Chapter II
That Christ gave himselffor its to redeem us. What is implied in that ex
pression. We should duly consider the greatness and value of such a gift. Christ giving himself is a high testimony of his own peculiar love to us.
I have at large shewn the free willingness that was in Christ to perform the work of a redeemer for us, which also these words sufficiently import,
* He have himself. He was not passively given up by his Father, but it was a free act of his own ; and so gifts are. We have likewise discoursed the fulness of his abilities and capacities to make satisfaction, and purchase redemption, which no mere creature was
capable of, but that his power, being God-man, was as great as his heart was
free. Let us now come to the performance, the price, the ransom itself as
it is here declared to be, a giving himself. Towards the general opening of
this we may observe.
I. How Paul delights in this expression he gave, or offered himself
up, both in the frequency of using it, Eph. v. 2, 25, Titus ii. 14, Heb.
ix. 14, offered himself; and Heb. i. 3, purged away our sins by himself; Phil. ii. 7, emptied himself. As also in that, when that holy apostle, with application, speaks of Christ s love unto himself, and would set it out
to the highest elevation, to affect his heart most deeply, he then useth this
expression, who loved me, and gave himself for me, Gal. ii. 20.
II. That what other scriptures do parcel forth in particulars of what
Christ gave, this one sums up in this total, as comprehensive of all else. The Scripture elsewhere, yea, the Lord s supper, doth set it forth by piecemeals : his blood in the wine, his precious blood shed to redeem us, 1 Pet.
* this is my body which is given for you, Luke
i. 19 ; his body in the bread,
xxii. 19 ; lais flesh or whole man, I give my flesh for the life of the world, John vi. 51 ; his life;
1 1 give my life for my sheep, John x. 15 ; his
< poured out as an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10 ; his giving up all his
sow?,
estates and riches, and becoming poor, 2 Cor. viii. 9; his leaving father
CHAP. II. OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 1~5
and mother, Eph. v. 81, 32, compared. Whatever, I say, other scriptures on the Lord s supper do by parcels inventory forth to us, all and each of
* he gave himself, doth at once, by the great, sum
these, this one word,
marily comprehend. For to say himself, to be sure was his all.
III. He gave, he gave away ; for what is given as a price or ransom (as this in the text), as also to give himself as a sacrifice, as Eph. v. 2, this is
purely a giving away, whereby the giver suffers so much real loss and
damage to purchase that redemption. And so the sacrifice was burnt and consumed to ashes, there was perfectly so much loss to him that offered it,
as what is given comes to ; and so in giving away his riches, he is said to have become poor thereby, 2 Cor. viii. 9, and to have nothing left to him
self, Dan. ix. 26, and that he emptied himself, Phil. ii. 7, 8. There was
nothing that was gain to him, but he suffered for the present loss of it, as
to his present use and advantage.
IV. Himself was that which was given away. Not his only, or what was
his, but himself; not sua but se (as Paul said, I seek not yours, but you ) ; so here Christ gave away not only ra 75/a, what were his own (as proper goods and chattels are said to be a man s own), extrinsecal to him (and thus the whole creation is said to be to Christ, John i. 11), but it is him
self, his very person, or what was personally his, whatsoever was most in-
trinsecally his own, intimum suiim, and what was, as himself, unto himself most dear and precious, and innate. This is therefore an extensive word, and draws in all of himself (as we shall see anon), the whole of himself, all
that could be made of himself, all that he could rap or rend, as we say, that
could possibly any way be made away from himself. This in the general. As for particulars, I shall confine myself to such things only as are in
Scripture or common speech termed ones self, and which, according to the
dialect of the Scriptures, about Christ s person, are in a more special manner
deemed himself. Now what is it that may be, and usually is, called a man s self?
1. A person s doings, works, operations, and actings, which are the fruits
that proceed from and grow upon one s self; these are reckoned a man s
self. Thus when a servant gives up all his actions and service, all his
time, and what he can do, that all this should be to his master s use, though
suppose that master hath not power over his life, or goods, yet in that case he is said to let himself, to sell himself, to give himself up, to that man s use and service, to be managed all by his master s appointment and com mand. Or if (suppose) out of love and friendship to another, one employs his whole time and labours, and suffers all his actions to be ordered for the
other, though not in way of service, but as a friend ; yet in this case he may be said to give up himself when he is all that while of no use to himself, or
to his own private and personal advantages. Whereas otherwise it is the nature of self to work for itself. In this case a man is rightly said to give over himself, when his operations are thus to be disposed of by another. The philosopher says, that
* that day a man is made a servant or slave to
another, he loseth half of himself, half of his reason and thoughts (such was the condition of servants then, especially slaves), they^being ordered,
disposed of, and subjected to another s will. When Ahab is said to have
sold himself to work wickedness, it was by giving up his works, and
actions, and ways, to the dominion and power of sin, as a lord and master over him. And on the contrary, the obedience we owe to God in keep ing his commandments is called the whole of man, Eccl. xii. 13, be cause it exacts and takes up the strength and might, and the whole in man
176 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK V.
as given up in it, if rightly performed as it ought. Now in this sense, the whole of Christ might be justly said to be given away, and he to have given himself ; for all his actions, and whatsoever he did, were wholly at the
direction of another, for, and on our behalf, and not his own ; and accord
ingly were wholly directed by him to that end, to serve us according to his
: I came not, says he, to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me, John vi. 38. The Father gave him every jot of his works ; and I have finished it, says he. It is his speech at the last of what he had done in this world, from first to last, in John xvii. 4. And so in
appointment
doing only such works as the Father gave him, he gave away himself to his Father first, and therein to us also. For that work being all, in the earn
ings of it, wholly for our behoof and advantage, he is withal as truly said
to have given himself for us. He was hereby a perfect servant to his Father for us, yea, and ours also. And this also doth Christ in that one
* The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, as Lord of all, but to minis
single passage, Mat. xx. 28, give us the sense and interpretation of,
ter, and to give his life (as in and by dying, so through the whole course of his life by serving) a ransom for many, that is, for us. He professeth every where that he was not at his own dispose, and so not his own : I came not to do my own will ; how often do you meet with it from him. He was not his own, or himself (as we use to speak in that case) in any thing he did here, who yet was himself (by his native right) most free, and had the prerogative to act all for himself, and of glorifying himself another way than this. But this privilege he laid down wholly at his Father s
feet, and took up all by a new commission from him, to act all according to his will, and not his own, in order to our salvation. And therefore when he came to die, he says, As the Father giveth me commandment, so do I.
Arise, let us go hence, John xiv. 31, 2. A person may be said to give himself, when he gives up the comforts of his life ; and therefore denying a man s self is interpreted by Christ, a
forsaking lands, houses, father, mother. And life is put in for the comforts of life, as when it is said, that Life lies not in abundance, the meaning is, the comfort of life doth not. Now all the comforts of this and the other
life did Christ part withal first or last, even unto the light of the sun itself, the common privilege of mankind, which was darkened when he was a-crucify-
ing. And then all the joys and comforts of the other world Christ parted with for a time. When it was his due to have been in heaven glorious, he
left heaven and all its glories. And then death, which is, as we know, a
privation of all worldly things, put a period to all his enjoyments of this life.
3. His manhood of human nature, consisting of soul and body, is called
himself, and is meant by giving his flesh for the life of the world, John vi. 51 ; that is, the whole human nature, in distinction from his Godhead, and second person as God, as is noticed in those very words, my flesh, which I will give ; and the giving of the life thereof, as John x., is justly termed the giving himself. And so Heb. ix. 14, the sacrificing thereof (which was a whole burntoffering) is termed the
* offering up himself. He offered up himself by the eternal Spirit, that is, by his Godhead, who is that Spirit which quickeneth that human nature. This Spirit was the offerer, and the manhood the sacrificer,* and yet that sacrifice is called himself, even as the body of a man is called the man, so in vulgar speech ; and Mary, John xx. 2, calls the body of Christ, which she thought dead, the Lord. But then the soul is much oftener styled the person ; but take body and soul * Qu. sacrifice ? ED.
CHAP. II.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 177
both, as united into one man, and the offering of both, as so united, that
to be sure is the offering of one s self. And in this sense the Scripture,
especially that epistle to the Hebrews, opposeth that himself, that is, his human nature, to all other sacrifices wherein priests offered up things that were not themselves, but things extrinsecal to their persons, as the blood
of bulls and goats. And as when the idolatrous and superstitious Jews
offered up their children to Moloch, the fruit of their bodies, the offering up of such things was not in any sense a sacrifice of themselves. But God
being made flesh, that is, the second person, the Son, taking a human nature
into one person with himself, hence, though he offered but that human nature,
yet in opposition to such foreign offerings, he is said to have offered up himself,
though the Godhead were not offered up, even as the soul or the person of a man might be said to do, that offers up but his body a sacrifice, and so but
his bodily life, though his soul he doth not, and cannot offer ; and in this
opposition to things foreign to a person, it is said Heb. ix. 14, compared with verses 11-13, But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more .perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh ; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, &c. Wherein he doth compare
Christ, who was God s high priest, with their high priests, saying, that they offered but the blood of bulls and goats, things that could in no sense be
called themselves, but he offered up himself; and more clearly, ver. 25, where his offering himself is opposed to the high priests offering other
creatures and not themselves, in these words, nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with
blood of others, afya aX\6rgiov, others blood. So that the blood of bulls and goats, or, by the same reason, the blood of other men (if there had been such sacrifices) as suppose of children, offered up by father and mother
(which God required not, though the idolatrous Jews practised it), yet all
still had been but the blood of some other thing than himself, aJfta a\\6rgi but this offering of Christ in opposition was of himself, as that text hath it,
iov
d-jroD as also Rev. i. 5. Now then, if you ask what that was which was the sacrifice, and yet is reckoned himself, 10th chapter to the Hebrews ver. 5 resolves us that it was that body or human nature, both soul and body, prepared to be that
* Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and
sacrifice :
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. So then this
is a third sense wherein he offered himself.
Use. Let us set a value upon this gift and ransom, according to the dig nity of it. It was the greatness of the price is set forth hereby (that he
gave himself, which is the express scope of this text in Timothy, and Mat. xx. 28), to shew the inestimable value of the gift. It was once said of a
great bargain, or sale and purchase made by the great, and in the lump, between two great personages, that the one bought and the other sold, they knew not what. And truly, although God knew, and Christ knows, what the price comes to, yet we for whom it was given can never know nor esti mate it to all eternity. Oh, never ! nor can we comprehend what this reacheth to, Christ gave himself. It is an unknown gift and ransom this.
1 What is his name, or his Son s name, says Agur, Prov. xxx. 4. Canst VOL. V. M
178 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK V.
thou tell ? And as little canst thou tell, what this giving himself amounts
* bind the waters in thy garment, and ascend to
to ; thou mayest as well
heaven, &c., as Agur there speaks, as fathom to the bottom this depth, and sound what an infinite treasure lies sunk therein. It is himself, none but
himself that disbursed and parted with it, knows what of himself went from
him, when he gave himself. None knows the worth of himself, but himself, Rev. xix. 12. His name is such, as it it said, none knows but himself. None but himself that disburseth it can tell what of himself he parted with, and went from him to make up this payment ; none, I say, but he and his
Father, unto whom it was he gave himself, and who set and took the price and made the bargain for our redemption, know the value. We use to set out things of the greatest worth and the vastest sums amongst men, by a
king s ransom. It is worth a king s ransom, so you use to say, in saying which you suppose to yourselves some great king taken captive and prisoner by a potent enemy able to retain and keep him ; and how that then his whole kingdom (as the law and manner is) contributes and gives a ransom
worthy to restore him to his throne again. And that is estimated also
according to what proportion his kingdom may be judged to be in riches, or their prince in glory and dignity. Oh ! what a value then would be set
upon a king s becoming a ransom himself, yea, of the great God made one
person with our nature, and of his giving himself a ransom, who is the King of kings. If God sets a value upon each hair of his children s head (which, to express with esteem, they are said to be numbered by him), then of what esteem with him (think we) must needs every thing of Christ s, every hair of his head be, who is the head, worth all the saints themselves, all the
saints together, who are but the body to him ?
There is yet a more special reflection in this speech, He gave himself, as it is in a special manner a setting forth the proper and peculiar love of Jesus Christ himself in this matter ; proper, I say, to himself, as distin
guished from the Father, and his love in giving him also. Nothing is or could be more expressive of a love, and the greatness of it, than to say,
* He
gave himself. You may therefore observe that they are often joined to
gether ; and where this of giving himself is mentioned, there the other, his
love, also is spoken of. Yea, and this is purposely mentioned, as the
greatest thing by which his love could be set out. This conjunction we
find again and again, Eph. v. 25, As Christ loved his church, and gave himself for it. And a second time by Paul, Gal. ii. 20, Who loved me, and gave himself for me. The highest signification and evidence of love that is found amongst men, is that in a husband towards a wife, that he
gives himself to her, and so giving himself, he gives all things with himself, that there needs no more be said or added to signify love. But lo ! here
is more, not only Christ giving himself, his whole self to his church, as a husband doth, but a giving himself for his church, as Eph. v. 23, 25. And that is it the apostle would make impression of upon us, as the greatest
demonstration of his love to his church ; that when she was captived to sin and everlasting misery, then he gives himself for her, to save her, as it
follows there. We adore and admire his love ; his love in giving himself
to us, when by the application of redemption he is made ours by grace. And how great a favour is this to the saints, that live in communion with Christ daily, which they feel in the sweets of a real enjoyment of such a
person, so great, so lovely ; which they accordingly take in by the most
exquisite spiritual sense, that the presence and gift of such a person requires of them. 0, but how great must his love be in giving himself for them
CHAP. II.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. 179
so long ago, before they were ! although the application of him to them was
the end of it. And whereas this transaction of giving himself, they know
but by hearsay, and relation of the scriptures, it was what he did for them
* in himself (as the phrase is, Col. ii. 15). And so they take it in but by
faith. Yet when Christ himself is applied to thy soul, then put but both
together, and let the distinct apprehension of each meet in any one s heart,
that hath a principle of love to Christ in him ; and what an infinite of love
to us will the joint stream of them arise to ! Himself given, his whole self,
yea, and doubly given ; given to us in application, and that not enough, but
given for us first in redemption ; and so given over and over each of which givings is enough to overcome and confound (with a love s confusion) the stoutest, hardest heart of any, yea, of all believers, when they come to
comprehend these things. And it was Paul s prayer for the Ephesians,
chap. iii. 17-19, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Some interpreters would have it, that the apostle should speak all that of the height and depth, &c., of the love of Christ to us, because that doth follow so immediately. I dis
pute not that now ; but this I will say, that although the Father s love in
other respects exceeds, and is therefore to be extolled for the height, and
depth, &c., of it, and is in other scriptures set forth accordingly, in that
it was the original of all (for it was he that made choice of the persons that
shall be saved, contrived and designed all the grace and glory which each
person so chosen shall have ; yea, and his love is also commended to us, in that he gave his only begotten Son, &c., Rom. v. 8, John iii. 16), yet
still let me say it, that Christ s love hath this whereby it excels, and which
is peculiar to him in this matter, that it was he alone that gave himself. The Father gave not himself. He gave but a Son indeed, yet as a person distinct from himself. And for a father to give a son who is dear to him
is love ; but for him that is given to give himself, this in thaji respect speaks
higher. That speaks a strain of more intimacy of love than the Father s is
in that respect ; although his Son were never so dear and near to him, and inward with him. But on Christ s part it was himself, and what was proper to himself in distinction from the Father, that that was given by himself.
It was he that bare the brunt, that paid the price, out of what was not his
only as appurtenances of him, but even out of himself. As therefore, when God would swear, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by him
self ; so Christ, when he would give a gift to express and shew his love, be cause he could give nothing greater, he gives away himself, and that over and over. We are to render to each of those persons that love and honour which is due to them, as the apostle speaks of men in another case, Rom.
xiii. 7. And look in what particular thing or respect the love of each of them is proper to each, our affections of love and honour should accordingly uprise and apply themselves to render a suitable return, that is, to give to the Son what is the Son s, and to the Father what is the Father s. Let us therefore bring all of what Christ hath done home to our hearts, under that very respect and consideration that it was he that gave himself, &c. And then withal, let all that can be said to commend the Father s love, let
it all come in upon our hearts ; as his giving a Son, an only begotten Son, one in essence and eternal fellowship with himself, as he is God with him ; My Father and I are one ; and then let us meditate on God s giving his
Son, considered as he is God-man, in that God chose and designed him as
180 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. . [BOOK V.
such chiefly and principally, and in the first place for his own peculiar de
light, as he says of him, Isa. xlii. 1, Mine elect, in whom my soul delights. Even that glory which was to be in him, as God-man, was an object in
itself more lovely, and dearer unto God for him to please himself with, and
to take delight in, than millions of worlds, yea, than all that which he could have made. And therefore for God the Father to part with such a Son, to
give such a Son, and all the glory of his, in which he so much delighted, was infinite love. But yet still even all this will serve the more to com mend the love of Christ the Son to us, that himself was given by himself.
I say, in that respect it will be the more heightened on his part also, that he should part with such a Father that so loved him, and his own glory at once. In and from the Old Testament we find the love of the Father is
greatened to us by giving men or nations, when yet they were most wicked, and so most hateful to God of themselves ; to give them for a ransom for
his people. And it is used by God himself as an argument of infinite love, Isa. xliii. 4. So as still his love is greatened to us by all ; and it is he, and none other, even this Christ (who is God) of whom Isaiah speaks these
very things, both in the one place and the other which I have cited. It
is he of whom he says that All the nations are but as the drop of a bucket
to him. Compare for this but ver. 3, 9, 10, 11, of that 40th chapter, with the 12th, 15th, 17th verses, and you will see all these words are
spoken of him. what a gift was this then ! How much more cause have we to say, than the apostle of the Corinthians collection for the saints, Oh !
blessed be God for this unspeakable gift.