undertook the work. It is gathering together the sons of God, bringing them to God, and passing them on to eternal salvation. This being well considered, it will completely overthrow any theory of general ransom or universal redemption, as will become apparent later.
In the 53rd chapter of the same prophecy, the Lord is more express and punctual in these promises to his Son. He assures him that when he "made his soul an offering for sin, he would see his seed and prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD would prosper in his hand. He would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, he would justify many. He would divide a portion with the great, and the spoil with the strong," verses 10-12. He was to see his seed by this covenant, and raise up a spiritual seed to God; they would be a faithful people, to be prolonged and preserved throughout all generations. I cannot see how this is consistent with the persuasion of those who affirm "that the death of Christ might have had its full and utmost effect, and yet none be saved." Still, some have boldly affirmed it. All those who assert universal redemption tacitly grant it in the proper ends and effects of the death of Christ that they propose.
"The pleasure of the LORD" was to "prosper in his hand." This is what is declared in Heb. 2:10 as "bringing many sons unto glory." For "God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him," 1Jn.
4:9. The promises of God that were made to him in their agreement, and so consequently, his own aim and intention, is manifested most clearly in the request our Savior makes upon accomplishing the work for which he was sent. This certainly was neither more nor less than what God engaged him for. "I have," he says, "glorified you on earth, I have finished the work which you gave me to do," John 17:4. And now, what does he require after manifesting his eternal glory, which he emptied himself of for a season, verse 5? Clearly, he requires a full joining of the love of God and the fruits of that love upon all his elect, in faith, sanctification, and glory. God gave
them to him, and he sanctified himself to be a sacrifice for their sake, praying for their sanctification in John 17:17-19. He requires their preservation in peace, their communion with one another, and their union with God. Verses 20 and 21: "I pray not for these alone" (that is, his apostles), "but for those also who shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be one in us." And lastly, he requires their glory, verse 24:
"Father, I will that those whom you have given me also be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me."
These several postulates are no doubt grounded on the previously cited promises made to him by his Father. In all this, there is not one word concerning everyone. Instead, the contrary is expressly stated: "I do not pray for the world, but for those you have given me," John 17:9. Let it be diligently observed that the promise of God to his Son, and the request of the Son to his Father, are directed to this unique end of bringing sons to God.
This has been the first act of the Father, consisting of these three particulars.
2. The Father Punishes the Son The second act is laying upon the Son the punishment for sins. This is ascribed to the Father throughout the Scripture: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered," Zech. 13:7. What is set down here imperatively, as a command, is indicatively expounded in the gospel. "I will strike the shepherd,: and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad," Matt. 26:31. "He was stricken by God, and afflicted…
The LORD laid upon him the iniquity of us all… It pleased the LORD to bruise him, and to grieve him," Isa. 53:4, 6, 10. "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2Cor. 5:21. The adjunct in both passages is made the subject, as the opposition between his being made sin and our being made righteousness declares. "Him who knew no sin," that is, who deserved no punishment,
"him has he made to be sin," or laid the punishment due to sin upon him. Or perhaps, in the latter place, sin may be taken to mean an offering or sacrifice for the expiation 24 of sin, (NT:266, hamartia). This corresponds to
the word chattath in the Old Testament [OT:2403], which signifies both sin and the sacrifice for it.
And the Lord God did this. For Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, did nothing but "what his hand and counsel had determined before to be done," Acts 4:27, 28. This is the source of the great shakings of our savior in his close conflict with his Father's wrath, and of that burden which the Father directly imposed on him. When there was no hand or instrument outwardly appearing to cause him any suffering or cruciating torment, he "began to be sorrowful, even to death" Matt. 26:37, 38. When he was in the garden with his three best apostles, before the traitor or any of his accomplices appeared, he was "confounded, and very heavy," Mark
14:33. That was the time, "in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to the one who was able to save him from death," Heb. 5:7. His state is described by the evangelist in Luke 22:43, 44: "An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. But being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground." Surely it was a close and strong trial that he now underwent, coming directly from his
Father. For how meekly and cheerfully he submits to all the cruelty of men, and the violence done to his body, without any regret or troubled spirit, until this conflict with his Father is renewed. He cries, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
This, by the way, will be worth our observation, so that we may know with whom our Savior chiefly had to deal, and what he underwent for sinners. It will also give some light to the grand query concerning for whom he undertook all this. His sufferings did not consist in mere corporal punishments and afflictions, or their effects alone on his soul and spirit. It was no less than the curse of the law of God that he underwent for us. For he freed us from the curse "by being made a curse," Gal 3:13. This curse contained all the punishment that was due to sin, either in the severity of God's justice, or according to the demands of that law which required obedience. It is true that the curse of the law would only be temporal death.
This is because the law was considered the instrument of Jewish polity, and it served that economy or dispensation. But it is a foolish dream that it is no more than that, because it is the universal rule of obedience, and the bond of the covenant between God and man. In dying for us, Christ not only aimed
at our good, but he also directly died in our stead. The punishment due to our sin and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. The punishment was the pains of hell, in their nature and being, and in their weight and pressure, but not in their tendency and continuance (for it is impossible for him to be detained by death). Who can deny this and not injure the justice of God, which will inevitably inflict those pains upon sinners to eternity? It is true, indeed, that the law is relaxed with regard to those who are suffering. God allows commutation, as he did in the carnal sacrifices that were made under the old law. The life of a beast was accepted instead of the life of a man. This is fully revealed, and we believe it. But where is any alteration in the nature of the punishment intimated?
We conclude with the prophet, then, that there is a second act of God in laying the punishment on him for us. He says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all," Isa. 53:6. It seems strange to me that Christ would undergo the pains of hell in the stead of those who lay in the pains of hell before he underwent those pains, and who will continue in those pains until eternity; for "their worm does not die, nor is their fire quenched," Isa.
66:24. To which I may add this dilemma to our universalists: God imposed his wrath, and Christ underwent the pains of hell, either for all the sins of all men, or for all the sins of some men, or for some of the sins of all men.
If it was the last, for some of the sins of all men, then all men have some sins to answer for; and so no man will be saved. For if God enters into judgment with us, even though it is with all mankind for one sin, no flesh will be justified in his sight: "If the LORD should mark iniquities, who would stand?" Ps.130:3. We all might as well cast all we have "to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty," Isa.
2:20, 21.
If it was for the second, which is what we affirm, that Christ in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the world.
If it was the first, then why are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins? You will say, "Because of their unbelief; they will not believe." But this unbelief, is it a sin or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it is, then Christ either underwent the punishment for it, or he did not. If he did, then why should that sin keep them from partaking of the fruit of his
death more than their other sins for which he died? If he did not undergo the punishment for it, then he did not die for all their sins. Let the universalists choose which part they prefer.