HKB
Nor does the future tense of the verb exclude present righteousness; as appears from the context. For he had before said, “The free gift is of many offences unto justification.”(1351)
IV. But when we say that grace is procured for us by the merit of Christ, we intend, that we have been purified by his blood, and that his death was an expiation for sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”(1352) “This blood is shed for the remission of sins.”(1353) If the non‐imputation of our sins to us be the effect of the blood which he shed, it follows that this was the price of satisfaction to the justice of God. This is confirmed by the declaration of the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”(1354) For he opposes Christ to all the sacrifices of the law, to show that what they prefigured was accomplished in him alone. Now we know what Moses frequently says—that an atonement shall be made for sin, and it shall be forgiven. In short, the ancient figures give us a fine exhibition of the power and efficacy of the death of Christ. And the apostle copiously discusses this subject in the Epistle to the Hebrews, judiciously assuming this as a fundamental principle, that “without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Whence he infers, that Christ has “once appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;” and that “he was offered to bear the sins of many.”(1355) He had already said, that “Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood; he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.”(1356) Now, when he argues in this manner, “If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works!”(1357) it evidently appears that we too much undervalue the grace of Christ, unless we attribute to his sacrifice an expiatory, placatory, and satisfactory efficacy. Therefore it is immediately added, “He is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”(1358) But we ought particularly to consider the relation described by Paul, that he was “made a curse for us.”(1359) For it would be unnecessary, and consequently absurd, for Christ to be loaded with a curse, except in order to discharge the debts due from others, and thereby to obtain a righteousness for them. The testimony of Isaiah likewise is clear, that “the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”(1360) For if Christ had not made a satisfaction for our sins, he could not be said to have appeased God by suffering the punishment to which we were exposed. This is confirmed by a subsequent clause: “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.”(1361) Let us add the interpretation of Peter, which will remove all difficulty, that “he bare our sins in his own body on the tree;”(1362) which imports that the burden of condemnation, from which we have been relieved, was laid upon Christ.