live with him;

knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once for all: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." This general trend of thought and argument is carried on to the close of chapter viii, where the apostle asks (ver. 32), as if in a rapture of emotion: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" Again in xiv, 8, 9, he returns to this inspiring thought: "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living."

9. The Great Antithesis of Romans v, 12-21. In the great antithesis set forth in v, 12-21, we should observe how the gracious mediation of Christ is made to offset all the consequences of Adam's transgression. "By the trespass of one the many died, but much more did the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, abound unto the many" (ver. 15). In all these contrasts we note especially the difference in the kind of effects resulting from the acts of the two opposite representatives of humanity. Through the one, condemnation and death were imposed upon all men, but through the righteous act of Christ provision is made for the justification of all, so that "where sin abounded, grace did more exceedingly abound, in order that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." In all these scriptures we may perceive the great thought of iv, 25, that Christ died for our sins, and was raised and ever lives for our justification and eternal life. And so the efficiency of Christ's redeeming work is perpetual. So long as sin and trespass and death continue in Adam's posterity, so long the Christly redeeming grace continuously avails to counteract the evil, and is not therefore to be conceived as a finished work. Because of Adam's trespass, sin abounds and death reigns; because of Christ's redemptive mediation, grace abounds more exceedingly and reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. The grace is greater than the sin.

10. The Doctrine in Ephesians and Colossians. So far as the Ephesian and Colossian epistles refer to the mediation of Christ they are in perfect accord with the other Pauline writings. In Eph. i, 6, 7, we read of "the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace." According to ii, 13-16, the Gentiles who "once were

far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ," and both Gentile and Jew are happily "reconciled in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." With great confidence, therefore, the apostle speaks of the love of Christ, who "gave himself up in our behalf, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell" (v, 2). Such an obvious allusion to Old Testament offerings (comp. Exod. xxix, 18; Lev. i, 9, 13, 17) shows beyond question that the writer had no hesitation in putting forward the sufferings and death of Christ as having something in common with the expiatory sacrifices of the Hebrew ritual. It was the offering up of a spotless life on behalf of the lives of many who were "dead through trespasses" that they might live and walk in light as beloved children of God. Further on (v, 25) it is said that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up on her behalf." Thus we observe that Christ's giving himself up as a sacrifice for the benefit of others is a very familiar Pauline thought (comp. Gal. i, 4; ii, 20; Rom. iv, 25). It is prominent in the great kenotic text (Phil. ii, 5-8) which emphasizes his humbling himself and becoming obedient even unto the death of the cross. It is equally explicit in the epistle to the Colossians, where we are told that it was the Father's good pleasure "through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross" (i, 20). In him, the Son of the Father's love, "we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins" (i, 14). So far as Jew and Gentile were guilty of trespasses and felt the condemning power of the law upon their conscience, the death and resurrection of Christ effected complete deliverance. They are conceived as "buried with him in baptism," and "raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross" (ii, 12-14). The condemning statute of the law hung like a bonded debt over us; but the Lord Jesus took it as he did the burden of all our sins, carried it in his own body upon the cross and nailed it there (comp. 1 Pet. ii, 24). Our faith lays hold with adoring wonder on this vicarious sufferer, so that we become crucified with him, but with him also live again.

11. In the Pastoral Epistles. The pastoral epistles have but few direct references to the doctrine of redemption in Christ, but these confirm the Pauline teaching. In 1 Tim. i, 15, we are admonished how "faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." In ii, 5, 6, we have the very comprehensive declaration, "There is one God, one

The

mediator also between God and men, himself man,' Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all” (ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων). The word here translated ransom occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but seems to be intended for a more emphatic form of λúтpov, which is employed in Matt. xx, 28, and Mark x, 45. meaning is substantially the same in all these texts. The Redeemer is a vicarious sufferer; he freely lays down his life in the place of and on behalf of many. The same truth is also affirmed in Titus ii, 14: "Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us (Avтρwσntai hμas) from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works." Thus we are assured that the grace of God brings salvation within reach of all men who deny themselves all ungodliness and live righteously (vers. 11 and 12). God and Christ work together in accomplishing this glorious salvation.

1 Effective mediation between two parties, disparate as God and man, would seem to require the intervention of one who was at once partaker of the nature and secrets of both parties. And this was the peculiar qualification of Christ Jesus, who came into the world as the representative of "the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God" (i, Î7), and "came to save sinners" (i, 15). To accomplish this redemptive mediation he must needs be "manifest in the flesh". (iii, 16) in order to reveal the invisible God to men in the flesh, and to give himself a ransom for all. Hence the emphasis here put upon the humanity of the mediator. "The human nature of Christ," says Ellicott, "is specially mentioned as being the state in which his mediatorial office was visibly performed. The omission of the article (before man, in ii, 5) must be preserved in translation. In a different context Christ might clearly have been designated as the man, 'the representative man of humanity'; here, however, as the apostle only wishes to mark the nature in which Christ acted as mediator, but not any relation in which he stood to that nature, he designedly omits the article."-Commentary, in loco.

CHAPTER VI

DOCTRINE OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

1. Outline of the Epistle. Of all the New Testament writings the epistle to the Hebrews furnishes the most elaborate discussion of the mediatorial ministry of Christ. In that part of the epistle which we may regard as peculiarly doctrinal (i-x, 18) the Lord Jesus is set forth in several different relations, and an outline of the author's argument is in substance as follows: After an introductory paragraph (i, 1-4) in which the Son of God is extolled as heir of all things, maker of the ages, effulgence of God's glory, and very image of his being, upholding all things, effecting purification of sins, and enthroned with the Most High, the author proceeds to show (1) that as Son of God he is far above the angels (i, 5-ii, 18); (2) that he is worthy of more glory than Moses and Joshua (iii, 1-iv, 13); (3) that he is a great high priest, superior to Aaron and like Melchizedek (iv, 14—vii, 28); and (4) that he is minister of a more perfect tabernacle and mediator of a better covenant (viii, 1-x, 18). It will be seen upon the very face of this outline how largely the writer draws upon the Old Testament for imagery and illustration to enforce his argument. He seems never to forget that he is writing To HEBREWS. Though Jesus is made for a little time lower than the angels, it is "that by the grace of God he should taste death for every one," and, "having made purification of sins," and "because of the suffering of death," should be "crowned with glory and honor." It was eminently fitting (πρEπεv) that God, "for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, should make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (ii, 9, 10). This princely leader partook of the flesh and blood of the seed of Abraham that he might be truly identified in nature with the children he would save, and "that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (ii, 14, 15). He is not laying hold upon angels for the purpose of helping such beings as they are, but upon men of flesh and blood, beset with manifold temptations. It was, accordingly, a matter of obligation and necessity (wpɛɛv,

1 We have no English word that fully represents all that is suggested by ȧpxnyó, here and in xii, 2, rendered author. It fairly means one who both begins and leads on in some great enterprise.

ver. 17) that he should "in all things be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation (iλáoκeodai) for the sins of the people." Here for the first time in this epistle Jesus is called "high priest," and it deserves note that the word propitiate, profoundly suggestive in its metaphorical allusion to the mercy seat (iλaorýolov, comp. ix, 5; Rom. iii, 25), is employed to designate his priestly work. It is also worthy of note that Jesus is called priest and high priest only in this epistle to the Hebrews, and here the title of high priest is ascribed to him at least ten times. 2. Superior Priesthood of Jesus. Having introduced him (in ii, 17) as "a merciful and faithful high priest," and having further called him in iii, 1, "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession," he goes on to speak in chapters iii and iv of Christ's superiority to Moses and Joshua, and in iv, 14, returns to this subject of the high-priesthood of "Jesus the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens," and devotes the rest of the epistle mainly to a presentation of his heavenly ministry. Of this superior priest we are told that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, tempted in all points as we are, without sin, called and appointed of God, a man who prayed with strong cries and tears, who learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and, having been perfected through suffering, became to all who obey him the author of eternal salvation (iv, 15-v, 9). Psa. cx, 4, is cited and repeated several times (v, 6, 10; vi, 20; vii, 17), and the whole chapter vii is given to show that Christ is divinely styled "a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." The superior order or manner of Melchizedek is enhanced in chapter vii by a number of considerations, all well adapted to impress a devout Hebrew of the first Christian century. (1) First, it is pointed out that the ancient king of Salem, described only in Gen. xiv, 18-20, was both king and priest, and, being without recorded genealogy, and without record of his birth or his death, he remains a priest continually (vers. 1-3). (2) His superiority to Abraham and to the sons of Levi is next argued by means of a peculiar rabbinical argument (vers. 4-10). (3) Further, if the Levitical priesthood had been perfect, there could have been no reason for another priesthood after the order of Melchizedek rather than of Aaron (vers. 11-19). (4) Christ's priesthood, moreover, is confirmed by Jehovah's oath, giving it a majesty unknown to the Levitical priests (vers. 20-22). (5) It is also an unchangeable priesthood, for, ever living to make intercession, Christ can have no successor (vers. 23-25). (6) Finally, he is sinless, made higher than the heavens, and by the word of the oath perfected forever (vers. 26-28).