Soteriology, Part 8

By Lewis Sperry Chafer

The Savior

Things Accomplished by Christ in His Sufferings and Death

V. A Propitiation toward God.

The value to God of Christ’s death as a vindication of His righteousness and law is indicated by the word propitiation. This intricate doctrine is set forth by the various forms and uses of this word. No more clarifying analysis of this doctrine has been found than that written by Dr. C. I. Scofield in his Bible Correspondence Course which is here quoted in part: “The word propitiation occurs in the English Bible, A.V., but three times. In 1 John 2:2, and 4:10, Christ is said to be ‘the propitiation for our sins.’ Here the Greek word is hilasmos, meaning, ‘that which propitiates.’ In Rom 3:25 it is said of Christ: ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the passing over of sins done aforetime, through the forbearance of God.’ Here the Greek word is hilastērion, meaning, ‘the place of propitiation.’ But in Heb 9:5 hilastērion is the Greek word used by the Holy Spirit for ‘mercy seat’ in referring to the ancient tabernacle worship of Israel: ‘And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat’ (hilastērion). This, therefore, sends us back to the Old Testament. Whatever the mercy seat of the tabernacle was, typically, to the Israelite, that Christ is actually, to the believer and to God…. Before turning to the Old Testament, the student will note two other New Testament passages. Heb 8:1, ‘I will be merciful [hileōs, propitious] to their unrighteousness.’ Luke 18:13: ‘God be merciful [hilaskomai, propitiated] to me a sinner.’ (1) The mercy seat was the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant. The ark was an oblong box of acacia wood overlaid with gold, two and one half cubits long, and one and one half cubits high and broad. In this box or ark, were placed, along with a pot of the wilderness manna, and Aaron’s rod, the ‘two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God’—the ten commandments, God’s holy Law (Exod 31:18). The iover {sic}, or ‘mercy seat, was made entirely of gold, the symbol of divine righteousness, and at each end, beaten out of the same piece of gold, was a figure with wings extended over the mercy seat, the cherubim. ‘And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be’ (Exod 25:20). The cherubims are set forth in the Old Testament as especially connected with the glory of God, and the guardians and vindicators of what is due to His glory (Ezek 1:13, 14, 27, 28; Gen 3:24). (2) The mercy seat (hilastērion) of the tabernacle worship was called in the Hebrew, kappôreth, place of covering, and is intimately connected with the Old Testament word atonement (Heb. kaphar, to cover sin). The sacrificial blood made atonement…for sin; the mercy seat was the ‘place of covering’ for it was there the sacrificial blood was sprinkled. ‘And he [the high priest] shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times’ (Lev 16:13). (3) Typically, therefore, the golden lid of the ark was a mercy seat because, in divine righteousness (gold) it ‘covered’ from the eyes of the cherubim the broken law, while the sprinkled blood ‘covered’ the worshipper’s sins. It became, therefore, the meeting place of a holy God and a sinful man. ‘There will I meet with thee, and will commune with thee, from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims’ (Exod 25:22). ‘For I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat’ (Lev 16:2). ‘And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat’ (Num 7:89). (4) It follows that Christ is the propitiation (hilastērion, mercy seat, ‘throne of grace,’ Heb 4:16), because He is the meeting place and place of communion between a holy God and a sinful but believing human being. Meeting God in Christ, the believer may boldly say: ‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth’ (Rom 8:33). And Christ is the hilastērion, or mercy seat, because He is the hilasmos, the propitiator, who ‘pot {sic} away sin by the sacrifice of himself’ (Heb 9:26); and then, ‘an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands…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’ (Heb 9:11, 12). He is Himself the mercy seat sprinkled with His own precious blood. (5) The question still remains: what or whom did He propitiate by the shedding of His own blood? It is the answer to this question which exposes the infelicity of the English word ‘propitiation’ as a rendering of the Greek hilastērion, or the Hebrew kappôreth. For ‘propitiate’ means to appease, and suggests the wholly false notion that God’s wrath was appeased, satiated, by sacrificial blood. But the very fact that God Himself provides the mercy seat, the propitiation, should have banished that notion from human thinking. God is love, and holiness His highest attribute. His law is the expression of His holiness, the cross the expression of His love. And in the cross there is such a doing right by the moral order of the universe, such a meeting, in the sinner’s behalf, of the inflexible demand of the law,—’the soul that sinneth it shall die’—that the love of God may flow unhindered to the sinner with no compromise of His holiness. What else, must have been a judgment seat, becomes, for the believer in Christ a mercy seat; a ‘throne of grace.’ Propitiation, then, relates to the law and what is due to God’s holiness.”[1]

The prayer of the publican (Luke 18:13) has been greatly misunderstood and misused. The translation of ἱλάσκομαι by the English word merciful rather than by the word propitious, which is indicated, is responsible for great error in the field of gospel appeal. God cannot be merciful toward the sinner in the sense of being generous or lenient, and the publican did not ask God to do such an impossible thing. He did ask God to be propitious. In this connection, it will be remembered that this record is of the experience of a man who stood on Old Testament ground before the death of Christ. Having brought his offering—as all did who approached God in prayer—, he was justified in asking God to be propitious to him the (Gr.) sinner. The error consists in not recognizing that the death of Christ has changed all relationships to God. For an individual to pray to God now that He be merciful toward a sinner is as impossible as it was in Old Testament days. For an individual to ask now that God be propitious is to reject the death of Christ and to ignore its value. It is to plead for something to be done when everything has been done. Men are not saved by coaxing mercy out of God; they are saved when they dare to believe that God has been merciful enough to provide a Savior and that He is propitious.

As in the case of redemption and reconciliation, there are two aspects of propitiation. There is a propitiation which affects God in His relation to the κόσμος—with no reference to the elect—; and that which affects His relation to the elect. This twofold propitiation is set forth in 1 John 2:2, which reads, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” No more transforming message could be uttered than the proclamation of the truth that God is propitious. On the ground of this gospel the unsaved are free to come by faith, knowing that they will not be punished or reproved but rather received and saved forever. In like manner, the saved who have sinned, confessing their sin, are free to come to God for the forgiveness and cleansing, and are never turned away. The prodigal son, who is an illustration of a son returning to the Father for restoration on the ground of confession rather than faith, was kissed by his father before he had made his confession. Thus it is revealed that God is propitious, not when faith or confession has made Him so; but by the death of His Son. Neither sinners nor sinning saints are appointed to the task of propitiating God. Christ has accomplished that perfectly, and the door into the grace of God is open wide.

When redemption, which is toward sin, reconciliation, which is toward men, and propitiation, which is toward God—all wrought by Christ in His death—are considered in their specific relation to the unsaved and these three are combined into one doctrine or body of truth, they together form what is properly termed The Finished Work of Christ.

VI. The Judgment of the Sin Nature.

By His sufferings and death Christ wrought with equal definiteness and effectiveness in solving the problem of personal sins and the problem of the sin nature. He “died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3), and “he died unto sin” (Rom 6:10). In preceding pages which deal with the doctrine of substitution, Christ’s death for personal sin, or “our sins,” has been traced. At this point the deeper and more complex truth is confronted, namely, that Christ died unto sin. Light is thrown on this theme when it is observed that in Romans, chapters 6, 7, and 8, and in 1 John, chapter 1, there is a distinction indicated between sin which is personal failure or transgression and sin which is a nature. Though the same term, sin, is used, the context and character of truth disclosed determines where and when one truth or the other is in view. As an illustration of this important distinction, it may be seen that 1 John 1:8—”If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”—relates to the sin nature, about which good people may easily be self-deceived; nevertheless the truth is not in the one who asserts that he has no sin nature. Over against this and as a wholly different claim, 1 John 1:10 states: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” In this sphere of personal sin there can be no self-deception. The grieved Spirit, if not the conscience, in the believer has impressed him with the reality of his sin. He knows, also, that he has failed to comply with the instruction given in the Word of God and that God has plainly declared that none are free from sin in His sight. To declare of one’s self that one has not sinned, is to make God a liar and not to be benefited by His Word.

The divine method, therefore, of dealing with the believer’s sin nature is first to bring it into judgment. This was done by Christ when He “died unto sin once” (Rom 6:10); but it can never be made too emphatic that this judgment does not consist in that nature being destroyed, nor is its essential power diminshed. As Satan was judged by Christ on the cross (Col 2:14, 15; John 16:11) and is yet active—perhaps, as the god of this age, he is more active than before—, in like manner, the sin nature is judged though its power is not, because of that judgment, decreased. The second provision in the divine dealing with the sin nature is that it is to be controlled in the believer by the superior power of the indwelling Spirit. It is a form of rationalism to contend that the sin nature is dismissed or eradicated in any believer so long as he is in this world. This error, so prevalent in many quarters, will be analyzed at its proper place under Pneumatology. Enough will have been said here if it be observed that, as the Christian’s enemies are threefold, namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil (the sin nature, or the “old man,” is but a portion of one of these), and not one of them is ever removed or eradicated, it is highly unscriptural and equally unreasonable to contend that the sin nature is thus deposed. Similarly, there might be a semblance of justification for a theory of eradication if anyone had ever demonstrated such a thing in experience. Over against all suppositions of such rationalism is the truth that the Word of God so clearly teaches, that the Spirit of God is given to the Christian as the resource by which he may realize a victory over every foe, including the sin nature, which statement of Scripture, in so far as it concerns the sin nature, were eradication the will of God, would be without point or purpose.

The perfect judgment by Christ in His death of the sin nature had in view the provision of a righteous basis upon which that nature may be wholly controlled by the Spirit of God. The problem is one that is related to God and His holiness. Being wholly evil, the sin nature can only be judged by God directly or in a substitute. The Holy Spirit, being holy, could not deal with that evil nature in any life other than to bring upon it the awful judgment it merits had it not been already judged. Since it is perfectly judged by Christ, all power of the Spirit is free from restraint to accomplish a day-by-day, or moment-by-moment, victory over the sin nature. To deal only with fruit of the tree—personal sins—and not with its root—the sin nature—would be almost a useless procedure. God has plainly declared His purpose and method of dealing with the root—the sin nature—and by giving attention to this the Christian may be intelligent in the steps he takes in the direction of an experimental sanctification of daily life. As unregenerate men may continue unsaved because of their failure to enter by faith into the truth that Christ died for their sins, in like manner regenerate men may remain undelivered from evil in their lives because of their failure to enter by faith into the truth that Christ died unto their sin nature.

Romans 6:1 to 8:13.

The central passage bearing on the judgment of the sin nature, or “old man,” by the death of Christ and the explanation of the new basis upon which, in view of that judgment, the believer’s life may be lived, is Romans 6:1 to 8:13. As Romans, chapters 1 to 5, discloses the way of salvation into eternal life and a perfect standing, even eternal justification, for those among the unsaved who believe—and that because of the finished work of Christ as a redemption (3:24), as a reconciliation (5:10), and as a propitiation (3:25), in like manner Romans 6:1 to 8:13 discloses the way to a God-honoring manner of life for the one who is saved, and that manner of life through what may well be termed The finished work of Christ for the Christian. For, by a judgment—infinitely perfect and complete—of the sin nature, the walk by a new life-principle, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (6:4), is made possible for the Christian who by faith reckons himself to be dead unto the sin nature and alive unto God, and counts on the sufficient power of the Spirit. It is of surpassing importance that the “old man is [was] crucified with Christ” (6:6). On this ground the body of sin, or sin’s power to manifest itself, may be disannulled—not destroyed, as in the A.V. Though this great body of truth is but briefly considered in the present connection or in relation to the death of Christ, it will be considered at length under Pneumatology and as related to the enabling work of the Spirit.

Both Christ’s death for sins and His death unto sin are substitutionary to the highest degree, and in no Scripture is substitution so emphasized as in Romans 6:1–10. Four steps in which the believer participates are itemized—crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. It is significant that the one most forcible and explicit context which deals with the death of Christ for the unsaved presents the same particulars, but without the crucifixion feature. This Scripture declares: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…” (1 Cor 15:1ff). In Romans 6:1–4, which presents the ground of the believer’s experimental sanctification, or daily walk, in the enabling power of the Spirit, it is written, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” And to this is added in verse 6, “knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” The whole context, Romans 6:1–10, is so sustained in its thought of substitution that a partnership—co-crucifixion, co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection—is indicated. Since there could be no necessity for any one of these features to be enacted for Christ’s own sake, it is altogether wrought in behalf of those whose sin nature He thus judges. This so vital passage on which the whole doctrine of the judgment of the Adamic nature rests, is but an enlarging on the one question with which the context opens, namely, “How shall we that are dead [who died] to sin, live any longer therein?” That is, the manner of His death unto sin involved a fourfold participation—co-crucifixion, co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection. Such, indeed, is the divinely wrought judgment of the “old man” (cf. vs. 6), which forms the basis of a perfect emancipation by the Spirit from the reigning power of the “old man”—the sin nature.

Considering the clear statement that this is a death for the believer in the sense that he partakes of that which Christ wrought in His death unto sin, it is to be deplored that some have interpreted this passage as enjoining self-crucifixion. Similarly, it will be remembered that if this passage is accepted as a directing in the matter of ritual, or water, baptism, as some have considered it, the vital truth respecting Christ’s death as a judgment of the sin nature is dismissed, since the passage could not represent both ideas; and if the passage is a directing in the matter of ritual baptism, the one central truth which provides the ground of a possible freedom from the “old man” is sacrificed. The most ardent contender for the claim that ritual baptism is a representation of the death of Christ will hardly wish to relate that ordinance to sanctification; or the victorious life by the Spirit, but will require that the ordinance be related to the salvation of the sinner, or Christ’s death for sins. In this respect the passage—1 Corinthians 15:1–4—is a more reasonable basis for the ordinance; for Romans 6:1–10 is without question a setting forth of the death of Christ as the ground of experimental sanctification and not the salvation of the lost. No ritual baptism ever so joins a person to Christ as that he is made to share vitally and perfectly in all that Christ is and all that He has done; but this is precisely what the baptism with the Spirit accomplishes. Thus by being baptized into Christ by the Spirit, an actual participation in crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection is secured.

In its major aspects, the development of the argument of Romans 6:1 to 8:13 is: (1) Christ died unto sin to the end that the believer should not continue in sin. It is written, “Let not sin [the nature] therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (6:12). The implication cannot be avoided that, if unhindered, the sin nature, though judged, will assert its power in the mortal body. It is also implied that its reigning is not a necessity, which it would be if it were unjudged, and likewise that the responsibility is now belonging to the Christian to “let not,” employing, of course, the divine means and resources available through the Spirit of God. (2) The whole merit system with its appeal to human works and effort as represented in law relationships has passed for the Christian and those who employ this principle of walking in self-strength are defeated because of their inability to control the sin nature (7:1–25). (3) There is triumphant victory in which the whole will of God is fulfilled in, but never by, the believer (8:1–13). In this, the final division of this context, it is restated that the deliverance is by the power, or law, of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (8:2) and on the basis of the truth that a new principle of achievement is secured which is as much more effective as the power of God is greater than the power of impotent flesh. The whole truth is summarized in two verses (8:3, 4) in which both the judgment death of Christ in respect to the old nature and the immediate energy of the Spirit are presented: “For 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 [judged] sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

It may be concluded, then, that, in His death, and as a major objective, Christ secured a judgment against the sin nature on the basis of which the Holy Spirit can righteously deliver from the power of that nature, and will deliver, all those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (8:4). To walk after the Spirit is to walk in conscious dependence upon the Spirit. It is to walk by means of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:16).

VII. The Ground of the Believer’s Forgiveness and Cleansing.

In a previous article and under the general division of Hamartiology the specific and unique doctrine respecting the Christian’s sin has been considered at length. There it was observed that sin is always equally sinful by whomsoever committed, that it can be cured only by the blood of Christ, and its cure, in the case of a Christian, is by family forgiveness and cleansing which is secured by confession of the sin to God. It remains to indicate, as is germane to this theme, that the Christian’s forgiveness and cleansing are made righteously possible only through the blood of Christ which He shed in a specific sense for the Christian’s sin.

1 John 1:1 to 2:2.

There is much in the New Testament bearing on the forgiveness of the sin of the unsaved as a vital feature of their salvation. That forgiveness, it is assured, is accomplished when the sinner believes. The central passage related to the sin of the Christian, which forgiveness is conditioned on confession, is 1 John 1:1 to 2:2. In this context both the effect of the Christian’s sin upon himself and the effect of his sin upon God are contemplated. In the first instance, the effect is that of darkness and the cure is that of walking in the light (1:6, 7). To walk in the light is in no sense a matter of attaining to sinless perfection; that would be to become the light which God alone is. It is rather to be responsive to the light which God sheds into the heart. It is an attitude of willingness to confess immediately every sin as soon as it is recognized to be sin. Such confession brings the Christian at once into moral agreement with God. He shares God’s denunciation of his sin and this becomes the basis of a renewal of fellowship with God. The promise is that when thus walking in the light and thus adjusted to the light the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses from all sin. This truth is amplified in verse 9 wherein it is said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Thus it is revealed that both forgiveness and cleansing for the Christian are based on the blood of Christ. That no punishment is inflicted, that no blow is struck, that no word of condemnation is uttered, and that only perfect forgiveness and cleansing are extended from God on no other terms than confession, is due to the truth that Christ is “the propitiation for our [Christian] sins” (2:2). God, through the death of His Son, is propitious.

In the second instance, namely, the effect of the Christian’s sin upon God, the cure is said to be through the advocacy of Christ in heaven. As Advocate He appears in behalf of the sinning Christian and pleads, not the weakness of the Christian, but the sufficiency of His own sacrifice. That He bore that sin on the cross, answers all divine judgment against that sin and, again, God is found to be propitious. No New Testament doctrine—save that of salvation for the lost—is more perfectly grounded on the death of Christ than is the doctrine which sets forth the forgiveness and cleansing of the Christian; and it should not go unobserved that in 1 John 2:2 the sin of the Christian is designated as a specific and major objective in the propitiatory death of Christ on the cross.

VIII. The Ground for the Deferring of Righteous Divine Judgments.

The preceding seven objectives accomplished by Christ in His sufferings and death, though eternal in their character, being foreseen from all eternity and with respect to certain of their features continuing their effect throughout eternity to come, are personal and to be valued largely in the light of their present benefit. The seven realities, including the one under consideration, which are yet to be attended are either of limitless application, of other ages, or of other spheres of existence than the earth.

The deferring of righteous judgments, though so obviously in operation throughout all ages, is not a matter of specific revelation. It is disclosed, however, that God, being holy, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, unless, indeed, that sin be seen by Him as judged in the death of His Son. To the eternal God—He who “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom 4:17)—, every human sin, from the first to the last, is seen in the light of the sacrifice of Christ; and in that sacrifice and upon a plane far more extended than that exercised in the saving of individual souls, He is free to defer those holy judgments which otherwise must fall with terrible swiftness upon each and every sinner. It may be observed, also, that deferred judgments are not abandoned or renounced judgments. The day of divine wrath cannot be obviated except the offender is sheltered under the redeeming blood of Christ. But the patience of God—based ever upon a righteous ground, else His holy character is compromised with sin—is extended toward sinners in His long-suffering (Rom 9:22; 1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 3:9, 15), and His striving (Gen 6:3). The wise man has written “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl 8:11). The certainty of judgment for those who despise divine patience is assured (Matt 24:48–51; Rom 2:4, 5). God is ever holy in character and righteous in action whether it be in His longsuffering or His judgments.

IX. The Taking Away of Precross Sin Once Covered by Sacrifice.

The divine economy with respect to the disposition of such sins as were represented in animal sacrifices during the extended period between Abel and Christ was one of covering as the Hebrew root kāphar, translated atonement, indicates. Before the death of Christ, this divine economy based its righteous action with respect to sin upon the anticipation of that death, the animal sacrifice being a symbol or type of the death of God’s Lamb. By the presentation of a sacrifice and by the placing of the hand upon the head of the victim, the offender acknowledged his sin before God and entered intelligently into an arrangement in which a substitute died in the sinner’s place. Though, as stated in Hebrews 10:4—”it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins”—God did, nevertheless, provide a release for the offender, but with the expectation on His own part that a righteous ground for such release would eventually be secured by the one sacrificial death of His Son, which death the animal slaying typified. The Hebrew word kāphar expresses with divine accuracy precisely what took place on the Godward side of the transaction. The sin was covered, but not “taken away,” pending the foreseen death of Christ. To translate kāphar by atonement, which etymologically may mean at-one-ment, could truthfully convey no more than that the offender was at one with God by a transaction which rested only on a symbolism. On, the human side, the offender was pardoned; but on the divine side the transaction was lacking the one and only act which could make it conform to the requirements of infinite holiness. Two New Testament passages shed light on the restricted divine action respecting those sins which were covered by animal sacrifices. In Romans 3:25 the divine objective in the death of Christ is declared to be, “for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” In this text, translated remission and used but once in the New Testament and far removed as to the force of its meaning from ἄφεσις, which indicates a full pardon, implies no more than the deferring of judgment and reveals that God pretermitted sin in view of the sacrifices. Likewise in Acts 17:30 and with reference to the same divine economy, we read, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” The Authorized translation of ὑπερεῖδον by the words “winked at” now suggests indifference, or a want of gravity, on the part of God toward the righteous judgments which sin must inevitably incur; whereas the meaning of ὑπερεῖδον in this context is that unavoidable, impending judgments were only temporarily passed over.

A series of vital contrasts between the efficiency of the animal sacrifices of the old order and the efficiency of the final sacrifice of Christ are presented in the letter to the Hebrews. Among these, and as a consummation of the series, it is stated (10:2) that the worshippers of the old order never gained freedom from a “conscience of sins,” returning year by year, as they did, with animal sacrifices. This was inevitable, the writer states, “for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (10:4). Christ, we are told (10:9), took away the old order that He might establish the new. That the old order is done away is again declared (10:26) by the words, “There remaineth no more [the former] sacrifice for sins.” This fact is likewise set forth in the following words: “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man [Christ], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down [the task being finished] on the right hand of God” (10:11, 12). Thus it is seen that the death of Christ was a righteous consummation of the old order as well as the foundation of the new. Since in the old order God had forgiven sins on the ground of a sacrifice that was yet future, that sacrifice, when accomplished, not only took away by righteous judgment the sins He had before forgiven, but proved God to have been righteous in deferring His judgments upon those sins. This is the testimony of Romans 3:25, where in referring to Christ’s death it is stated, “whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission [passing over] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Here that divine dealing which pretermitted the sins of the past was based on the forbearance of God, while the present dealing with sin is a completed transaction resulting in absolvence of the sinner and secures his justification upon a basis so righteous that God is said to be just in thus justifying a sinner who does no more than to believe in Jesus (Rom 3:26). There being no ground provided under the old order for a complete absolvence of the sinner, that transaction is carried forward and becomes a part of the new testament which Christ made in His blood, and by it the elect people of the old order received “the promise of eternal inheritance.” We read, “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 9:15).

The conclusion to be drawn from this extended body of Scripture is that the sins committed in the period between Adam and the death of Christ which were covered by sacrificial offerings were taken away and perfectly judged in righteousness as a major objective in the death of Christ.

X. The National Salvation of Israel.

The Scriptures bear testimony to the fact that Israel as a nation is to be saved from her sin and delivered from her enemies by the Messiah when He shall return to the earth. It is true that, in this age, the present offers of divine grace are extended to individual Jews as they are to individual Gentiles (Rom 10:12), and that, without reference to Jehovah’s unchangeable covenants with Israel, which covenants are in abeyance (Matt 23:38, 39; Luke 21:24; Acts 15:15–18; Rom 11:25–27), the individual Jew is now divinely reckoned to be as much in need of salvation as is the individual Gentile (Rom 3:9). These facts, related as they are to the present age-purpose—the calling out of the Church from both Jews and Gentiles alike (Eph 3:6)—have no bearing upon the divine purpose for the coming Kingdom age when, according to covenant promise, Israel will be saved and dwell safely in her own land (Deut 30:3–6; Jer 25:5, 6; 33:15–17). In the progress of the argument which the Apostle Paul presents in the letter to the Romans, after having set forth the present fact and plan of individual salvation for Jew and Gentile in chapters 1 to 8, he proceeds to answer in chapters 9 to 11 the inevitable question as to what, under these new conditions, has become of the irrevocable covenants with Israel (Rom 11:27–29). The reply to this question could hardly be stated in more definite or understandable terms than the following: “…blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved [Israel here could not be the Church since the Church is already saved]: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they [Israel] are enemies for your [Gentiles’] sakes; but as touching the election, they [Israel] are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God [concerning Israel] are without repentance” (Rom 11:25–29). It is obvious that Israel as a nation is not now saved, nor are any of the features of Jehovah’s eternal covenants with that people now in evidence—the final possession of their land (Gen 13:15), their King (Jer 33:15, 17, 21), and their kingdom (Dan 7:14)—; but not one of these features could ever fail since God is faithful who hath promised. The nation, but for certain rebels who are to be “purged out” (Ezek 20:37, 38), will be saved, and that by their own Messiah when He comes out of Zion (cf. Isa 49:5, 6; Matt 25:37–39; Acts 15:16). “All Israel” of Romans 11:26 is evidently that separated and accepted Israel that will have stood the divine judgments which are yet to fall upon that nation (cf. Matt 24:37 to 25:13 ).

The Apostle distinguishes clearly between Israel the nation and a spiritual Israel (cf. Rom 9:6; 11:1–36).

Out of the facts stated above, the truth which is pertinent to this theme is not the future regathering into their land nor the deliverance of Israel from her enemies—both of which, according to very much prophecy, are yet to be—but rather the fact that Jehovah will, in connection with the second advent of Christ and as a part of Israel’s salvation, “take away her sins.” This, Jehovah declares, is His covenant with them (Rom 11:27). It has been observed that, in the age that is past, Jehovah’s dealing with Israel’s sins—even the sins for which appointed sacrifices were presented—was only a temporary covering of those sins, and that Christ in His death bore the judgment of those sins which Jehovah had before passed over; but the final application of the value of Christ’s death in behalf of Israel awaits the moment of her national conversion (cf. Isa 66:8, a nation born “at once”—paʿam—literally, as a time measurement, a stroke; or the beat of a foot). It is then that, according to His covenant, Jehovah will “take away” their sins. In Hebrews 10:4 it is stated that it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should “take away” sin, and in Romans 11:27 it is promised that Israel’s sins will yet be taken away. The Greek ἀφαιρέω is used in both passages; but, with great significance, the future sense of the word appears in the latter passage concerning Israel’s national salvation. The induction to be drawn from these and other Scriptures is that Jehovah will yet in the future, in the briefest portion of time, and as a part of Israel’s salvation, take away their sins. To no people on the earth has it been more emphatically revealed than to Israel that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb 9:22), and it is also as clearly stated that no blood could ever avail for any remission of sin other than the blood of Christ. We conclude, therefore, that the nation Israel will yet be saved and her sins removed forever through the blood of Christ. Compare the word of Isaiah, “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (53:8 ); and of Caiaphas it is said, “Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.”

The complete regathering of Israel to her own land, which is accomplished at the time of her salvation and in connection with her Messiah’s return (Deut 30:3), is anticipated in prophecy as one of the greatest miracles in the entire history of the earth. In Jeremiah 23:7, 8, the regathering of that people is said to surpass, as a divine undertaking, even the crossing of the Red Sea. In like manner, it is stated in Matthew 24:31 that this regathering shall be wrought through the ministration of angels.

Specific terms are employed in the Scriptures to describe the specific character of Israel’s salvation, deliverance, and future blessing. None of these, it will be observed, has ever been fulfilled in Israel’s history, nor could many of these promises be applied to the Church, composed as she is of both Jews and Gentiles, without employing destructive principles of interpretation. Jehovah promised that He would “turn their captivity,” “circumcise” their hearts (Deut 30:1–6), write His law upon their hearts, and “remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:33, 34). Jehovah also said, “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people,” and “all shall know me” from the least unto the greatest (Heb 8:10, 11). Assurance is given unto that nation, when reunited and blessed by Jehovah, that “his rest shall be glorious” (Isa 11:10). They are to be comforted and their warfare will be accomplished (Isa 40:1, 2). Jehovah shall feed His flock like a shepherd and gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (Isa 40:11). Again, Jehovah has said to Israel, “Thy Master is thine husband; …and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel,” “With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee,” “This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovh, and their righteousness is of me, saith Jehovah” (Isa 54:5, 8, 17). They who were scattered will be gathered (Ezek 38:11–14); they who were “hated of all nations” will be supreme over all Gentiles (Matt 24:9 with Isa 60:12); they who were blind for an age shall see (Rom 11:25); they who were broken off shall be grafted in (Rom 11:13–24); and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isa 35:10). The anticipation of such blessings for Israel is the theme of all the prophets, and such, indeed, is the salvation which awaits that people; but God is righteously free to act in behalf of sinners only on the ground of the fact that the Lamb of God has taken away their sins. A major objective in the death of Christ is, therefore, the national salvation of Israel.

XI. Millennial and Eternal Blessings upon Gentiles.

The gospel of the grace of God is now being preached to Jews and Gentiles alike and heavenly riches and glories are promised to those who believe its message; however, these heavenly blessings for the Church should not be confused with the millennial earthly blessings which are assured to Israel, and to the Gentiles who share the kingdom with Israel. The presence of certain Gentile nations on the earth during the Millennial Kingdom is a theme of Old Testament prophecy. The selection of these nations (and the basis of that selection) is given from the lips of Christ and recorded in Matthew 25:31–46. Their relative position in the kingdom is to abide in the reflected glory of Israel and to serve (Isa 60:3, 12; 61:9; 62:2). They are to be a people “upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord” (Acts 15:17). In like manner, these same nations are seen as inhabitants of the new earth that is to be and there they are designated as “the nations of them which are saved” (Rev 21:24). The placing of these nations in the kingdom, the calling of Jehovah’s name upon them, and the saving of them can be accomplished only as God is free through the redeeming blood of Christ to bless sinners. The millennial and eternal blessing of Gentiles is thus seen to be a major objective in the death of Christ.

Dallas, Texas

Notes

1. Vol. III, pp. 482-485.