Part 2, Chapter 6: Of Particular Communion with the Holy Spirit

1. Of communion with Christ in purchased grace: purchased grace considered in respect of its rise and fountain. The first rise of it, in the obedience of Christ: obedience properly ascribed to Christ: two ways considered: what it was, and wherein it did consist. Of his obedience to the law in general: of the law of the mediator: his habitual righteousness how necessary, as also his obedience to the law of the mediator. Of his actual obedience or active righteousness. All Christ's obedience performed as he was mediator. His active obedience for us. This proved at large: Galatians 4:4-5; Romans 5:19; Philippians 3:19; Zechariah 3:3-5. One objection removed. Considerations of Christ's active righteousness closed. Of the death of Christ, and its influence into our acceptation with God: a price: redemption what it is. A sacrifice: atonement made thereby: a punishment: satisfaction thereby. The intercession of Christ: with its influence into our acceptation with God.

Our process is now to communion with Christ, in purchased grace: as it was before proposed. That we may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, and be made conformable to his death (Philippians 3:10).

By purchased grace I understand all that righteousness, and grace which Christ has procured, or wrought out for us, or does by any means make us partakers of, or bestows on us for our benefit, by anything that he has done, or suffered, or by anything he continues to do as mediator.

The first may be considered two ways.

1. In respect of the rise and fountain of it. 2. Of its nature, or wherein it consists. 1. It has a threefold rise, spring, or causality in Christ. 1. The obedience of his life. 2. The suffering of his death. 3. His continued intercession. All the actions of Christ as mediator, leading to the communication of grace unto us; may be either referred to these heads, or to some things that are subservient to them, or consequents of them.

For the nature of this grace wherein we have communion with Christ flowing from these heads and fountains, it may be referred to these three.

1. Grace of justification or acceptation with God, which makes a relative change in us, as a state and condition. 2. Grace of sanctification or holiness before God, which makes a real change in us, as to principle and operation. 3. Grace of privilege, which is mixed, as we shall show, if I go forth to the handling thereof.

Now that we have communion with Christ in this purchased grace, is evident on this single consideration; that there is almost nothing that Christ has done, which is a spring of that grace whereof we speak, but we are said to do it with him. We are crucified with him (Galatians 2:20). We are dead with him (2 Timothy 2:11; Colossians 3:3) and buried with him (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). We are quickened together with him (Colossians 2:13), risen with him (Colossians 3:1). He has quickened us together with Christ and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6). In the actings of Christ, there is by virtue of the compact between him as mediator and the Father, such an assured foundation laid of the communication of the fruits of those actings, unto those in whose stead he performed them, that they are said, in the participation of those fruits, to have done the same things with him. The life and power of which truth, we may have occasion hereafter to inquire into.

The first fountain and spring of this grace wherein we have our communion with Christ, is first to be considered: and that is the obedience of his life concerning which it must be declared,

1. What it is that is intended thereby; and wherein it consists.

2. What influence it has into the grace, whereof we speak.

To the handling of this, I shall only premise this observation: namely; that in the order of procurement, the life of Christ, (as was necessary,) precedes his death, and therefore we shall handle it in the first place: but in the order of application, the benefits of his death are bestowed on us, antecedently in the nature of the things themselves, unto those of his life; as will appear, and that necessarily from the state and condition wherein we are.

1. By the obedience of the life of Christ, I intend the universal conformity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he was, or is in his being mediator, to the whole will of God; and his complete actual fulfilling of the whole of every law of God, or doing of all, that God in them required. He might have been perfectly holy by obedience to the law of creation, the moral law, as the angels were: neither could any more as a man walking with God be required of him. But he submitted himself also to every law or ordinance that was introduced upon the occasion of sin, which on his own account he could not be subject to; it becoming him to fulfill ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS (Matthew 3:15) as he spoke in reference to a newly instituted ceremony.

That obedience is properly ascribed unto Jesus Christ, as mediator, the Scripture is witness, both as to name and thing. Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience, and so on (Hebrews 5:8). Yes, he was obedient in his sufferings, and it was that which gave life to his death: he was obedient to death (Philippians 2:8); for therein, he did make his soul an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), or his soul made an offering for sin as it is interpreted verse 12. He poured out his soul to death, or his soul poured out itself unto death. And he not only sanctified himself to be an offering (John 17:9), but he also offered up himself (Hebrews 9:14), an offering of a sweet savor to God (Ephesians 5:2). Hence as to the whole of his work, he is called the Father's servant (Isaiah 42:1) and verse 19. And he professes of himself that he came into the world, to do the will of God, the will of him that sent him; for which he manifests his great readiness (Hebrews 10:7), all which evince his obedience. But I suppose I need not insist on the proof of this, that Christ in the work of mediation, and as mediator, was obedient and did what he did, willingly and cheerfully in obedience to God.

Now this obedience of Christ may be considered two ways,

1. As to the habitual root and fountain of it. 2. As to the actual parts or duties of it.

First, the habitual righteousness of Christ as mediator in his human nature was the absolute, complete, exact conformity of the soul of Christ to the will, mind, or law of God — his perfect habitually inherent righteousness. This he had necessarily from the grace of union, from which it is that what was born of the virgin was a holy thing, Luke 1:35. Luke 2:52: he had an all-fullness of grace on all accounts. The apostle describes this in Hebrews 7:26: Such a high priest became us — holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Hence he is called the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, 1 Peter 1:19. This habitual holiness of Christ was inconceivably above that of the angels. He who charges his angels with folly, Job 4:18, who puts no trust in his saints — and in whose sight the heavens are not clean, Job 15:15 — always embraces Christ in his bosom and is always well pleased with him, Matthew 3:17. The reason is that every other creature, however holy, has the Spirit of God by measure, but the Spirit was not given to Christ by measure, John 3:34, and because it pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell, Colossians 1:19. All other creatures are limited by this, that they subsist in a created, dependent being and so have the fountain of what is communicated to them outside themselves. But the human nature of Christ subsists in the person of the Son of God, and so has the bottom and fountain of its holiness in the strictest unity with itself.

Second, the actual obedience of Christ was his willing, cheerful, obediential performance of everything, duty, or command that God by virtue of any law — to which we were subject and liable — did require; and moreover obedience to the peculiar law of the mediator. There are two parts of this:

First, whatever was required of us by virtue of any law, that he did and fulfilled. Whatever was required of us by the law of nature in our state of innocency, whatever duty was added by morally positive or ceremonial institutions, whatever is required of us in obedience to righteous judicial laws — he did it all. Hence he is said to be made under the law, Galatians 4:4 — subject and liable to all the precepts and commands of it. Matthew 3:15: it became him to fulfill all righteousness — every kind of righteousness whatever, everything that God required, as is evident from the application of that general principle to the baptism of John. I shall not need to go to particular instances: in the duties of the law of nature, to God and his parents; of morally positive institutions, in the Sabbath and other acts of worship; of the ceremonial law, in circumcision and all the rites of the Jewish church; of the judicial law, in paying tribute to governors. On the one hand he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. On the other hand he fulfilled all righteousness, and thereupon the Father was always well pleased with him. This was what he owned of himself — that he came to do the will of God, and he did it.

Second, there was a peculiar law of the mediator which respected him alone and contained all those acts and duties of his which are not for our imitation. So that obedience which he showed in dying was peculiarly to this law: John 10:18, I have power to lay down my life; this commandment I have received from my Father. As mediator he received this peculiar command of his Father, that he should lay down his life and take it again, and he was obedient to it. Hence we say he who is mediator did some things merely as a man subject to the law of God in general — so he prayed for his persecutors, Luke 23:34. Some things as mediator — so he prayed for his elect only, John 17:9. When he prayed as mediator, his Father always heard him and answered him, John 11:41.

This then is the obedience of Christ, which was the first thing proposed to be considered. The next thing is that it has an influence into the grace of which we speak, wherein we hold communion with him — namely our free acceptance with God. What that influence is must also follow in its order.

For his habitual righteousness, I shall only propose it under two considerations.

First, upon the supposition that we should have a mediator who was God and man in one person — as it could not otherwise be — it must needs be that he be so holy. For although there is but one primary necessary effect of the hypostatic union, which is the subsistence of the human nature in the person of the Son of God, yet that he who was so united should be a holy thing, completely holy, was necessary also. This has been spoken of before.

Second, that the relation which this righteousness of Christ has to the grace we receive from him is only this: that thereby he was fit to do all that he had to do for us. This is the meaning of the apostle in Hebrews 7:26: such a high priest became us — it was needful he should be such, that he might do what he had to do. The reasons for this are two.

First, had he not been completely furnished with habitual grace, he could never have actually fulfilled the righteousness which was required at his hands. It was therein that he was able to do all that he did. So himself lays down the presence of the Spirit with him as the foundation of his going forth to his work, Isaiah 61:1.

Second, he could not have been a complete and perfect sacrifice without habitual righteousness. But having it, even if he had never yielded any continued obedience to the law actively — had he suffered as soon after his incarnation as Adam sinned after his creation — he would have been a fit sacrifice and offering. Therefore doubtless his following obedience has another use besides fitting him for an oblation.

For Christ's obedience to the law of mediation, where it is not coincident with his passive obedience — it was that which was requisite for the discharging of his office. It is not imputed to us as though we had done it, though the fruits of it are. It is of the nature of his intercession, whereby he provides the good things we stand in need of, at least subserviently to his oblation and intercession.

About his actual fulfilling of the law, or doing all things required of us, there is some question, and three several opinions.

First, that this active obedience of Christ has no further influence into our justification and acceptance with God, but as it was preparatory to his blood-shedding and oblation, which is the sole cause of our justification.

Second, that it may be considered two ways. First, as it is purely obedience, and so it has no other state but the former. Second, as it was accomplished with suffering and joined with it as part of his humiliation, so it is part of that upon the account of which we are justified.

Third, that this obedience of Christ being done for us is reckoned graciously of God to us, and upon the account thereof we are accepted as righteous before him. My intention is not to handle this difference controversially, but to give such an understanding of the whole as may be reduced to the practice of godliness and consolation — this I shall do in the ensuing observations.

First, that the obedience Christ yielded to the law in general is not only the peculiar law of the mediator, though he yielded it as mediator. He was incarnate as mediator, Hebrews 2:14 and Galatians 4:4. All he afterwards did was as our mediator. So of this expression as mediator there is a twofold sense: it may be taken strictly, as relating solely to the law of the mediator; or whatever Christ did as a man subject to any law, he did it as mediator, because he did it as part of the duty incumbent on him who undertook so to be.

Second, whatever Christ did as mediator, he did it for those whose mediator he was — in whose stead and for whose good he executed the office of a mediator before God. Romans 8:3-4: What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Because we could not in that condition of weakness come to God and be freed from condemnation by the law, God sent Christ as a mediator to do and suffer whatever the law required at our hands, that we might be accepted by God. Galatians 4:4 adds that he was so sent forth that he was made under the law — liable to it, to yield all the obedience it requires. This the Holy Spirit tells us was all for us, verse 4.

Third, the end of this active obedience of Christ cannot be assigned to be that he might be fitted for his death and oblation. He answered all types and was every way fit to be made an offering for sin by his union and habitual grace. So if the obedience Christ performed is not reckoned to us and done upon our account, there is no just cause to be assigned why he should live in the world so long in perfect obedience to all the laws of God. Had he died before, there had been perfect innocence and perfect holiness by his habitual grace, and infinite virtue from the dignity of his person. Surely he did not yield that long course of all manner of obedience except for some great and special purpose in reference to our salvation.

Fourth, had not the obedience of Christ been for us (in what sense we shall see instantly), it might in his life have been required of him, to yield obedience to the law of nature, the alone law which he could be liable to as a man; for an innocent man in a covenant of works, as he was, needs no other law; nor did God ever give any other law to any such person; (the law of creation is all that an innocent creature is liable to, with what symbols of that law God is pleased to add.) And yet to this law also was his subjection voluntary; and that not only consequentially, because he was born upon his own choice, not by any natural course, but also because as mediator God and man, he was not by the institution of that law obliged unto it, being as it were exempted, and lifted above that law by the hypostatic union: yet when I say his subjection hereunto was voluntary, I do not intend that it was merely arbitrary and at choice, whether he would yield obedience unto it or no; but on supposition of his undertaking to be a mediator, it was necessary it should be so: but that he voluntarily and willingly submitted unto, and so became really subject to the commands of it. But now moreover Jesus Christ yielded perfect obedience to all those laws, which came upon us by the occasion of sin; as the ceremonial law: yes those very institutions that signified the washing away of sin, and repentance from sin, as the baptism of John, which he had no need of himself. This therefore must needs be for us.

Fifth, the obedience of Christ cannot be reckoned among his sufferings, but is clearly distinct from it: as to all formalities, doing is one thing, suffering another; they are in diverse predicaments, and cannot be coincident.

See then briefly what we have obtained by those considerations; and then I shall intimate what is the stream issuing from this first spring or fountain of purchased grace, with what influence it has thereinto.

First, by the obedience of the life of Christ, you see what is intended: his willing submission unto, and perfect complete fulfilling of every law of God, that any of the saints of God were obliged unto. It is true, every act almost of Christ's obedience, from the blood of his circumcision, to the blood of his cross, was attended with suffering; so that his whole life might in that regard be called a death: but yet looking upon his willingness and obedience in it, it is distinguished from his sufferings peculiarly so called, and termed his active righteousness. This is then I say, as was showed, that complete absolutely perfect accomplishment of the whole law of God by Christ, our mediator; whereby he not only did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth, but also most perfectly fulfilled all righteousness, as he affirmed it became him to do.

Second, this obedience was performed by Christ, not for himself, but for us: and in our stead: it is true! It must needs be, that while he had his conversation in the flesh, he must be most perfectly and absolutely holy. But yet the prime intendment of his accomplishing of holiness, which consists in the complete obedience of his whole life to any law of God, that was no less for us, than his suffering death: that this is so, the apostle tells us (Galatians 4:4-5), God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law: this scripture formerly named, must be a little further insisted on. He was both made of a woman, and made under the law, that is, obedient to it for us. The end here both of the incarnation and obedience of Christ to the law, (for that must needs be understood here by the phrase, that is, disposed of in such a condition, as that he must yield subjection and obedience to the law) was all to redeem us. In those two expressions made of a woman, made under the law, the apostle does not knit his incarnation and death together, with an exclusion of the obedience of his life. And he was so made under the law, as those were under the law whom he was to redeem. Now we were under the law, not only as obnoxious to its penalties, but as bound to all the duties of it. That this is our being under the law, the apostle informs us (Galatians 4:21), Tell me, you that desire to be under the law. It was not the penalty of the law they desired to be under; but to be under it, in respect of obedience. Take away then the end and you destroy the means: if Christ were not incarnate, nor made under the law for himself, he did not yield obedience for himself: it was all for us, for our good: let us now look forward and see what influence this has into our acceptation.

3. Then I say, this perfect complete obedience of Christ to the law is reckoned unto us. As there is a truth in that, the day you eat you shall die; death is the reward of sin, and so we cannot be freed from death, but by the death of Christ (Hebrews 2:13-14). So also is that no less true, do this and live, that life is not to be obtained, unless all be done, that the law requires. That is still true, if you will enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17); they must then be kept by us, or our surety. Neither is it of any value which by some is objected, that if Christ yielded perfect obedience to the law for us, then are we no more bound to yield obedience: for by his undergoing death the penalty of the law, we are freed from it. I answer; how did Christ undergo death, merely as it was penal: how then are we delivered from death, merely as it is penal: yet we must die still, yea as the last conflict with the effects of sin, as a passage to our Father we must die. Well then, Christ yielded perfect obedience to the law, but how did he do it? Purely as it stood in that conditional, do this and live: he did it in the strength of the grace he had received: he did it as a means of life, to procure life by it, as the tenor of a covenant. Are we then freed from this obedience? Yes, but how far? From doing it in our own strength, from doing it for this end, that we may obtain life everlasting. It is vain that some say confidently, that we must yet work for life, it is all one, as to say, we are yet under the old covenant, do this and live: we are not freed from obedience, as a way of walking with God, but we are, as a way of working to come to him, of which at large afterwards.

By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous, says the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:18-19). By his obedience to the law, are we made righteous, it is reckoned to us for righteousness. That the passive obedience of Christ is here only intended, is false.

First it is opposed to the disobedience of Adam which was active. The righteousness is opposed to the fault. The fault was an active transgression of the law; and the obedience opposed to it must be an active accomplishment of it. Besides obedience placed singly in its own nature denotes an action, or actions conformable to the law; and therein came Christ, not to destroy but to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17); that was the design of his coming; and so for us; he came to fulfill the law for us (Isaiah 9:6) and born to us (Luke 2:11). This also was in that will of the Father, which out of his infinite love he came to accomplish. 2. It cannot clearly be evinced that there is any such thing in propriety of speech, as passive obedience: obeying is doing; to which passion or suffering cannot belong: I know it is commonly called so, when men obey until they suffer; but properly it is not so.

So also (Philippians 3:9) and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. The righteousness we receive is opposed to our own obedience to the law: opposed to it, not as something in another kind, but as something in the same kind, excluding that from such an end which the other obtains. Now this is the obedience of Christ to the law. Himself thereby being made to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The issue of the death of Christ is placed upon reconciliation, that is a slaying of the enmity and restoring us into that condition of peace and friendship wherein Adam was before his fall (Romans 5:10). But is there no more to be done? Notwithstanding that there was no wrath due to Adam, yet he was to obey if he would enjoy eternal life. Something there is moreover to be done in respect of us, if after the slaying of the enmity and reconciliation made we shall enjoy life; being reconciled by his death: we are saved by that perfect obedience which in his life he yielded to the law of God. There is distinct mention made of reconciliation, through a non-imputation of sin: as (Psalm 32:1; Luke 1:77; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19) and justification through an imputation of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30); although these things are so far from being separated, that they are reciprocally affirmed of one another; which as it does not evince an identity, so it does an eminent conjunction: and this last we have by the life of Christ.

This is fully expressed in that typical representation of our justification before the Lord (Zechariah 3:3-5); two things are there expressed, to belong to our free acceptance before God.

1. The taking away of the guilt of our sin, our filthy robes: this is done by the death of Christ. Remission of sin is the proper fruit thereof; but there is more also required, even a collation of righteousness, and thereby a right to life eternal: this is here called fine change of raiment: so the Holy Ghost expresses it again (Isaiah 61:10) where he calls it plainly the garment of salvation, and the robe of righteousness: now this is only made ours by the obedience of Christ, as the other by his death.

Objection: But if this be so, then are we as righteous as Christ himself, being righteous with his righteousness.

Answer: But first here is a great difference if it were no more than that this righteousness was inherent in Christ, and properly his own, it is only reckoned or imputed to us: or freely bestowed on us: and we are made righteous with that which is not ours. But secondly the truth is, that Christ was not righteous with that righteousness for himself, but for us: so that here can be no comparison; only this we may say, we are righteous with his righteousness which he wrought for us, and that completely.

And this now is the rise of the purchased grace whereof we speak, the obedience of Christ. And this is the influence of it into our acceptation with God. Whereas the guilt of sin, and our obnoxiousness to punishment on that account, is removed and taken away, as shall further be declared, by the death of Christ; and whereas besides the taking away of sin, we have need of a complete righteousness upon the account whereof we may be accepted with God, this obedience of Christ, through the free grace of God is imputed unto us for that end and purpose.

This is all I shall for the present insist on to this purpose; that the passive righteousness of Christ only, is imputed to us, in the non-imputation of sin, and that on the condition of our faith and new obedience, so exalting them into the room of the righteousness of Christ, is a thing which in communion with the Lord Jesus, I have as yet no acquaintance withal: what may be said in the way of argument on the one side or other, must be elsewhere considered.

The second spring of our communion with Christ in purchased grace, is his death and oblation. He lived for us; he died for us. He was ours in all he did, in all he suffered.

I shall be the more brief in handling of this because on another design I have elsewhere at large treated of all the concernments of it.

Now the death of Christ as it is a spring of that purchased grace wherein we have communion with him, is in the Scripture proposed under a threefold consideration.

- 1. Of a price. - 2. Of a sacrifice. - 3. Of a penalty.

In the first regard its proper effect is redemption, in the second reconciliation or atonement, in the third satisfaction; which are the great ingredients of that purchased grace whereby in the first place we have communion with Christ.

1. It is a price: we are bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20), being not redeemed with silver and gold, and corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:17-18), which therein answers those things in other contracts: He came to lay down his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). A price of redemption (1 Timothy 2:6). The proper use and energy of this expression in the Scripture, I have elsewhere declared.

Now the proper effect and issue of the death of Christ as a price or ransom, is as I said, redemption. Now redemption is the deliverance of any one from bondage, or captivity, and the miseries attending that condition, by the intervention or interposition of a price or ransom paid by the redeemer to him by whose authority the captive was detained.

1. In general it is a deliverance: Hence Christ is called the deliverer (Romans 11:26), giving himself to deliver us (Galatians 1:4). He is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

2. It is the delivery of one from bondage or captivity; we are without him, all prisoners and captives: bound in prison (Isaiah 61:1), sitting in darkness, in the prison house (Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:9). Prisoners in the pit wherein there is no water (Zechariah 9:11), the captives of the mighty and the prey of the terrible (Isaiah 49:25), under a captivity that must be led captive (Psalm 68:18); this puts us in bondage (Hebrews 2:14).

3. The person committing thus to prison and into bondage, is God himself. To him we owe our debts (Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:27-29), against him are our offenses (Psalm 51:5). He is the judge and lawgiver (James 4:12); to sin is to rebel against him. He shuts up men under disobedience (Romans 11:32). And he shall cast both body and soul of the impenitent into hell fire (Matthew 10:28). To his wrath are men obnoxious (John 3:36), and lie under it by the sentence of the law, which is their prison.

4. The miseries that attend this condition are innumerable. Bondage to Satan, sin, and the world, comprises the sum of them, from all which we are delivered by the death of Christ as a price or ransom. God has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood (Colossians 1:13-14). And he redeems us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), from our vain conversation (1 Peter 1:18-19), even from the guilt and power of our sin, purchasing us to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works (Titus 2:14), so dying for the redemption of transgressors (Hebrews 9:15), redeeming us also from the world (Galatians 4:5).

4. And all this is by the payment of the price mentioned into the hand of God, by whose supreme authority, we were detained captives under the sentence of the law. The debt is due to the great householder (Matthew 18:23-24). And the penalty, his curse, and wrath from which by it we are delivered (Revelation 2:5).

This the Holy Ghost frequently insists on (Romans 3:24-25): Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins: so also 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18; Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:6; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13; Galatians 3:13. And this is the first consideration of the death of Christ, as it has an influence into the procurement of that grace wherein we hold communion with him.

Secondly it was a sacrifice also. He had a body prepared him (Hebrews 10:5), wherein he was to accomplish what by the typical oblations and burnt offerings of the law was prefigured. And that body he offered (Hebrews 10:10), that is his whole human nature, for his soul also was made an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), on which account he is said to offer himself (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 9:24). He gave himself a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savor. And this he did willingly, as became him who was to be a sacrifice. The law of this obedience being written in his heart (Psalm 40:9), that is, he had a readiness, willingness, desire for its performance.

The end of sacrifices such as his was — bloody and for sin, Romans 4:3, Hebrews 2:17 — was atonement and reconciliation. This is everywhere ascribed to them, that they were to make atonement, that is, in a way suitable to their nature. This is the tendency of the death of Christ as a sacrifice — atonement and reconciliation with God. Sin had broken friendship between God and us, Isaiah 63:10. His wrath was on us, John 3:36, and we are by nature liable to it, Ephesians 2:3. This is taken away by the death of Christ as it was a sacrifice, Daniel 9:24. When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, Romans 5:10, and thereby we receive the atonement, verse 11. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins and iniquities, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21. So also Ephesians 2:12-16 and sundry other places. This is the second consideration of the death of Christ, which I do but name, having at large insisted on these things elsewhere.

Third, it was also a punishment — a punishment in our stead. He was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, Isaiah 53:5. God made all our iniquities — that is, the punishment of them — to meet upon him, verse 6. He bore the sins of many, verse 12. His own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, 1 Peter 2:24. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Bearing of punishment tends directly to giving satisfaction to him who was offended and on that account inflicted the punishment. Justice can desire no more than a proportional punishment due to the offense. This, on his own voluntary taking of our persons and undertaking to be our mediator, was inflicted on our dear Lord Jesus. His substituting himself in our room, being allowed of by the righteous judge, satisfaction properly ensues.

This is the threefold consideration of the death of Christ, as it is a principal spring and fountain of that grace in which we have communion with him. This then is the second rise of purchased grace, which we are to set before our eyes if we will hold communion with Christ in it — his death and blood-shedding under this threefold notion: a price, an offering, and a punishment.

But third, the Lord Christ goes further yet. He does not leave us here. He died for our sins and rose again for our justification. He rose again to carry on the complete work of purchased grace — that is, by his intercession, which is the third rise of it. Hebrews 7:25: he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.

The intercession of Christ, in respect of its influence into purchased grace, is considered in two ways.

First, as a continuance and carrying on of his oblation for the making out of all the fruits and effects thereof to us. This is called his appearing in the presence of God for us, Hebrews 9:24. As the high priest, having offered the great offering for expiation of sin, carried in the blood into the most holy place where was the representation of God's presence to perfect the atonement he had made for himself and the people — so the Lord Christ, having offered himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God and being sprinkled with his own blood, appears in the presence of God as it were to mind him of the engagement made to him, the redemption of sinners by his blood, and the making out of the good things procured thereby. Thus his appearance puts in his claim for it in our behalf, and this appearance of his has an influence into purchased grace insofar as he thereby puts in his claim for it.

Second, he procures the Holy Spirit for us, effectually to bestow all this purchased grace upon us. That he would do this and does it for us we have his engagement, John 14:16. This is purchased grace in respect of its fountain and spring. I shall not speak further of it at present, seeing I must handle it at large in the matter of the communion we have with the Holy Spirit.

1. Communion with Christ in purchased grace: purchased grace considered in terms of its source and foundation. The first source of it, in the obedience of Christ: obedience properly ascribed to Christ, considered in two ways: what it was and what it consisted in. His obedience to the law in general; the law of the Mediator; His habitual righteousness and its necessity, as well as His obedience to the law of the Mediator. His actual obedience, or active righteousness. All of Christ's obedience performed as Mediator. His active obedience for us. This demonstrated at length from Galatians 4:4-5; Romans 5:19; Philippians 3:9; Zechariah 3:3-5. One objection addressed. Discussion of Christ's active righteousness concluded. The death of Christ and how it bears on our acceptance with God: as a price; what redemption is. As a sacrifice: atonement made by it; as a punishment: satisfaction accomplished by it. The intercession of Christ and how it bears on our acceptance with God.

We now turn to communion with Christ in purchased grace, as proposed earlier. 'That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death' (Philippians 3:10).

By purchased grace I mean all the righteousness and grace which Christ has obtained, worked out for us, or in any way makes us partakers of — all that He bestows on us for our benefit through anything He has done, suffered, or continues to do as Mediator.

This may be considered in two ways.

1. In terms of its source and foundation. 2. In terms of its nature and what it consists in. 1. It has a threefold source, spring, or cause in Christ: 1. The obedience of His life. 2. The suffering of His death. 3. His ongoing intercession. All the actions of Christ as Mediator that lead to the communication of grace to us may be referred to these three headings, or to things that serve them or flow from them.

As for the nature of this grace in which we have communion with Christ — flowing from these sources and fountains — it may be referred to three categories.

1. The grace of justification, or acceptance with God, which brings a change in our standing and condition. 2. The grace of sanctification, or holiness before God, which brings a real change in us with respect to principle and practice. 3. The grace of privilege, which is mixed — as I will show, if I come to deal with it.

That we have communion with Christ in this purchased grace is clear from this single observation: there is almost nothing that Christ did which is a source of the grace we are speaking of, that Scripture does not describe us doing with Him. We are crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20). We are dead with Him (2 Timothy 2:11; Colossians 3:3) and buried with Him (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). We are made alive together with Him (Colossians 2:13) and raised with Him (Colossians 3:1). God 'made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places' (Ephesians 2:5-6). In Christ's actions, by virtue of the covenant between Him as Mediator and the Father, such a certain foundation was laid for the transfer of the fruits of those actions to those on whose behalf He performed them, that Scripture describes those who receive the fruits as having done the same things with Him. We may have occasion later to explore the life and power of that truth.

The first source and foundation of this grace in which we have communion with Christ is to be considered first — and that is the obedience of His life, about which two things must be explained:

1. What is meant by it, and what it consisted in.

2. What bearing it has on the grace we are speaking of.

Before addressing this, I will note one thing: in the order of procurement, the life of Christ necessarily precedes His death, so I will address it first. But in the order of application, the benefits of His death are applied to us prior — in the nature of things themselves — to those of His life, as will become clear from the condition we are in.

1. By the obedience of Christ's life I mean the complete conformity of the Lord Jesus Christ — as He was and is in His being Mediator — to the whole will of God, and His complete actual fulfillment of every law of God, doing all that God required in them. He could have been perfectly holy through obedience to the law of creation — the moral law — as the angels were; and no more than that could have been required of Him as a man walking with God. But He also submitted Himself to every law and ordinance introduced because of sin — laws which He, on His own account, had no obligation to observe — because it was fitting for Him to 'fulfill all righteousness' (Matthew 3:15), as He said in connection with a newly instituted ceremony.

That obedience is properly ascribed to Jesus Christ as Mediator, Scripture clearly attests — both in name and substance. 'Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered' (Hebrews 5:8). He was obedient even in His sufferings, and it was this obedience that gave meaning to His death — 'He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death' (Philippians 2:8). In His death He made His soul an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), or His soul offered itself to death (verse 12). He not only consecrated Himself as an offering (John 17:19) but also offered Himself up (Hebrews 9:14) as a fragrant offering to God (Ephesians 5:2). For this reason, in the whole of His work, He is called the Father's servant (Isaiah 42:1, 19). He declared of Himself that He came into the world to do the will of God — the will of the One who sent Him — and showed His complete readiness for it (Hebrews 10:7). All of this demonstrates His obedience. But I do not think I need to labor the point that Christ in His mediatorial work, and as Mediator, was obedient and did what He did willingly and gladly in obedience to God.

Now this obedience of Christ may be considered in two ways:

1. In terms of its habitual root and foundation. 2. In terms of its actual expressions and duties.

First, the habitual righteousness of Christ as Mediator in His human nature was the absolute, complete, and exact conformity of Christ's soul to the will, mind, and law of God — His perfect inherent righteousness as a settled disposition. He had this necessarily from the grace of the union of His two natures, which is why what was born of the virgin 'is that which is conceived of the Holy Spirit' and therefore 'holy' (Luke 1:35). Luke 2:52 shows that He had a complete fullness of grace in every respect. The apostle describes this in Hebrews 7:26: 'For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest — holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.' For this reason He is called a lamb without spot or blemish (1 Peter 1:19). This habitual holiness of Christ was inconceivably greater than that of the angels. He who charges His angels with foolishness (Job 4:18) and puts no trust in His holy ones — in whose sight the heavens are not pure (Job 15:15) — always keeps Christ in His embrace and is always well pleased with Him (Matthew 3:17). The reason is that every other creature, however holy, receives the Spirit of God in limited measure, but the Spirit was not given to Christ by measure (John 3:34), because 'it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him' (Colossians 1:19). Every other creature is limited by the fact that it exists as a dependent, created being and so has the source of what is communicated to it outside itself. But the human nature of Christ subsists in the person of the Son of God, and therefore has the ground and source of its holiness in the closest possible union with that person.

Second, the actual obedience of Christ was His willing and joyful obediential performance of everything — every duty and every command — that God required by any law to which we were subject and liable; and moreover His obedience to the specific law of the Mediator. This has two parts:

First, everything required of us by any law, He performed and fulfilled. Whatever was required of us by the law of nature in our original state of innocence, whatever duty was added by morally positive or ceremonial institutions, whatever the righteous judicial laws required in obedience — He did it all. For this reason He is said to be 'born under the Law' (Galatians 4:4) — subject and liable to all its commands and precepts. Matthew 3:15: it was fitting for Him 'to fulfill all righteousness' — every kind of righteousness without exception, everything God required — as is clear from the application of that general principle to the baptism of John. I will not go through specific examples: fulfilling the law of nature toward God and His parents; keeping morally positive institutions like the Sabbath and other acts of worship; observing the ceremonial law in circumcision and all the rites of the Jewish church; obeying the judicial law by paying tax to governing authorities. On the one hand, He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. On the other hand, He fulfilled all righteousness — and on that basis the Father was always well pleased with Him. This was what He claimed of Himself: He came to do the will of God, and He did it.

Second, there was a specific law of the Mediator that applied to Him alone and contained all those acts and duties of His that are not for our imitation. The obedience He showed in dying was obedience to this particular law: 'I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father' (John 10:18). As Mediator He received this specific command from His Father — to lay down His life and take it up again — and He was obedient to it. This is why we say that He who is Mediator did some things simply as a man subject to God's law in general — such as when He prayed for His persecutors (Luke 23:34). Other things He did specifically as Mediator — such as when He prayed for His elect only (John 17:9). When He prayed as Mediator, His Father always heard Him and answered Him (John 11:41).

This, then, is the obedience of Christ — the first thing proposed for consideration. The next thing is the bearing this obedience has on the grace of which we speak, in which we hold communion with Him — namely, our free acceptance with God. What that bearing is must follow in its proper order.

Regarding His habitual righteousness, I will simply consider it under two headings.

First, given that we needed a Mediator who was both God and man in one person — as it could not be otherwise — it was necessarily the case that He would be holy in this way. Although the one primary necessary result of the union of the two natures is the subsistence of the human nature in the person of the Son of God, it was also necessary that the One so united should be completely holy. This has been addressed earlier.

Second, the relationship this righteousness of Christ bears to the grace we receive from Him is simply this: it made Him fit to do all that He had to do for us. This is the apostle's meaning in Hebrews 7:26: 'such a high priest was fitting for us' — it was necessary that He be such a person, so that He could do what He had to do. Two reasons support this.

First, without being fully endowed with habitual grace, He could never have actually fulfilled the righteousness required of Him. It was through that habitual grace that He was able to do everything He did. This is why He Himself points to the presence of the Spirit with Him as the foundation of His going forth to His work (Isaiah 61:1).

Second, without habitual righteousness He could not have been a complete and perfect sacrifice. But having it, even if He had never rendered any extended active obedience to the law — had He suffered immediately after His incarnation as Adam sinned immediately after his creation — He would have been a fitting sacrifice and offering. Therefore His continuing obedience clearly has another purpose beyond qualifying Him as an offering.

As for Christ's obedience to the law of mediation, where it does not coincide with His passive obedience — it was what was required for the carrying out of His office. It is not imputed to us as if we had done it ourselves, though the fruits of it are. It is in the nature of His intercession — through which He provides the good things we need, at least in a way that supports His offering and intercession.

Regarding His actual fulfilling of the law — His doing all things required of us — there is some debate, and three different positions have been held.

First, that this active obedience of Christ has no further bearing on our justification and acceptance with God beyond being preparatory to His blood-shedding and sacrifice — which alone is the cause of our justification.

Second, that it may be considered in two ways. First, purely as obedience — in which sense it has no role other than described in the first position. Second, as it was carried out through suffering and joined with suffering as part of His humiliation — in which sense it is part of what provides the basis for our justification.

Third, that this obedience of Christ, having been performed for us, is graciously reckoned by God to us — and on that basis we are accepted as righteous before Him. My intention is not to settle this debate in a controversial manner, but to provide an understanding of the whole that applies to the practice of godliness and to our comfort — which I will do in the observations that follow.

First, the obedience Christ rendered to the law in general is not limited to the specific law of the Mediator — even though He yielded it as Mediator. He became incarnate as Mediator (Hebrews 2:14; Galatians 4:4). Everything He subsequently did, He did as our Mediator. So 'as Mediator' can be taken in two senses: strictly, as relating solely to the law of the Mediator; or broadly, meaning that whatever Christ did as a man subject to any law, He did it as Mediator, because He did it as part of the duty that came with the office He undertook.

Second, whatever Christ did as Mediator, He did it for those whose Mediator He was — in whose place and for whose good He executed the office of Mediator before God. Romans 8:3-4: 'What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.' Because we were too weak to come to God and be freed from condemnation through the law, God sent Christ as Mediator to do and endure everything the law required of us, so that we might be accepted by God. Galatians 4:4 adds that He was sent forth in this way as one 'born under the Law' — subject to it, to render all the obedience it required. The Holy Spirit tells us that all of this was done for us (verse 5).

Third, the purpose of Christ's active obedience cannot be assigned merely to fitting Him for death and sacrifice. He answered all the types and was completely suited to be made an offering for sin by His union and habitual grace alone. Therefore, if the obedience Christ performed is not credited to us and done on our account, there is no adequate explanation for why He should have lived in the world for so long in perfect obedience to all of God's laws. Had He died sooner, there would still have been perfect innocence and holiness through His habitual grace, and infinite worth from the dignity of His person. Surely He did not yield that long course of obedience to every kind of law except for some great and specific purpose in relation to our salvation.

Fourth, if Christ's obedience had not been for us — in the sense we will see in a moment — it might simply have been required of Him in His life to obey the law of nature, which is the only law He could have been liable to as a man. An innocent man under a covenant of works, as He was, needs no other law — nor did God ever give any other law to such a person. (The law of creation is all that an innocent creature is liable to, together with whatever signs of that law God is pleased to add.) Even His submission to this law was voluntary — not only in a general sense, because He was born by His own choice and not by any natural process, but also because as Mediator — God and man in one person — He was not by the very institution of that law obligated to it, being in a sense exempted from and raised above it by the union of the two natures. When I say His submission was voluntary, I do not mean it was purely at His discretion whether to obey it or not — given His undertaking to be Mediator, it was necessary. I mean that He willingly and freely submitted to it and thereby truly became subject to its commands. But beyond this, Jesus Christ rendered perfect obedience to all those laws that came upon us by reason of sin — including the ceremonial law, and even those specific institutions that symbolized the washing away of sin and repentance from sin, such as the baptism of John, which He had no personal need of. This therefore must have been for us.

Fifth, the obedience of Christ cannot be counted among His sufferings but is clearly distinct from them: in every proper sense, doing is one thing and suffering is another — they belong to different categories and cannot be the same thing.

Let us briefly gather what we have established from these considerations — and then I will indicate what flows from this first source of purchased grace and how it bears on it.

First, the obedience of Christ's life — as shown — means His willing submission to and complete, perfect fulfillment of every law of God to which any of God's people were obligated. It is true that nearly every act of Christ's obedience, from the blood of His circumcision to the blood of His cross, was accompanied by suffering — so that in that sense His whole life might be called a death. But looking at His willingness and obedience in it, this obedience is distinguished from His sufferings strictly so called, and is termed His active righteousness. This, then, is — as has been shown — that complete and absolutely perfect fulfilling of the whole law of God by Christ our Mediator: whereby He not only committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, but also most perfectly fulfilled all righteousness, as He declared it was fitting for Him to do.

Second, this obedience was performed by Christ not for Himself but for us — in our place. It is true that while He lived in the flesh, He was necessarily, perfectly, and completely holy. But the primary purpose of His fulfilling of holiness — which consists in His complete obedience throughout His life to every law of God — was no less for us than His suffering of death. The apostle tells us this in Galatians 4:4-5: 'God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law.' He was both born of a woman and born under the Law — that is, subject and obedient to it, for us. The end both of the incarnation and of His obedience to the Law — which must be included in that phrase — was entirely to redeem us. In the two expressions 'born of a woman, born under the Law,' the apostle does not link incarnation and death alone while omitting the obedience of His life. And He was made under the Law in the same way that those were under the Law whom He came to redeem. Now we were under the Law not only as liable to its penalties, but as bound to all its duties. That this is what it means to be under the Law, the apostle confirms in Galatians 4:21: 'Tell me, you who want to be under the Law.' It was not the penalty of the Law they desired to be under, but its obedience. Remove the purpose and you destroy the means: if Christ was not incarnate or made under the Law for His own sake, then He did not render obedience for His own sake — it was all for us, for our benefit. Let us look ahead now and see what bearing this has on our acceptance with God.

3. This perfect and complete obedience of Christ to the Law is credited to us. Just as it is true that 'in the day you eat of it you shall die' — death is the penalty of sin, and so we cannot be freed from death except through the death of Christ (Hebrews 2:13-14) — so equally true is the other side: 'Do this and live.' Life cannot be obtained unless everything the Law requires is done. It remains true that 'if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments' (Matthew 19:17) — they must be kept either by us or by our surety. Nor is the objection some raise of any force — that if Christ rendered perfect obedience to the Law for us, then we are no longer bound to render obedience, in the same way that by His undergoing death as the Law's penalty we are freed from it. I answer: how did Christ undergo death — simply as something penal? And how then are we delivered from death — simply as something penal? And yet we must still die — indeed we must die as our last conflict with the effects of sin and as a passage to our Father. Very well then: Christ yielded perfect obedience to the Law — but how did He do it? Purely in keeping with its condition 'do this and live': He did it in the strength of the grace He had received; He did it as a means of obtaining life, to procure life by it according to the terms of the covenant. Are we then freed from this obedience? Yes — but in what sense? From doing it in our own strength; from doing it for the purpose of earning eternal life. It is futile for some to assert confidently that we must still work for life — that is equivalent to saying we are still under the old covenant, 'do this and live.' We are not freed from obedience as a manner of walking with God; but we are freed from it as a way of working our way to Him — more on this later.

'Through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men; through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous,' says the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:18-19). Through His obedience to the Law we are made righteous — it is credited to us as righteousness. It is false that only the passive obedience of Christ is intended here.

First, it is set in contrast to the disobedience of Adam, which was active. The righteousness is set against the transgression. The transgression was an active breaking of the Law — and the obedience set against it must be an active fulfilling of it. Furthermore, obedience taken by itself in its plain meaning denotes an action, or actions, conforming to the law. Christ came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) — that was the purpose of His coming, and He did it for us. He was given to us (Isaiah 9:6) and born for us (Luke 2:11). This was also within that will of the Father which He came to accomplish out of infinite love. 2. It is difficult to demonstrate that there is any such thing in proper speech as 'passive obedience' — obeying is doing, and passion or suffering cannot belong to it. I know it is commonly called passive obedience when someone obeys to the point of suffering — but strictly speaking, that is not correct.

Likewise, Philippians 3:9: 'and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.' The righteousness we receive is set in contrast to our own obedience to the Law — not as something of a different kind, but as something of the same kind, which excludes our obedience from the very end that Christ's obedience achieves. And this is nothing other than Christ's obedience to the Law. He Himself thereby being made to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The result of Christ's death centers on reconciliation — that is, the destruction of the enmity between God and us, and the restoring of us to the condition of peace and friendship that Adam had before his fall (Romans 5:10). But is there nothing more to be done? Even though Adam faced no wrath before the fall, he still had to obey if he was to enjoy eternal life. Something more is therefore required for us beyond the ending of enmity and reconciliation, if after being reconciled we are to enjoy life. Being reconciled by His death, we are saved by the perfect obedience He rendered to the law of God throughout His life. Scripture makes distinct mention of reconciliation through the non-imputation of sin (Psalm 32:1; Luke 1:77; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19), and justification through the imputation of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30). Although these two are so closely connected that they are sometimes described in terms of each other, this does not prove they are identical — it proves their close union. And this latter, justification through imputed righteousness, we have through the life of Christ.

This is fully expressed in the symbolic picture of our justification before the Lord in Zechariah 3:3-5, where two things are shown to belong to our free acceptance before God.

1. The removal of the guilt of our sin — our filthy garments: this is accomplished by the death of Christ. The forgiveness of sin is its proper fruit. But something more is also required: a granting of righteousness, and with it a right to eternal life. This is pictured in Zechariah as fine, clean garments. The Holy Spirit expresses the same idea in Isaiah 61:10, plainly calling it the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness. This becomes ours only through the obedience of Christ, just as the other becomes ours through His death.

Objection: But if this is true, then we are as righteous as Christ Himself, since we are righteous with His righteousness.

Answer: First, there is a great difference, even if it were nothing more than this: this righteousness was inherent in Christ as properly His own, but it is only reckoned or imputed to us — freely given to us. We are made righteous with a righteousness that is not originally ours. Second, the truth is that Christ was not righteous with that righteousness for His own sake but for ours. So no comparison can properly be made. We can simply say this: we are righteous with His righteousness, which He accomplished for us, and that completely.

This, then, is the source of the purchased grace we are speaking of: the obedience of Christ. And this is how it applies to our acceptance with God. The guilt of sin and our liability to punishment on that account is removed and taken away by the death of Christ, as will be further explained. And since beyond the removal of sin we also need a complete righteousness on the basis of which we may be accepted by God, this obedience of Christ is, through the free grace of God, credited to us for that very purpose.

This is all I will press on this point for now. The view that only the passive righteousness of Christ is imputed to us in the non-imputation of sin, and that on the condition of our faith and new obedience — thereby elevating these into the place of the righteousness of Christ — is a position I have no acquaintance with in my communion with the Lord Jesus. What may be argued on either side of this question must be considered elsewhere.

The second source of our communion with Christ in purchased grace is His death and sacrifice. He lived for us; He died for us. He was ours in all He did and in all He suffered.

I will be briefer in treating this, since I have dealt extensively with all its aspects elsewhere for another purpose.

The death of Christ, as a source of the purchased grace in which we hold communion with Him, is presented in Scripture under three aspects.

1. As a price. 2. As a sacrifice. 3. As a punishment.

In the first regard its proper effect is redemption; in the second, reconciliation or atonement; in the third, satisfaction. These are the great components of the purchased grace through which we first hold communion with Christ.

1. It is a price: "You were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20), "not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:17-18). His blood fulfills the role that payment serves in other transactions. He came to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:6). I have explained the proper force of this language in Scripture elsewhere.

The proper result of the death of Christ as a price or ransom is, as I said, redemption. Redemption is the deliverance of someone from bondage or captivity, along with all its accompanying miseries, through a price or ransom paid by the redeemer to the one who holds the captive.

1. In general, it is a deliverance. Christ is therefore called the Deliverer (Romans 11:26), giving Himself to deliver us (Galatians 1:4). He is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

2. It is the deliverance of someone from bondage or captivity. Without Him, we are all prisoners and captives: bound in prison (Isaiah 61:1), sitting in darkness in the prison house (Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:9), prisoners in a waterless pit (Zechariah 9:11), captives of the mighty and plunder of the terrible (Isaiah 49:25), under a captivity that must itself be led captive (Psalm 68:18). This bondage holds us under the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14).

3. The one who committed us to this prison and bondage is God Himself. To Him we owe our debts (Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:27-29); against Him are our offenses (Psalm 51:4). He is the judge and lawgiver (James 4:12); to sin is to rebel against Him. He has shut up all people under disobedience (Romans 11:32). He will cast both body and soul of the unrepentant into hell (Matthew 10:28). People are liable to His wrath (John 3:36) and lie under it by the sentence of the law, which is their prison.

4. The miseries that accompany this condition are beyond counting. Bondage to Satan, sin, and the world sums them up. From all of this we are delivered by the death of Christ as a price or ransom. "He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). He redeems us from all lawlessness (Titus 2:14), from our empty way of life (1 Peter 1:18-19) — from both the guilt and the power of our sin — purchasing for Himself a people who are His own, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). He died for the redemption of transgressions (Hebrews 9:15), and redeemed us also from the bondage of the world (Galatians 4:5).

4. And all this is accomplished by the payment of the price into the hand of God, by whose supreme authority we were held captive under the sentence of the law. The debt is owed to the great master (Matthew 18:23-24). The penalty — His curse and wrath — is what we are delivered from through it (Revelation 2:5).

The Holy Spirit frequently speaks of this: "Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness for the remission of sins" (Romans 3:24-25); likewise 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18; Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:6; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13; and Galatians 3:13. This is the first aspect of the death of Christ as it bears on the procurement of the grace in which we hold communion with Him.

Second, it was also a sacrifice. A body was prepared for Him (Hebrews 10:5) in which He would accomplish what the symbolic offerings and burnt sacrifices of the law had foreshadowed. That body He offered (Hebrews 10:10) — that is, His whole human nature, since His soul was also made an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10). This is why He is said to offer Himself (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 9:24). He gave Himself as a sacrifice to God, a fragrant offering. He did this willingly, as was fitting for one who would be the sacrifice. The law of this obedience was written in His heart (Psalm 40:8) — meaning He had a readiness, willingness, and desire for it.

The purpose of sacrifices such as His — which were bloody and for sin (Romans 4:3; Hebrews 2:17) — was atonement and reconciliation. This is consistently attributed to them: that they were to make atonement, in a manner suited to their nature. This is the aim of the death of Christ as a sacrifice: atonement and reconciliation with God. Sin had broken the friendship between God and us (Isaiah 63:10). His wrath was on us (John 3:36), and we are by nature liable to it (Ephesians 2:3). This is removed by the death of Christ as sacrifice (Daniel 9:24). "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10), and through this we receive the atonement (verse 11). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19-21). So also Ephesians 2:12-16 and many other passages. This is the second aspect of the death of Christ, which I only mention here since I have dealt with it at length elsewhere.

Third, it was also a punishment — a punishment in our place. "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5). God caused all our iniquities — that is, the punishment due for them — to fall on Him (verse 6). He bore the sins of many (verse 12). "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24). "He who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Bearing punishment directly tends toward giving satisfaction to the one who was offended and who inflicted the punishment. Justice can require no more than a proportional punishment suited to the offense. This punishment was inflicted on our dear Lord Jesus when He voluntarily took our place and undertook to be our Mediator. His substitution of Himself in our place, having been accepted by the righteous Judge, properly results in satisfaction.

This is the threefold aspect of the death of Christ as the chief source and fountain of the grace in which we have communion with Him. This, then, is the second source of purchased grace that we must keep before our eyes if we are to hold communion with Christ in it — His death and blood-shedding under this threefold description: a price, an offering, and a punishment.

But third, the Lord Christ goes even further. He does not leave us there. He died for our sins and rose again for our justification. He rose to carry on the complete work of purchased grace — that is, through His intercession, which is the third source of it. "He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

The intercession of Christ, in terms of its bearing on purchased grace, is considered in two ways.

First, as a continuation and carrying forward of His sacrifice, to bring about all its fruits and effects for us. This is called His "appearing in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24). Just as the high priest, having offered the great sacrifice for the atonement of sin, carried the blood into the Most Holy Place — where God's presence was represented — to complete the atonement he had made for himself and the people, so the Lord Christ, having offered Himself as a fragrant sacrifice to God and being sprinkled with His own blood, appears in God's presence to present before Him the covenant commitment: the redemption of sinners through His blood, and the release of all the blessings purchased by it. His appearing there puts in His claim for these things on our behalf, and this appearance bears on purchased grace insofar as He thereby presents that claim.

Second, He procures the Holy Spirit for us, to effectively bestow all this purchased grace on us. That He would do this, and does do it for us, He has promised in John 14:16. This is purchased grace with respect to its source and fountain. I will not speak further about it here, since I must address it at length in the discussion of our communion with the Holy Spirit.