we understand the Scriptures to teach that it has been met by the Atonement, which took up into itself and expressed, with equal clearness, both the righteousness and the love of God. But as all who recognize the authority of Scripturę admit that the death of Christ was a signal illustration of the divine love, we shall fix our attention for the present on those passages which prove that it was also an illustration of the divine righteousness.

Of these passages the most important and remarkable is the following, which we ask the privilege of translating from the Greek; "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God set forth as a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, for the exhibition of his righteousness, because of the passing by of the sins before committed in the forbearance of God; for the exhibition of his righteousness in the present time, that he may be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.”1

1 Rom. iii. 24, 26. This text is so important that I will add the translation of the Am. Bible Union, of Dean Alford, and of Dr. Noyes. They will be seen to agree substantially with my own. The B. U. revision reads thus: "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith by his blood, for the exhibition of his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins before committed in the forbearance of God; for the exhibition of his righteousness in the present time, that he may be just, and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus." Alford translates as follows: "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith by his blood, for the showing forth of his righteous

This passage seems to have been written for the very purpose of rendering forever vain and futile any attempt to limit the efficacy of the Atonement to its moral influence over men. For the apostle distinctly specifies the exhibition of God's rightcousness as a proximate end of Christ's death. And he declares that this exhibition was called for by the circumstance that, in his treatment of sinners both before and since the time of Christ, God had ignored, to a certain extent, the claims of righteousness, passing by in his forbearance the sins committed in the former period, without inflicting upon their authors condign punishment, and accepting as righteous, in the latter period, all men, however sinful, who believe in Jesus. Hence this course of action must be complemented by the Atonement, in order that the righteousness of God may be suitably revealed to men, or may even remain untarnished in himself; in order that he may be, and may be known to be, a just moral Governor of the race. In other words, the Atone

ness, because of the passing over of the former sins, in the forbearance of God; for the showing forth of his righteousness in this present time, that he may be just, and the justifier of him who is of faith in Jesus." And Noyes, a Unitarian, gives the following version: "Being accepted as righteous freely, by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom in his blood through faith God hath set forth as a propitiatory sacrifice, in order to manifest his righteousness, on account of his passing by, in his forbearance, the sins committed in former times; in order to manifest his righteousness at the present time, so that he may be righteous, and accept as righteous him who hath faith."

ment, as an exercise and exhibition of God's judicial righteousness, is presupposed by his treatment of sinners from the first. Without it, he could not have passed by the sins of former times, or forgiven those of later times. Long before it was made, he anticipated it and adjusted his action to it, and to the end of time it will be a sufficient reason for the exercise of his saving grace.

If the language of Paul does not mean this, and precisely this, it must be impossible to ascertain what any language does mean; for every word and clause, from first to last, seems to be directed, like the strokes of a sculptor's chisel, only with a higher intelligence, to the production of this particular and well-defined thought. In making this statement we have in mind the original text, and not the common version of that text; for, as will be seen by our translation given above, we do not regard the common version, in this particular instance, as altogether exact. Especially has it failed in reproducing the clause which we have rendered, "because of the passing by of the sins before committed in the forbearance of God." The original of this clause is eminently exact, word answering to word with perfect consistency, and it cannot mean what is suggested by the common version, for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God." For if the apostle had

spoken of the remission of sins, he would have connected it with the grace, and not with the forbearance of God. Grace remits the penalty and receives into favor; forbearance endures the sin without executing the penalty. The Greek word translated forbearance is associated in no other passage, either instrumentally or causally, with the forgiveness of sins. Besides, the word translated Ce remission" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and properly signifies "passing by." This fact alone is decisive in favor of our rendering. And as no definite provision was revealed to the ancient Israelites for the pardon of great moral offences through an adequate sacrifice, God's treatment of those who were guilty of such offencesand all, even the most devout, were thus guilty must have seemed to them a sort of passing by of their sins, rather than a full and assured remission of them. Hence the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews in two most interesting passages : "For if the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for

the redemption of the transgressions under the first Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."1

III. A PROPITIATION FOR SINS.

Having shown that the Atonement is that in consideration of which God bestows his renewing and pardoning grace on those who are saved, and that it has this relation to saving grace because it was an exhibition of God's righteousness, we are prepared to take another step, and show from the Scriptures how it took up into itself and expressed that righteousness. For it cannot be denied that the Atonement, if it was an exhibition of God's righteousness, must also have been in some way an exercise of it. It must at least be traceable without difficulty to his love of moral rectitude, and his opposition to sin. For an act which can be referred to mere power or wisdom or benevolence as its source, manifests power, wisdom, or benevolence, but not distinctively righteousness. Says Dr. Hodge: "The Atonement is an exhibition of God's purpose to maintain his law and inflict its penalty -because it involves the execution of that penalty. It is this which gives it all its power. It would be no exhibition of justice, if it were not an exercise of justice; it would not teach that the

1 Heb. ix. 14, 15 (cf. xi. 40.)