But it was after our Lord's resurrection that the sacrificial and propitiatory character of his death was most fully revealed. We have seen the view taken of it in the epistle to the Hebrews. With this the other writers of the New Testament are in harmony. Jesus Christ is the great sufferer foretold in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, who "was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed;" upon whom the Lord "laid the iniquity of us all;" who was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth; whose soul God made "an offering for sin;" who "was numbered with the transgressors," and "bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." 1 Pet. 2:24, 25; Acts 8:32-35; Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37. He "hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18); He has redeemed us to God by his blood (Rev. 5:9); has "loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5); and his redeemed "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14).
To recite all the declarations of the apostle Paul on this great theme would be a superfluous work. It is not through Christ's example or teachings, but through his blood that we have "redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Ephes. 1:7. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13), words which teach as explicitly as human language can, that Christ has delivered us from the penalty of the divine law, which is its curse, by bearing the curse in our behalf. This he did when he was hanged on the tree. His death on the cross was, then, vicarious, a death in our stead; and propitiatory, for in view of it God releases us from the curse of the law. This is what is meant by a propitiatory sacrifice. Finally, as if to cut off all ground for the assertion that the efficacy of Christ's death lies wholly in its moral influence upon the human heart—its humbling, softening, and winning power—the apostle teaches that God has set forth Christ Jesus as a propitiation through faith in his blood for a manifestation of his righteousness, "that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3:25, 26.
Every word of this weighty passage deserves serious consideration. We give by the side of the English version another translation, intended to be somewhat more literal:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the passing over [marginal rendering] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Whom God hath set forth, a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, for the manifestation of his righteousness in respect to the overlooking of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God—a manifestation of his righteousness at the present time; in order that he may be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
| Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the passing over [marginal rendering] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. | Whom God hath set forth, a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, for the manifestation of his righteousness in respect to the overlooking of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God—a manifestation of his righteousness at the present time; in order that he may be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. |
From these words we learn: (1.) That God has publicly set forth Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice. The following paraphrase gives the probable connection of the words of the first clause: Whom God, by means of his blood, hath set forth as a propitiation through faith. But if we take the connection as given in our version, the propitiation is still through Christ's blood, and is thus a propitiatory or expiatory sacrifice. (2.) That the appropriation to individual sinners of this propitiation is conditioned on personal faith. Christ's propitiatory sacrifice does not, in and of itself, justify any man; but it provides a ground whereby all may be justified, if they will believe in Jesus. (3.) That through Christ's propitiatory sacrifice God makes a public manifestation of his righteousness in showing mercy to sinners. The phrase, "the righteousness of God," may mean, in the usage of Paul, the righteousness—justification—which he gives through faith. But in connection with the words that follow, "that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," it can only mean righteousness as an attribute of God, his public justice, namely, as the lawgiver and governor of the world. (4.) That Christ's propitiatory sacrifice was necessary in order that God might show mercy to sinners consistently with the demands of his justice. For when the apostle says "that God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," the words necessarily imply that, without this sacrifice, he could not have been just in justifying sinners. Christ's propitiation was not needed to make God more merciful in his nature; for in this respect he is unchangeably "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." But it opens a way by which he may show mercy consistently with his justice and the sanctity of his law. When we raise inquiries concerning the interior nature of the atonement, we meet with deep mysteries, some of which are, perhaps, above the comprehension of finite human understanding. But we can comprehend, and believe upon God's testimony, the great central fact of the gospel, that Christ offered himself to the Father to bear in human nature the curse of the divine law in behalf of sinners; and that God accepted this propitiatory offering as a satisfaction to his justice in such a sense that he can pardon all who believe in Christ without dishonor to himself or injury to his moral government.
13. We have considered Christ as the great Antitype of the Levitical priests and sacrifices. Let us now go back and consider the characteristics belonging to the types themselves, beginning with the priesthood.
(1.) The first point in which the Levitical priests typified Christ was in their possession of the same common human nature as those in whose behalf they acted. "For both he that sanctifieth [Christ] and they who are sanctified [believers] are all of one [one Father, having a common sonship as members of the same family of Adam]: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb. 2:11); and again: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same" (ver. 14); and still further: "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted" (ver. 17, 18; and compare 4:15). Accordingly the priests who typified Christ were taken from among men, not angels; and "able to have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way," being themselves "compassed with infirmity." Heb. 5:1, 2.
(2.) The Levitical priests, again, were appointed to their office by God: "And no man taketh this honor upon himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." Heb. 5:4-6.
(3.) The Levitical priests, once more, were mediators between God and the people. After the establishment of their priesthood, no Israelite or sojourner in the land could approach God with sacrifices and oblations in his own right, and be his own priest. He must come to God through the priesthood of his appointment—an expressive type of the great truth announced by Christ; "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." John 14:6.