BOOK III.
ATONEMENT OR REDEMPTION.
Atonement is the satisfaction offered to Divine justice by the death of Christ for the sins of mankind, by virtue of which all true penitents, who believe in Christ, are personally reconciled to God, are freed from the penalty of their sins, and entitled to eternal life. The atonement made for sin by the death of Christ is represented in the Christian system as the means by which mankind may be delivered from eternal death, reconciled to God, and restored to the Divine image. These ends it professes to accomplish by means which, with respect to the Supreme Governor himself, preserve his character from mistake, and maintain the authority of his government; and with respect to man, give him the strongest reasons for hope, and render more favorable the conditions of his earthly probation.
How sin may be forgiven without leading to such misconceptions of the Divine character as would encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the influence of the Divine government, must be considered a problem of very difficult solution. A government which admitted of no forgiveness would sink the guilty to despair. A government which never punishes offense is a contradiction—it can not exist. Not to punish the guilty is to dissolve authority; to punish without mercy is to destroy, and, where all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. Through the atonement all the ends of government are answered. No license is given to offense. The moral law is unrepealed. A day of judgment is still appointed. Future and eternal punishments still display their awful sanctions. A new and singular display of the awful purity of the Divine character is afforded; yet pardon is offered to all who seek it, and the whole world may be saved.
With such evidence of suitableness to the wants of mankind, under such lofty views of connection with the principles and ends of moral government, does the doctrine of the atonement present itself. The Scriptures speak on this wise. The first declaration on this subject, after the appearance of Christ, is from John the Baptist, when he beheld Christ coming to him: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of world." There can be no doubt that John spoke of Christ under a sacrificial character, and of the effect of that sacrifice as an atonement for the sins of mankind. In the Acts of the Apostles, Philip, the Evangelist, applies the following words of Isaiah to Christ and his death: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth; in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken from the earth." If this applied to Christ, of course the whole of the prophecy, of which this is but a part, applies to him. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed: the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Rom. v, 8-10.
"Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix, 26-28.
"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet hath he now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death." Col. i, 19-22.
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 2 Cor. v, 19.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Gal. iii, 13.
"Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rev. iii, 24.