There are many other points of interest and value in this marvelous chapter (2 Cor. 5) on which we should greatly like to dwell; hut, as we are drawing near the close of our volume for this year, we must bring this series of articles to a conclusion; and, most assuredly, we could not do this more suitably than by unfolding, as God's Spirit may enable us, that theme winch has been before us, all along, but from which we have been detained by the weighty subjects which have been occupying us for some months past. No doubt, each one of those subjects might have been handled separately, and thus each paper in the series have been given as an independent article: but this we conceive to be a matter of comparative indifference. If the articles possess any value, when viewed separately, we trust they will lose none of that value when taken together. And, further, we think it will be found on calm reflection, that each one of the subjects handled in the foregoing series is intimately connected with " The Ministry of Reconciliation" to which we shall now direct the reader's attention as briefly as we can.
In handling this great subject, it may be well to view it under three distinct heads, namely, first, the foundation on which this ministry rests; secondly, the objects toward whom it is exercised; thirdly, the features by which it is characterized. May God the Holy Ghost control our thoughts!
I. And, first, then, as to the foundation on which the ministry of reconciliation rests. This is set before us in the closing verse of our chapter—a passage of surpassing weight, fullness and power. "For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
We have here three parties, namely, God; Christ; sin. This latter is simply the expression of what we are by nature. There is in "us" naught but "sin," from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot—from the center of our hearts to the circumference thereof—the whole man is sin. The principle of sin pervades the entire system of fallen humanity. The root, trunk, branches, leaves, blossom, fruit—all is sin. It is not only that we have committed sins; we are actually nothing but sin. True, we have, all of us, our characteristic sins. We have not only, all of us, " gone astray," but " we have turned every one to his own way." Each has pursued his own specific path of evil and folly; and all this is the fruit of that thing called " sin." The outward life of each is but a stream from the fountain—a branch from the stem. That stem—that fountain, is sin.
And what, let us ask, is sin? It is the acting of the will in opposition to God. It is doing our own pleasure—doing what we like ourselves. This is the root—this the source of sin. Let it take what shape, or clothe itself in what forms it may; be it gross or be it most refined in its actings, the great root-principle, the parent stem, is self-will, and this is sin. There is no necessity for entering into any detail; all we desire is that the reader should have a clear and thorough sense of what sin is, and, not only so, but that he, by nature, is sinful. Where this great and solemn fact takes full possession of the soul, by the power of the Holy Ghost, there can be no settled rest until the soul is brought to lay hold on the truth set forth in 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21). The question of sin had to be disposed of ere there could be so much as a single thought of reconciliation. God could never be reconciled to sin. But fallen man was a sinner by practice and sinful in nature. The very sources of his being were corrupt and defiled, and God was holy, just, and true. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity. Hence, then, between God and sinful humanity there could be no such thing as reconciliation. True it is—most blessedly true, that God is good, and merciful, and gracious. But He is also holy; and holiness and sin could never coalesce.
What was to be done? Hear the answer: " God hath made Christ to be sin." But where? Reader, look well to this. Where was Christ made sin? Was it in the virgin's womb? Nay. Was it in the manger of Bethlehem? Nay. Was it in Jordan's flood? Nay. Was it in the garden of Gethsemane? Nay; though most assuredly, in that garden the shadows were lengthening, the darkness was thickening, the gloom was deepening. But where and when was the holy, spotless, precious Lamb of God made sin? On the cross, and only there! This is a grand cardinal truth—a truth of vital importance—a truth which the enemy of God and His word is seeking to darken and set aside in every possible way. The devil is seeking, in the most specious manner, to displace the cross. He cares not how he compasses this end. He will make use of anything and everything in order to detract from the glory of the cross, that great central truth of Christianity round which every other truth circulates, and on which the whole fabric of divine revelation rests as upon an eternal foundation.
" He hath made him to be sin." Here lies the root of the whole matter. Christ, on the cross, was made sin for us. He died and was buried. Sin was condemned. It met the just judgment of a holy God who could not pass over a single jot or tittle of sin; nay, He poured out His unmingled wrath upon it in the Person of His Son, when that Son was " made sin." It is a serious error to believe that Christ was bearing the judgment of God during His lifetime, or that aught save the death of Christ could meet the question of sin. He might have become incarnate—He might have lived and labored on this earth—He might have wrought His countless miracles—He might have healed, and cleansed, and quickened—He might have prayed and wept and groaned; but not any of these things, nor yet all of them put together, could blot out a single stain of that dreadful thing " sin." God the Holy Ghost declares that, " without shedding of blood, there is no remission." Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22).
Now, then, reader, if the holy life and labors of the Son of God—if His prayers, tears, and groans, could not put away sin, how do you think that your life and labors, your prayers, tears, and groans, your good works, your rites, ordinances, and ceremonies could ever put away sin? The fact is that the life of our blessed Lord only proved man more and more guilty. It laid the topstone upon the superstructure of his guilt, and therefore left the question of sin wholly unsettled.
Nor was this all. Our blessed Lord Himself declares, over and over again, the absolute and indispensable necessity of His death. " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12) " Thus it is written, and thus it behooved [or was necessary for] Christ to suffer." (Luke 24:4646And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (Luke 24:46).) " How then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be." (Matt, xxvi.) In a word, death was the only pathway of life, the only basis of union, the only ground of reconciliation. We cannot be too distinct and firm as to this—distinct in apprehending it—firm in maintaining and confessing it. Satan has reared up a vast edifice of error on the opposite of all this. He has led millions of professing Christians to believe that incarnation and not death is the ground of the ministry of reconciliation—to believe that, in incarnation, Christ took fallen, sinful, corrupt humanity into union with Himself—that He was not that pure and precious " corn of wheat" standing alone—abiding in absolute and necessary solitude, inasmuch as it was utterly impossible that that which was essentially pure, holy, and spotless could link itself with that which is essentially impure, unholy, and defiled—to believe that we get eternal life from an incarnate, not a dead and risen Christ, and that this life is fed, nourished, and maintained by the offices and ordinances of religion, and by the sacraments of the Church. In this way is he actually, at this moment, sapping the very foundations of Christianity, blinding the minds of professing Christians, and leading them, thus blindfold, down to the pit of hell.
We speak plainly. We must do so if we are to speak at all. We are not controversialists, but we must maintain and set forth the truth of a dead and risen Christ. It maybe asked, "Who denies it?" All those who speak of incarnation as being the basis of our union with Christ, deny, in the plainest way, the whole range of truth connected with a dead and risen Christ. Many may not see this; but Satan sees it, and lie sees too how it will work. He knows what he is about, and surely the servants of Christ ought to know what is involved in the error against which we are warning our readers.
The fact is, the enemy does not want souls to see that, in the death of Christ, sentence was passed on fallen human nature and upon the whole world. This was not the case in incarnation at all. An incarnate Christ put man to the test—a dead Christ put man to death—a risen Christ takes the believer into union with Himself. When Christ came in the flesh, fallen man was still under probation. When Christ died on the cross, fallen man was wholly condemned When Christ rose from the dead, He became the Head of a new race, each member of which, being quickened by the Holy Ghost, is viewed by God as united to Christ, in life, righteousness, and favor—he is viewed as having been dead, as having passed through judgment, and as being now as free from all condemnation as Christ Himself. " He hath made him to be sin for us [he] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Now, it must be plain to the reader who bows to scripture, that incarnation did not, and could not, accomplish all this. Incarnation did not put away sin. Need we stop here to dwell upon the glories of the mystery of incarnation? Will any one imagine that we take away from the value, or mar the integrity of that priceless fundamental truth, because we deny that it puts away sin, or forms the basis of our union with Christ? We trust not. That incarnation was essentially necessary for the accomplishment of redemption is plain to all. Christ had to become a man in order to die. " Without shedding of blood is no remission." He had to give His flesh for the life of the world. But this only goes to prove the absolute necessity of death. It was the (jiving of His flesh, not the taking of it, that laid the foundation of the whole fabric—life, pardon, peace, righteousness, union, glory, all. Apart from death, there is, and could be, absolutely nothing. Through death, we have all. It is not an incarnate Christ giving life and that life conveyed through the sacraments of the Church; but it is a crucified and risen Christ, the source and foundation of everything. The former is, in plain language, Satan's specious lie; the latter is God's most precious truth. That lies at the bottom of the whole system of false Christianity now prevailing around us, under various names; this is the foundation of true Christianity, and of all the counsels and purposes of the eternal Trinity.
But we cannot pursue this profound subject any further now. Enough has been said to set forth its connection with our special thesis, the ministry of reconciliation. When we read that " God hath made Christ to be sin for us," we must see that this involved nothing less than the death of the cross. " Thou," says that blessed One, " hast brought me into the dust of death." (Psalm 22) What an utterance! Who can fathom the mighty depths of those words, " Thou"—" Me"—and " Death?" Who can enter into the question, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Why did a holy, righteous God forsake His only-begotten, well-beloved, eternal Son? The answer contains the solid basis of that marvelous ministry whereof we speak. Christ was made sin. He not only bore our sins in His own body on the tree; but He was made sin. He stood charged with the entire question of sin. He was " the Lamb of God bearing away the sin of the world." As such He gloriously vindicated God, in the very scene where He had been dishonored. He glorified Him in respect to that very thing by which His majesty had been insulted. He took upon Himself the whole matter—placed Himself beneath the weight of the whole burden, and completely cleared the ground on which God could lay the foundations of the new creation. He opened those eternal floodgates which sin had closed, so that the full tide of divine love might roll down along that channel which His atoning death alone could furnish; so long as sin was in question, reconciliation must have been out of the question. But Christ, being made sin, died and put it away forever, and thus changed entirely the ground and character of God's dealing with man and with the world.
(To be concluded in our next, if the Lord will)