The Glorious Gospel.

"The glorious gospel of the blessed God." 1 Timothy 1:11

The Gospel evidences itself to be Divine, because it enunciates that which the mind of man could not possibly have originated. The grand truths which it proclaims, are without any parallel or rival among all the schemes of human wisdom. Pre-eminently is this the case with the full-orbed Gospel of God.

Alas, with scarcely an exception, it is at best an weakened Gospel which is being preached today, preaching that leaves out some of the most striking, unique and blessed features. Let the glorious tidings of redemption be told out in all their simplicity and yet profundity, their Scriptural perspicuity and perspective, and those who truly receive these glad tidings into their hearts unitedly acknowledge that it is neither exaggeration nor extravagance, to designate them the Glorious Gospel. Nothing so honors and magnifies God; nothing so rejoices and satisfies believers.

Now here and there throughout the Scriptures, the Spirit has graciously furnished us with brief compendiums of evangelical truth, comprising within the scope of a single verse the essential elements of the whole plan and way of salvation. Luther was accustomed to call these compendiums "miniature Gospels". Such an one we have in "For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). This verse sets forth in most decisive language, the vicarious sufferings of Christ, as the satisfaction offered by Him to Divine justice for the sins of His people; the imputation of His perfect obedience unto believers as their title to eternal life; and the real Deity of Him whose righteousness becomes theirs for justification, by virtue of their union with Him. These grand truths could not be expressed more clearly and tersely.

"For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." This is one of the most profound and most comprehensive statements to be found in all the Scriptures concerning the Atonement. Into it is compressed a whole treatise of theology, and therefore each clause, yes every word in it, calls for separate and close consideration. As we examine this most solemn and yet blessed declaration, we find there are three things said therein respecting God the Father, three things predicated of God the Son in His mediatorial capacity, and three things concerning His people. So we propose to take up the contents of our passage in this order: may the heart of writer and reader alike be Divinely prepared to ponder the same, for something superior to intellectual acumen is needed when contemplating spiritual things.

The three things here mentioned of God the FATHER are His high sovereignty, His inflexible justice, and His amazing grace.

His ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY is affirmed in the words, "He has made Him to be sin for us," and therein His supremacy appears at three points.

First, in the Person He selected for this extraordinary transaction, namely, the Son. None but the Father possessed the right and authority to assign the Son for this solemn undertaking: He alone could appoint Him to that work. As the God-man, Christ was the Servant of the Father, and in ordaining Him to the task of making expiation for sin, He demonstrated His high and absolute sovereignty over all persons and creatures. No man, no angel, no cherub or seraph—only the Son Himself, was singled out.

The sovereignty of God the Father appears, second, in the unique legal arrangement or constitution here alluded to—that He who was without sin should be dealt with as a sinner; and that those who were sinners should be allowed to go free of suffering their just deserts. None but He who is absolute sovereign above all—can dispense the Law according to His own imperial good pleasure.

Third, the sovereignty of the Father appears in the ones selected to be the beneficiaries of this unparalleled arrangement. Christ was not made sin for all of Adam's race, for all mankind are not made the righteousness of God in Him. It was the sovereignty of God which elected the persons who were to be everlastingly indebted to Christ's atoning work. Thus the whole foundation of this amazing transaction lay in the absolute sovereignty of God the Father over all persons and things, and before that sovereignty we should humbly and thankfully bow.

Next we behold here the INFLEXIBLE JUSTICE of the Father. Scripture nowhere affirms that God was under any compulsion or moral necessity of saving His people as He did: it was solely by His mere sovereign good pleasure, that He devised the method and means revealed in the Gospel. But having ordained that His Son should be "made under the law," then it was imperative that the demands of the law should be fully met. It was to this end that God sent forth His Son to be a propitiation for sin, to "declare His righteousness" (Romans 3:25). Thus, in a special manner, His justice has been magnified by the death of Christ. True, God cannot act contrary to His own perfections—but the exercise of His justice, mercy—or any of His attributes, is regulated solely by His will. We must adhere strictly to the exact terms of Holy Writ—it is not, "that He can by no means clear the guilty—but "that He will by no means clear" them (Exo. 34:7).

The AMAZING GRACE of the Father manifested itself in the aim or design of this transaction, namely, that His people might be freed from sin and constituted righteous before Him. Note carefully it is not said merely that Christ was "made sin for us," but "He made Him to be sin for us." Thus the grace of the Victim is no more conspicuous, than that of Him who furnished the altar of redemption with the foreordained Lamb. Though Christ was the Father's well-beloved, the One in whom His soul delighted (Isaiah 42:1), nevertheless out of unspeakable love for His people—He ordained Him to be made a curse for them. O what stupendous grace that God, knowing our wretched condition, pitied us and resolved to reconcile us to Himself, by such a Priest and Sacrifice as befit Him, and was suited to us. O what gratitude and praise are due Him from us!

"For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). This verse contains a brief epitome of the whole plan of salvation. It states what God has done for the justification of His people, and therefore it is of special interest as presenting in concise form the testimony of the Spirit on that all-important subject. Every word in it calls for separate consideration, prayerful and most careful consideration, for an erroneous understanding of any of its clauses will involve us in fundamental and vile error. On the other hand, if the Lord is pleased to open up this verse to our spiritual perceptions, we cannot but be filled with wonderment and praise—with awe and fervent thanksgiving.

We have observed that our passage presents to us three things regarding God the Father; and now we are to notice the three things which it contains concerning the SON. These are His purity, His sufferings, and His merits.

First, His INEFFABLE PURITY. He "knew no sin." The immaculate purity of Christ is a most delightful subject of meditation, living as we are in an evil world, and harassed by the sink of iniquity which still indwells us. Three inspired declarations need to be particularly weighed in this connection: "in Him is no sin" (1 John 3:5), "who did no sin" (1 Peter 2:22), "who knew no sin." Christ was the Lamb of God "without blemish and without spot": as such He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26).

By His miraculous conception, the Lord Christ was exempted from the contagion of original sin which defiles every fallen descendant of Adam. To Mary it was said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The purity of Christ was immaculate, impeccable, immutable. He was free from any actualtransgression. Though the hottest of Satan's fiery darts were shot at Him—yet there was not the slightest defect in His holiness: "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). Though subjected to the greatest indignities, and the strongest provocations—yet, "He did no sin, neither was any deceit found in His mouth." To the worst of His enemies He issued this challenge: "Which of you convinces Me of sin?" (John 8:46).

But this expression "who knew no sin" goes even further than those we have glanced at above, for it conveys far more than the bare assertion that Christ was sinless—it places Him at the greatest possible distance from sin. This emphatic assertion that He "knew no sin" can only be rightly understood as we balance it against the opposing clause—"that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Now we "know" righteousness only as something which is entirely foreign to our nature as fallen creatures, and have no subjective apprehension of it until we are justified by faith. In like manner, Christ "knew" sin only as something which was absolutely foreign to His nature, as something entirely apart from Himself, as something which as the Holy One He utterly abhorred, and of which He had no subjective consciousness until our sins were laid upon Him.

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