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I. The character we were under
when Christ died for us.
We were without strength
(v. 6), in a sad condition; and,
which is worse, altogether unable to
help ourselves out of that conditionlost,
and no visible way open for our
recoveryour condition
deplorable, and in a manner
desperate; and, therefore our
salvation is here said to come in due time. Gods time to help and
save is when those that are to be
saved are without strength, that His
own power and grace may be the more
magnified,
Deu. 32:36. It is the manner of
God to help at a dead lift,He died for the ungodly;
not only helpless creatures, and
therefore likely to perish, but
guilty sinful creatures, and
therefore deserving to perish; not
only mean and worthless, but vile
and obnoxious, unworthy of such
favour with the holy God. Being
ungodly, they had need of one to die
for them, to satisfy for guilt, and
to bring in a righteousness. This he
illustrates (v. 7, 8) as an
unparalleled instance of love;
herein Gods thoughts and ways were
above ours. Compare
Jn. 15:13, 14,
Greater love
has no man.
One would hardly
die for a
righteous man, that is, an
innocent man, one that is unjustly
condemned; every body will pity such
a one, but few will put such a value
upon his life as either to hazard,
or much less to deposit, their own
in his stead.It may be, one might perhaps be
persuaded to die for a good man,
that is, a useful man, who is more
than barely a righteous man. Many
that are good themselves yet do but
little good to others; but those
that are useful commonly get
themselves well beloved, and meet
with some that in a case of
necessity would venture to be their
antipsychoiwould engage life for
life, would be their bail, body
for body. Paul was, in this sense, a
very good man, one that was very
useful, and he met with some that
for his life laid down their own
necks, (Romans
16:4). And yet observe how he
qualifies this: it is but some that
would do so, and it is a daring act
if they do it, it must be some bold
venturing soul; and, after all, it
is but a peradventure.But Christ died for sinners
(v. 8), neither righteous nor good;
not only such as were useless, but
such as were guilty and obnoxious;
not only such as there would be no
loss of should they perish, but such
whose destruction would greatly
redound to the glory of Gods
justice, being malefactors and
criminals that ought to die. Some
think he alludes to a common
distinction the Jews had of their
people into ndyqymrighteous,
hsdymmerciful (compare
Isa. 17:1), and
rssymwicked.
Now herein God commended Hhis
love, not only proved or
evidenced His love (He might have
done that at a cheaper rate), but
magnified it and made it
illustrious. This circumstance did
greatly magnify and advance His
love, not only put it past dispute,
but rendered it the object of the
greatest wonder and admiration: “Now
my creatures shall see that I love
them, I will give them such an
instance of it as shall be without
parallel.” Commendeth His love,
as merchants commend their goods
when they would put them off. This
commending of His love was in order
to the shedding abroad of His love
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. He
evinces His love in the most
winning, affecting, endearing way
imaginable. While we were yet
sinners, implying that we were
not to be always sinners, there
should be a change wrought; for He
died to save us, not in our sins,
but from our sins; but we were yet
sinners when He died for us.Nay, which is more,
we were
enemies (v. 10), not only
malefactors, but traitors and
rebels, in arms against the
government; the worst kind of
malefactors and of all malefactors
the most obnoxious. The carnal mind
is not only an enemy to God, but
enmity itself,
Romans 8:7;
Col. 1:21. This enmity is a
mutual enmity, God loathing the
sinner, and the sinner loathing God,
Zec. 11:8. And that for such as
these Christ should die is such a
mystery, such a paradox, such an
unprecedented instance of love, that
it may well be our business to
eternity to adore and wonder at it.
This is a commendation of love
indeed. Justly might He who had thus
loved us make it one of the laws of
His kingdom that we should love our
enemies.
II. The precious fruits of His
death.
1. Justification and reconciliation
are the first and primary fruit of
the death of Christ: We are
justified by His blood (v. 9),
reconciled by His death, v.
10. Sin is pardoned, the sinner
accepted as righteous, the quarrel
taken up, the enmity slain, an end
made of iniquity, and an everlasting
righteousness brought in. This is
done, that is, Christ has done all
that was requisite on His part to be
done in order hereunto, and,
immediately upon our believing, we
are actually put into a state of
justification and reconciliation. Justified by His blood. Our
justification is ascribed to the
blood of Christ because without
blood there is no remission
Heb. 9:22. The blood is the
life, and that must go to make
atonement. In all the propitiatory
sacrifices, the sprinkling of the
blood was of the essence of the
sacrifice. It was the blood that
made an atonement for the soul,
Lev. 17:11.2. Hence results salvation from
wrath: Saved from wrath (v.
9), saved by His life, v. 10
When that which hinders our
salvation is taken away, the
salvation must needs follow. Nay,
the argument holds very strongly; if
God justified and reconciled us when
we were enemies, and put Himself to
so much charge to do it, much more
will He save us when we are
justified and reconciled. He that
has done the greater, which is of
enemies to make us friends, will
certainly the less, which is when we
are friends to use us friendly and
to be kind to us. And therefore the
apostle, once and again, speaks of
it with a much more. He that hath
digged so deep to lay the foundation
will no doubt build upon that
foundation.
- We shall be saved from wrath,
from hell and damnation. It is the
wrath of God that is the fire of
hell; the wrath to come, so
it is called,
1 Th. 1:10. The final
justification and absolution of
believers at the great day, together
with the fitting and preparing of
them for it, are the salvation from
wrath here spoken of; it is the
perfecting of the work of grace.- Reconciled by His death,
saved by His life. His life here
spoken of is not to be understood of
His life in the flesh, but His life
in heaven, that life which ensued
after His death. Compare Romans
14:9.
He was dead, and is
alive,
Rev. 1:18. We are reconciled by
Christ humbled, we are saved by
Christ exalted. The dying Jesus laid
the foundation, in satisfying for
sin, and slaying the enmity, and so
making us salvable; thus is the
partition-wall broken down,
atonement made, and the attainder
reversed; but it is the living Jesus
that perfects the work: He lives
to make intercession,
Heb. 7:25. It is Christ, in His
exaltation, that by His word and
Spirit effectually calls, and
changes, and reconciles us to God,
is our Advocate with the Father, and
so completes and consummates our
salvation. Compare
Romans 4:25 and
8:34. Christ dying was the
testator, who bequeathed us the
legacy; but Christ living is the
executor, who pays it. Now the
arguing is very strong. He that puts
Himself to the charge of purchasing
our salvation will not decline the
trouble of applying it.
3. All this produces, as a further
privilege, our joy in God, v.
11. God is now so far from being a
terror to us that He is our joy,
and our hope in the day of evil,
Jer. 17:17.
We are reconciled
and saved from wrath. Iniquity,
blessed be God, shall not be our
ruin. And not only so,
there is more in it yet, a constant
stream of favours; we not only go to
heaven, but go to heaven
triumphantly; not only get into the
harbour, but come in with full sail:
We joy in God, not only saved
from His wrath, but solacing
ourselves in His love, and this
through Jesus Christ, who is the
Alpha and the Omega, the
foundation-stone and the top-stone
of all our comforts and hopesnot
only our salvation, but our
strength and our song; and all
this (which he repeats as a string
he loved to be harping upon) by
virtue of the atonement, for by Him
we Christians, we believers, have
now, now in Gospel times, or now in
this life, received the atonement,
which was typified by the sacrifices
under the law, and is an earnest of
our happiness in heaven. True
believers do by Jesus Christ receive
the atonement. Receiving the
atonement is our actual
reconciliation to God in
justification, grounded upon
Christs satisfaction. To receive
the atonement is,
- To give our consent to the
atonement, approving of, and
agreeing to, those methods which
Infinite Wisdom has taken of saving
a guilty world by the blood of a
crucified Jesus, being willing and
glad to be saved in a Gospel way and
upon Gospel terms.- To take the comfort of the
atonement, which is the fountain and
the foundation of our joy in God.
Now we joy in God, now we do indeed
receive the atonement,
kauchoµmenoiglorying in it. God
hath received the atonement (Mt.
3:17;
17:5;
28:2): if we but receive it, the
work is done.
Source article:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-age-new-year-2012.htmlSee also
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