The Nature of Man and the Sacrifice of Christ
1. —That
death entered the World of mankind by Adam’s disobedience. “By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom. 5:12). “In (by or through) Adam
all die” (1 Cor. 15:22). “Through the offence of one many are dead” (Rom.
5:15).
2. —That death came by decree extraneously to
the nature bestowed upon Adam in Eden, and was not inherent in him before
sentence. “God made man in his own image . . a living soul (a body of life)
. . very good” (Gen. 1:27; 2:7; 1:31). “Because thou hast hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife . . . unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:17, 19).
3. —Since that time, death has been a bodily
law.—“The body is dead because of sin” (Rom. 8:10). “The law of sin in my
members . . . the body of this death” (Rom. 7:23, 24). “This mortal . . . we
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened” (1 Cor. 15:53; 2 Cor.
5:4). “Having the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth
the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9).
4. —The human body is therefore a body of death
requiring redemption.—“Waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of
our body” (Rom. 8:23). “He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto His own glorious body”—(Phil. 3:21). “Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). “This mortal (body) must put on immortality”
(1 Cor. 15:53).
5. —That the flesh resulting from the
condemnation of human nature of death because of sin, has no good in itself,
but requires to be illuminated from the outside.—“In me (that is in my
flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). “Sin dwelleth in me” (Ib. 7:20).
“The law of sin which is in my members” (Ib. 23). “Every good and perfect gift
is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights” (James 1:17). “Out of
the heart proceed evil thoughts” (Matt. 15:19). “He that soweth to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8). “Put off the old man which is
corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22).
6. —That God’s method for the return of sinful
man to favour required and appointed the putting to death of man’s condemned
and evil nature in a representative man of spotless character, whom he should
provide, to declare and uphold the righteousness of God, as the first condition
of restoration, that he might be just while justifying the unjust, who should
believingly approach through him in humility, confession, and reformation.—“God
sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh” (Rom. 8:3). “Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy that
having the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14), “Who his own self
bare our sins in his own body to the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). “Our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed” (Rom. 6:6). “He
was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). “Be of
good cheer, I have overcome the World” (Jno. 16:33). “Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
for the remission 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 that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).
7. —That the death of Christ was by God’s own
appointment, and not by human accident, though brought about by human
instrumentality. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). “Him being delivered by the determinate council and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts
2:23). “Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel
were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27). “No man
taketh it—my life—from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my
Father” (Jno. 10:18).
8. —That the death of Christ was not a mere
martyrdom, but an element in the process of reconciliation.—‘You that
sometimes were alienated in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled in the body of his flesh
through death”—(Col. 1:21). “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son”
(Rom. 5:10). “He was wounded for our transgressions: He was bruised for our
iniquity: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we
are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). “I lay down my life for my sheep” (Jno. 10:15).
“Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say his flesh, let us draw near” (Heb. 10:20).
9. —That the shedding of his blood was essential
for our salvation. “Being justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:9). “In whom
we have redemption through his blood,
even for the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). “Without shedding of blood there
is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). “This is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the remission of sins” (Matt.
26:28). “The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (Jno. 1:29). “Unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). “Have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lanb”
(Rev. 7:14).
10. —That Christ was
himself saved in the Redemption he wrought out for us. “In the days
of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto Him that was able to save
him from death, and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet
learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he
became that author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb.
5:7–9). “Joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). “By his own blood he entered
once unto the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). “Now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect, &c.” (Heb. 13:20).
11. —That as the anti-typical High Priest, it was necessary that he should
offer for himself as well as for those whom he represented—“And by reason
hereof, he ought as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And
no man taketh this honour unto 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, &c.” (Heb. 5:3). “Wherefore it is of necessity that
this man have somewhat also to offer.” (Heb. 8:3). “Through the Eternal Spirit,
he offered himself without spot unto God” (Heb. 9:14). “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer
up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s: for this he
did once when he offered up himself” (Heb. 7:27). “It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens (that is, the symbols employed under
the law), should be purified with these (Mosaic sacrifices), but the heavenly things themselves (that is,
Christ who is the substance prefigured in the law), with better sacrifices than
these” (that is, the sacrifice of Christ—Heb. 9:23). (Robert Roberts, "The Melbourne Synopsis," The
Christadelphian 33, no. 387 [September 1, 1896]:339-41, emphasis in bold
added)
Further Reading: