I do not break up the clauses which follow. I group them
as one prolonged strain, and call it "The Song of Victory, or Song of
Redemption." For it is a Song unique in itself, complete,
all-comprehensive--an anthem as of a multitude of the Heavenly host over the
night-plains, not of Bethlehem, but of the world, praising God and saying--
(V. 3, 4.) "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 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."
[Let no Reader (may I here premise in a word), be
repelled by the somewhat doctrinal tone of this and the earlier chapters. We
must enter by the outer courts before reaching the innermost shrine. The
foundations must be laid before the crowning super-structure be reared.]
The theme of this portion of the SONG, epitomized, is
this. The demands of the law, in themselves impossible of fulfillment, have
been satisfied through the atoning work of Christ; and those alone can take
up the triumphal notes continued to the end of the chapter, who have thus
absolutely renounced all legal ground of justification in the sight of God,
and have accepted the gratuitous offers of pardon provided by the Divine
Surety--"Christ the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believes."
The first clause of these verses--the first strain of
this opening Redemption-Hymn is "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus."
What are we to understand by this? It may have other
latent side-meanings, but we may take it, in its simplest acceptation, as an
equivalent term for the Gospel method of salvation; forgiveness, peace,
eternal life, as the gift of God through Jesus Christ. It is the glorious
provision of the Life-giver--"In Him was life;"--Him--alike the Author of
Redemption and the Bestower of the new principle of life in the heart of the
believer.
The remaining assertion of the verse is in contrast, or
contradistinction--"Has made me free from the law of sin and death."
It speaks of the old decalogue of Sinai with its rigid, inflexible demand,
"Do this and live." The two statements are brought together elsewhere in the
concise epigrammatic sentence--"The letter kills, but the Spirit gives
life."
Then follows (verse 3) a remarkable epitome of the
Redemption-work; "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh." "Weak." There was no weakness, no inherent defect or
feebleness in the law itself. As the expression of the mind and will of the
Great Lawgiver, it resembled one of the pillars of the ancient Temple ("Jachin")--STRENGTH.
It had the Divine Holiness and Justice, Omnipotence and Immutability to rest
upon. But its high, uncompromising demands were beyond the perfect obedience
of the fallen creature. This alone constituted its "weakness." In its own
majestic requirements it was potent. As a ground of human merit and a
procuring cause of salvation, it was impotent. Amid the thunders and
lightnings of the Mount comes the dread deliverance from which there is no
escape or appeal--"by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified."
Moreover, let it be noted, in connection with the present argument of the
Apostle, that this impossibility extended beyond what (to use a forensic
term) I may call the major count of the indictment. There was the great
outstanding fact of original sin--the human nature fallen and under
condemnation; the depravity and corruption of the heart. That heart and its
experience we have found faithfully portrayed--photographed--in the
immediately preceding chapter. The holiness and sanctification of the
believer even at the best are an unrealized and unrealizable ideal--no more.
The most saintly image comes out blurred--the fight--the life-long encounter
between the lower and the higher nature, as we have also seen, leaves behind
the inevitable scars of battle. "For in me," says this noblest of spiritual
combatants, "that is, in my flesh, [my weak flesh] dwells no good
thing." He feels, that while one moment he may be the soaring eagle, the
next he may be the groveling worm. Paul may in this be thought to take a
pessimistic view of human nature generally. Yet who that knows his own heart
and life experience can demur to the stern reality?
Here then, in this opening proposition, he reasserts what
had been logically expanded in the previous lengthened context, the
powerlessness and inefficacy, alike on the ground of nature and practice, of
the law to give "LIFE."
He proceeds to unfold the great remedial measure of God's
own sovereign devising--"God sent His Own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh."
We have spoken of the "Weakness;" now comes the
contrasted "Strength;" "Christ the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believes." A law, powerless either to justify or to sanctify,
becomes both in Him. As the Apostle elsewhere with singular force and
brevity, yet fullness, expresses it--"For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by the
law. But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Gal. 3;21, 22).
"GOD sending." The purpose of Love was His own--one undreamt of by
human reason; beyond the conception and device either of man or of Angel.
And there is a farther notable emphasis in the appended
word. "The stress," says Dean Alford, "is on 'His own,' and the word
is pregnant with meaning." His own Son, spotless in His holiness; in Nature
and Person immaculate as the law whose debts He came to discharge and its
precepts to fulfill. This sinless Son is in marked antithesis to "the
sinful flesh" in whose likeness He came. "Likeness;" for
though in all respects tempted and tried as the Brother in our nature, it
was "yet without sin." One single spot or stain in the Incarnate humanity
would have vitiated the efficacy of His atonement. But He was "holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." He could make the
unanswerable challenge to His adversaries--"Which of you convinces me of
sin?"
"And for sin" (marg., "by a sacrifice for sin;" R.V.,
"as an offering for sin") "condemned sin in the flesh."
Much of the true meaning of this important clause must be
determined by what is implied in the word "condemned." It seems to us
capable of but one interpretation--the vicarious sufferings and death of
the Son of God for us men and for our salvation. In case of any verbal
misapprehension, we reject the harsh and unwarrantable rendering given by an
otherwise admirable commentator (Haldane), when he ventures to
translate it by the term "punished." We cannot for a moment accept the word,
if in the remotest form it suggests or embodies the thought of the loving
Father of heaven punishing "the Son in whom He declares Himself well
pleased." Such be it said at once would be altogether unworthy, abhorrent,
blasphemous; distinctly at variance, it may, moreover, well be added, with
the creed of so distinguished and reliable a student of Scripture.
And yet we dare not eliminate the implied truth of an
Expiatory Offering.
Another commentator to whom the Church of Christ owes
much (Barnes), suggests an alternative rendering, probably the
nearest to the truth, while evading the objectionable punitive term--"God
passed a judicial sentence on sin in the person of Christ." He condemned
sin in the flesh, that is, in His own assumed, human, fleshly nature,
Incarnate God.
Should we retain the accepted rendering in both
Authorised and Revised Versions ("condemned"), there may possibly be implied
another antithesis between this and the word of the first verse, for they
are in the Greek the same, "condemnation." There is condemnation by
the law. There is no condemnation by the substitution of the
immaculate Redeemer.
Then comes the grand result (v. 4). "That the
righteousness" (or, marginal, requirements) "of the law" (that
which the law demands) "might be fulfilled in us;" fulfilled by the
meritorious life and death of the Son of God, and through our mystical union
with Him.
Reader, are you and I able to accept, and accepting to
repose on this great truth, what the old Divines call "THE SATISFACTION." We
know how in modern days it is a doctrine slighted and discredited. In the
language of Reuss, who may be taken as a leader in the so-called "advanced
school," "there is not a word of all this weighing and calculating scheme to
be found in the writings of Paul." While refusing to accept the German's
depreciatory definition of our Apostle's "systematic theology," I conclude
far otherwise. I feel I must reject the teachings of this Epistle and of all
his other Epistles--as well as the teachings of his inspired contemporaries;
I must reject my Bible itself, before I can repudiate so cardinal an article
of the faith. That there is mystery, profound mystery, in this dogma of
Divine Substitution and Suretyship none can deny. But I would ask those who
discard it, calmly to read without cavil or prejudice the following among
many assertions (not by any means exclusively Pauline)--and say if their
plain, unambiguous meaning can be evaded?
To begin with Christ's own testimony, "The Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many" (Matt. 20;28). Omitting for the present the prophetical
writings, His Apostles and other inspired penmen repeat and rehearse the
assertions of their Lord. "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). "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us" (Gal, 3;13). "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many" (Heb. 9;28). "He Himself bore our sins in His own body on
the tree" (1 Pet. 2;24). "Who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal.
2;20). "Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3;18). "It became Him" (that word
"became" is solemnly emphatic; there was a necessity laid on God, arising
out of His own nature--than which we can conceive no stronger necessity) "of
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings"
(Heb. 2;10). "To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
His own blood" (Rev. 1;5).
You may strive, by a forced exegesis, to get rid of the
meaning wrapped up in these and kindred passages on the Suretyship of
Christ; but a literal acceptance can alone give explanation and consistency
to the reasoning of the Apostle in this verse on which we are now
meditating. God, in the Person, and work, and atoning death of His dear Son,
has thrown the luster of a glorious vindication around every requirement of
His law and every attribute of His nature. Christ, by a holy life, obeyed
the law's precepts, and by a holy death of self-surrender and sacrifice
endured its penalty. The law says, "Do this and live." I cannot do it. But I
listen to the words of Him who can do it--who has done it.
"Lo, I come, I delight to do Your will, O my God" (Ps. 40;7, 8). "When the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal. 5;4).
O blessed Savior, I desire with simple unwavering faith
to look to You thus--to You only--wholly, and forever. I desire to behold
You as the great Antitype of the Jewish Scapegoat, bearing away the load of
transgression into a land of oblivion and forgetfulness, so that "as far as
the East is distant from the West," so far have You "removed our
transgressions from us." I look to You, indeed, also in the beauty of Your
Character and Work, as the perfect Example, the great Ideal of Humanity. In
this acceptation of the word, I know that You did oppose and overcome the
forces of evil. I know in a similar manner, too, You may be said to have
"condemned sin in the flesh;" overcome it, and conquered it in Your own
pure, stainless human nature. You could say in a real, what our Apostle
could only utter in a qualified sense, "I have fought the good fight;
I have vanquished, and thereby have I given a pledge of sin's final
subjugation." But this is not all I need. I must look to You as the Atoning
Sacrifice--the Sin-offering. "O Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world, have mercy upon us!" "O Lamb of God, that
takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace!" I shall not go to
the Temple without the Altar, or to the Altar without the Sacrifice. Thanks
be to the dying, ever living love of the divine Surety, if I am enabled with
the heavenly harpers spoken of in Revelation (5;8, 9) to "sing the new
song"--the Song whose strains gave them their golden harps and golden vials
and crowns of victory--"You were slain, and have redeemed us to God
by Your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation!"
I close with one verse from an earlier chapter of this
same Epistle. It has been purposely kept by itself and to the last. It is
culled from the midst of Paul's cogent argument. But it seems to express, in
a brief sentence, the peerless truth on which we have now been dwelling.
Olshausen, by a metaphor not less truthful than happy, calls it "The
Acropolis of the Christian faith," "Whom God has 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" (Rom.
3;25).
Propitiation (margin, RV., "Propitiatory"). The
reference, as is well known, is to the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, in
the Tabernacle or Temple--the Mercy-Seat. The tables of the law, the two
tables of stone were deposited within that Sacred Ark--the eternal decalogue
with its unrepealed, unabrogated demands, and solemn requirements. It spoke
condemnation--"The soul that sins, it shall die." But the blood besprinkled
"Shield" resplendent with gold and fragrant with acacia wood (significant
type and emblem of the divine Surety), interposed between it and the
officiating High Priest--the Representative of Covenant Israel in all ages.
Christ--the true "Propitiatory" stands between the living and the dead, that
the great plague of sin might be stayed. Or, to give a different
illustration, we recall the host of Assyrian warriors in ancient Jewish
story, "their cohorts gleaming with purple and gold"--their banners
"floating proudly at sunset"--
"Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn has blown,
That host of the morrow lay withered and strewn;
For the Angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed."
Each hand grasped a sword, but was impotent to wield it.
Even so; the law retains, in all their force, the deadly weapons of
condemnation. But a mightier than created Angel has come down and paralyzed
its arm--"stilled the enemy and the avenger." The sharp, keen-edged swords
slumber powerless in their scabbards. "Thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
These remarks ought appropriately to close this section.
But one practical thought dare not be omitted--one note is needed for the
full cadence and harmony of this Redemption-Song. If the law is impotent to
save--if its claims have to be fulfilled and its penalties borne by Another,
are we to disregard it as a rule of life?
This is answered in the closing saying of the passage. It
is a brief but necessary restatement of the Apostle's preceding and fully
discussed question; "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"
"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (v. 4). We cannot
enter on the wide subject here. It will come in course, and be amplified in
next chapter. Enough to say, that the love of God, in the gift of His Son,
has, as its result, in the case of the believer, the imparting of a new life
of love. To quote the words of a Brother Apostle (1 John 4;9)--"In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent His only Begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through Him." Or Paul's own equally
cogent saying (Rom. 6;18)--"Being then made free from sin, you become the
servants of righteousness." (Ver. 22)--"But now being made free from sin,
and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life." The Gospel message of free pardon through the merits and
righteousness of Christ, acts as a dominating influence--a new pervading
principle of action, permeating and energizing the whole being. The hospices
which crowd the pilgrim way lead up to the pure and serene atmosphere of the
everlasting hills. The Temple-stairs, not of the Law but of Grace, conduct
to the Holy of Holies. A stray note from the Savior's greatest "Song of
Songs"--His own Beatitude-chapter, is on the lips of every worshiper,
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."