HKB
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.
V. The apostles explicitly declare, that he paid a price to redeem us from the sentence of death: “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood.”(1363) Here Paul celebrates the grace of God, because he has given the price of our redemption in the death of Christ; and then enjoins us to betake ourselves to his blood, that we may obtain righteousness, and may stand secure before the judgment of God. Peter confirms the same when he says, “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”(1364) For there would be no propriety in the comparison, unless this blood had been the price of satisfaction for sin; for which reason Paul says, “Ye are bought with a price.”(1365) Nor would there be any truth in his other assertion, that “there is one Mediator, who gave himself a ransom,”(1366) unless the punishment due to our demerits had been transferred to him. Therefore the same apostle defines “redemption through his blood” to be “the forgiveness of sins;”(1367) as though he had said, We are justified or acquitted before God, because that blood is a complete satisfaction for us. This is consonant with the following passage, that “he blotted out the hand‐ writing, which was contrary to us, nailing it to his cross.”(1368) For these words signify the payment or compensation which absolves us from guilt. There is great weight also in these words of Paul: “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”(1369) For hence we conclude, that we must seek from Christ what the law would confer upon any one who fulfilled it; or, which is the same, that we obtain by the grace of Christ what God promised in the law to our works; “which” commandments “if a man do, he shall live in them.”(1370) This the apostle confirms with equal perspicuity in his sermon at Antioch, asserting that “by Christ all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.”(1371) For if righteousness consist in an observance of the law, who can deny that Christ merited favour for us, when, by bearing this burden himself, he reconciles us to God, just as though we were complete observers of the law ourselves? The same idea is conveyed in what he afterwards writes to the Galatians, that “God sent forth his Son, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.”(1372) For what was the design of that subjection to the law, but to procure a righteousness for us, by undertaking to perform that which we were not able to do? Hence that imputation of righteousness without works, of which Paul treats;(1373) because that righteousness which is found in Christ alone is accepted as ours. Nor indeed is the “flesh” of Christ called our “food”(1374) for any other reason but because we find in it the substance of life. Now, this virtue proceeds solely from the crucifixion of the Son of God, as the price of our righteousness. Thus Paul says, “Christ hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet‐smelling savour.”(1375) And in another place, “He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”(1376) Hence it is inferred, not only that salvation is given us through Christ, but that the Father is now propitious to us for his sake. For it cannot be doubted, but this, which God declares in a figurative way by Isaiah, is perfectly fulfilled in him: “I will” do it “for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”(1377) Of this the apostle is a sufficient witness, when he says, “Your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”(1378) For although the name of Christ is not expressed, yet John, in his usual manner, designates him by the pronoun αὐτος, he. In this sense the Lord declares, “As I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”(1379) With which corresponds the following declaration of Paul: “Unto you it is given for the love of Christ (ὑπερ Χριστου) not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”(1380)