CHAPTER
IV.
DEATH OF
CHRIST VICARIOUS
The
question, Was the death of Christ vicarious? has received much attention in the
theological world, and apparently troubled many minds. It is a question of
great importance, as the subject of the efficacy of the Atonement is involved
in it. Perhaps we might more correctly say, it involves the possibility of
there being any atonement.
We think
the nature of an atonement is such that it must be effected by vicarious death;
vicariousness is an essential element of such a transaction. That which is done for another is vicarious;
and as Christ died for us, his death was vicarious.
He who
suffers for his own sins makes no atonement. True, he satisfies the demand of
the law, but he is lost. Had all the world been left to perish, the penalty
would have been inflicted and justice honored, but there would have been no
atonement. An atonement can only be
made by one who suffers for another, or others; and this shows the remark to be
just, that there can be no
atonement where there is no vicariousness.
Those who
deny a vicarious death generally reason thus: Justice would not admit of the
penalty being inflicted twice for the same offense; therefore if Christ
suffered vicariously, or in our stead, we must be released as a matter of
justice, and not of pardon or favor; for where the law takes its course there
is no pardon.
But this
reasoning is defective in every respect. It might apply if mercy were the sole
object; but where justice and mercy
unite there must be conditions, whereby we avail ourselves of the
benefits of his death. But his death was voluntary, and unconditional; a
free-will offering to justice in our behalf. He
honors the law whether we will honor it or not; and if we will not accept him we
must bear the consequences.
He has made an offering to the divine law. We did not make it, nor will it
avail for us unless we accept it, and by faith appropriate the benefits thereof
to ourselves. On this point the reader is requested to consider again the
remarks on pages 35, 36, on the conditions of pardon.
- 89 - J.
H. Waggoner
Again, in
such reasoning the true nature of substitution is not considered. If a man
commits a crime worthy of death, and another dies in his stead, he does not
necessarily remove the guilt of the criminal thereby. So the death of Christ
makes salvation possible by vindicating the law in man’s behalf, and opening
the way for pardon without infringing on justice. But his death does not make
the salvation of any man necessary, as will be seen from the fact that pardon
is offered through faith in him. But if his death was in the nature of the
payment of a debt which could not be collected a second time, or of suffering a
penalty in such sense that they for whom he died could not justly suffer it,
even if they persisted in rejecting him, then there would be no room for
pardon. All men might then demand their release on grounds of justice! But that
is not the system of the gospel. That would amount to an indiscriminate and
unconditional pardon which, as we have seen, is subversive of justice and of
Government. But if Christ did not suffer in our stead, how is justice
vindicated in case we are pardoned? If he did not suffer the penalty in our
behalf, and we do not suffer it because he sets us free, then the penalty is
never suffered, and the law is not honored, for justice is robbed of its due.
Some affect to think that this is the gospel plan; but only because they lose
sight of the great gospel truth that Christ is set forth as a propitiation,
that through faith in his blood we may receive the remission of sins that are
past, that God may be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
Rom. 3:23-26.
Rom
3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom
3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus:
Rom
3:25 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;
Rom
3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be
just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
No one can
imagine that Christ bore our sins on the tree except in the sense of suffering
in his death the desert of our sins, for death is that desert. “He hath made
him to be sin for us”—not that he was a sinner, for he “knew no sin,” but he
was counted a sinner—sin was imputed to him, if you please, for our sake, “that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Cor. 5:21.
We cannot
imagine how he was made sin for us, except by his bearing our sins, which he
did, and standing in our stead before the violated law. The sacrifices of the
Levitical law typified the offering of Christ; and what their death was in type
his must surely be in fact. The forms prescribed in that law show plainly their
intent. The requirement to
The
Atonement - 90
lay their
hands upon the heads of their offerings, was peculiarly significant. “If any
man of you bring an offering to the Lord,… he shall put his hand upon the head
of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for
him. Lev. 1:2-4. See also 3:2,8,13.If the priest sinned, he was required to
bring a bullock for a sin offering; “and he shall lay his hand upon the
bullock’s head.” Chap. 4:4. If the whole congregation sinned, then “the elders
of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock.” Verse
15. Also verse 24; chap. 8:14, 22. The object of this action is made clear in
chap. 16:21……
(To be
continued)
(Excerpt
from-) THE ATONEMENT PART SECOND:
THE
ATONEMENT AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE
(1884)
BY ELDER J. H. WAGGONER
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