VIII. OF THE ATONEMENT FOR SIN
We believe (a) that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace; (b) through the
mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who by the appointment of the Father, freely
took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honored the divine law by His personal
obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; (c)
that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr,
but was the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner's place, the Just dying
for the unjust, Christ, the Lord, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree;
(d) that, having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in heaven, and uniting
in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, He is every
way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and an all-sufficient Saviour.
*** (a) Eph. 2:8,9. "By grace are ye saved through
faith and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast."
Acts 15:11. "We believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved."
Rom. 3:24. "Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
*** (b) John 3:16. "For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."
Matt. 18:11. "For the Son of man is come to
save that which was lost."
Phil. 2:7. Christ Jesus "made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men."
Heb. 2:14. "That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."
Isa. 53:4-7. "Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth."
Rom. 3:25. "Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
I John 4:10. "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins."
I Cor. 15:3. "Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures."
II Cor. 5:21. "For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
*** (c) John 10:18. "No man taketh it from me,
but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again."
Phil. 2:8. "Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Gal. 1:4. "Who gave himself for our sins."
I Pet. 2:24. "Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed."
I Pet. 3:18. "For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."
Isa. 53:11. "He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
Heb. 12:2. "Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
*** (d) I Cor. 15:20. "But now is Christ risen
from the dead."
Isa. 53:12. "Therefore will I divide him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured
out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare
the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Heb. 9:12-15. "Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats.... sanctifieth
to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God? For this cause 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."
Heb. 7:25. "Wherefore he is able to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them."
I John 2:2. "He is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Next: IX. OF GRACE IN THE NEW CREATION