CHAP. IX. The Glory of Christ in his intimate Conjunction with the Church.

What concerns the glory of Christ in the sending of the Holy Spirit to the church, with all the divine truths branching from it, I have at length declared in my discourse concerning the whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Here therefore it must have no place among those many other things that offer themselves to our contemplation as part of this glory or intimately belonging to it. I shall dwell briefly on three only, which cannot be directly reduced to the former heads.

And the first of these is that intimate conjunction between Christ and the church, by which it is just and equal in the sight of God — according to the rules of his eternal righteousness — that what he did and suffered in the discharge of his office should be esteemed, reckoned, and imputed to us, as to all the fruits and benefits of it, as if we had done and suffered the same things ourselves. For this conjunction of his with us was an act of his own mind and will, in which he is ineffably glorious.

The enemies of the glory of Christ and of his cross take this for granted: that there ought to be such a conjunction between the guilty person and the one who suffers for him, as that in him the guilty person may be said in some sense to have undergone the punishment himself. But then they affirm on the other hand that there was no such conjunction between Christ and sinners — none at all — but that he was a man as they were men, and otherwise at the greatest distance from them all that is possible for one man to be from another. The falseness of this latter assertion, and the gross ignorance of the Scripture beneath a pretense of subtlety in those who make it, will be plainly evident in our following discourse.

The apostle tells us (1 Peter 2:24) that "in his own self he bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and (1 Peter 3:18) that "he suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." But this seems somewhat strange to reason — where is the justice, where is the equity, that the just should suffer for the unjust? Where is divine righteousness in this? For it was an act of God: "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). The equity of this, with the grounds of it, must be briefly inquired into here.

First of all, it is certain that all the elect, the whole church of God, fell in Adam under the curse due to the transgression of the law. It is so also that in this curse, death both temporal and eternal was contained. This curse none could undergo and be saved. Nor was it consistent with the righteousness, holiness, or truth of God that sin should go unpunished. Therefore there was a necessity — upon the supposition of God's decree to save his church — for a transfer of punishment: namely, from those who had deserved it and could not bear it, to one who had not deserved it but could bear it.

A supposition of this transfer of punishment by divine dispensation is the foundation of the Christian religion — indeed, of all supernatural revelation contained in the Scripture. This was first intimated in the first promise, and afterwards explained and confirmed in all the institutions of the Old Testament. For although in the sacrifices of the law there was a revival of the greatest and most fundamental principle of the law of nature — namely, that God is to be worshipped with our best — yet the principal end and use of them was to represent this transfer of punishment from the offender to another, who was to be a sacrifice in his place.

The reasons for the equity of this, and the unspeakable glory of Christ in it, is what we now inquire into. And I shall reduce what ought to be said to the following heads.

1. It is not contrary to the nature of divine justice; it does not interfere with the principles of natural light in man, that in various cases some persons should suffer punishment for the sins and offenses of others.

I shall at present give this assertion no other confirmation but only this: that God has often done so, who will and can do no injustice.

So he affirms that he will do: "I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 20:5). It is no weighty objection that they also are sinners, continuing in their fathers' sins — for the worst of sinners must not be dealt with unjustly, but they must be if they are punished for their fathers' sins, and it be absolutely unlawful that anyone should be punished for the sin of another.

So the church affirms: "Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities" (Lamentations 5:7). And so it was — for in the Babylonian captivity God punished the sins of their forefathers, especially those committed in the days of Manasseh (2 Kings 23:26–27). As afterwards in the final destruction of that church and nation, God punished in them the guilt of all bloody persecutions from the beginning of the world (Luke 11:50–51).

So Canaan was cursed for the sin of his father (Genesis 9:25). Saul's seven sons were put to death for their father's bloody cruelty (2 Samuel 21:8–14). For the sin of David, seventy thousand of the people were destroyed by an angel, concerning whom he said, "It is I who have sinned and done evil; these sheep, what have they done?" (2 Samuel 24:15, 17). See also 1 Kings 21:29. So it was with all the children and infants that perished in the flood, or in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And other instances of the like nature may be assigned.

It is therefore evident that there is no inconsistency with the nature of divine justice, nor with the rules of reason among men, that in various cases the sins of some may be punished on others.

2. It is to be observed that this administration of justice is not indiscriminate, such that any person whatever may be punished for the sins of any others. There is always a special cause and reason for it, and this is a peculiar conjunction between those who sin and those who are punished for their sins. And two things belong to this conjunction: (1) a special relation, and (2) a special mutual interest.

1. There is a special relation required for this transfer of punishment — such as that between parents and children, as in most of the instances given above, or between a king and his subjects, as in the case of David. By this the persons sinning and those suffering are constituted one body, in which if one member offends, another may justly suffer — the back may answer for what the hands have taken.

2. It consists in mutual interest. Those whose sins are punished in others have such an interest in them that their being so punished is itself a punishment to themselves. Therefore such sinners are threatened with the punishment and evils that shall come upon their posterity or children for their sakes, which is a severe punishment to themselves: "Your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your unfaithfulness" (Numbers 14:33). The punishment due to their sins is in part transferred to their children, and in this did the sting of their own punishment also consist.

3. There is a greater, more intimate conjunction, a nearer relation, and a higher mutual interest between Christ and the church than ever was or can be between any other persons or relations in the world, by virtue of which it became just and equal in the sight of God that he should suffer for us, and that what he did and suffered should be imputed to us — which is further to be shown.

There neither is nor can be any more than a threefold conjunction between diverse, distinct persons. The first is natural, the second is moral (to which I refer that which is spiritual or mystical), and the third is covenantal, by virtue of mutual compact. In all these ways is Christ in conjunction with his church, and in each of them in a way singular and peculiar.

1. The first conjunction of distinct persons is natural. "God has made all mankind of one blood" (Acts 17:26), by which there is a kinship and alliance between them all. Hence every man is every man's brother or neighbor, to whom loving-kindness is to be shown (Luke 10:36). And this conjunction was between Christ and the church, as the apostle declares (Hebrews 2:14): "Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." Hence, "both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one" (verse 11). His infinite condescension in coming into this communion and conjunction of nature with us was declared before; but it is not common like that between all other men who share the same nature. There are two things in which it was peculiar and eminent.

1. This conjunction between him and the church did not arise from a necessity of nature, but from a voluntary act of his will. The conjunction that exists between all others is necessary. Every man is every man's brother whether he wills it or not, simply by being a man. Natural generation communicating to every one his subsistence in the same nature precedes all acts of their own will and choice. With the Lord Christ it was otherwise, as the text affirms — for the reasons expressed there, he by an act of his own will partook of flesh and blood, or came into this conjunction with us. He did it by his own choice, because the children partook of the same. He would be what the children were. Therefore the conjunction of Christ in human nature with the church is ineffably distinct from that common conjunction which exists among all others in the same nature. And therefore, although it might not be fitting among mere men that one should act and suffer in the place of others simply because they are all related to one another in this way whether they will or not, yet this could not apply to the Lord Christ, who in a strange and wonderful manner came into this conjunction by a free act of his own.

2. He came into it on this design and for this sole end — namely, that in our nature taken to be his own, he might do and suffer what was to be done and suffered for the church. So it is added in the text: that by death he might destroy him who had the power of death, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to bondage. This was the only end of his conjunction in nature with the church, and this puts the case between him and it at a vast distance from what is or may be between other men.

It is a foolish thing to argue that because a mere participation of the same nature among men is not sufficient to warrant the righteousness of punishing one for another, therefore the conjunction in the same nature between Christ and the church is not a sufficient and just foundation for his suffering for us and in our place. For by an act of his own will and choice he partook of our nature, and that for this very end — that in it he might suffer for us, as the Holy Spirit expressly declares. Among others there neither is nor can be anything of this nature, and so no objection from what is equal or inequal among them can arise against what is equal between Christ and the church. And in this he is glorious and precious to those who believe, as we shall see immediately.

2. There is a mystical conjunction between Christ and the church which corresponds to all the most strict real or moral unions or conjunctions between other persons or things — such as the conjunction between the head of a body and its members, or the vine and its branches, which are real; or between a husband and wife, which is both moral and real. That there is such a conjunction between Christ and his church, the Scripture abundantly declares, and also that it is the foundation of the equity of his suffering in its place. So speaks the apostle (Ephesians 5:25–32): "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church" (that is, his wife, the bride, the Lamb's wife) "and gave himself for it," and so forth. Being the head and husband of the church, which was to be sanctified and saved, and could be so in no other way than by his blood and sufferings, he was both fit to so suffer, and it was righteous also that what he did and suffered should be imputed to those for whom he both did it and suffered. Let the adversaries of the glory of Christ assign any one instance of such a conjunction, union, and relation between any among mankind as exists between Christ and the church, and they may give some appearance to their objections against his obedience and sufferings in our place, and the imputation of what he did and suffered to us. But the glory of Christ is singular in this, and as such it appears to those by whom the mystery of it is in any measure spiritually apprehended.

But yet it will be said that this mystical conjunction of Christ with his church is consequential upon what he did and suffered for it — for it follows upon the conversion of men to him. For it is by faith that we are grafted into him. Until that is actually worked in us, we have no mystical conjunction with him. He is not a head or a husband to unregenerate, unsanctified unbelievers while they continue to be so. And such was the state of the whole church when Christ suffered for us (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:5). There was therefore no such mystical conjunction between him and the church as to render it fitting and equal that he should suffer in its place. Therefore the church is the effect of the work of redemption, that which rose out of it and was made and constituted by it, and cannot so be the object of it as that which was to be redeemed by virtue of an antecedent conjunction with it. I answer,

1. Although this mystical conjunction is not actually complete without an actual participation of the Spirit of Christ, yet the church of the elect was designed antecedently to all his sufferings to be his spouse and wife, so that he might love her and suffer for her. So it is said (Hosea 12:13): "Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep." Yet she was not his married wife until after he had served for her and thereby purchased her to be his wife; yet as he served for her, she is called his wife because of his love toward her and because she was so designed to be upon his service. So was the church designed to be the spouse of Christ in the counsel of God, whereupon he loved her and gave himself for her.

Hence in the work of redemption the church was the object of it as designed to be the spouse of Christ, and the effect of it inasmuch as by it she was made fit for the full consummation of that alliance, as the apostle expressly declares (Ephesians 5:25–27).

2. Prior to all that the Lord Christ did and suffered for the church, there was a supreme act of the will of God the Father, giving all the elect to him, entrusting them with him to be redeemed, sanctified, and saved, as he himself declares (John 17:6, 9; John 10:14–16). And on these grounds this mystical conjunction between Christ and the church has its virtue and efficacy before it is actually complete.

3. There is a covenantal conjunction between distinct persons. And as this varies according to the variety of the interests and ends of those who enter into it, so it is most eminent where one, by the common consent of all who are concerned, undertakes to be a sponsor or surety for others — to do and answer what on their part is required for attaining the ends of the covenant. So did the Lord Christ undertake to be surety of the new covenant on behalf of the church (Hebrews 7:22), and thereon presented himself to God to do and suffer for them, in their place and on their behalf, whatever was required, that they might be sanctified and saved. These things I have treated of at length elsewhere, as containing a great part of the mystery of the wisdom of God in the salvation of the church. Here therefore I only observe that this is what completes the mystical conjunction that was between Christ and the church, by virtue of which it was fitting, just, and equal in the sight of God that what he did and suffered should be imputed to us.

These are some of the foundations of that mystery of transmitting the sins of the church — as to their guilt and punishment — from the sinners themselves to another every way innocent, pure, and righteous in himself. This is the life, soul, and center of all scriptural revelation. And in this he is exceedingly glorious and precious to those who believe. No heart can conceive, no tongue can express the glory of Christ in this. Now because his infinite condescension and love in this have been spoken to before, I shall here only instance its greatness in some of its effects.

1. It shines forth in the exaltation of the righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins. There is no more adequate conception of the divine nature than that of justice in rule and government. To this it belongs to punish sin according to its desert, and in this consisted the first actings of God as the governor of the rational creation — in the eternal punishment of the angels who sinned and the casting of Adam out of paradise, which was also an emblem of everlasting ruin. Now all the church, all the elect of God, are sinners — they were so in Adam; they have been and are so in themselves. What does the justice of God become fit to do in this case? Shall it dismiss them all unpunished? Where then is that justice which spared neither the angels who sinned nor Adam at first? Would this procedure have any consistency with it, be reconcilable to it? Therefore the establishment of the righteousness of God on the one hand and the forgiveness of sin on the other seem so contradictory that many stumble and fall at it eternally (Romans 10:3–4).

But in this interposition of Christ, in this transfer of punishment from the church to him by virtue of his conjunction with it, there is a blessed harmony between the righteousness of God and the forgiveness of sins — the manifestation of which is his eternal glory. O blessed exchange! O sweet permutation! as Justin Martyr speaks.

By virtue of his union with the church, which he of his own accord entered into, and his undertaking therein to answer for it in the sight of God, it was a righteous thing with God to lay the punishment of all our sins upon him, so that he might freely and graciously pardon them all — to the honor and exaltation of his justice as well as of his grace and mercy (Romans 3:24–26).

In this he is glorious in the sight of God, angels, and men. In him there is at the same time, in the same divine actings, a glorious display of both justice and mercy — of the one in punishing, of the other in pardoning. The apparent inconsistency between the righteousness of God and the salvation of sinners, with which the consciences of convicted persons are exercised and terrified, and which is the rock on which most of them shatter themselves into eternal ruin, is here removed and taken away. In his cross, divine holiness and punitive justice were exercised and manifested; and through his triumph, grace and mercy are exerted to the utmost. This is that glory which ravishes the hearts and satisfies the souls of those who believe. For what can they desire more, what is further needful for the rest and composure of their souls, than in one view to behold God eternally well pleased in the declaration of his righteousness and the exercise of his mercy in order to their salvation? In due apprehension of this, let my soul live; in the faith of it let me die; and let present admiration of this glory make way for the eternal enjoyment of it in its beauty and fullness.

He is glorious in that the law of God in its preceptive part, or as to the obedience it required, was perfectly fulfilled and accomplished. That it should be so was absolutely necessary from the wisdom, holiness, and righteousness of him by whom it was given. For what could be more remote from those divine perfections than to give a law which was never to be fulfilled by those to whom it was given and who were to have the benefits of it? This could not be done by us. But through the obedience of Christ, by virtue of this his mystical conjunction with the church, the law was so fulfilled in us by being fulfilled for us, that the glory of God in the giving of it and the attaching of eternal rewards to it is exceedingly exalted (Romans 8:3–4).

This is that glory of Christ of which one view by faith will scatter all fears, answer all objections, and give relief against all the despondencies of poor, tempted, doubting souls — and it will be an anchor to all believers, which they may cast within the veil to hold them firm and steadfast in all trials, storms, and temptations in life and death.

I have addressed at length what concerns the glory of Christ in the sending of the Holy Spirit to the church, along with all the divine truths that flow from it, in my discourse on the whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit. That subject therefore will not be treated here, among the many other things that present themselves to us as part of this glory or as intimately connected to it. I will dwell briefly on only three things that cannot be directly placed under the earlier headings.

The first of these is the intimate union between Christ and the church, by which it is right and just in God's sight — in keeping with the rules of His eternal righteousness — that what Christ did and suffered in the discharge of His office should be counted, reckoned, and imputed to us, as to all its fruits and benefits, as though we had done and suffered the same things ourselves. This union of His with us was an act of His own mind and will, and in it He is inexpressibly glorious.

The enemies of Christ's glory and of His cross grant one thing: that there must be such a union between the guilty person and the one who suffers for him that in some sense the guilty person can be said to have undergone the punishment himself. But they then claim that there was no such union between Christ and sinners — none at all — and that He was simply a man as other men are, and otherwise at the greatest possible distance from all of them. The falseness of this claim, and the deep ignorance of Scripture hiding behind a pretense of intellectual precision in those who make it, will be plainly evident in what follows.

The apostle tells us that 'He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross' (1 Peter 2:24), and that 'He died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God' (1 Peter 3:18). But this seems strange to reason — where is the justice, where is the fairness, in the just suffering for the unjust? Where is divine righteousness in this? For it was an act of God: 'But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him' (Isaiah 53:6). The fairness of this, and the grounds on which it rests, must be briefly examined here.

First of all, it is certain that all the elect — the whole church of God — fell in Adam under the curse due to the transgression of the law. That curse included both temporal and eternal death. No one could undergo that curse and be saved. Nor was it consistent with the righteousness, holiness, or truthfulness of God that sin should go unpunished. Therefore, given God's decree to save His church, there was a necessity for a transfer of punishment — from those who had deserved it but could not bear it, to one who had not deserved it but could bear it.

This transfer of punishment by divine arrangement is the foundation of the Christian religion — indeed, of all supernatural revelation in Scripture. It was first hinted at in the first promise and then explained and confirmed in all the institutions of the Old Testament. Although the sacrifices of the law revived the greatest and most fundamental principle of natural religion — that God is to be worshiped with our best — their principal purpose was to represent this transfer of punishment from the offender to another, who would serve as a sacrifice in his place.

The reasons for the justice of this arrangement, and the inexpressible glory of Christ in it, are what we now examine. I will organize what needs to be said under the following heads.

First, it is not contrary to the nature of divine justice — nor does it conflict with the principles of natural reason in human beings — that in certain cases some persons should suffer punishment for the sins and offenses of others.

For now I will offer no other confirmation of this than the following: God has often done this very thing, and He neither will nor can do injustice.

He declared He would do so: 'For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations' (Exodus 20:5). It is no strong objection to say that the children are also sinners who continue in their fathers' sins — for even the worst sinners must not be treated unjustly, yet they would be treated unjustly if punished for their fathers' sins, if it were absolutely wrong for anyone ever to be punished for another's sin.

The church also affirms: 'Our fathers sinned, and are no more; it is we who have borne their iniquities' (Lamentations 5:7). And so it was — for in the Babylonian captivity, God punished the sins of their ancestors, especially those committed in the days of Manasseh (2 Kings 23:26-27). Likewise, in the final destruction of that nation and its institutions, God punished in them the guilt of all the bloody persecutions from the beginning of the world (Luke 11:50-51).

Canaan was cursed for the sin of his father (Genesis 9:25). Saul's seven sons were put to death because of their father's bloody cruelty (2 Samuel 21:8-14). For David's sin, seventy thousand people were struck down by an angel — of which David said, 'I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep — what have they done?' (2 Samuel 24:15, 17). See also 1 Kings 21:29. The same was true of all the children and infants who perished in the flood, or in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Other examples of the same kind could be given.

It is therefore clear that it is not inconsistent with divine justice, or with reason among human beings, that in certain cases the sins of some may be punished on others.

Second, it should be noted that this administration of justice is not arbitrary — as if any person could be punished for the sins of any other person at random. There is always a specific cause and reason for it, and that reason is a particular union between those who sin and those who are punished for their sins. Two things belong to this union: first, a special relationship; and second, a special shared interest.

First, a special relationship is required for this transfer of punishment — such as that between parents and children, as in most of the examples given above, or between a king and his subjects, as in David's case. This relationship constitutes the sinning persons and the suffering persons as one body, in which if one member offends, another may justly suffer — the back may be held accountable for what the hands have taken.

Second, the shared interest matters as well. Those whose sins are punished in others have such a stake in those others that seeing them punished is itself a punishment to themselves. This is why sinners are threatened with the punishment and suffering that will come upon their descendants for their sakes — which is itself a severe punishment to them: 'Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness' (Numbers 14:33). The punishment due to their sins is in part transferred to their children, and in this the sting of their own punishment also consists.

Third, there is a greater, more intimate union, a closer relationship, and a deeper mutual interest between Christ and the church than has ever existed or ever could exist between any other persons or relationships in the world. By virtue of this union, it was just and right in God's sight that He should suffer for us, and that what He did and suffered should be imputed to us — as we will further demonstrate.

There are only three kinds of union that can exist between distinct persons. The first is natural, the second is moral (under which I include the spiritual or mystical), and the third is covenantal — based on mutual agreement. Christ is united to His church in all three ways, and in each of them in a way that is singular and unique.

First, the natural union. 'He made from one man every nation of mankind' (Acts 17:26), which creates a kinship and bond between all people. This is why every person is every other person's neighbor or brother, to whom kindness is owed (Luke 10:36). This natural union existed between Christ and the church, as the apostle declares: 'Since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives' (Hebrews 2:14). This is why 'both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father' (Hebrews 2:11). His infinite condescension in entering into this communion of nature with us was described earlier; but it is not the same as the common bond between all other human beings who share the same nature. There are two respects in which His union with us was unique and remarkable.

First, His union with the church did not arise from any necessity of nature but from a voluntary act of His own will. The union that exists among all other human beings is necessary — every person is every other person's neighbor simply by being a person, whether he wills it or not. Natural birth, which gives every person his existence in the same human nature, comes before any act of will or choice on his part. With the Lord Christ it was otherwise, as the text affirms — for the reasons stated there, He took on flesh and blood by an act of His own will, freely entering into this union with us. He did it by His own choice, because the children shared in flesh and blood — He would be what the children were. Therefore the union of Christ in human nature with the church is inexpressibly different from the common bond that exists among all other people in the same nature. It might not be fitting among ordinary human beings for one to act and suffer in the place of others simply because of the universal human bond they share whether they will it or not. But this objection cannot apply to the Lord Christ, who entered into this union in a remarkable and wondrous way through a free act of His own will.

Second, He entered into this union with this very design and for this sole purpose — so that in our nature, which He made His own, He might do and suffer what had to be done and suffered for the church. So the text adds: that through death He might destroy the one who had the power of death, and free those who through fear of death were subject to bondage. This was the only purpose of His natural union with the church, and this puts the relationship between Him and it at an immense distance from anything that is or can be between ordinary human beings.

It is a foolish argument to claim that because a mere shared human nature among people is not enough to justify the righteousness of one person being punished for another, therefore Christ's union in the same nature with the church is not a sufficient and just basis for His suffering for us and in our place. By an act of His own will and choice He took on our nature — and He did so for this very purpose: that in it He might suffer for us, as the Holy Spirit expressly declares. Among ordinary human beings there is and can be nothing like this, so no objection based on what is fair or unfair among them can apply to what is just between Christ and the church. And in this He is glorious and precious to those who believe, as we shall see shortly.

Second, there is a mystical union between Christ and the church that corresponds to all the closest real or moral unions between other persons or things — such as the union between the head of a body and its members, or the vine and its branches (which are real unions), or between a husband and wife (which is both moral and real). Scripture abundantly declares that such a union exists between Christ and His church, and that it is the foundation for the justice of His suffering in the church's place. The apostle speaks to this: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church' — that is, His wife, the bride, the Lamb's wife — 'and gave Himself up for her' (Ephesians 5:25-32), and so on. Being the head and husband of the church, which had to be sanctified and saved — and could be saved in no other way than by His blood and sufferings — He was both fit to suffer in this way, and it was also righteous that what He did and suffered should be imputed to those for whom He did and suffered it. Let the opponents of Christ's glory point to any one example of such a union, bond, and relationship among human beings as exists between Christ and the church — then their objections against His obedience and sufferings in our place, and the imputation of what He did and suffered to us, might have some appearance of force. But Christ's glory is unique in this regard, and it appears as such to those who grasp the mystery of it in any spiritual measure.

But it will be objected that this mystical union of Christ with His church comes after what He did and suffered for it — for it follows upon the conversion of people to Him. It is through faith that we are grafted into Him. Until faith is actually worked in us, we have no mystical union with Him. He is not a head or husband to unregenerate, unsanctified unbelievers while they remain in that condition. And that was the state of the whole church when Christ suffered for us (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:5). Therefore there was no such mystical union between Him and the church that would make it fitting and just for Him to suffer in its place. The church, therefore, is the result of the work of redemption — something that arose from it and was formed by it — and so cannot be the object of redemption as something that was to be redeemed on the basis of a prior union with Him. I answer:

First, although this mystical union is not actually complete without an actual sharing in the Spirit of Christ, the elect church was appointed before all His sufferings to be His bride and wife, so that He might love her and suffer for her. So it is said: 'Jacob served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep' (Hosea 12:13). Yet she was not his married wife until after he had served for her and thereby purchased her to be his wife; yet while he was serving for her, she is called his wife because of his love for her and because she was designed to become his wife through his service. So the church was appointed to be the bride of Christ in the counsel of God, whereupon He loved her and gave Himself for her.

In the work of redemption, therefore, the church was its object as the one appointed to become the bride of Christ, and its result inasmuch as through it she was made fit for the full consummation of that union — as the apostle expressly declares (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Second, prior to everything the Lord Christ did and suffered for the church, there was a supreme act of the will of God the Father: giving all the elect to Him and entrusting them to Him to be redeemed, sanctified, and saved — as Christ Himself declares (John 17:6, 9; John 10:14-16). On this basis, the mystical union between Christ and the church carries its virtue and efficacy even before it is actually brought to completion.

Third, there is a covenantal union between distinct persons. As this varies according to the different interests and aims of those who enter it, it is most fully realized when one person, by the common consent of all who are involved, takes on the role of sponsor or guarantor for others — undertaking to do and answer for everything required of them to achieve the ends of the covenant. This is what the Lord Christ did when He became the surety of the new covenant on behalf of the church (Hebrews 7:22), presenting Himself to God to do and suffer for them — in their place and on their behalf — whatever was required for them to be sanctified and saved. I have treated these things at length elsewhere, since they contain a great part of the mystery of God's wisdom in the salvation of the church. Here I only note that this completes the mystical union between Christ and the church, by virtue of which it was fitting, just, and right in God's sight that what He did and suffered should be imputed to us.

These are some of the foundations of the mystery by which the sins of the church — as to their guilt and punishment — are transferred from the sinners themselves to one who is in every way innocent, pure, and righteous in Himself. This is the life, soul, and center of all scriptural revelation. In this, He is exceedingly glorious and precious to those who believe. No heart can conceive and no tongue can express the glory of Christ in this. Because His infinite condescension and love in this have been addressed earlier, I will here only point to its greatness through some of its effects.

First, this glory shines forth in the exaltation of God's righteousness in the forgiveness of sins. There is no more adequate description of the divine nature than justice in government and rule. It belongs to justice to punish sin according to its desert, and this was how God first acted as governor of the rational creation — in the eternal punishment of the angels who sinned, and in the expulsion of Adam from paradise, which was also a symbol of everlasting ruin. Now all the church — all the elect of God — are sinners: they were sinners in Adam, and they have been and are sinners in themselves. What then is justice required to do in this case? Shall it let them all go unpunished? Where then is the justice that spared neither the angels who sinned nor Adam at first? Would such a course of action be consistent with that justice, reconcilable to it? The establishment of God's righteousness on one hand, and the forgiveness of sin on the other, appear so contradictory to each other that many stumble and fall over it eternally (Romans 10:3-4).

But in this interposition of Christ — in this transfer of punishment from the church to Him by virtue of His union with it — there is a beautiful harmony between the righteousness of God and the forgiveness of sins, the display of which is His eternal glory. O blessed exchange! O sweet permutation! as Justin Martyr says.

By virtue of His union with the church — a union He entered into of His own accord — and His undertaking in that union to answer for the church before God, it was righteous for God to lay the punishment of all our sins on Him, so that He might freely and graciously pardon them all, to the honor and exaltation of His justice as well as of His grace and mercy (Romans 3:24-26).

In this He is glorious in the sight of God, angels, and human beings. In Him there is, in the same divine acts at the same time, a glorious display of both justice and mercy — the one in punishing, the other in pardoning. The apparent conflict between God's righteousness and the salvation of sinners — which troubles and terrifies the consciences of convicted people, and on which most of them shatter themselves into eternal ruin — is here resolved and removed. In His cross, divine holiness and punitive justice were exercised and made plain; and through His triumph, grace and mercy are extended to the fullest measure. This is the glory that captures the hearts and satisfies the souls of those who believe. What more could they desire — what else is needed for the rest and peace of their souls — than to see in a single view God eternally pleased, as His righteousness is declared and His mercy exercised for their salvation? In a true understanding of this, let my soul live; in faith in it, let me die; and let present wonder at this glory prepare me for its eternal enjoyment in all its beauty and fullness.

He is also glorious in that the law of God in its commands — that is, in the obedience it required — was perfectly fulfilled and accomplished. This was absolutely necessary given the wisdom, holiness, and righteousness of the one who gave it. What could be more inconsistent with those divine perfections than to give a law that was never to be fulfilled by those to whom it was given and who were meant to receive its benefits? We could not fulfill it ourselves. But through the obedience of Christ, by virtue of His mystical union with the church, the law was so fulfilled in us by being fulfilled for us that the glory of God in giving it and attaching eternal rewards to it is greatly magnified (Romans 8:3-4).

This is the glory of Christ of which one view by faith will scatter all fears, answer all objections, and bring relief to poor, tempted, doubting souls in their darkest moments — and it will serve as an anchor for all believers, which they may cast within the veil to hold them firm and steady through every trial, storm, and temptation in life and in death.