THE CORRESPONDING PRICE. AN UNDERDONE RANSOM: CALVINISM. AN OVERDONE RANSOM: UNIVERSALISM. A MISCELLANY ON THE RANSOM.
THE DOCTRINE of the ransom is the heart and soul of the Bible. It is such in its nature and in its effects as only Divine wisdom could plan, as only Divine justice could require, as only Divine love could give, and as only Divine power could operate in its various vast and intricate ramifications. The word ransom is in the New Testament translated from the Greek words lytron and anti, either as separate words or as compounded into one word, antilytron (1 Tim. 2:6; Matt. 20:28), which by etymology and use in Greek mean price instead, i.e., corresponding price, and as applied to Jesus means that He gave for Adam's redemption and the race condemned in him a price exactly equal to their indebtedness to Divine justice and thus purchases them from Divine justice and its death-exacting sentence. Unbelief rejects the ransom, the antilytron, in the Scriptural sense of that word, corresponding price; for Christ crucified still is to the Greek foolishness and a stumbling block to the Jew (1 Cor. 1:23). Hence they reject the ransom as the corresponding price that Jesus laid down in exact offset of what Adam forfeited for himself and the race. While using the Biblical terms, "ransom," "We are bought with a price, etc.," infidelistic Bible interpreters give them a non-literal meaning which denies an actual purchase as well as a corresponding price, and use them in the sense in which we employ the following language, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and "By great sufferings and sacrifices our fathers bought liberty for the Negro." In neither of these cases was there an actual, a literal price paid. They were figurative purchases.
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Not so does the Bible represent the ransom and its use in Jesus' act of purchasing from God's justice the race and its forfeited right to life and life-rights.
In the strictest terms and facts of a commercial transaction does the Bible set forth this matter which is of the greatest possible moment in the whole plan of God, for the ransom doctrine is the hub from which all the teachings of the Bible, as spokes in a wheel, emanate, on which they are based, and about which they revolve. It is for this reason that those who deny the ransom in its Biblical sense deny logically every Scriptural teaching. In vain do they protest that they are falsely charged with denying the ransom. They do deny it, despite their claim; for if the corresponding price is the Biblical idea of the word antilytron and they deny that sense, then they deny the ransom, however much they may claim to believe it in their sense of the word. Their sense of the word is only then the ransom, if it is God's sense of the word. But if they deny God's sense of it, they deny the ransom, despite their protestations. We will first briefly expound our understanding of the ransom as to its nature, then will give briefly, for so vast a subject, our proof of it from the Scriptures, and then show how it proves the Bible to be a Divine revelation. To show that we are using the word ransom as a noun we will often add to it the word price, ransom-price. The texts that especially emphasize the corresponding price idea as that of the ransom are 1 Tim. 2:6; "Jesus Christ gave Himself a ransom [antilytron, price instead, i.e., corresponding price] for all men," and Matt. 20:28: "The Son of Man came … to give His life [literally soul, being] a ransom [lytron, price] for [anti, instead of] many." The most important doctrine of the whole Bible is the ransom. The whole plan of God rests upon it as its foundation, and flows out of it, as a stream from a spring; for it is the center and spring of every doctrine. Not to understand it is a calamity indeed. To understand and conform oneself to it is a great blessing. It is impossible
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to understand the generalities and details of the Bible plan, which embraces vast, intricate, yet harmonious, logical and reasonable generalities and details, unless we can understand its place for the ransom itself.
To discuss in fair detail the subject of the ransom is our present purpose. We limited the discussion of the term, ransom, as a corresponding price in our book, The Bible, its nature and object, to prove the Bible to be a Divine revelation. Herein we will give more details on it. We notice, in the first place, its antecedent. The Bible indicates its antecedent in what Father Adam was and the effects of what he did. Father Adam, created in the image of God, on the human plane, had a perfect body and life and all the rights that pertained to perfect humanity. God gave him as the right to life the privilege of perfect human existence as long as he would remain in harmony with justice. He also gave him as his liferights the privilege of generating a race with perfect life, the privilege of perfect conditions in climate, health, food, home, air, etc., the privilege of controlling as its ruler this earth and all that are in it, and the privilege of perfect fellowship with God and man. Their retention was subject to a condition—that of obedience; for there was a covenant implied in the relation of God and Adam (Hos. 6:7; see margin and R. V.); and as long as Adam maintained his part of this covenant; that long God would continue him in all the rights given him as a present at his creation. The right to human life and its life-rights, therefore, embraced all those things that Adam as a perfect human being was given in his creation as conditional presents. He might have them so long as he remained in harmony with the condition upon which their continuance depended. Father Adam did not fulfill that covenant. He chose to disregard his Almighty Friend and Provider and to prefer his wife instead. Therefore, he plunged himself into sin and lost his right to life and his life-rights for himself and race, to whom, of course, he could not give these after he no longer had them.
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Thus, his existence and all his rights were forfeited, because of his sin, for himself and his race (Gen. 2:7; 3:19; Rom. 5:12-14).
His rights were taken from him, so far as rights were concerned, instantly, but the use of vestiges of them was permitted him until, little by little and more and more, by the dying process, they were wholly removed from him at death. While he no longer had the right to life and its life-rights, yet God gave him the privilege of dying gradually instead of suddenly; for a temporary dying life, under imperfect living conditions, was all that Father Adam had after the sentence. This, then, is the condition into which Father Adam entered: the forfeiture of all he was and had and his right to them, his right to live and his life-rights. All of this being forfeited, the race by heredity of necessity shared with him in the forfeiture and thus lost all the rights that it would have gotten from him, had he remained sinless. This condition into which Father Adam and we entered is the antecedent of the ransom. Christ could not have been a corresponding price available for Adam, unless Adam had forfeited these things. Thus Father Adam's sin brought on him and his race the forfeiture of all he was and all his rights, which condition had to be, as the antecedent of the ransom, if there was to be a ransom for him.
Next will be considered the causes of the ransom-price. First there was a requiring cause, which was God's justice. The justice of God required a ransom-price, if God again were to deal with the race from the standpoint of salvation. God's justice having properly sentenced man to death, there must be made up for man that which justice required, before God could deal with man as free from His just sentence. The justice of God being just, it would have been unjust to remove the sentence without meeting the requirements of justice—a perfect man that had the right to life with its life-rights for the perfect man Adam that had forfeited himself, his right to life with its life-rights (Ex. 21:23-25;
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Deut. 19:21). Therefore, the justice of God required the ransom, before man can be freed from these forfeitures. We read of this, for example, in Rom. 3:25, 26: "Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation [propitiatory—justice; which Jesus became for us in becoming our righteousness (Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30). That the propitiatory represents justice is evident from the fact that the blood was sprinkled thereon—justice, satisfied by Christ's merit] through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." This passage teaches that it was the justice of God that required the sacrifice of Jesus, the ransom, in order for God to forgive sin, and yet remain just, while so doing.
Secondly, there was the planning cause of the ransom, which was the Divine wisdom. In proof we might cite 1 Cor. 1:23, 24: "But we preach Christ crucified [the ransom], unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Thus Christ crucified, i.e., the ransom, is shown to be the concentration of God's wisdom, as well as power, with regard to man's salvation, in His sacrifice by which He laid down the ransom-price; for only Divine wisdom could have planned the ransom unto fitness to make operative God's plan.
Thirdly, there was a moving cause of the ransom-price—Divine love. We are not to think that the race's deliverance costs God nothing; for He Himself furnished the price in giving up His Son; and that which impelled the Father thereto was His marvelous love, which was so great as to empty heaven of its dearest treasure and to send the Son of His bosom into the world to become our ransom. Thus we read in Rom. 5:8: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for
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us." John 3:16 is another passage to the point: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Such love by others was never shown, and perhaps will never be by God again.
Fourthly, there was an efficient cause of the ransom—God's power as it operated through the Holy Spirit in our dear Redeemer. We find this stated in Acts 10:38: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." This power of God acting in our dear Redeemer enabled Him to lay down His life as the ransom-price (Heb. 9:14), as it also enables Him to operate all its many great effects.
Finally, we might call attention to the meritorious cause of the ransom. This was our Lord Jesus' obedience. That which made it possible to give the ransom was an obedient and perfect heart, one that could say in the language of the prophet: "I delight to do Thy will, O My God; Thy law is within My heart." And of this we have testimony in Rom. 5:19: "For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous." Thus our dear Redeemer's holy obedience, maintained faithfully unto death, was the meritorious cause of the ransom and made it possible. What He obediently laid down in death had a genuine merit, which was by His death made available for mankind. Thus we have pointed out what the Scriptures show us to be the causes of the ransom: God's attributes, His justice, wisdom, love and power (each working in a different way—the justice of God requiring it, the love of God moving it, the wisdom of God planning it and the power of God effecting it), and the obedience of Jesus as the meritorious cause.
The precedent of the ransom is Jesus' carnation. None of Adam's fallen race could be the ransom, because being under the death sentence, none of them had the right to life with its conjoined life-rights, and because, being under the dying effects of that sentence,
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none of them had a perfect humanity and life. Hence none of them could be a corresponding price for the perfect Adam who had the right to life and its liferights before he sinned (Ps. 49:7, 8). Hence a human being had to be made who did not have on him Adam's sentence and in him Adam's imperfection, if there was to be a ransom given for Adam. God could, as in Adam's case, have newly created a perfect man out of the dust of the ground and have given him perfect life, with the right to life and its life-rights, as he did Adam; but He did not so do because He desired to make the Ransomer the highest of all His creatures on the highest, the Divine plane of life; hence, because the Word, Michael, the archangel, the highest of the then heavenly beings, had always been the most faithful the efficient of God's heavenly host, He decided to give Him the chance to become the Ransomer. This he did by emptying Him of His spiritual nature, office and home, in order to make, and in the process of making, Him a human being. Therefore instead of using the semen of a death-sentenced human male, He used the life-principle and the personal, the soul, qualities of the Word to fructify the ovum in Mary; and thus in nine months the Word was changed from a perfect spirit into a perfect human being free from the death sentence of Adam and thus fit to be a ransom for Adam; for Jesus, thus begotten, born and grown to sinless manhood, had perfect humanity and life, the right to human life and the life-rights that go with such a right to human life. Hence He could be the Ransomer. His carnation into a perfect human being having perfect life, human right to life and its accompanying life-rights had to take place before He could become the Ransomer. Hence His carnation was the precedent of the ransom (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:31-35; John 1:14; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:6-8; Heb. 2:14, 16, 17).
Let us now study more closely the nature of the ransom-price itself. The Bible sets the matter before us under decidedly commercial terms. It sets before us
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a creditor; and this is Jehovah. It sets before us a debtor; and this is Adam and his race. It sets before us a friend of the debtor; and this is Jesus, who is willing to buy the debtor by paying the debt and so free the debtor. The fact of the matter is: the debtor—Adam—made himself utterly bankrupt. He forfeited to Divine justice all he was and had, and not only for himself, but for his descendants. Hence the creditor owned the debtor for his debt. The debtor having surrendered himself up with all he was and had, Jesus, the friend of this debtor, was willing as a purchase price for the debt to substitute Himself with all He was and had as a human being—His perfect humanity and life and its right to life with its life-rights, in offset to the debt (Adam, with all his rights—his right to life and its life-rights) to free the debtor by a transfer of ownership from justice to Jesus through the purchase. This is the way in which the Bible presents the matter. It is presented, therefore, under the terms of a commercial transaction, especially indicated in the Greek term antilytron—corresponding price, our ransom-price.
We are aware that there are people who object to this idea of the ransom-price, but we are also aware that the Bible again and again lays stress on it, and pivots on it the whole possibility of our salvation and the successful outworking of God's plan. Had there been anything wrong with the ransom-price, there would have been a total failure in what God intended to do with it. There is an utmost necessity to see this. Therefore we now call attention to how the Bible refers to this matter in commercial terms. In the Greek of the Bible there are a number of words that are used to indicate this commercial transaction to our minds. The one most frequently used in verb form is agorazo, which means literally, "I buy." It is derived from a noun, agora, which means, "market," and etymologically agorazo means, "I buy at a market or public place." The idea of a purchase, therefore, is involved in this word. We call attention to the fact that this word is
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used repeatedly in the Bible with reference to Christ's redemptive work. For example, this commercial transaction is described by the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6:20 and 7:23 (the same language being used in both verses): "For ye are bought with a price." He does not state in this connection what that price is; but he does state the fact that God's people are purchased with a price. Treating of certain ones who had once been of God's people and then made shipwreck of everything by repudiating the ransom, Peter uses the following language: "They even deny the Lord that bought them, and [thereby] bring upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Pet. 2:1). Thus certain ones were bought.
In the book of Revelation we have a number of occurrences of this word, agorazo. It has there been translated by the word redeem. We prefer the word purchase, because the word redeem has also another meaning. The first of such occurrences is in Rev. 5:9, 10: "Thou hast redeemed them to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them unto their God kings and priests, and they shall reign on the earth." Here we are told a purchase was made. We are told what the means of that purchase were: viz., Christ's blood. "Thou hast purchased them to God by Thy blood." This passage does not say that all are bought. It simply says that certain ones are bought. "Thou has purchased them OUT OF" [out from among] every kindred, etc. All the world has not yet been purchased. The purchase-price was laid down for everybody, but so far it is made available for purchasing only certain ones, that is, the Church, those who are given by God the privilege of becoming kings and priests. In Rev. 14:3, we find this expression: "And they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." Then in the next verse: "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
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He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." So certain ones are bought out from among the race of mankind before the rest, and these are the ones referred to in these passages. There is not a passage in the Bible that tells us that the world has already been bought. The purchase price was laid down for all at Calvary; but it is not God's time yet to use it in purchasing the world. The only ones (Heb. 9:24) reached so far by the atoning blood of Jesus is the Church. The world will be bought by it in the Millennial Age.
The Bible also uses this word agorazo in a compound word—exagorazo. Ex, ek, means "from," "out of," or "from among." We have in the New Testament two occurrences of this word: First, in Gal. 3:13; "Christ hath redeemed us [literally, bought us out] from under the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us." This verse shows us how it happened, viz., by a substitutionary arrangement. This verse teaches that He has bought the Jewish brethren from under the curse of the Law. It does not say that He bought all the Israelites. He has bought us. He has bought us out from under the curse of the Law, by becoming a curse for us. Then, again, in Gal. 4:4, 5, the Apostle makes this statement, using the same word exagorazo: "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law [to buy out them that were under the Law. The Law is spoken of here as having them enclosed within it, and He bought them out from under the Law], that we might receive the adoption of sons."
There is still a third word the Bible uses in this connection—lytroo. It is from this word lytroo that the word for price is derived—lytron. And both come from the root of the verb lyo, "I deliver." Lytroo occurs three times, with the meaning, "to buy deliveringly." In Luke 24:21 we read as follows: "We had trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed [lytroo] Israel." The word means, "to deliver on the basis of
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a price." The Israelites mistakenly thought the price to be a figurative one—a great war by which they would be delivered from the Roman yoke; and the disciples gave expression to that erroneous thought to Jesus. "We had trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed [delivered on the basis of a price] Israel." The Apostle Paul also uses this same term in Titus 2:14: "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity [that He might deliver us on the basis of a price from all iniquity], and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." The Apostle Peter, likewise, uses the same word on this point (1 Pet. 1:18, 19): "Ye were redeemed [lytroo—delivered on the basis of a price], not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Here, again, is indicated that the price was His blood, His life, for which blood stands in the Bible.
There is still another word the Greek Testament uses to imply this purchase transaction—peripoieomai, which means literally "I acquire," and the connection proves it to mean acquire by a price, i.e., purchase. In Acts 20:28 the Apostle uses this word in speaking to the elders of the Ephesian Church: "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which He hath purchased [acquired] with His own [Son's] blood." Here we are again told that a purchase was made. We are also told what was given as the purchase price: the blood of the Son of God, i.e., the human life of Jesus laid down in death. In Eph. 1:13, 14, the Apostle again uses this word, however in the form of a noun: "After that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession," i.e., acquired by a purchase. "Peripoiesis" is the word here used. Thus we find in all these Scriptures one and the same thought is set before our minds—that there was a business transaction,
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a purchase made, a price given, something bought, that there was one from whom something was bought (the Father, Heb. 9:14), that there was one to be bought (Adam and the race, Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6), and that there was a third one who does the buying (Jesus, by His humanity).
Having in a general way shown that the Scriptures set forth the ransom as a business transaction, a purchase, we now desire to set forth the proof that the ransom-price is a corresponding price. Our chief proof is the meaning of the words, antilytron and lytron anti. This meaning is implied in the etymology and use of the words. The word antilytron, as we find it in 1 Tim. 2:6, is a compound word. It consists of a preposition and a noun compounded. Lytron means "price" and anti means "instead of." Hence antilytron means "a price instead of," "a corresponding price." We have the same word, or rather the same two words not compounded, in Matt. 20:28: "The Son of Man came … to give His life a ransom [lytron] for [anti; instead of] many,"—a price instead of many, a price corresponding to many, a price equal in value to many, the whole Adamic race. The many of this verse are the same as the all of 1 Tim. 2:6. Father Adam forfeited his all, including his right to life and his life-rights, for himself, as well as for his race. An exact equivalent to these is what the ransom-price is. Jesus was a perfect human being. As such He had a perfect body and perfect life. As such He had the right to life and the life-rights of a perfect being. He had the right to propagate a race with the right to life and its life-rights. He had a right to rule over the earth, and to enjoy perfect living conditions therein. There was an unborn race in His loins, corresponding to the unborn race in Adam's loins. Jesus laid down as the ransom-price all of this, as an exact equivalent of all that Adam had forfeited. Divine justice, in exacting its due, is enunciated in this language: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Deut. 19:21,
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compared with Ex. 21:23-25); and, by parity of reasoning, we might add, "a perfect life for a perfect life." Since Adam had to give up all he was and had to justice as his debt, an exact equivalent had to be given to satisfy justice, if the debtor might be freed. Less would not do; and more could not be asked; for justice could not ask more than the actual amount any more than it could be satisfied with less; for it demands an exact equivalent of the debt. The one who gave the ransom-price could not be more or less than a man, but had to be man, and a perfect man at that; for He could not be an imperfect man, because he had to be exactly the same kind of a man and in the same condition as Father Adam was before he forfeited his all by sin; and thus He could become the antilytron. Jesus' perfect being as a man is a substitute for Adam's perfect being; Jesus' human rights are a substitute for Adam's rights; both are absolutely equal. Hence He gave a corresponding price, an antilytron, a price instead, something exactly equal to the other's debt. One of the cherubim or the Archangel, Michael, would have been too much, an imperfect man too little. The Logos, a spirit, was too much; hence His carnation—His becoming a perfect man—had to occur before He could be an antilytron for Adam. It required a perfect man that had all the rights that God had given the perfect Adam, to give an equivalent to God for Adam and his forfeited rights.
We now will present some further Scriptural proofs that the above exposition is correct. The meaning of the word itself is our chief proof of the nature of the ransom-price. And this meaning is proven true also by the other Bible words given above proving that the pertinent act is one of purchasing. No one can successfully deny the proof of this; for not only the meaning of the word itself, but also the two texts especially examined (1 Tim. 2:6 and Matt. 20:28) show us the nature of the price by which in many Scriptures we are spoken of as bought—a price to correspond. In addition to these proofs we desire to give twelve facts
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from the Bible that prove that the ransom-price means a corresponding price, an exact equivalent of, no more and no less than, the debt.
(1) The first of these facts is this: EQUAL THINGS were given for the things that constitute the debt. Thus, for the first man a man was given. For the perfect man a perfect man was given. For the rights of the first perfect man the rights of another perfect man were given. For the first soul an equal soul was given. The Scriptures show each of these thoughts to be correct. The Bible assures us that Father Adam was a man, and this required that the ransom be furnished by a man. Thus we read in 1 Cor. 15:21, 22: "For since by man came death, by man shall also come the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive." Thus we are shown that a man was given for a man. From Heb. 2:7-9 we see that a perfect man was given for a perfect man, and the rights of a perfect man for the rights of a perfect man: "Thou madest him [Adam] a little lower than the angels." In the preceding verse the prophet (Heb. 2:6; Ps. 8:4-8) asks: "What is man that Thou art [wert] mindful of him, even a son—man [Adam in Hebrew] that Thou visitest [visitedst, hadst fellowship with] him?" He is asking for a definition of the man Adam—not his descendants. What is man even a son—Adam [so the Hebrew of Ps. 8:4]? Apart from Jesus, Adam was the only man crowned with glory and honor. Then he gives a definition of Adam: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels." The first man, Adam, was made a little lower than the angels, since human is a little lower than angelic nature. Then he shows certain of his rights, his rights to perfection and the rulership over the earth: "Thou crownedst him with glory [image of God] and honor [likeness of God]." Adam in his perfection of faculty and disposition was created in the image of God; and just as God was ruler over the universe the first man was made ruler over the
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earth, in God's likeness as Ruler over the universe. (Gen. 1:26, 27, 31). Thus we have it stated: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor and didst set him over the works of Thy hands." Thus the first man, Adam, had these rights given him: the right to be a perfect man, with the right to life and its life-rights.
In v. 9, the Apostle calls our attention to the fact that all these things that Adam was and had, Jesus was and had: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels," made a human being. What kind? Sinful like us? No. One just like Adam before his fall. He tells us why He was made lower than the angels: "For the suffering of death." Jesus was given the same perfection and rights that Adam had"—crowned with glory and honor." He also tells us the reason it was so, which gives the ransom thought: "That He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." He was made exactly like Adam in order that He might take Adam's place and undo what Adam did for himself and the race, through death—the ransom-price laid down. So, too, Adam was called a human soul and Jesus was called a human soul, and as the one had to forfeit his soul, so Jesus sacrificed His soul. We read, for example, in Gen. 2:7; 3:19: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." "Dust thou wast and unto dust thou shalt return." On the other hand, in Is. 53:10, we read of Jesus' giving an equivalent thing—His soul: "When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin." The same in v. 12: "He hath poured out His soul unto death." This is shown in the Greek of Matt. 20:28: "to give His soul a price instead of many,"—a passage we have already noted, where the term soul occurs in the Greek, though it is rendered in English by life. Thus, then, we find that He gave exactly what Adam had to forfeit—equal things—a perfect human being, with the right to life and its life-rights for a
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perfect human being, with its right to life and its liferights, and a perfect soul for a perfect soul. This is the first argument that, in addition to the etymology of the word and its parallel expressions, we give to prove that the ransom is a corresponding price.
The second fact is this: Equal parts were given by Jesus for Adam's parts. In the one case a perfect life and a perfect body were forfeited, and so in the other case a perfect life and a perfect body—equal parts—were sacrificed. Adam had a perfect life and a perfect body; for we find this stated in the words connected with his creation in God's own image, as they are elsewhere explained in the Holy Scriptures (Gen. 1:26, 27, 31; Deut. 32:4; Eccl. 7:29). As for Adam's parts we read in Gen. 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground [here we have the body of the perfect man], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [here we have the life of the perfect man], and man became a living soul." So the parts of which that soul consisted were a perfect life and body. Jesus, according to the Bible, had to give equal parts in order to furnish a corresponding price; and this we find was done. The language is in Luke 22:19; Matt. 26:26-28: "And Jesus said, Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you … This is My blood [which contained the life] … which is shed for many." "He offered Himself without spot" (Heb. 9:14), i.e., His body and life were perfect. Thus He gave His perfect body and life. Therefore, equal parts were given; the perfect life of one was substituted for that of the other, and the same is true of the perfect body of the one for the other's.
(3) This brings us to the third fact: The sane thing was endured, death, by Jesus, when He laid down the ransom-price, as Adam endured in paying his debt. Or to put the matter in another form, the collection of the debt in the one case was through the process of death, and the making available of the price for the payment of the debt had to go through the same process—death.
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Many do not understand the nature of sin's penalty; many have the thought that it is eternal life in torment. With that thought of it they have concluded that a corresponding price could not have been paid, because Jesus does not endure eternal life in torture. We must accept their argument, if the premise is correct. But the Bible tells us that the penalty that Adam had pronounced upon him, and that he endured, was death, no more, no less. Thus, for example, we read God's statement of the case in Gen. 2:17: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The speaker (God) considers a thousand of our years as one of His days, and Adam experienced the entire dying process during over 925 years of one of God's days. When God pronounced the penalty, He made the following statement to Adam (Gen. 3:19): "Dust thou wast [in the A. V. it reads "art," but it should read "wast"] and unto dust thou shalt return." That is, he would go into extinction, into death. The Bible repeatedly gives the same thought. For example, in Rom. 6:23: "The wages of sin is death"—not eternal life in torture. Again, in Ezek. 18:4, 20: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." These Scriptures show that death is the penalty. From this standpoint we see that Adam had to pay his debt through the process of death. Thereby he had taken from him all he was and had—his being and rights. Jesus in furnishing the ransom had to go through the same process to make the same rights available for the race, and, therefore, we find that the Scriptures everywhere tell us that He bore our penalty. Note Is. 53. In almost every verse from the 4th on this is stated. "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity [penalty of sin (Ezek. 18:19, 20)] of us all." In v. 8: "For the transgression of my people was He stricken." In v. 10: "Thou shalt
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make His soul an offering for sin." In v. 12: "He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors." St. Paul epitomized the whole Scriptural testimony on this point in 1 Cor. 15:3, saying: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." These Scriptures show that in providing the ransom-price, Jesus had to go through the same process as Adam did, when he gave up to justice all He was and had as a human being. Death was the process through which both had to pass—the same process, as the means of giving up their all—and that demonstrates again the corresponding price.
(4) This brings us to a fourth fact that demonstrates the same thing: Justice is satisfied by the ransom-price to the degree that it was dissatisfied by Adam's sin, which dissatisfaction required Adam's all to appease it. This, again, proves the ransom-price to be a corresponding price. Why? Because justice is unbending. It requires an absolute equivalent for the debt. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a nail for a nail, a life for a life, a right to life for a right to life, life-rights for life-rights, and a perfect life for a perfect life (Ex. 21:23-25; Deut. 19:21). There can be not the shadow of a difference, so far as justice itself is concerned. If, therefore, we can demonstrate that what Jesus gives effects the satisfaction of justice for the release of Adam and his race from the claims of justice, then we have proved that the ransom-price is a corresponding price. We find this stated in a number of Scriptures. For example, in Rom. 3:25, 26, a passage already quoted: "Whom [Jesus] God hath set forth to be a propitiation [propitiatory—justice—Christ's righteousness] through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Here God's justice is set forth as being satisfied by Christ's merit to release its debtors—God can remain just and still justify
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the sinner that becomes of the faith (faithfulness, righteousness) of Jesus. We have this same thought presented to us in 1 John 2:2: "He is the propitiation [the satisfaction] for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." The same Apostle in the same epistle (4:10) gives the same idea: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins." Also Heb. 2:17, where the words to make reconciliation should be rendered to make propitiation, satisfaction. Thus the Bible sets forth the thought that justice is satisfied, propitiated, by what Jesus does. And since the law of justice is this, that an absolute equivalent must be given for the debt (Ex. 21:23-25; Deut. 19:21), it follows that the ransom is a corresponding price, and that the price that is furnished by our dear Redeemer is one exactly equal to the debt of Adam and the involved race.
(5) A fifth probatory fact is this: As Father Adam's sin made us unavailable for communion with God, so Jesus' ransom makes the whole race available for communion with God. One of the things that Adam had to endure for sin was his separation from his Creator's fellowship. God refused to deal any more with him as a child or friend or on covenant basis, or with his race in the same respects; for they were rebels. What Jesus does makes it possible for the race to come back into fellowship with God; and this proves that the ransom works a reversal of man's inavailability of fellowship with God into an availability of such fellowship. Note 2 Cor. 5:19: "God was [from Jordan to Calvary] in [by] Christ reconciling the world unto Himself [making the world available for at-one-ment with Him. The actual reconciliation of the world will be in the next Age, as this is the Age for the reconciliation of the Church (Rom. 5:11)], not imputing unto them their trespasses [but imputing them to Christ]." Thus we see again that our dear Redeemer's sacrificial death is a corresponding price, from the standpoint that it reverses
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the world's inavailability for communion with God to an availability for communion with Him.
(6, 7) This brings us to a sixth and seventh fact that the Bible gives, demonstrating the same thought: (6) The doctrine of justification by faith upon the Church now, and (7) the doctrine that by and by the world will have freely cancelled from it the Adamic sin and condemnation and be brought back front the tomb free from Adam's sin and the death sentence. We do not hold this latter as being justification by faith, because justification in the next Age will be by works. But the world will be freed from the Adamic sin and sentence before the bar of justice the moment the ransom is applied for them; and in this freedom they will be brought back from the tomb, which proves that a corresponding price will have been given for their debt. The forgiveness of sin is appropriated by faith now; and the imputation of Christ's righteousness is applied to faith now. In the next Age they will have instantly the forgiveness of sin and the cancellation of its sentence, on the application of the ransom merit for them; but they will gradually come to an actually righteous condition by works. However, the same two things appear at both times—the forgiveness of the Adamic sin and the cancellation of its penalty. Now it is on condition of faith. Then without any condition, as soon as the ransom is applied—a fact that is evident; for the blood will be applied while the bulk of the race will be in the tomb, and is the meritorious cause of their return therefrom. Let us now point out a further justification feature as a point that proves this: As a thing that must precede faith justification we must have a condemned race unable to save itself. If the race were uncondemned there would be no need of faith justification; and if the race could save itself there would be no need of faith justification. It is because the human family is lost and undone under the just sentence of God for its sin, utterly incapable of doing anything that would commend itself to God, that a faith justification
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has to be arranged for the Church now and an immediate cancellation of Adamic sin and condemnation for the world by and by.
Note please how the Scriptures state the thought that none of us could come back to fellowship with God by our own works; for of the most favored of the race it states that they could not, and certainly, therefore, none of the rest of us could. We read, for example, in Rom. 3:19, 20: "Now we know that; what things soever the Law [covenant] saith, it saith to them who are under the Law [covenant, i.e., to Jews], that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty [under sentence] before God." And if the most favored and best—the Jews—were condemned by the Law, of course the rest would be condemned by the same justice acting through the natural law covenant in which Adam was, and thus every mouth is stopped by that one fact, though not all were under the Law Covenant of Israel. Thus the whole world is condemned. "For by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the Law is the knowledge of sin." Justice convicts us all as being guilty and, therefore, no works justification for us now. No fallen man can redeem himself or give a ransom for his brother (Ps. 49:7, 8). So, then, this is the first proposition for faith justification: There must be a race condemned, and therefore unable to save itself. But this fact makes it necessary that one should come as a substitute for the race, bearing the penalty for the race, supplying merit for the race, if at least some of the race might get justification; and this is exactly what is stated in 2 Cor. 5:21: "God made Him to be sin [a sin-offering] for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Thus the Apostle here shows that our Heavenly Father sent forth His Son as a sin-offering, even such a Son as was not guilty of any sin. Had He been, He could not be a sin-offering, since justice cannot accept an imperfect sacrifice. This text also explains the purpose: that we
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might be the righteousness of God in Him—might attain the, righteousness that God provided for us in Him.
Thus, then, we see that the ransom sacrifice stands here connected as the middle point between our condemned and lost condition and our getting justification by faith. The sacrifice of Christ stands here as the means necessary to bridge over this condition, and it does afford us faith justification. We find in the following passage this thought, which proves that faith justification is a fact demonstrating the ransom-price to be a corresponding price (Rom. 3:21-26). Here the Apostle gives a lengthy argument on this point. Having stated that by the Law is the knowledge of sin, he adds: "But now the righteousness of God [called such because provided by Him through Jesus] without the Law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets [the Law in its sacrifices, the prophets in their statements, gave witness to the fact that there would be a righteousness that through Jesus God had arranged for, and that it would come without the works of the Law]. Even the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith [fullness—righteousness] of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe. [Here he shows how faith justification comes. It is a righteousness that God has provided for. He has wrought it through Christ's faithfulness, and made it available for all that will become of the faithfulness—the righteousness—of Jesus.] For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory [a perfect character] of God [The fact of sin is a universal one], being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [Here is a passage that shows that we do not have our justification vitalized until we are in Him, that is, at consecration. Then the Apostle shows how God's justice is satisfied], whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [mercy seat—justice] through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness,
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that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Thus we see running through this lengthy passage the same line of argumentation, that the justice of God is satisfied by the price that is paid.
Note Rom. 4:2-8: "What shall we say concerning Father Abraham? He believed God and it [his faith] was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not [does not perfectly fulfill the Law], but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." St. Paul in Rom. 10:4 gives us the same thought: "For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth." He puts an end to it for Jewish believers, not for every Jew. In 1 Cor. 1:30 he gives us the same thought: "Who of God is made unto us … righteousness." In Phil. 3:9 the same idea is given: "Not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith [fullness—righteousness] of Christ, the righteousness which is of God [its source] by faith." Thus we see that the sixth and seventh fact that demonstrates the ransom-price to be a corresponding price is the Bible doctrine of justification by faith now, and what will occur, somewhat like it, in the next Age; for when the ransom is then applied for the world, the race will be freed from the Adamic sin and sentence, coming back from the tomb without being under their condemnation (Rom. 5:18, 19).
(8) The eighth fact is: Through our faith justification we now have peace with God. St. Paul in Rom. 5:1 says: "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This takes away from us God's disapproval which we inherited from Adam (Eph. 2:3), and makes us grow in
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the sense of His approval more and more into peace with His righteous will, which, instead of regarding as a burden, we grow more and more into loving. It puts us back into God's friendship, where Adam was before he sinned. Hence, effecting the reversal of the disfellowship which Adam brought upon us, it proves the ransom, whose merit effects it fully, to be the corresponding price, undoing the debt and freeing the debtor, taking away the enmity.
(9) The ninth fact is: Jesus' ransom sacrifice, justifying us, makes us acceptable as sacrifices. God's justice not accepting an imperfect sacrifice, the ransom justifying us from Adamic imperfection must be a corresponding price to effect this. Jesus' merit—His human all and its rights—makes our humanity in God's sight just like Adam's in his perfection, reckoning to us all that Adam had: a perfect humanity, a perfect life, the right to life and its life-rights. Thus, by the imputation of His ransom merit to us, there is reckoned to us all those things that belong to human perfection, and that make us acceptable for sacrifice. This is proven by Rom. 12:1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [forgiveness of sins and imputation of Christ's righteousness], that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable." Holy and acceptable—these two terms show the quality of our sacrifice in God's eyes, and Christ's ransom merit received in justification makes it so, i.e., makes us reckonedly perfect as Adam actually was, and thus makes us as sacrifices with our Lord Jesus Christ acceptable to God who accepts only a perfect sacrifice, actual or reckoned.
(10) Now our tenth fact: All the sacrificing through which our humanity goes, even unto death, is acceptable to the Father through the merit of Jesus. Imperfect sacrifices are abominations to God (Prov. 15:8; 21:27). Hence our daily sacrifices must be perfect in His sight to be acceptable. Jesus' merit makes them so (1 Pet. 2:5): "Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up sacrifices
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[not our consecration in its beginning, but its offering up day by day after our consecration was first made], acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The ransom as a corresponding price imputed to us makes our daily sacrifices acceptable. Please see also Heb. 10:14; 13:15, 16.
(11) The eleventh fact that demonstrates the ransom-price to be a corresponding price is: The ransom-price guarantees that there will be given to the whole world gradually what it lost in Adam, if and as it obeys in the next Age. What the world lost in Adam is perfect humanity and perfect life with the right to perfect human life and its life-rights (1 Cor. 15:21, 22). All that will come into Christ, but no one else, will then get these again. His Millennial reign will gradually destroy every vestige of the effects of Satan's reign—which effects are meant by the expressions, all rule, all authority and all power (1 Cor. 15:23-26). St. Paul in this passage tells us that all rule, authority and power are the enemies to be destroyed. The effects of Satan's rule, authority and power are by these terms here meant—by metonymy. For he names death as one of these enemies that must be destroyed; hence we know that all rule, authority and power here mean all the effects of Satan's work—Adamic sin, dying process with its resultant physical, mental, artistic, moral and religious imperfections and its death state (1 John 3:8). Jesus' thousand years' reign is gradually to accomplish this destruction of all effects of Satan's works: for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. Compare Heb. 1:8: "Thy throne [Christ's Mediatorial reign] is for the Age [the Millennial period exclusive of the Little Season at its end (1 Cor. 15:24)] of the Age [the Millennial period including the Little Season (Rev. 20:4-9)]"; also Heb. 10:12, 13: for the Millennium is the time that His enemies will become His footstool. This implies that the right to life and its life-rights will gradually be given to the race, even as it appears also from St. Paul's explanation of the antitype of the sprinkling of the bulls' and goats' blood
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as taking place through the World's Mediator in the next Age—a thousand years' giving of the antitypical blood (ransom-price merits) to the world (Heb. 9:23). So, too, the Second Adam and Eve will gradually be giving during the thousand years—"in the regeneration"—the right to life and its life-rights to those who will act as children—obey. The right to life and its life-rights, as the ransom merits, gradually being conferred on the obedient during the Millennium and bringing them to perfection at its end, prove that the ransom-price is a price corresponding to the totality of Adam's forfeiture for himself and us.
(12) Now for the twelfth fact in proof of our point: The actual perfect human life with all its rights being sealed to the obedient at the end of the Millennium through Christ and the Church as the tree of life, proves that the ransom-price is a corresponding price, in that it will then actually have given to the obedient all that Adam lost for them. This is stated in Rev. 21:3-5; 22:1-3: "And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. [Fellowship will be restored between God and the race just as it existed between Adam and God before Adam's fall.] And He will be their God [they will be in covenant relation with Him as Adam was before he sinned], and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things [all the effects of the curse] are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new [the obedient will be restored to every good thing Adam lost for them]." Why? Because of that tree of life [the Christ, whose virtue is in the ransom-price] that shall have been yielding its fruits, twelve manner of fruits, twelve months of the year, all the Millennial time, for the race of mankind, until the obedient shall have been perfected (Rev. 22:1-3).
Some teach that Jesus' sufferings, not Himself, are
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the ransom-price. This cannot be true for several reasons: (1) Scriptural facts teach that Jesus had to be dead before His right to human life and its pertinent life-rights and Himself as a human being would be available as the purchase price to be used to do the buying. As long as He lived that long the purchase price was not in a condition to be available for the act of purchasing; for his life was then necessary for his own existence as a human being. It was by His complete death that He sacrificed completely the corresponding price; and hence, arising from the dead a Divine being and no longer human, "put to death in flesh, and made alive in spirit," not in flesh, His human all was in a condition, so far as His no longer needing it for His own personal existence was concerned, to be made available for the purchasing act. Jesus, in first having to lay down completely unto death His human all so that He could have it available for the purchase of the world, was like a man who desires to buy a house—he must first make the money available by which the purchase can be made, before it can be made. Then, having the available cash, he can proceed to buy the house. (2) Not only Scripture facts, but also Scripture passages teach this. After Jesus had died, antitypical of Aaron's complete sacrifice of the bullock, He entered heaven with His merit, antitypical of Aaron entering the most holy with the bullock's blood. And as Aaron typically accomplished the satisfaction of justice, by sprinkling the bullock's blood on the typical mercy seat—typical of God's justice—in the typical holy of holies, typical of heaven; so he represents Jesus in heaven by His ransom-price purchasing us from God's justice out of the Adamic indebtedness and bankruptcy (Heb. 9:24; 2:17; 1 John 2:1, 2). It is because Jesus thus becomes, in heaven, not on Calvary, our justice—righteousness—before God (Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30), that He is declared to be our propitiatory—mercy seat—not propitiation, as the A. V. incorrectly renders it in Rom. 3:25. Thus the purchasing is done in heaven,
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after Jesus' death, a thing that proves that the thought of some that Jesus' sufferings did the buying is an error. Not understanding the ransom as the corresponding price, completely laid down at Calvary, and thereby made available for the actual purchasing, makes them open to their error on Christ's dying being the act of His allegedly figuratively purchasing of us.
Having seen the Scripturalness of the corresponding-price view of the ransom and the unscripturalness of contrary doctrines, whose indefiniteness is a sure proof of their erroneousness, we desire now to point out how this doctrine overthrows a current brand of universalism. It claims that Adam represented all mankind on trial, and that in his failure all have failed. It further claims that Jesus in His trial represented all mankind, and that in His overcoming all overcome and must, therefore, eventually get eternal life. This view is thoroughly unscriptural. The Scriptures teach that the perfect (Gen. 1:26, 27, 31) Adam, with the right to human life and its life-rights (Heb. 2:6-8), was put on trial for life (Gen. 2:15-17; Rom. 5:16, 18) on the basis of a covenant with God (Hos. 6:7; literally, "They like Adam [so the margin and the R. V.] have transgressed the covenant"). Nowhere does the Bible say or imply that he represented us in a trial resulting in death. The Bible teaches that we were in him—in his loins, while he was on trial, and, therefore, his sentence and its effects came upon us indirectly, i.e., by heredity, and not directly, i.e., in a representative, which would require us to have been sentenced with him, whereas we get his sentence only by heredity (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22). The Bible nowhere says or implies that we were in any sense in Christ in His trial; for He stood trial for Himself alone as a new creature (Heb. 2:18; 4:15; 5:7-9) at the same time as He was laying down His humanity as a corresponding price for mankind. Therefore, mankind could not have been in Him in His trial as in a representative, and certainly not in Him as a human
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being, i.e., in His loins, as we were in Adam. Therefore, the representative idea falls to the ground in both of its alleged aspects as nowhere taught in the Bible. Our relationship, therefore, to Adam and to Jesus not being that of representation, and our hereditary relation to Adam—in his loins—being entirely different from that which we sustain toward Jesus, we not having been in His loins, we must look to some other relationship as that implied in the corresponding price; and it is this: Adam by his sin forfeited for himself directly all he was and had as a perfect human being, and begetting us while he was dying, while having a forfeited right to life and its forfeited life-rights, he transmitted to us by heredity his bankrupt condition. Thus we inherited from him his sentence and its results (Rom. 5:12-19). Justice held as a debt against him, and by heredity against us, all the conditional rights granted him at his creation, continued as long as he obeyed, and forfeited when he disobeyed.
For the price of self-indulgence he sold what he was and had, which includes us, to God's justice for death (Gen. 2:17; 3:17-19; Rom. 5:12-19; 7:14). Thus justice held against him for his sin all he was and had as a price owed to it, which effected his death. The Man, Jesus (1 Tim. 2:6; Matt. 20:28), not the New Creature, Christ, gave Himself as the corresponding price. Why? To propitiate God's justice (Rom. 3:26, 27; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:1, 2; 4:10). What does justice require to propitiate it? "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Ex. 21:23-25; Deut. 19:21), i.e., a corresponding price. It is for this reason that the blood of bulls and goats could not satisfy justice (Heb. 10:4), which they could have done, if justice were a non-exacting and easy-going thing, not requiring a corresponding price. But justice demanding an exact equivalent, no more and no less, bulls and goats not having the value of Adam and the race in him, never could take away their sin before justice; but justice is not the
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easy-going, putty-like thing that some represent it to be. It is severe and exacting. It asks for no more than its due, and also will receive no less than its due. God never ignores its demands; but blessed be His grace; His wisdom planned, His love sacrificed and His power wrought out the corresponding price as the means whereby He might remain just while justifying the believer (Rom. 3:26, 27). Jesus as a perfect human being was an exact equivalent—a corresponding price—to what Adam forfeited (Heb. 2:9; compare with 6-8). By His death in obedience Jesus laid down His human all as a price corresponding to Adam's forfeited human all; and being raised a spirit, and no more needing His human all for His own existence, He held it as an asset equal to the debt justice held against Adam and us in Adam. During the Gospel Age, by imputation, He uses this price to buy the Church out from the hands of justice (Heb. 9:24); and in the beginning of the Millennium, by an actual payment, He will use it to buy the world out of the hands of justice (Rom. 5:18, 19). Thus, the corresponding price is related to Adam directly in respect to what he was and had and indirectly to the race in him, i.e., in his loins.
The purchasing of the race will not give it everlasting life; it merely transfers the race from the ownership of death-exacting justice to that of the life-offering Jesus, for the purpose of giving all an opportunity, through the Divinely-imposed conditions, to get the right to live forever—"the free gift [the forgiveness of sin; Rom. 5:16] shall come to all men in order to justification of life"; because this free gift—the forgiveness of sins—merited by the obedience of Christ unto his ransom-sacrificial death shall constitute all righteous of the Adamic sin and sentence in order to justification of life (Rom. 5:18, 19). And this is apparent from the fact that Adam, though having the right to life as long as he obeyed, did not have everlasting life, proved by the fact that he later died; but was by obedience to his covenant (Hos. 6:7) to maintain the right to life
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while under trial, so that he could ultimately, having finished his trial in success, gain eternal life, which then would be his as an inalienable possession, and as reward of such tested obedience to his covenant obligations. But he fell into sin while yet on trial for everlasting life, which, not having, he could not lose for us. Hence, the ransom, instead of guaranteeing everlasting life for all, only guarantees a chance for all to be put on trial for life, without the sin and sentence of Adam resting on them, which chance Adam forfeited for them by his sin, and also guarantees that, if faithful, and only if faithful, they will get perfect life as Adam had. Thus, a trial for life eternal, at least as favorable to their overcoming as Adam's was to his overcoming, is the purpose of the ransom, whose merit will minister the right to perfect human life to the obedient only. As a matter of fact the experience of evil now on the world and the Millennial arrangements, bringing the world an experience with righteousness, will make the trial for all under the ransom's application much more favorable than was Adam's, as was shown above.
In a word, the universal working of the ransom is not eternal life for all, but (1) the cancellation of the Adamic sin and sentence before justice for all; (2) a trial for eternal human life for all, under conditions at least as favorable as Adam's trial was, and (3) the right to perfect human life with its life-rights to the obedient alone. The ransom, therefore, guarantees eternal salvation from the Adamic sin and sentence for all men (1 Tim. 2:4); additionally guarantees to all, at least, as favorable a chance to gain eternal life as the chance was that Adam lost for the race (1 Tim. 2:5, 6); and finally guarantees justification of life to the obedient (Rom. 5:18, 19; Acts 3:22, 23; 1 Cor. 15:22, 23). The universality that the Bible teaches as an overflow of the ransom is from the Adamic sin and sentence and to a favorable opportunity to gain eternal life on condition of obedience under trial—it does not teach as an overflow of the ransom or of anything else, universal
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eternal salvation. The ransom, in its nature, purpose and effects, Biblically overthrows the universalism that teaches universal eternal salvation. This proposition we will prove in detail when we examine those passages connected with the ransom, as well as others, that Universalists think teach universal eternal salvation. But, as pertinent to our discussion of the ransom, we desire to go no further than we have; and that discussion shows that the ransom guarantees universal salvation from the Adamic sin and sentence and a universal opportunity of gaining salvation on Scripturally stated conditions, which conditions being fulfilled will be accompanied by granting of the right to life and its life-rights contained in the ransom. It proves that it will undo the Adamic sin and sentence by bringing back the race from death, free from the sentence, and by canceling the Adamic sin from the claims of justice, and will effect an opportunity to all to gain a favorable trial for everlasting life, from which, the Scriptures teach, the obedient, through the ransom-secured right to life with its life-rights, will gain eternal life, while the disobedient will undergo eternal death—annihilation.
This glorious ransom doctrine has not been revealed by God in an uncertain way. So centrally established is it as the heart of the Bible, that it implies everything of the Bible plan. The above twelve facts are the main things in the plan of God, and are all built upon, are in harmony with, and flow out of this precious doctrine. But, more than this, the ransom conditions all other Biblical doctrines. It proves the unity of God, since the Ransomer cannot be a part of Him whose justice must be satisfied. It proves human mortality; for it requires the death of both soul and body. It proves death to be the penalty of sin; since Christ laid the ransom-price down by death. It proves Christ's resurrection as a spirit; since had He taken back His humanity, He would not have the ransom-price available to purchase us. It proves the Second Advent, the judgment day, the resuscitation of the dead and future
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probation to be the objects of the Kingdom for the blessing of the non-elect, since the ransom has in this life been used for the benefit of the Elect alone. It proves eternal life on earth in human nature to be the reward of the righteous in the next Age, and death eternal—annihilation—to be the punishment of all who make shipwreck of their opportunity for life, whether given in this or the next Age; for "Christ dieth no more," "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Reversely, it overthrows the doctrine of the creedal as distinct from the Bible trinity, human immortality, eternal torment, probation limited to this life or to the Elect, universalism, evolution and every other doctrinal error. It is a touchstone of truth and error. It is, as we have said, the hub from which radiate, as spokes in a wheel, all Bible doctrines. Hence, whoever denies it denies the Bible plan, despite their denials of this fact.
For our present purpose—proving the great importance of the Ransom—we have discussed such features of the ransom as furnish a ground work for that proof, leaving for later discussion other features of it not discussed above. As said above, it is, next to God's character of perfect wisdom, power, justice and love, the greatest touchstone of truth and error, demonstrating the former as truth and the latter as error. It conditions, as just shown, every doctrine of the Bible, and gives it its proper setting in relation to God's plan. It is the key that unlocks the storehouse of the Bible, exposing all therein to view. It dominates and assigns their proper bearings to all Bible teachings that logically precede, accompany and follow it. It unites them in a perfect blending into one harmonious, logical, practical and errorless whole. It satisfies the exactions of the severest logic, and gives unspeakable comfort to the bruised and contrite heart, as it is the inspiration of the Church now and the hope of the world for the Age to come. Misteach it, and disharmony sets in between it and all other Bible doctrines; or misteach any other Bible doctrine, and immediately contradiction and confusion
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set in between that mistaught doctrine and the ransom, just as confusion sets in with an intricate puzzle, if its main feature is distorted, or any of its parts is misshapen. In the marvelously logical, beautiful, harmonious and practical arrangement called God's plan, consisting of many interdependent and interlocking parts all harmonious with one another, the ransom is made the center, conditioner and activator of all, just like the main spring of a watch in relation to the watch's many interdependent and interlocking parts. To have made such an arrangement for satisfying Divine justice completely, unto providing deliverance from the curse, all pivoted upon, and activated by the ransom considered in connection with the vast ramifications, agents and subjects of the plan, displays omniscient wisdom, and to operate it displays an omnipotent power, while to provide such a ransom manifests an all-surpassing love. No wonder, therefore, that Christ crucified, the ransom, is the concentration of the wisdom and power of God (1 Cor. 1:23, 24). And because it is such it is a proof that the Bible is a Divine revelation; for only God could have planned, thought out the ransom.
The Ransom doctrine as the Bible's doctrine has had and still has many, many enemies. The chief of these, of course, are Satan and his impenitent fallen angels, who have attacked it from almost every conceivable standpoint. These attacks have been direct, which they have launched through unbelieving Jews and Gentiles; for Christ crucified has always been an offense to unbelievers: foolishness to the Greek and a rock of offense, stumbling, to the Jew. These attacks have also been indirect, by their advocates' presenting sectarian doctrines that logically deny it, e.g., human immortality, eternal torment, creedal trinity, absolute predestination of individuals, the mass, etc. It has been attacked by under doing it: by limiting its objects to a comparatively few, as Calvinists have done and still do, and has been attacked by overdoing it as implying eternal universal salvation, as Universalists
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have done and still do. The Truth refutes all of such attacks, those of unbelievers and those of misbelievers. We present it in its Scriptural exactness and reasonableness as a refutation of the position of unbelievers and misbelievers alike; for when it is presented as the heart of the Divine plan of the Ages it certainly refutes them by its logical consistency, reasonableness, necessity and practicability. From every standpoint it is logically consistent, E.g., with itself, with all Bible passages and doctrines, with God's character, with the two Sin-offerings, with facts and with the purposes of God's plan. It is reasonable, among other standpoints, because it is the complete antidote of the evils that Adam brought upon himself and his race. It solves the question of why evil has been permitted, and harmonizes all the teachings of God's Word. It is necessary, because of the sin and consequent curse and death resting upon Adam and his race. And it is practical, because it exactly fits as to the Adamic sin, curse and death as their undoer.
Passing by the direct infidelistic attacks upon it, as well as the indirect attacks on it inherent in the Romanist and in most so-called orthodox Protestant systems, we will refute two theories as indirect attacks upon it: the Calvinistic theory of a limited ransom as under doing it, and the Universalistic theory of universal eternal salvation as overdoing it. And we will find the Truth as the golden middle between these two systems of error in the corresponding-price view, which guarantees a favorable opportunity of gaining eternal salvation for both the elect and non-elect, but secures eternal salvation for those only of the elect and non-elect who faithfully use it in harmony with the Divinely-set conditions of salvation. Calvinism teaches three great errors as against the ransom: (1) God's love for salvation purposes is limited to the elect; (2) Christ died for the elect only; and (3) the Spirit works for salvation in the elect only. It also errs by confounding predestination and election, claiming that God before the
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world's foundation elected a few from the lost race, through predestinating them to eternal life, and in time exercises irresistible grace unto their conversion and unchangeable, irresistible grace for their preservation unto eternal life. Some Calvinists teach that God predestinated the fall in angels and men, with everything since sin began (supralapsarians), others that He predestinated, not their fall, but all things since their fall (sublapsarians). The Truth view is that predestination, which occurred before the foundation of the world, is limited to the features of God's plan, but does not involve the predestination of individuals at all; and that the election, or the selection, of the individuals, which operates since the fall, more particularly during the Gospel Age, begins to operate at the call of the individuals. Thus predestination before the foundation of the world unchangeably outlined a plan to rescue whosoever wills of the race from the effects of Adamic sin and death, fixed it that there would be a ransomer, determined that salvation operate for the responsive elect and non-elect, for the faith class to be given the privilege of election after the fall and before the Millennium, and that the non-elect, dead and living, be given the opportunity of salvation in the Millennium, without any predestination of individuals, since predestination is limited to classes as features of God's plan and does not involve individuals. Biblical predestination is illustrated by the pertinent arrangements that Congress made in the draft bill that it passed as to creating our armed forces. It predetermined that there should be armed forces, and that of certain numbers, having certain qualifications and organizations, but did not select the soldiers. Election is illustrated by the selection of the armed forces of certain numbers, qualifications and organizations after the draft law was passed determining to have the armed forces of certain numbers, qualifications and organizations, which selection was to carry out the purpose of the law containing the provisions for the
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armed forces. Thus the passing of that draft law illustrates predestination, and the selection of the armed forces thereafter as individuals illustrates election.
First, as against Calvinism's limiting God's love, Christ's ransom and the Spirit's work for salvation to the elect only, the proof will be given that God's love, Christ's ransom and the Spirit's work for salvation are for the whole human race: (1) God's love and provision for everybody for salvation; (2) Jesus' death for everybody for salvation; and (3) the Spirit's work for everybody for salvation. Numerous Scriptures prove these three propositions. Let us briefly look at the main ones on each of these three points: (1) God's love and provision for everybody for salvation. Thus God so loved the world as to give His son to save it (John 3:16, 17). He recommends His love for the race by giving Christ to die for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6-8). His love for the world makes Him determine to save all men from the Adamic sentence, and bring them to an exact knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim. 2:4). He thus from His love is the Savior of all men from that sentence (1 Tim. 4:10). His love is the grace of God that "hath appeared, bringing salvation for all men" (Tit. 2:11; the literal translation is that within quotation marks). His love for all for salvation expressed itself in giving Christ to die for mankind, as we read in Tit. 3:4: The kindness and love of God, our Savior, toward man appeared. Certainly, these and numerous other passages teach that God loves all men for salvation and provides for it.
(2) Now some passages that prove that Christ died for all men for salvation: Our Lord's death for the whole sinner race is most graphically and prophetically described in Is. 53:4-12. He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world [Adam's sin, participated in by the entire race], (John 1:29). Jesus said that if He were nailed to the cross for man's sin He would favorably influence all men to Himself (John 12:32, 33). As Adam's sin and disobedience brought
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sin and death to all men, so Christ's obedience and righteousness will bring cancellation of that sin and death, to enable all to gain the right to life (Rom. 5:18, 19). Jesus' ransom was laid down for all men, which makes Him the Mediator for all humans (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). He by God's love, grace, tasted death for every man, and for this purpose had to be made Adam's corresponding price (Heb. 2:7-9). He is the satisfaction to God's justice, not only for the Church's, but also for the world's sins (1 John 2:2).
(3) As a result of God's love that gave Christ to be a ransom for all men, and of Christ's death for all men, the Spirit's work for salvation will in the Millennium extend to all the non-elect of Adam's race without exception, as it now extends to the Elect. Very many, indeed, are the Scriptures teaching this thought, of which we will cite a comparatively small number: The Christ, as the Seed of Abraham, in doing the Millennial Spirit's work, will bless for salvation purposes all the families, kindreds and nations of the earth (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; Gal. 3:16, 29). At Christ's Millennial asking, God will give Him the nations and the ends of the earth [all mankind] as His inheritance and possession (Ps. 2:8). All the ends of the earth, all the kindreds of the nations and all that go down to the dust [all the Adamically dead] shall turn to, worship and bow down before the Lord (Ps. 22:27-29). God made all nations, some of whom no longer exist, and these will Millennially worship and glorify Him (Ps. 86:9). God will reveal His plan to all; and the whole world will see it (Ps. 98:2, 3). All nations will become parts of God's Kingdom (Is. 2:2); for the knowledge of God shall be sea-deep and world-wide; and all nations will seek Christ (Is. 11:9, 10). The Kingdom will destroy every effect of the curse and make all glad, some only for a while (Is. 25:6-9). All the non-elect as errant from the Divine Truth will see it clearly (Is. 29:18, 24). All blind eyes and deaf ears of understanding shall see and appreciate the Truth; the morally
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lame shall make rapid progress up the highway of holiness, and the Lord's ransomed (gave Himself a ransom for all men) will return from the tomb for the joys of the Kingdom, and the sorrows of the curse will be wiped out (Is. 35:5, 6, 10). All flesh shall see [experience] the salvation from the death sentence that God will work (Is. 40:5). So deeply impressed will all the non-elect become that according to the oath-bound promise for a while all will be consecrated, though some will later fall away (Is. 45:22, 23; Is. 26:9, 10). As a result of God's revealing the Christ to all the world, all will clearly perceive God's work of salvation (Is. 52:10). Yea, all, from the least to the greatest, will know the Lord (Jer. 31:34); for God has prepared salvation as a joy to all the non-elect, even raising up again those of Israel who fell in the Jewish Harvest (Luke 2:10, 31-34), since Jesus as the true Light will teach the Truth to every man that came into the world (John 1:9), in the day when the crucified Jesus will favorably influence all men toward Himself (John 12:31, 32). In Phil. 2:10, 11, in harmony with Is. 45:22, 23; Rom. 14:11, we are told that every knee, including the knees of those who were in the death state ("under the earth"), will bow to Jesus, and every tongue, including the tongues of those who were in the death state, will confess Jesus as Lord. God gives some in this life, the rest in the next life, the testimony of His love for all, Christ's death for all and the Spirit's work for all (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). While now the Spirit's work extends to the elect only (Joel 2:29), in the Millennial Age it will extend to all the non-elect (Joel 2:28; Rev. 22:17); for then Christ will become the Lord, Ruler, of the dead (Rom. 14:9), including the people of Sodom, Gomorrah, the cities of the plains and the people of the two-tribed kingdom of the South and the ten-tribed kingdom of the North (Ezek. 16:53-63). Hence these three considerations: (1) God's love for all, (2) Christ's death for all and (3) the Spirit's work for all, completely refute this error of Calvinism.
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Calvinism is right in denying that the ransom has up to now benefited the non-elect for salvation purposes, and in claiming that only the elective salvation has so far been operative; for the Bible and facts prove that the vast bulk of the human family, in fact the non-elect, have up to the present not gotten the benefit of the ransom, i.e., an opportunity to gain salvation, e.g., the heathen and many in Christendom deceived by gross error. But Calvinism is in error in its denial that the ransom will ever benefit the non-elect for salvation purposes; for the Bible teaches that the object of the Millennial Kingdom is to bless with ransom benefits all the non-elect, giving them an opportunity of gaining eternal salvation on Divinely-imposed conditions. This point we offer as another proof of the ransom as containing salvation benefits for the whole race. We will quote and explain some pertinent Scriptures in proof of this: Our first proof is Ps. 22:27-29, which we will quote, with bracketed comments, from the Amer. Rev. Ver.: "All the ends of the earth will remember [their present experience of evil and the Word that they will then learn] and turn unto Jehovah [for a while at least, all will respond favorably to the Lord's ransom-effected drawing (John 12:32, 33)] and all the kindreds of the nations ["all the nations that Thou hast made (many of whom, like those of the cities of the plain, the seven nations of Canaan, etc., have perished from the earth several thousand years ago) shall come and worship before Thee" (Ps. 86:9)] shall worship before Thee; for the kingdom [of Christ and the Church] shall be Jehovah's; and He shall be the ruler over the nations [This passage refers to the Millennium]. All the fat ones [the Elect] of the earth will eat [appropriate their office powers] and worship [serve Jehovah] and all that go down to the dust [the Millennium will not only bless the then living, but will witness the return of all the dead to receive its proffered blessings] shall bow before Him [Phil. 2:10. The following definition that the Lord gives
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of "all that go down to the dust" proves that all the non-elect dead are thereby meant—those who were under the Adamic sentence and could not avert its full execution, death:], even he that cannot [because of the curse] keep his soul [himself] alive." The serving seed spoken of in v. 30 is the Little Flock in its Millennial work, and the people that shall be born, of v. 31, is the fully developed restitution class. Here is a passage that undoubtedly treats of the Millennium; and it proves that during the Millennium all the non-elect dead will return from the tomb and serve the Lord, which refutes Calvinism.
Is. 25:6-9, compared with 1 Cor. 15:54-57, proves that during the Millennium both the Adamic death process and the Adamic death state will be destroyed. If this is true, the Adamic death state will of necessity be emptied of all therein long before the Adamic death process is destroyed. "In this mountain [Millennial Kingdom of Christ and the Church (Is. 2:2-4; 56:7; Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45)] will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples [hence such peoples as are dead] a feast of fat things [the Bread of life, Christ's perfect humanity, its right to life and its life-rights], a feast of wines on the lees [rich truths], of fat things full of marrow [Christ's soul-appetizing and soul-satisfying perfect humanity, its right to life and its life-rights], of wine on the lees well refined [rich truths freed from error]. And He will destroy in this mountain [Millennial kingdom] the face of the covering [Adamic sin] that covereth all people ["all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12)] and the veil [error] that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory [1 Cor. 15:54 tells us that this will follow after the change of the Church from corruptibility and mortality to incorruptibility and immortality, and thus it refers to the world of mankind. Hence this passage teaches that death will be destroyed during the Millennium. This means two things: (1) that all the non-elect will be raised from the tomb comparatively early during the
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Millennium, and (2) that gradually the death process will be plagued out of existence during the Millennium until by its end the Adamic death state and death process will be out of existence (Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:55). This victory over death in both of these senses the Christ class (1 Cor. 15:57) will win through the all-prevailing power of the ransom merit which, presented to God on behalf of the non-elect, will cancel the Adamic sentence from them and thus will prevail to bring back those of them from hades, tomb, who are there; and, offered to the world as the Bread of life (John 6:51), it will lift up to human perfection those who by faith and obedience appropriate it completely] and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears [sorrow—a result of the Adamic curse] from off all faces [Rev. 21:3-5; 22:1-3]; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth [the unpopularity now attendant on faithfulness to the Lord will then cease to be]. And it shall be said in that day [the Millennial day], Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us [Rom. 8:19-22; Heb. 9:28]; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation [Is. 35:5-10]." This passage teaches the destruction of every phase of the Adamic curse and the bestowal of restitution for faithful non-elect ones through the ransom. It therefore overthrows Calvinism.
Is. 45:22, 23, compared with Gen. 22:16-18 and Phil. 2:9-11, proves that during the Millennium all the non-elect, those out of and those in the death state, are to receive the invitation to an opportunity of life: "Look unto Me, all ye ends of the earth [(Ps. 22:27-29), everyone on earth will get this call, hence the non-elect, not the elect, who get a call limited to them alone] and be ye saved [by appropriating the ransom merit—Christ's perfect humanity, its right to life and its life-rights]; for I am God and there is none else. By Myself have I sworn [in the Oath-bound Covenant of Gen. 22:16-18, which guarantees through the seed
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the destruction of all enemies of man ("Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies")—sin, error, the curse, the death process, the death state, sorrow, a hostile public sentiment, etc.—and the blessing of all the non-elect with opportunities of restitution ("in thy seed shall all the families of the earth bless themselves")]. The word hath gone forth from My mouth in righteousness [the ransom makes the promise and performance of the Oath-bound Covenant a thing harmonious with God's justice, because it satisfies justice for the Adamic debt, which would have to be satisfied before that covenant's promises could be performed in righteousness] and shall not return [void and unfulfilled], that unto Me every knee shall bow [Christ's ransom sacrifice is given in Phil. 2:7-9 as the reason of Christ's exaltation and of every knee (vs. 9 and 10) bowing to Him. This does not mean that all will be saved, though all will be invited thereto; but it does mean that, at least for awhile, all will yield subjection to Him during the Millennium] and every tongue shall swear [allegiance, make consecration, to Him as Lord in the Millennium. With some this will not continue long (Is. 26:9, 10; 65:20)]." The terms of this passage, compared with Ps. 22:27-29; Gen. 22:16-18 and Phil. 2:9-11, prove that it applies to the Millennium and that, therefore, all the non-elect from Adam's day to the end of the Millennium are to be blessed by the seed of Abraham, and this implies that the non-elect in the death state will then be brought back for the Millennial opportunities and blessings, the ransom guaranteeing the offer of these to all of Adam's non-elect descendants. This, again, overthrows Calvinism.
John 5:25-29 proves the same thing: "The hour cometh [the Millennial Age here is meant by the coming hour, even as the hour that now is the Gospel Age (1 John 2:18; here the word for hour—the Gospel Age is the last hour or Age of the second World—is mistranslated time in the A. V.)] and now is [the Gospel Age] when the dead [not the dead in the death
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state, who are treated of in v. 29; but the dead who are in the death process (Matt. 8:22; 2 Cor. 5:14); Rev. 20:13, in the expression, Death [the death process] and hades [the death state] gave up the dead which were in them, is a clear case in which the word dead is used in both senses, as the word death is used sometimes in one, sometimes in the other, and sometimes in both of these senses in the Bible] shall hear [understand (Mark 4:9)] the voice [the teachings] of the Son of God, and they that hear [obey. Certainly here the word hear does not mean to take in with the external ear, nor does it even in this place mean to understand, for by neither of these kinds of hearing alone is life gained] shall live; for as the Father hath life in Himself [immortality, a death-proof existence] even so gave [in promise] He the Son to have [as a reward of His obedience unto death] life in Himself [immortality, a quality inherent in the Divine nature, but absent from every other nature. Hence the Son, being Divine since His resurrection, no more has or needs His human nature for His own existence, and thus He has it and its right to life and its life-rights as an asset for the purchase of Adam and his race]. And He [the Father] gave [in His offer of the opportunity to Him to give Himself as the corresponding price] Him [the Son] authority to execute judgment [to act as God's Executive in administering to the elect and the non-elect a trial for life], because He is the Son of Man [the pre-eminent Son of Adam, who as such became the ransom-price, and thus gained the right to administer a trial of life for all (1 Tim. 2:5, 6)]." In the preceding three verses Jesus points out how in the Gospel and Millennial Ages He is the Executor as to a trial for life for those never in the grave.
In the following verse He shows what He will do during the Millennium for those who have entered the death state—both the just and the unjust: "Marvel not at this [that during the Gospel and Millennial Ages He by virtue of His ransom gives a trial for life to
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the dead who never entered the death state]; for the hour cometh [He does not add "and now is"; hence the Millennial Age alone is here meant] in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice [will by Him be awakened from the dead] and come forth [from their graves], they that have done good [the righteous—the elect—of this life shall in the coming hour, the Millennial Age, come back] unto the resurrection of life [their restanding out of imperfection to perfection will bring them into a condition that will last forever (John 11:25)]; and they that have done evil [the non-elect shall in the Millennial Age, the coming hour, according to this and the preceding verse, i.e., in the same Age as the elect will come back from the death state, be called back from the death state into consciousness existence again] unto [for the purpose of] the resurrection [restanding from imperfection to perfection by a process] of judgment [a trial for life]." That this judgment process will be operated upon them during the Millennium is not only evident from v. 29, but also from those Scriptures that teach (1) the identity of the Millennium and the Judgment Day (2 Tim. 4:1; Luke 22:29, 30; Matt. 19:28; Ob. 21; Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:14-16; Is. 32:1; Ps. 72:1-4, compared with 5-19, and (2) the purpose of the Millennium to put away all evil and introduce all good for all who shall be on the earth during that time, in order that life may be ministered to the obedient (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; Ps. 2:8; 22:27-29; 86:9; 98:2, 3; Is. 2:2-4; 11:9; 25:6-9; 29:18, 24; 35:5, 6, 10; 40:5; 45:22, 23; 52:10; Jer. 31:34; Luke 2:10, 31-34; John 1:9, 29; 3:16, 17; 12:32, 33; Rom. 5:17-19; 1 Tim. 2:4-6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 3:4; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2; Rev. 22:17). The identity of the judgment Day and the Millennium results in this: Everything that is to occur in the judgment Day is to occur in the Millennium, and vice versa. And since all of the dead are to be raised during the judgment Day, it follows that all of the dead will be awakened during
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the Millennium; and since all on the earth during the Millennium are to be blessed with opportunities of gaining life by obedience under most favorable conditions, it follows that all of the non-elect—those who never entered the death state, as well as those who did—will, during the judgment Day be blessed with opportunities of gaining life by obedience under most favorable conditions. This overthrows Calvinism.
Rom. 14:9, compared with Rev. 19:16 and Heb. 1:6, is another passage that proves that our Lord will exercise His gracious rulership over all the non-elect (those in the death process and those in the death state, as well as over new creatures and the penitent fallen and unfallen angels), and that as the purpose of His ransom sacrifice and His resultant exaltation: "For to this end [purpose] Christ died [laid down the ransom-price] and lived again [attained, as a result of His ransom sacrificial death, exaltation to the Divine nature and Vicegerency for God and Executorship of all His plans and purposes (Phil. 2:8, 9; Heb. 1:3-5)], that He might be Lord [literally, act as Lord; at His ascension He became this to the good angels and the Church, but not then to Adam's non-elect children and the penitent fallen angels. Rev. 19:16 and Heb. 1:6 show us that He becomes Lord of these during His Second Advent. These two citations prove that during His Second Advent Jesus becomes Lord to the non-elect and the penitent fallen angels] of both the dead [Adam's non-elect death-sentenced children, regardless of whether they are in the death process or in the death state (Matt. 8:22; 2 Cor. 5:14; Rev. 20:13). Rev. 19:16 shows this to be during His Second Presence; hence the non-elect in the death state will be brought back from the tomb during the Millennium, that then He might be their Lord] and the living [those never under the death sentence, i.e., new creatures as such, and the penitent fallen and the unfallen angels. To the new creatures and the unfallen angels He became Lord from His ascension and Pentecost
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onward; and to the penitent fallen angels He becomes such during His Second Advent (Heb. 1:6; 1 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:10; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6)]." Hence this passage with its parallels overthrows Calvinism.
"Jesus Christ, who will judge [separate as the result and according to their use of an opportunity to gain life (Matt. 25:34)] the living [new creatures as such and the fallen angels, none of whom have been death sentenced] and the dead [the death-condemned non-elect children of Adam, regardless of whether they are in the death process or in the death state], both during His Epiphany [when He separates the new creatures into the Little Flock and Great Company, and the fallen angels into the repentant ones and the non-repentant ones] and during His kingdom [when He will separate all the non-elect humans—those who never entered the death state and those who will have been awakened out of it—to His right or to His left, according as they will prove faithful or unfaithful under their Millennial opportunities of gaining life (Matt. 25:31-34)]." This passage (2 Tim. 4:1) demonstrates when final trial for life will be granted to all the non-elect—during the Millennium. Hence previous to and for such a trial all the non-elect in the death state will arise. This disproves Calvinism.
Phil. 2:8-11, compared with Is. 45:22, 23 and Gen. 22:16-18, proves that the ransom sacrifice guarantees that all the non-elect and the fallen angels will in the Millennium bow the knee to Jesus and confess His Lordship. We have already examined Is. 45:22, 23 and have shown that the oath to which it refers is that made in the Oath-bound Covenant of Gen. 22:16-18. This proves that the blessings of which Is. 45:22, 23 speaks are included in those described in the Oath-bound Covenant. In Phil. 2:10, 11, St. Paul quotes and explains parts of the statements in Is. 45:23. We will quote Phil. 2:8-11 from the Imp. Ver., with bracketed comments: "After becoming obedient [by His consecration he accepted God's will in all things as
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His] He [from then on] humbled Himself unto death, yea, the death of the cross [here His laying down the ransom (Heb. 2:9) is shown and the next verses show what God does for Him because of such self-abasement in laying down the corresponding price]. Therefore God also super-exalted Him and graciously [even our Lord's sacrifice of His humanity did not merit the Divine nature, office and honor, since humanity and its rights are not so valuable as Divinity and its rights] gave Him a name [Divine nature (Rev. 3:12; Heb. 1:3-5), office (John 14:13, 14; Matt. 28:18) and honor (John 5:23)], the one above every name [the Father's alone excepted (1 Cor. 15:28)], so that by the name [nature, office and honor in their exercise] of Jesus [working as Savior] every knee should bow [to bow the knee does not imply salvation, but implies subjection, which may be either a constrained thing or from the heart. The Apostle after quoting these words from Is. 45:23 adds, as explanatory of whose knees are meant, the following]: of heavenly ones [the fallen and unfallen angels—the unfallen angels have been doing this from the heart ever since His ascension, the repentant fallen angels have been bowing the knee from the heart during the Gospel Age and will do it ever afterward, and the impenitent fallen angels will of constraint do this when Satan's empire will have gone down (2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). This is typed by Pharaoh's (type of Satan) noblemen (type of the impenitent angels; Ex. 11:8; 12:30-32) bowing down and appealing to Moses (type of Christ) to leave them and take with them God's people. Egypt types the present evil world (Rev. 11:8), whose ruler is Satan (John 16:11). Pharaoh and his noblemen perishing in the Red Sea represents the eternal annihilation of Satan and the impenitent angels at the end of the Little Season. Thus the bowing of the knees of all heavenly ones does not teach the eternal salvation of all angels], of terrainean ones [some human beings, the Elect who do this bowing in this Age.
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The non-elect will do this bowing in the Millennium] and of subterranean ones [the non-elect who have, as such, entered the death state and are thus under the earth. These will do such bowing during the Millennium, when all the non-elect will have their opportunity to gain everlasting life under very favorable conditions. There is not a word in this passage on their all getting eternal life. However, parallel passages, typical and literal, show that the penitent fallen angels and the non-elect humans get their trial for life during the Millennium, as we have shown], and [so that] every tongue [of heavenly ones, terrainean ones and subterranean ones] shall confess [acknowledge] that Jesus Christ is Lord [that such acknowledgment does not always imply eternal salvation is manifest from the fact that it sometimes does (1 Cor. 12:2) and sometimes does not come from the heart (Matt. 7:21-23)], unto the glory of God, the Father [God, who will bring credit to Himself through these things by His Son. Those who acknowledge Christ's Lordship from the heart will glorify God in His wisdom, justice, love and power; while those who do it from constraint or selfishly will glorify God especially in His power. This Scripture teaches just what we hold it to teach—an opportunity offered to all humans and angels to make submission to Christ and to acknowledge His Lordship, and that all will do these two things; but far more than these two things are required in order to obtain eternal life]." This disproves Calvinism.
The next passage that we will explain in proof of our present point—that during the Millennium through the ransom merit all the non-elect, both those in the death process and those in the death state, will be granted a favorable opportunity to gain everlasting life on condition of obedience—is 1 Cor. 15:21-28. V. 24 we will quote from the Imp. Ver., with which the R. V. and A. R. V. agree: "Thereafter [shall come] the end when He shall [italics ours] deliver up [present subjunctive in the Greek, denoting time contemporaneous
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with that of the understood verb shall come] the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have [italics ours] destroyed [aorist, past, subjunctive in the Greek, denoting time prior to that of the verb shall come, which the connection shows must be supplied] all rule and all authority and power." What follows from these considerations? Especially two things: (1) At the arrival of the end (for the end here is the end of the Millennial Kingdom) the mediatorial throne, the Millennial throne of Christ, will be vacated, as the present subjunctive of v. 24 clearly proves: for His occupation of the throne as respects His reign over mankind is limited to the Millennium (Heb. 1:8; Rev. 20:4, 6). Therefore the end of 1 Cor. 15:24 is the end of the Millennium—the reign of Christ over the earth—in the narrow sense of that word; and immediately thereafter comes the Little Season (Rev. 20:7-9). (2) Before the end of Christ's Mediatorial reign—before the Millennium ends—all rule and all authority and power will be destroyed, as the aorist (past) subjunctive of v. 24 clearly proves. But one might ask, What is meant by the expression, all rule and all authority and power? We answer: Every effect of the Adamic curse brought upon man by Satan's bringing sin into the human family and increasing it by his reign over the human family in exercising the power of death over mankind (Heb. 2:14). How do we know that such is the meaning of the terms, "all rule and all authority and power"? We answer: Vs. 25-28, particularly vs. 25 and 26, prove this to be true.
We now proceed to show this, quoting from the Imp. Ver.: "For He must reign until He has put all the enemies under His feet [hence these enemies are overcome before His reign ends]. As a last enemy the [Adamic] death is destroyed [the Apostle takes his stand at the end of the Millennium and exults at the completed destruction of the Adamic death]." It will be noted that the connective, "for", between vs. 24
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and 25 shows that the expression, "all rule and all authority and power," is descriptive of the enemies of Christ. Certainly the expression, "all rule and all authority and power," cannot mean the fallen angels, the officials of Satan's empire; for that would make the verse, compared with v. 26, teach the eternal annihilation of all of them. What, then, are these enemies? From v. 26, where the last one of these—the Adamic death—is named, we see that they are not persons, but things. And this one being a work of Satan, and the purpose of our Lord's two advents being the destruction of all of Satan's works (1 John 3:8), we understand the expression, "all rule and all authority and power," to mean every expression of Satan's usurpation. This includes everything that he has accomplished and the means used to that end. Hence Christ's reign will abolish every feature of Satan's empire and the evils that he has effected through introducing sin into the world and usurping the rulership of the world. This includes the Adamic sentence and its effects: physical, mental, moral and religious imperfection. Adamic sin, the Adamic death process (this is the last enemy of v. 26), the Adamic death state (hades, destroyed by awakening the Adamically dead), Adamic tears, sorrow, crying, pain, etc., in a word, all the effects of the curse (Rev. 21:3-5; 22:1-3; 20:13, 14; Is. 25:6-9). Thus the Millennial reign of Christ is to annihilate everything that Satan and Adam brought upon the race. The Apostle begins his argument on this subject in v. 21—"for since through a man [Adam] came [the Adamic] death, also through a man [Jesus] shall come a resurrection [a perfecting—a reversal of what Adam effected] of dead ones"—and develops it gradually to a completion in v. 28, as we will see.
V. 27 gives the proof that all things of Satan are to be destroyed by Christ as God's Commissioner and that Christ will be God's eternal Vicegerent—"for He [God] subjected all things under His [Christ's] feet." Then the rest of v. 27 and v. 28 shows the eternal subordinate
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relation of Christ to God: "But when He [Christ] will have said [aorist subjunctive] that all things are subjected [to Christ], it shall be evident that He [God] is expected who subjected all things to Him [Christ]; but when all things shall have been subjected [aorist subjunctive] to Him [Christ], then also the Son Himself shall be subjected to Him [God] who subjected all things to Him [Christ], that God may be all in all [may have the supremacy over, and the sufficiency for, all]." We now turn back to 1 Cor. 15:21-23. V. 22 gives the proof of the statement of v. 21: "For as all in Adam die [all human beings did not die in Adam; for our Lord was a human being; but He was not in Adam, nor did He die in Adam; hence the verse must read as in the Imp. Ver., just quoted, and not as the A. V. gives it, "as in Adam all die." To die in Adam means to have been in Adam's loins and, consequently, to be subject to the Adamic death process as a result of the Adamic death sentence. This is evident because the first clause of v. 22 gives the reason for the first clause of v. 21: "for since through a man came (the Adamic) death"], so also all in Christ shall be made alive [not, in Christ shall all be made alive]." The contrast between the two members of the sentence is a double one; all in Adam are contrasted with all in Christ, and the Adamic death process unto the death state is contrasted with the Christic life or resurrection process out of the death state and process, even as the expression, "all in Christ shall be made alive," is the proof of the second clause of v. 21: "also through a man shall come a resurrection of dead ones." The contrast proves that as the Adamic death process makes its subjects physically, mentally, morally and religiously imperfect, so the Christic life or resurrection process brings its subjects out of the imperfection of the Adamic death state and death process up to perfection. Thus, to make alive, here does not mean simply to resuscitate one from the death state and then to leave him in his former imperfect condition,
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but to free him from every effect of the Adamic death process and state—in a word, to lift him up to perfection, regardless of whether it finds him in the death state or in the death process; for only that is life in God's sight which is actually or reckonedly perfect (John 1:4; 3:36; 5:24, 25; 1 John 1:2; 5:11, 12).
V. 23 shows that there are two classes that will experience this lifting up to life. Many miss the thought of v. 23. They take the expression, Christ a firstfruit, to mean Jesus' resurrection, and the expression, they that are Christ's at His coming, to refer to that of the Church. Therefore they claim that the resurrection of the World is described as taking place after the Millennium in vs. 24-26. We have already shown that the grammatical construction of v. 24 proves that the full resurrection perfection of all the resurrection classes is completed by the end of the Millennium, and this disproves the thought that the world's resurrection will take place after the Millennium. We disagree with the claim of some that v. 23 treats, in the expression, Christ a firstfruit, of Jesus' resurrection, and in the expression, they that are Christ's at His coming, of the Church's resurrection. Why so? Because in v. 23 the Apostle is explaining in what orders all in Christ shall be made alive, i.e., in two distinct and non-contemporaneous companies. Hence the connection between vs. 22 and 23 proves that the future verb, shall be made alive, must be read from v. 22 into v. 23, as its predicate. That a predicate must be supplied is evident, because a sentence cannot be complete without one. One cannot use his whim in supplying predicates when they are omitted. The connection must show what predicate is implied. Fortunately the construction of vs. 22 and 23, as well as the run of thought between them, is clear and proves that the future verb, "shall be made alive," must be read into v. 23 from v. 22; for, as said above, the Apostle is explaining in v. 23 in what orders all in Christ shall be made alive, i.e., every one in Christ shall be made alive in his own order or class. Hence
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v. 23, completed, reads as follows: "But everyone shall be made alive in his own order [class]: A firstfruit, Christ, shall be made alive [perfect], afterward the ones [who become] the Christ's during His presence shall be made alive [perfect; resurrection makes perfect]."
We ask, Does the expression, a firstfruit, Christ, mean Jesus? It certainly does in v. 20; but it certainly does not in v. 23, now under examination. Why not? Because Jesus arose from the dead over twenty years before St. Paul penned v. 23; and in that verse he is describing the classes of resurrections that had not yet taken place. Hence the term, a firstfruit, Christ, means here the Church, which frequently in the Bible is called, Christ, because the Church as Christ's Body and Bride is honored with the Head's and Bridegroom's name and office (Rom. 8:10; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13; 2 Cor. 1:5; Gal. 2:20; 3:16, 29; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 1:21; Col. 1:24, 27; Heb. 3:13; 1 Pet. 4:13); as she is with Him also called, firstfruits (Rom. 8:23; James 1:18; Rev. 14:4). Therefore the expression, "a firstfruit, Christ shall be made alive," describes the resurrection of the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Church—the first resurrection (1 Cor. 15:41-54; Phil. 3:11, 21; Rev. 20:4-6; 1 Thes. 4:16, 17; 2 Cor. 5:1-10). Whose resurrection is described by the expression, "afterward the ones [who become] the Christ's during His presence [during the Millennial stay and reign of Christ on earth] shall be made alive"? We answer, that of the obedient of the world. Those who become His in the Millennium by consecration and faithfulness therein will gradually be lifted up out of all the imperfection of the death process through their gradually appropriating the ransom merit, Christ's perfect humanity with its right to life and its life-rights, as the Bread of Life. And to gain the opportunity of such a gradual resurrection the non-elect in the death state will be awakened and will dwell again on this earth during the Millennium. It is during this period that God by Christ will by resuscitating all the dead destroy hades—the Adamic
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death state—and will by restitution processes plague the Adamic death process out of existence (Hos. 13:14; Rev. 20:13, 14), even as vs. 23-28 prove. The above discussion overthrows Calvinism on the non-elect. Our examination of the passage that proves the object of the Millennial reign to be to give the non-elect the benefit of the ransom disproves Calvinism.
The other major error that impinges against the ransom is the view of Universalists, most of whom so teach as to the ransom as to claim that it guarantees the eternal salvation of everybody. Above we pointed out the fallacy of their position on this supposed implication of the ransom. Additionally, it should be said that the doctrine of universalism contradicts so many Scriptures that it must not only be false, but that their ransom claims for it must be false. The Bible clearly teaches that those who while on trial for life prove to be incorrigibly wicked are eternally lost. This we see from the contrasts in which it places the fates of the faithful and the incorrigibly wicked as being the opposites of each other: life eternal for the former and death eternal for the latter (Deut. 30:15, 19; Rom. 5:21; 6:23; 8:13; Gal. 6:8). It clearly teaches that the latter go into eternal non-existence (Job 6:15, 18; 7:9; Ps. 37:10, 35, 36; 9:12; 104:35; Prov. 10:25; 12:7), that they will be destroyed (Job 31:3; Ps. 9:5; 37:38; 73:27; 145:20; Is. 1:28; 1 Cor. 3:17; Phil. 3:19; 2 Thes. 1:9; 1 Tim. 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:1, 12; 3:16). It teaches that they will be consumed (Ps. 104:35; Is. 1:28; Heb. 12:29). It teaches that they will be devoured (Is. 1:20; Ezek. 22:25; Heb. 10:26-28). It teaches that they will be cut off (Ps. 37:9, 34, 38). It teaches that they will perish (Job 4:9; 6:15, 18; Ps. 73:27; when to perish is set forth as the punishment of the incorrigibly wicked it means eternal annihilation, as the following passages prove or illustrate: Ps. 37:20; Matt. 8:32; John 3:15, 16). The Bible uses the above-given expression not only of the bodies, but also of the souls of the incorrigibly wicked. Thus
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it says that their souls die (Ps. 78:50; Is. 53:10, 12; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Jas. 5:20), that the dead soul is not alive (Ps. 22:29; Ezek. 13:19; 18:27), that the wicked soul becomes non-existent (Ps. 49:8), that it is destroyed (Prov. 6:32; Ezek. 22:27; Matt. 10:28; Acts 3:23; Jas. 4:12), that it is consumed (Is. 10:18), that it is devoured (Ezek. 22:25), that it is lost, literally, that is perishes (Matt. 16:25, 26) and that it is cut off (Lev. 22:3; Num. 15:30, 31).
In view of these expressions that teach or imply the eternal annihilation of the incorrigibly wicked, there must be something wrong with the doctrine of those Universalists who teach that the ransom guarantees the eternal salvation of all humans and devils. Wherein, in a word, does this error lie? In this: that the passages that teach that the ransom saves all men from the Adamic condemnation and death are misapplied to teach the eternal salvation of all men. If this is kept in mind, the fallacy of their doctrine will be manifest to all. We will now discuss such passages and will, we trust, see that while they teach the salvation of all men from the Adamic condemnation and death, they do not teach that all men will gain eternal life. 1 Tim. 2:4-6 is one of the passages so used. We will quote it from the Improved Version with bracketed comments: "God willeth to have all men [the elect first, then the non-elect, dead and living, who together constitute "all men"] to be saved [not everlastingly in eternal life, but everlastingly from the Adamic sentence] and [additionally] to come unto an accurate knowledge of the Truth [after being freed from the Adamic sentence. For these two blessings the Apostle in the next two verses gives three reasons]; for [reason 1] there is one God [the one God is the wise, just, loving and powerful Jehovah, whose unity finds its most emphatic expression in the perfection of His character, wherein perfect wisdom, power, justice and love blend in harmony with one another, and in such harmony dominate His other attributes of character,
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as well as His plans and works. Such a unity, especially such a character unity, is the first guarantee for the two blessings mentioned in v. 4], and [reason 2] one Mediator between God and men [this is the second reason given why God wills all men to be saved everlastingly from the Adamic sentence and, additionally, to come unto an exact knowledge of the Truth; therefore the word men in the phrase, 'between God and men,' means all non-elect men, dead and living, when the New Covenant operates, i.e., in the Millennium; hence the New Covenant is intended not only for Jews and Jewish proselytes, but for all the rest of the non-elect, regardless of whether they happen to be living or dead at the inauguration of the New Covenant], the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom [a corresponding price for Adam's debt, not a corresponding deliverance, as Universalists would have it; and thus He is empowered to free all from the Adamic sentence] for all men [this phrase additionally to proving that the ransom covers the elect, also proves that the word men in the phrase, 'between God and men,' in v. 5, means the whole non-elect world, dead as well as living, those with whom the New Covenant will deal in the Millennium; for they, in addition to the elect, add up to all men], the testimony for its seasons [reason 3; seasons, plural, not season, singular. The Gospel Age is the season to give the testimony of the ransom for all men, in order to the deliverance of the elect from the Adamic sentence, and in order to their coming into an accurate knowledge of the Truth. This has been done on their behalf, that they might have a chance to gain the elective salvation. The Millennium is the season to give the testimony of the ransom for all men, in order to the deliverance of the non-elect, dead and living, from the Adamic sentence and in order to their coming unto an accurate knowledge of the Truth, whereby they may be put on trial for life everlasting under the New Covenant arrangements]." This passage therefore refutes the view of Universalists
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and shows that they misapply it. It teaches a deliverance of all from the Adamic condemnation and death into an accurate knowledge of the Truth, but says not one word on universal salvation to eternal life.
Rom. 11:26, 27, "all Israel shall be saved," as the connection shows refers not to eternal universal salvation, but to all Israel's deliverance from their Gospel-Age blindness, and from its punishment for their sins against the Law and Christ, as well as from their Adamic and Judaic sins.
John 12:32, 33 is another passage that Universalists use to prove universal salvation to eternal life, which it does not teach, though it does imply by its reference to the ransom, not only that, as a result of our Lord's death and exaltation, all will be delivered from the Adamic sentence, but additionally, through certain restitution blessings guaranteed by the Oath-bound Covenant for all and offered to all during the Millennium, that all will be so impressed as to be favorably influenced toward Christ: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth [as the next verse teaches, this includes His death on the cross (John 3:15, 16)], will draw [favorably influence by My teachings and works of blessing] all men unto Me." But favorably to influence all toward Him is far different from their living faithfully during the thousand years and standing the final tests during the Little Season. As not a few who by the Father (John 6:44) were drawn to Christ (favorably influenced toward Christ) have failed to maintain their steadfastness during their trial for the elective salvation (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29; 2 Pet. 2:1, 12, 20-22; 1 John 5:16); so, according to the Scriptures (Is. 26:9-11), many who will experience these favorable influences will later prove refractory and perish eternally in the second death (Is. 65:20; Rev. 20:15; 21:8). Hence Universalism by eisegesis reads its error of eternal life for everybody into John 12:32, 33. By the same kind of eisegesis it reads its universalism into John 3:17: "For God sent not His son [in His
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First Advent] into the world to judge [bring a sentence upon it, as God did through Adam's sin (v. 18)], but that the world through Him might be saved [from the Adamic sentence, as the connection (vs. 15, 16) shows Him as giving the ransom for this purpose and, additionally, for the purpose of giving everlasting life to the faithful]."
Eph. 1:3-12 is a passage proving that the Lord has during the Gospel Age been selecting the Elect to use them in the Millennium to give the non-elect humans—dead and living—and the fallen angels an opportunity of becoming again subject to God as their Head. In vs. 3-8 the Apostle shows how before the foundation of the world God predestinated the Elect class, and how He has been during the Gospel Age favoring them individually with elective blessings. We will quote and explain vs. 8-12 as they occur in the Improved Version: "Which [favor of elective blessings] He caused to abound [He graciously gave them, not stintingly, but overflowingly] toward us in all wisdom and prudence [using the best of judgment and tact in their bestowal] after making known to us the mystery [the secret, unknowable and un-understandable, except by a special act of Divine illumination] of His will [plan of the Ages with reference to the Church, the world and the fallen angels], according to His good pleasure [Jehovah delights to work out so beneficent a plan] which He [Jehovah] purposed for Him [Christ. God's plan and good pleasure are Christo-centric] for an administration of the fullness of the seasons [the Millennium, as the Age of the Ages, the most important Age in the plan of the Ages, is the fullness of the seasons into which God's plan is divided. That the Millennium is meant by the expression, fullness of the seasons, is evident from the fact that it is the Age in which (a) the non-elect humans and (b) the fallen angels will be given their opportunity to become subject to God in the Christ.—(a) Ps. 22:27-29; Is. 25:6-9; 45:22, 23; John 5:25-29;
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Rom. 14:9; 2 Tim. 4:1; Phil. 2:8-11; 1 Cor. 15:21-28; etc.; (b) Heb. 1:6; 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6], again to make Himself Head as respects all things in the Christ [the fallen angels, and also the human family in Adam and Eve in Paradise, once heartily accepted God's headship over them, i.e., before they fell into sin; but by sin they repudiated His headship. God's purpose is to restore His headship over all who will enter and remain in the Christ]."
Grossly do some Universalists, in the interests of universalism, pervert the translation of words in v. 10 on which we are now commenting. We will quote with bracketed comments one of their translations: "In which [there are no corresponding words for these in the Greek] the universe [a mistranslation for the accusative of specification in the Greek expression for, as to all things, i.e., in the Christ, which the rest of the verse shows is limited only to those of the fallen angels and men who will come into and remain in the Christ. Moreover, instead of rendering the Greek expression, for as to all things, as an accusative of specification, as the Imp. Ver. gives it—'as respects (or, as to) all things,' it makes it the subject of the verb, as the following shows:] is to be headed up in the Christ [here it translates the middle voice (equivalent to an English reflexive verb and its pronoun object, and therefore must have a reflexive pronoun as object) as though it were the passive voice. It has thus tampered with every word in its translation so far given. They use this passage, so perverted, as one of their main proofs for universalism. Properly translated, this verse proves that God again will make Himself Head as to all who will during the Millennium come into and remain in the Christ; but He will not again make Himself Head to any who fail to come into and to remain in the Christ], those [the saved fallen angels] upon the heavens and those [the saved non-elect humans] upon the earth." We now continue with the Imp. Ver.
"In Him [the Christ] in whom also we were made
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an inheritance [the Christ is God's special inheritance], after being foreordained [as a class] according to the purpose of the One [God] working all things [connected with His plan] according to the plan of His will [the plan that in the exercise of His wisdom, justice, love and power, He deliberately formed], to the end that to the praise of His glory we may be, who before [now, in the Gospel Age we do our hoping, prior to the world, which will do its hoping in the Millennial Age] have hoped in the Christ [in the Christ Body; the Elect now have their hope—"Christ in you, the hope of glory." The obedient world will in the next Age come into the Christ, not as parts of the Body, but as children of the Christ, and this will be their hope—a later hope than ours—for life eternal]." Here is a wonderful section of God's Word. In the Christ it shows two times of hoping; the Gospel Age and the Millennial Age, the former being the time for the Christ class, before the world, to exercise its hope, and the latter being the time for the obedient world to exercise its hope. The passage further shows that the elective blessings are given the Christ class to fit them to administer the Millennial affairs, to the end that they might bring the obedient non-elect humans and the obedient fallen angels into and keep them in the Christ, in whom to all such, and to such only, God will again make Himself Head. This disproves Universalists' use of this passage and proves our use of it.
Next to 1 Cor. 15:21-28, which we studied above, Universalists stress Rom. 5:15-19 more than any other Scripture as a proof of universalism. But it is by a process of eisegesis that they read this thought into the passage. This passage has not one word to say on eternal universal salvation, much less does it teach it. We will here discuss this passage. To understand this section of Scripture aright we must notice strictly the comparative contrasts that it makes and the conditions that it implies for salvation. This passage does not directly use the word, ransom, but uses
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expressions that are synonymous with it, as will be shown. The thought running through this passage is that by God's grace Jesus, as the ransom sacrifice, secures the cancellation of the Adamic sentence and Adam's sin and its resultant sins (vs. 15, 16), so that during the Gospel Age, as against the Adamic sentence and its reign of death, by faithfulness in justification and the high-calling privileges the Elect may gain the privilege, by their reign over the Millennial world, of dispensing life through our Lord's ransom (v. 17), and so that during the Millennial Age the non-elect world may have, through the ransom's canceling effects on the Adamic sentence and sins, the opportunity of gaining the right to live forever (vs. 18, 19). The passage has not one word to say as to all being saved eternally, which thought Universalists read into the passage. This passage teaches one, and but one, opportunity for all by Christ's merit to gain salvation, showing that through the ransom, to a certain class, the Elect, such an opportunity is given during the Gospel Age (v. 17) and that through the ransom to all the rest such an opportunity will be given when the Elect reign, i.e., during the Millennium (vs. 17, 18, 19). Thus this section teaches the opportunity of gaining salvation for all, and precedingly the cancellation of the Adamic sin, sins and sentence from all, Christ's ransom sacrifice being the ground for it. Nor does this passage have one word to say on the thought that some Universalists read into it, viz., that Adam stood trial for all and in his failure all failed in a representative trial for life (though the passage and vs. 12-14 teach that we by heredity get his sin and sentence), and that Christ stood trial for all and by His success all succeeded in a representative trial for life and hence must be saved eternally. This particular form of error was one of Mr. Paton's and Mr. Knock's infidelistic teachings and forms a part of the second slaughter weapon.
We will quote Rom. 5:15-19 from the Imp. Ver.: "But not as the trespass [of Adam], so also the free
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gift [from the last clause of this verse we see that the free gift is the ransom—the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. The following part of this verse explains and proves what the comparative contrast of this verse is]: for if by the trespass of the one [Adam] the many [all generated by and from Adam. This excludes Jesus, who was not generated by or from Adam] died [came legally under the death sentence. That this does not mean that all come into the Adamic death state is evident from two things: (1) the fact that the aorist (past) tense (died) refers to a non-continued past action, and (2) the fact that those who will not have entered the death state by the time the ransom is applied in the Millennium for the world, never will enter the Adamic death state], much more the grace of God [His unmerited kindness that gave the Son of His bosom to become a ransom for all men (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 8:32; Heb. 2:9)] and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ [who graciously as a gift gave Himself up as the corresponding price on behalf of all men (Eph. 5:26; Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6)], abounded [the aorist (past) tense proves that the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, here referred to, had already been exercised, when St. Paul wrote these words. They were completed when Jesus died on the cross. Thus the ransom-price furnished by God and Christ was the free gift that abounded] for the many [the very ones, no more and no less, than are covered by the expression, 'the many died.' This teaches that the ransom was laid down for as many as the Adamic sentence reached, even as the citations just given prove. This verse, therefore, does not have one word to say on all being saved forever. It teaches no more and no less than that God and Christ graciously had already furnished the ransom for as many as the Adamic death sentence reached].
"And not as through the one that sinned [Adam] was the gift; for, on the one hand, the sentence was
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from one [trespass] unto condemnation [Adam's one sin brought the death sentence on all]; on the other hand, the free gift [the ransom] was [given in order that it might avail for deliverance] from many trespasses [Adam's sin and all Adamic sins resulting from it] unto justification [for cancellation of the Adamic death sentence, sin and sins. Here, again, is nothing said of universal eternal salvation. The passage teaches that the ransom was given for the purpose of actually freeing all from the Adamic sentence on Adam's sin and its resultant sins. It has actually been doing this, during the Gospel Age, for the Elect at the time it has been by our Lord imputed on behalf of each one of them at his consecration; and it will do this, in the Millennial Age, for all the non-elect when the second appearance of antitypical Aaron shall take place in the presence of God with the antitypical blood. This passage, therefore, teaches universal salvation from the Adamic sentence, but not universal eternal salvation. Therefore Universalists by eisegesis read universalism into this passage. The difference between vs. 15 and 16 on the one hand and vs. 17-19 on the other is this: Whereas vs. 15 and 16 show the general contrasted relation between the Adamic sin, sins and sentence on the one hand, and the ransom on the other hand, the latter to cancel the former; v. 17 shows the ransom's delivering power for the Elect from the Adamic sentence and its life-giving power in justification for the high calling during the Gospel Age, and its life-giving power exercised by the Elect during the Millennial Age; and vs. 18 and 19 show the Millennial delivering power of the ransom from the Adamic sin and sentence for the non-elect for the purpose of giving them an opportunity of gaining life. In brief, vs. 17-19 show the use to which the ransom will be put at two different times of salvation in delivering power for the purpose of giving all an opportunity for salvation].
"For if through the one trespass the [Adamic] death [process by the sentence] reigned [as a tyrant, oppressing
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the race] through the one [Adam], much more they that receive the abundance of the favor [the high calling to its overflowing into Divine glory, which only the faithful of this life will receive] and the gift of righteousness [justification by faith, which only those have fully received who have consecrated. We thus see that salvation is conditional] shall reign [as kings in the Millennium] in life [in dispensing life in the Millennium to the obedient of the non-elect world] through the one, Jesus Christ [His ransom merit by canceling the Adamic sin, sins and sentence from the Elect and giving them reckoned perfection in this life makes it possible for them to make their calling and election sure to the Kingdom, and in the Kingdom will make it possible for them to minister life. Here, again, not one word is said in favor of universal eternal salvation. But here is taught the ransom's power to deliver the Church from the Adamic sentence and to reckon the Church perfect while they make their calling and election sure to a place wherein they will reign in dispensing life through the ransom given by our Lord Jesus]. Therefore as through one trespass the sentence came [St. Paul is here giving with some elaboration the thought of the first contrasted members of v. 16] to all men unto condemnation [the Adamic sentence condemnatorily came to all in Adam], even so through one righteous act [the ransom-sacrificial death of our Lord] the free gift [i.e., the ransom merit. Here St. Paul is drawing out the application of the thought of the second contrasted members of v. 16, this time to the world, as in v. 17 he did it to the Church] shall come [the future tense of v. 19, which gives the reason for this statement, proves that the future tense must here be supplied, as also does the fact that St. Paul is describing the non-elect's time of blessing] to all men [thus the ransom will in the Millennium come to all in the sense of canceling their Adamic sin and sentence] unto [for the purpose of offering them the opportunity of gaining] justification to life [which they will get,
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if and as they "eat" the ransom, as the bread of life, by faith and obedience, John 6:31-58]."
This verse proves that the ransom will cancel the Adamic sin and sentence of all the non-elect and will do this for the purpose of enabling them all to gain the right to live forever, which right they will gain on condition of obedience, but not otherwise. For one can gain life only by partaking of Christ as the bread of life, i.e., His perfect humanity and its right to life and its life-rights; but if the condition of eating this bread will not be fulfilled, the non-fulfiller will not gain life (John 6:51, 53-58). Here again no universalism to eternal life is taught; but this verse does teach that all will be saved from the Adamic sin and sentence, in order that they may have the opportunity to gain the right to live forever. That the universal salvation of this passage is not that of eternal life, but that from the Adamic sin and sentence, the Apostle expressly teaches in v. 19, where he gives in the following words the proof for his statement that the free gift—the ransom-merit—will come to all men for the purpose of giving them the chance to gain eternal life: "For as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many [all in Adam] were made sinners [partakers by heredity in Adam's sin], even so through the obedience [whereby the ransom was laid down] of the one [Jesus] the many [all in Adam] shall be made righteous [as to Adam's sin, through the application of the ransom, when it as the free gift shall come to all men]." Here Adam's sin in its making all sinners through their partaking in it by heredity, is shown to be removed from all by Christ's ransom. The particle "for," connecting v. 19 with the last clause of v. 18, proves that v. 19 gives the reason for the statement, "the free gift shall come to all men unto justification of life"; for it is because Christ's ransom will cancel the Adamic sin (v. 19) that it will cancel the Adamic sentence (v. 18) in order to justification of life. In this verse there is not any thought of eternal universal salvation. It proves
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the forgiveness of the Adamic sin on behalf of Adam and all the non-elect in Him, whence comes salvation for all of them from the Adamic sentence. In the section, Rom. 5:15, 16, 18, 19, in its application to the non-elect, not one word is said as to the ultimate outcome of God's plan as respects their attaining to eternal life. As respects these it teaches nothing more than that all of them by virtue of the ransom will be delivered from the Adamic sin, Adamic sins and the Adamic sentence, in order that they might get the chance to gain the right to life. It does not say whether none, some, many, a majority or all of them will gain and ultimately retain that right. Other Scriptures prove that some will not gain that right and that some others will not retain it, which refutes universalism. Our examination has proven that Rom. 5:15-19 does not teach universalism, and that it by eisegesis reads universalism into this passage. This Scripture, like others, teaches that the ransom will cancel the Adamic sin and sentence from all in Adam. It teaches that these are of two classes: (1) such as will become kings in the Millennium, when they will through the ransom dispense life, i.e., the Elect; and (2) the rest of mankind—the non-elect—from whom the Elect will, through the ransom, work the cancellation of the Adamic sin and sentence during the Millennium, and will do this to give the non-elect an opportunity to gain life from the ransom by obedience to the conditions of receiving it as the bread of life. Hence this passage refutes the idea of universalism, while it is one of the most powerful passages of the Bible in proof of the Truth view of the ransom, the high calling, restitution, Millennium and the offer to all of eternal life, which, as other Scriptures teach, will be obtained by the obedient and withheld from the disobedient.
Nor do the other passages that Universalists quote to prove universalism teach their doctrine. E.g., Luke 2:10 teaches, not that all will gain everlasting life, but that all will have joy through the saving work of
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Jesus. The Elect get that joy in this life; the non-elect will for awhile all rejoice in such work in the Millennium, but after awhile, like some now, some of these will prove incorrigibly disobedient and forfeit all further privileges of joy and other good things of that glad day. John 1:9 does not teach eternal universal salvation. It does teach that all will be enlightened as to the Truth. Neither does 2 Tim. 4:10 teach it, when it calls God the Savior of all men, especially of the faithful. He is indeed the Savior of all men from the Adamic sin and sentence; but He is the Savior to the uttermost, "especially," of those only who are faithful: now, of the faithful Elect, and in the Millennium, of the faithful non-elect, but of no others. Nor is its universalism taught in Titus 2:11: "For there shined brightly the grace of God [in the ransom] salutary for all men." This passage shows that the grace has already shined brightly. It is the ransom grace and is salutary for all men, saving all now or in the Millennium from the Adamic sin and sentence, additionally, as the bread of life, offering eternal life to all who will partake of it on the Divinely-arranged conditions and withholding it from all who will not, as some will not. The same general remarks apply to 1 John 2:2, where our dear Lord is set forth as: "the propitiation for our sins [He satisfies God's justice as to them on behalf of the Church during the Gospel Age], and not only for our [the Church's, the Elect's] sins [of Adamic source], but also for the sins of the whole world [the non-elect's sins of Adamic source during the Millennium]." This passage refers to nothing more than Christ as the Satisfier of Justice for the Adamic sins on behalf of the Elect and the non-elect. It has nothing to say on eternal universal salvation. John 3:17 and 1 John 9:14 teach that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world from the Adamic sentence and sin; but do not teach universalism; for both of them refer to His coming to redeem, ransom, the world.
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This brings us to a consideration of the sophistries of Universalists on the doctrine of reconciliation, which they present, in gross perversion, as probably their leading proof for universalism. They probably use the word, conciliation, in this connection as preferable to the word, reconciliation, because the latter word is more likely to expose their sophistries on the subject. The word, reconciliation, presupposes that two parties are at variance with each other, that both are unfriendly to one another, because, for one reason or another, displeased with one another. Reconciliation is the work that makes them friendly with each other by removing out of the way the things that cause their displeasure with one another, and by effecting such things as make them pleased with one another. Applying this to God and men, we find that they are displeased with one another: God is displeased with man because of man's sin, and man is displeased with God because of God's holiness. This unfriendliness in God was brought about by Adam's sin, and has been increased by man's further sin; and in man it was brought about by God's enforcing the penalty of sin and insisting on man's obedience to the Divine law, which displease sinful man. Accordingly, reconciling these with one another implies every feature of the work that will make God pleased with man and man pleased with God. Accordingly, the word reconciliation can be applied to each and all of the acts that go to make God pleased with man, and to each and all of the acts that go to make man pleased with God. For the sake of clearness we will call the work of making God pleased with man the first phase of reconciliation, and the work of making man (and fallen angels) pleased with God its second phase.
Every use of the words, reconciliation and reconcile, on this subject, except three, is in the Scripture made to refer to all or to part of the acts that go to make God pleased with man. There are a number of acts to which these words are applied in the use of the word expressive of God's being made pleased with man.
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These are Acts of God, and of Christ Godward, necessary to remove God's displeasure with man; and there are especially three of these: (1) God giving His Son to become the ransom as the basis of making God pleased with man. This part of the work of reconciliation is set forth in 2 Cor. 5:19: "God was by Christ reconciling the world to Himself," which refers to His giving His Son to become the ransom so that through it the Son might satisfy God with the world. (2) Our Lord giving Himself unto death that He might lay down the ransom as the basis of His making God pleased with the world. This part of the work is especially referred to in the first part of Rom. 5:10, where it is said that while we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, which was finished at Calvary. And (3) the act of our Lord by which, through the imputation or application of the ransom, propitiation is actually made whereby God is made pleased with man. This work our Lord now does in heaven for the Church (Heb. 9:24; 2:17), antitypical of the atonement that Aaron wrought when he sprinkled the blood of the bullock in the Most Holy. In the next Age our Lord will make such propitiation for the non-elect world, when He sprinkles the anti-typical book with the blood, i.e., satisfies God's justice toward the world. This part of the work of reconciliation by our Lord's making propitiation is expressed for this Age in Rom. 5:10 ("after being reconciled [propitiated for to God], we shall be saved by His life"); Rom. 11:15; Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:21, 22. Of the last two citations, the first shows that this propitiation is made for the brethren at the time they come into the Body in the sense of the Body of Christ class, i.e., when they become new creatures, and the second shows that this propitiation is made at the time they come into the Body in the sense of the body of the Jesus class, the humanity of the sacrificing class as distinct from their New Creatures, both occurring when the consecration was accepted by the vitalizing
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of justification and spirit-begettal. Col. 1:20 is a passage that refers to the work of reconciliation in this third part, i.e., in the sense of propitiation, applicable to the Church in this Age and to the world in the next Age and also to the fallen angels, Satan excepted (Heb. 2:14); for their deception by Satan taking place in connection with their efforts to stay the Adamic corruption in the race, Christ's death satisfies God's justice for this phase of their sin, other phases of their sin they, not being put under a death sentence but under an imprisonment sentence, make good, by their own imprisonment sufferings in their outcast condition and by their acts of reformation. In the first clause of 2 Cor. 5:18: "God reconciled us to Himself through Christ," the word reconcile seems to be used for the three parts of the work whereby God is made pleased with man, in this case the Church.
There is only one passage in which the word reconcile is used in the sense of man doing something connected with making God pleased with him. After stating in v. 19 that to the faithful the word, the message, of reconciliation has been given to minister to others, St. Paul in 2 Cor. 5:20 uses an expression to show how this ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18, second clause) was conducted. The work of this ministry is a reduction to action of the words: "Be ye reconciled to God," i.e., our ministerial acts as well also as words preach these words. This implies that for people in the Gospel Age to have God made pleased with them, they have had to do something. What is this? We answer: They have had to exercise repentance toward God, faith toward Christ as their Savior and entire consecration to the Lord. For those who have done so Jesus has acted as Advocate and has made propitiation (1 John 2:2), thus making them pleasing to God.
The other side of reconciliation, i.e., man being made pleased with God, is also shown in the Scripture. Rom. 5:11 is a clear passage on this point: "And not only so [i.e., that God has become pleased with us through
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Christ's propitiating His justice toward us], but we also glory in God [we are so delighted with Him that He is the entire object of our glorying], through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom [by His developing us in every good word and work we became pleased with God and everything about Him] we have now received the reconciliation [i.e., we have received the spirit that delights in God and thus is pleased with Him]." The sprinkling of the antitypical people with the blood after the antitypical book was sprinkled (Heb. 9:19, 23) types the world's becoming pleased with God. Thus we have found the Scriptures to teach both phases of the reconciliation, i.e., God made pleased with man and man made pleased with God. Both phases of the work of reconciliation are included in the expression, the "word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19), in the sense that the message explains the work of reconciliation as a whole, in its two phases and in every one of the parts of its two phases, while the expression, "the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18), implies the work that God's priesthood do in bringing men (1) through repentance, faith and consecration into a condition in which Christ can make God pleased with them through the imputation of His merit on their behalf; and (2) through doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness helping them to grow in grace, knowledge and fruitfulness in service, until they are pleased with God and everything connected with God.
With just a word we will expose the sophistry of Universalists in using reconciliation as a proof of universalism: Certain passages that teach that by the merit of Christ's sacrifice God will be pleased with all human beings and with the fallen angels, i.e., passages that apply to the first phase of reconciliation, they apply to the second phase of reconciliation. This is a gross error, for that would mean that all men and the fallen angels will become pleased and remain pleased with God. The Bible most clearly teaches that through the ransom merit God will become pleased with all
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fallen men and angels and will give them a favorable opportunity to become pleased with Him. But the Bible nowhere teaches that all men and fallen angels will become pleased with God. On the contrary, it teaches that some of these will not make a faithful use of such an opportunity and therefore will perish eternally. The most noted example of Universalists' perverting Scriptures that mean that Christ in the work of reconciliation will make God pleased with all men and fallen angels into meaning that all men and fallen angels will be made pleased with God, is Col. 1:20, which passage clearly refers to God's being made pleased, by Christ's merit, with all men and fallen angels, even as it says: "and through Him [Christ] to reconcile all things unto Him [God, i.e., to make all things in heaven and earth pleasing to God. Undoubtedly the expression, to reconcile certain ones to God, as this Scripture used it, means to make God pleased with them, i.e., it characterizes the first phase of reconciliation, as can be seen from the parallel passages: Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:19, 20; Eph. 2:16. It does not, as Universalists claim, mean to make man and angels pleased with God, which is the second phase of reconciliation], after making peace through the blood of His cross [after furnishing by His death the ransom as the basis of making propitiation. Let us not forget that while the ransom was laid down at Calvary on the cross, propitiation, satisfying justice, was not made there, but is made in heaven, the antitypical Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:24, 23; 2:17)]." The above completely refutes Universalists' use of reconciliation as a proof of universalism. Thus we have refuted all the main arguments of universalists as an outflow of the ransom. The ransom guarantees the deliverance of all men from the Adamic sentence so that on condition of receiving the ransom merit and faithfully using it they may gain eternal life. But those who do not faithfully use it will not gain eternal life; they will die the second death, eternal annihilation.
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Having seen the fallacy of Calvinism as unscripturally limiting the ransom to the Elect only, and the fallacy of some Universalists who draw conclusions that overdo its effects, we are now prepared to look at other teachings that contradict it. Since it is the very heart of God's plan, Satan has attacked it more than any other Bible doctrine; for we are not to think that only by Calvin's under-doing and by Universalism's over-doing it has he attacked this doctrine. Usually he seeks to deny it, either by indirection, i.e., setting up doctrines that contradict it logically but not expressly, or by direction, i.e., by outright denying of it expressly. Of the former kind of his denying it we might mention the doctrines of creedal trinity, human immortality, eternal torment, the mass, various forms of self-atonement and evolution. Of the latter kind of his denying it are the various denials of the corresponding price made by Rationalists, Concordant Versionists, Barbourites, Patonites, etc. A specious form of its denial is the teaching that dying is the penalty of sin, and that man by dying pays his own penalty and thus ransoms himself, and by his so doing allegedly merits his own resurrection from the dead. If this reasoning were true, of course there would be no need of Christ's being the ransom. But is this reasoning true? It certainly is contradicted both by reason and Scripture; for reason shows that man is born imperfect, hence he cannot satisfy the perfect justice of God by his imperfect dying. Moreover, reason shows that there is no merit in dying, since in almost all cases it is unwillingly as well as imperfectly undergone, its subjects usually seeking in all ways known to them to prevent it; hence it could not by merit satisfy justice, which requires full perfection.
Moreover, this view contradicts the Bible, which nowhere teaches that dying is the penalty; for the Bible teaches that death, a lasting state reached by dying, is the penalty (Gen. 2:17; Jer. 31:30; Rom. 1:32; 5:12, 15, 17; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22, 56;
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Jas. 1:15; 1 John 5:16). The soul suffers this penalty (Job 36:14 [margin]; Ps. 56:13; 78:50; 116:8; Is. 53:10, 12; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Matt. 26:38; Jas. 5:20). Thus the penalty is eternal non-existence (Job 6:15, 18; 7:9; Ps. 37:10, 35, 36; 49:12; 104:35; Prov. 10:25; 12:7). Since dying is not, but death is the penalty, dying cannot satisfy God's justice as fulfilling the penalty. Nor can being in the death state a short or long time satisfy God's justice as paying the penalty, since the penalty is eternal death, proved by Christ's humanity going into eternal death to provide the ransom that was satisfactory to God's justice to redeem the dead race from death; for had His humanity not gone into eternal death, but returned, He would have vitiated the ransom, with the result that the dead would have to remain eternally dead. Since, therefore, the penalty of sin is eternal death, also proven by the eternal death of those who go into the second death, neither man's dying nor his death ransoms him from death. It is the eternal death of Jesus' humanity that makes possible as a ransom the return of the dead from the death state. And this it will effect on the great day when all that are in their graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. A further proof that the penalty of sin is eternal death we find in the following Scriptures, compared with those cited above: Ps: 145:20; Matt. 10:28; Phil. 3:19; 2 Thes. 1:9. Therefore, neither dying nor death merits the satisfaction of justice, and hence a return from the dead. The only thing that merits this is the ransom, to give which Jesus Christ tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9), and died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3).
The Bible uses many terms that, without expressly using the word ransom or purchase, implies the thought, because connected with its varied features or thoughts. One of these expressions is that of His "body" given for His people, shown in the Lord's Supper and elsewhere, as this is set forth in Matt. 26:26;
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Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24; Heb. 10:5. Another is His flesh given for the world as the true bread, as we read this in John 6:32, 33, 48, 50-59; Heb. 10:20. Another of these is the gift of righteousness, the free gift (Rom. 5:15, 16, 17, 18; 6:23; 2 Cor. 9:15). A fourth is His blood, whereby His right to life and His right to the life-rights are meant, as this is seen in Matt. 26:27; Mark 14:24; John 6:53-56; Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:25; 5:9; 1 Cor. 11:27; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:14, 20; Heb. 9:12, 13, 14; 10:19; 12:24; 13:12; 1 Pet. 1:2, 19; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11. In Biblical symbols blood in the veins represents life (Lev. 17:11, 14; Deut. 12:23); but shed it represents death, as can be seen in sprinkling the shed blood on the mercy seat and the altar (Lev. 16:14, 15, 18; compare with Heb. 13:11-13). Hence the expression, blood of Christ, means the death of Christ, i.e., His ransom merit. A fifth term implying the ransom is the expression, death, and to die, as applied to Jesus; for it was by Christ's death that He laid down the ransom, as the following passages show: Is. 53:12; John 12:33; Rom. 5:10; 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 11:26; 15:3; Phil. 2:8; 3:10; Col. 1:22; Heb. 2:9, 14; 9:15; 1 Pet. 3:18.
A sixth expression that implies the ransom is that which speaks of Jesus' giving up His life for others, exemplified in the following passages: Matt. 20:28; John 10:11, 15; 13:37; Acts 8:33; 1 John 3:16. And a seventh Biblical term also implies the ransom: Christ's suffering, He suffered: Matt. 16:21; Luke 22:15; 24:46; Acts 3:18; 17:3; 26:23; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 2:9, 10, 18; 5:8; 9:26; 13:12; 1 Pet. 1:11; 2:21, 23; 3:18; 4:1, 13; 5:1. An eighth term implying the ransom is the expression, righteousness, or righteousness of God (the righteousness that God provided by Christ's sacrifice) or obedience of the one, as we see in Rom. 3:21, 22; 5:18, 19; 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9. A ninth expression implying the ransom, and a synonym of righteousness, is the term, faith of Christ,
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of Jesus Christ, in which the word faith is used in its third sense, faithfulness, i.e., of His humanity, as we can see in the following passages: Rom. 3:22; Gal. 2:16 (twice), 20; 3:22; Phil. 3:9. And a tenth term implying the ransom is the expression, sacrifice, offering, sin offering, offer (Heb. 7:27; 8:3; 9:14, 23, 25, 26, 28; 10:12, 14, 26). A study of these ten (the number of human perfection, which is involved in the ransom) expressions in themselves and their contexts, as well as in the whole tenor of the Bible, will convince any faithful child of God that they imply the ransom.
The Givers of the ransom will next command our attention. Its primary Giver is God; for He is its originating Giver, since He planned it, making it the center of the plan of the Ages (Job 12:13, 16; Dan. 2:20-22; Rom. 11:33-36; 16:25, 26; 1 Cor. 1:24; Eph. 1:8; 3:8-11; Tit. 1:2, 3; Rev. 13:8). He was also the moving Giver, inasmuch as His love was so great that He could give His only begotten Son to become our ransom (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Eph. 1:6-8; 1 John 4:8-10). He is likewise the effective Giver, since by His power He sustained Christ, enabling Him to become our Savior. In carrying out this matter, by His power He caused Christ's carnation to occur (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35; John 1:14), gave Him the power to fulfill his ministry (Is. 11:2; 61:1, 2; Acts 10:38), strengthened Him in His trials and experiences (Is. 42:1; 49:1, 2, 5-8; Matt 4:11; Luke 22:43; Heb. 5:7, 8), and finally He exalted Him in power and to a position in which He could fulfill His saving work (Ps. 2:9; Luke 22:69; John 13:31, 32; 17:5; Acts 2:33, 34; 5:31; Eph. 1:20; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 3:1; Heb. 5:9; 8:1; 10:12, 13; 1 Pet. 3:22). Jesus Himself is the secondary Giver of the ransom. Thus He freely presented Himself to be such (Ps. 40:6-10; Is. 50:6; 53:12; Matt. 26:24, 39, 42, 53, 54; Luke 9:51; John 10:17, 18; Phil. 2:6-8; Rev. 5:12). He underwent all the experiences bringing upon Himself the ransom sacrificial
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death (Ps. 69:21, 26; 109:25; Is. 52:14; 53:7-12; Matt. 21:37-39; John 10:11; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:3; Gal. 3:13); and in His ministry after His exaltation He gives others the benefits of His death (2 Cor. 5:19-21; 8:9; Gal. 1:4; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:6, 7; 2:13-16; 5:2, 25-27; Col. 1:14, 20-22; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2:14; Heb. 1:3; 10:10, 12, 14, 19, 20; 12:2; 1 Pet. 1:2, 18-21; 3:18; 1 John 1:7; 2:2; Rev. 1:5, 6; 5:9, 10; 7:14, 15). The copious references given in this paragraph are only a selection from many Scriptures proving how abundant is the Biblical evidence on God as the primary and Christ as the secondary Giver of the ransom on our behalf.
The Recipient of the ransom should be emphasized. In the Dark Ages the thought prevailed that Jesus gave the ransom to Satan to buy from him the race that he held in slavery. It is true that Satan has held the race in the bondage of sin and death (Heb. 2:14, 15; 1 John 5:19, A. R. V.). But his sway over it is not one of God's ordering; but one of Satan's usurpation. He does not by right own the race. At most God allows him as a usurper to rule over it as an executioner who has doomed man in his power. Satan not being the owner of the race, the ransom was not due him, and we may be certain that the ransom was never paid over to him. God by right of Creation is the Owner of the race. And man's sin and death made Him none the less its Owner. But it transferred man from the gracious ownership of God's special love to the rigid ownership of His justice, which required of him his life, his being, his existence, for his sin. And that justice has ever since held that ownership as man's debt to God's offended law—His justice. God then is the Owner of the justice-condemned race, both in its dying process and in its death state; and if man was ever to be brought out of the debt-ownership, it must be by a ransom, a corresponding-price, paid to the creditor-owner of the justice-owned and condemned race. And this is the way the Bible presents it. It tells
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us that Christ by the eternal Spirit of sonship, as the ransom-price, offered Himself without spot as a human being, to God (Heb. 9:14), that He thus satisfied God's justice for our and the world's sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10, 14; Rom. 3:21-26). Hence the reckoned purchased ones are transferred from the debt-ownership of death-exacting justice to God's love as a result of Christ's reckoned purchase (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23), while when the ransom is actually used to purchase the world, in the Millennium, it will be absolutely turned over to Christ as His property (Ps. 2:2; Eph. 1:14) for Him to use for its good.
But we are not to view the matter of Christ's having laid down the ransom price as obligating justice to sell the race to Christ for the ransom price. Justice could have refused to accept the ransom price for the purchase of the race, just as the fact that one has enough money to buy a house does not obligate the owner of that house to sell it to him. The owner for reasons satisfactory to himself can refuse to sell the house. Thus God's justice could have refused to sell the race to Christ for the ransom price, if it had reasons satisfactory to itself to refuse to sell it. In other words, there was no compulsion put upon justice to sell the race to Christ. Nor should we from this conclude that justice temporarily was unwilling to sell the race to Christ. In accepting the ransom price justice does it freely from the good will of justice, while love reinforces this good will. It did not act from compulsion. Nor was Christ by justice forced to die for the race, nor afterward to buy the race; for justice never forces sacrifice nor the use of sacrificial merit. Christ's purchasing us is thus seen to be also an act of free grace and not compulsion on His part. Freely both the primary Giver and the secondary Giver act in all the matters connected with the ransom's laying down, and with the selling and purchasing connected with the ransom; for justice was not obligated by it.
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Something on the beneficiaries of the ransom: The primary beneficiary of the ransom is Adam; for he is the one whose exact corresponding price Jesus is. Hence the ransom is primarily laid down for Adam (Heb. 2:6-9; Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22). Indeed, apart from Adam's primary involvement in the ransom transaction, there could not be a corresponding price for Adam's race; for separated from Adam there is no equivalency between the demerit of the about 22,000,000,000 of Adam's descendants and Christ's merit; for the unborn race in Adam's loins that finds in the unborn race in Jesus' loins a corresponding price, can have that corresponding price only as they are viewed in Adam's loins, and, therefore, inherit his debt as against them; hence without Adam's being the primary beneficiary of the ransom, they could have no share in it, since Adam's debt was inherited by all of them. And Adam's share in it must be paid for, to release the race therefrom. This consideration fully overthrows the recent error of the Society, which teaches that Adam is not a beneficiary of the ransom. The secondary beneficiaries of the ransom are Adam's fallen race, and that because the ransom as the corresponding price of Adam's perfect body, life, right to life and his right to the life-rights, when paid over for Adam will relieve the race from the debt of Adam's forfeited perfect body, life, right to life and his right to the life-rights, and thus ready it for restitution.
Above, in giving the Scriptures on God's love, Christ's death and the Spirit's work for all as to salvation, we gave abundant passages in proof of the entire race being beneficiaries of the ransom. The fallen angels, except Satan, are also beneficiaries of the ransom, not in the sense that it is a corresponding price for them, for they were never sentenced to a forfeiture of their perfect bodies, life, right to life and the right to life-rights, imprisonment within the atmosphere about this earth being their sentence (2 Pet. 2:4; Eph. 2:2), while, if they had had such a forfeiture,
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they would have had, as a corresponding price, as many angels of their respective ranks die for them as there were individuals of their respective ranks; and, of course, one perfect human being was not a corresponding price for them. He would be less than a corresponding price for even one of them, since a perfect human being is less than an angel (Heb. 2:6-9). If as a corresponding price Jesus' ransom does not meet the fallen angels' debt, how are they then beneficiaries of the ransom? The following seems to be the way that they are such: It was in a measure due to the depravity of the Adamic sin in the Antediluvians that occasioned their fall. Since Satan originated sin among all fallen beings, he originated sin in the fallen angels, who were induced to marry the daughters of men, while seeking to reform the race (Gen. 6:2-4). Their ardently seeking, as its powers of spiritual control, the reformation of the race, gave Satan the opportunity to tempt them to marry the daughters of men. Their ill success at such reformation had a discouraging effect on them. Amid this state of mind Satan told them that they were leaving out of sight the real root of the Antediluvians' increasing sin—hereditary depravity, whose only cure was the propagation of children free of Adamic depravity. This they could bring about by materializing human bodies, and in them marrying women and propagating a race that would inherit their perfection and thus secure the reformation of the race, and by allowing no Adamites to become fathers. Some, not all, of these powers of spiritual control in the world that was, were deceived into carrying out Satan's suggestion and, by doing this unauthorized thing, fell into sin. Thus their deception was occasioned in part by the prevalence of Adamic depravity and their desire to overcome it; and since Christ's merit is an offset not only to Adam's original sin, but also to all sins resulting from the transmitted Adamic depravity, it takes care of that part of the fallen angels' sin due to that depravity.
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Hence the Bible also teaches that the ransom covers that part of the fallen angels' sins that resulted from the Adamic depravity in the race (Col. 1:20). Thus Paul tells us that Christ died and arose again, that He might become the Lord [ruler] of both the dead [Adam's condemned race] and the living [the fallen angels, never put under death sentence] (Rom. 14:9). He also tells us in Phil. 2:8-10 that Jesus died, that, among other things, every knee in heaven [spirits] might bow to Him. The saints will judge, not the good, but fallen angels during the Millennium (1 Cor. 6:3; Eph. 1:10) because of the ransom's having an indirect application to them. In certain aspects there is now a judging going on over them, to demonstrate who of them will have that Millennial opportunity, which will be given to the penitent only among them (2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). It is to help them to repentance that during the Gospel Age God has been having the Church preach His plan (Eph. 3:10, 11). Now is the crisis of their Gospel-Age opportunity to repent (2 Tim. 4:1), and before the Epiphany is over, they will be fully divided into two classes, the penitent and impenitent, the latter not to have the Millennial trial, but as condemned to death will be imprisoned with Satan the 1,000 years, the former to be favored with that Millennial trial. Thus the latter will make shipwreck of Gospel-Age opportunity to benefit from the ransom to the degree of repentance, the former getting it and that of the Millennium for the chance of full restoration.
The Elect are also beneficiaries of the ransom. The Ancient Worthies got a benefit from it by way of anticipation, i.e., in view of its coming God granted them tentative justification (Rom. 4:1-8); and they will get their full share in it actually, when it is applied for the whole world in the Millennium, actually receiving it as an instantaneous gift, perfecting their faculties, at their resuscitation and the covering of it throughout the Millennium for any imperfection of which they
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may become guilty. The Youthful Worthies obtain tentative justification, not like the Ancient Worthies, in anticipation of a future laying down of the ransom, but in view of its having already been laid down. In the Millennium they will be beneficiaries of it exactly like the Ancient Worthies. The Little Flock are likewise beneficiaries of the ransom, which, received in faith-justification, puts them in line for the High Calling, and have its benefits to cover their human lacks, faults and weaknesses throughout their consecrated course. The crown-losers shared in it before their crowns lapsed in the same sense as the Little Flock, of which they were actually a part until they lost their crowns. Their sins as Great Company members continue to have the benefit of the ransom merit; for they wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14) and are thereby covered until death. We can even speak of the good angels as being beneficiaries of the ransom, not that in any sense as being involved or covered by it, but in the sense that it fitted Christ to be their beneficent Lord, directing them in all their works as they too are implied in the living of Rom. 14:9; and in those whose knees in heaven will bow to Jesus and acknowledge Him as Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). Yea, Christ in a certain sense may be called a beneficiary of the ransom, not in the sense that it bought Him, for He was not involved in the Adamic sin; nor in the sense that it covered Him, for He was sinless; but in the sense of His getting the high reward of glory, honor and immortality because of laying it down (Rom. 14:9; Eph. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:8-11; Heb. 12:2; Rev. 5:9, 12). And finally, in a certain sense God can be spoken of as being a beneficiary of the ransom, not, of course, as having been purchased by it or covered by it; for He is absolutely sinless and perfect; but in the sense that its laying down perfected Jesus as a New Creature unto God's gaining Him as His best loved Son, His absolutely dependable Executive for all His plans and His efficient Vicegerent in
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all future Ages and in all universes (Matt. 28:18; Heb. 1:3-6; Col. 1:18, 19).
Its beneficiaries imply certain things in its sphere of activity. But its sphere of activity implies other things, e.g., it implies that the race is a set of bankrupts sold by itself into the slavery of sin and death for the price of self-indulgence in sin. It implies, too, that this bankrupt, enslaved race is in part in the cells of the prison of the tomb and in part in the prison-yard behind securely locked gates. It implies that there is a Creditor of this bankrupt and enslaved race whose justice holds them in their bankruptcy and enslavement, and will not liberate them, unless a ransom is furnished and paid for them. It also implies that there is a Son of this Creditor who at the same time is a friend of this bankrupt and enslaved race, and who by the ransom becomes their purchaser from their bankruptcy and slavery; and, finally, it implies the release of this bankrupt and enslaved race by imputatively or reckonedly purchasing the Elect from this bankruptcy and slavery and by actually purchasing the non-elect from their bankruptcy and slavery. The sphere of the ransom is the condition into which Adam's sin plunged him and his race in their relation toward God; and in this sphere it works most efficiently and effectively to the glory of God and the blessing of man for the furtherance of the Divine Plan.
Nothing forced God to arrange for the ransom. Certainly there was nothing in God's justice forcing Him to arrange for the ransom; for justice having justly sentenced Adam to death, since he refused to fulfill the condition on which the continuance of the grant of life, freely given him, might be had, i.e., to keep it as long as he would fulfill the gracious Creator's demand for him to use it as He required it to be used. Thus His justice was satisfied to have him in death, and, of course, it could not be compelled to bring Him out of death of its own initiative; for that would have turned His justice into injustice. Nor was there anything
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in God's wisdom to compel His justice to free man. Even love, which in due time prompted the ransom as planned by wisdom, could not compel justice to refrain from exacting the penalty. Nor was there anything in power to compel justice to withdraw the penalty of sin righteously put upon man; for God's wisdom, power and love never set justice aside, since it is the foundation of His rulership (Ps. 89:14), and whenever they act, they act harmoniously with, and never contrary to justice. But justice in harmony with itself could accept the ransom as a corresponding price to the debt as it was planned by wisdom, prompted by love and executed by power, and for its merit release the condemned race from its sentence. And thus in complete harmony with its demands justice is willing for the sake of the ransom to let love and power take them from its condemning hands, and to transfer them to the hands of love and power for deliverance. Thus justice, without any compulsion whatever, willingly accepts the ransom as a complete satisfaction of its demands against the death-sentenced race, as without the ransom justice would keep the race forever in death for the satisfaction of itself.
The ransom from every standpoint is reasonable. It is reasonable as to justice to require the price corresponding in value to the debt; for the matter was one of a justly owed debt which could reasonably be met only by a corresponding price. It is reasonable as an expression of God's wisdom, love and power. It is reasonable because the ransom put the Ransomer into a position in which He could restore to the race the same valuable things that Adam and the race in him lost. It is reasonable in that it covers all who have the debt of Adam against them; for it is equal to that debt. It is reasonable because it will put the race into at least as favorable an opportunity to gain eternal life as Adam had to gain it and then lost it for them. It is reasonable that as a deposit, without Christ's losing His right to its value, He could let it be security
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to cover the Church during its trial time, so that when that security is no longer embargoed by reason of the Church's having by death no more need of that security, it would and will, unembargoed, be used to purchase the world. It is reasonable from the standpoint of economy of suffering; for by Jesus' becoming the corresponding price to Adam, He could, by the death of His sole self and of the unborn seed in His loins, become the purchaser of Adam and the race lost in Adam's loins for purposes of regeneration.
For had the whole race been created perfect and been put on trial, Adam being an example of what an inexperienced perfect man on trial for life would do, it would be reasonable to infer that all would under similar circumstances have done what he did, sinned; then to redeem them there would have had to suffer and die as many saviors as there were individual sinners. The ransom as the corresponding price for Adam, has, therefore, saved the lives of billions of saviors, with the billions of sinners suffering less than they would have suffered had they as individuals been perfect and then have fallen, since successive generations inheriting increasing weakness, have suffered less and a shorter time than had they, perfect, been individually condemned, even as Adam suffered more than any of his descendants in the loss of perfect life, etc., and that for nearly 930 years. From the standpoint of our Lord the ransom is reasonable. It makes reasonable His carnation in order that He could become a corresponding price to Adam. It makes reasonable His eternal death as a human being, since had He taken back His humanity, He would have undone the ransom. It makes reasonable His resurrection as a Spirit being of the Divine nature, whereby He could dispense with His vitiating the ransom through taking back the ransom. And it makes reasonable His fitness to be the Savior of the Elect and the world; for in laying it down He developed the qualities that fitted Him to be a faithful and merciful Imputer and Applier
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of its merit and to minister according to the needs of both classes. It makes reasonable the experience with evil through its securing the experience with good. Thus from the standpoint of God, the world, the Elect, Jesus and the experience with evil, the ransom is most reasonable for the head and comforting for the heart.
It is a very advantageous thing. It gives God the opportunity to be just and yet be the justifier of the Church and its inviter to the High Calling, and to retain His justice while freeing the world from the curse and giving it the Millennial opportunities. It gives Him a most glorious opportunity to reveal Himself as perfect in wisdom, power, justice and love, and all in perfect balance and crystallization to the Church and angels now and to the world later. It gives Him the opportunity of making Himself the Head again of the fallen angels who will develop good and of the fallen race who will reform. It gives Him the opportunity as Creator of bringing into existence beings on various planes in sinlessness and perfection for everlasting life, in which they will always, in their characters, manifest the reign of moral laws. It gives Him the riches of fatherhood to all the elect humans and angels on various planes of being as very special sons and servants, particularly the Christ. It gives Him a clean universe forever free from sin and imperfection. O, glorious in fruitage to God is the ransom, which He Himself provided as the avenue of all these glories! It is advantageous to Christ, since it has resulted in His personal, official and honorable exaltation as Jehovah's Executive and Vicegerent over every one and thing under the Father; it has made it possible to win the Church as His Bride, the Great Company and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies as His assistants, to gain the universe as His inheritance and the human race as His possession for Him to lift up by restitution processes unto perfection, and to have the victory that will destroy all evil and irreformably evil persons, and make permanent all good and all good
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persons. Fruitful to Him is the ransom. To the Little Flock and Great Company it is fruitful, helping them in all the steps of salvation and making it possible to gain their respective exaltations in nature, office, honor, inheritance and relations. In a similar manner it has in part been and will entirely be to the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. It will be advantageous to the world and the repentant angels, since it puts Christ into a position to give them their Millennial opportunities, as it gave such angels certain Gospel-Age opportunities, to further them on as to repentance. Even the good angels are benefiting by it, since its laying down fitted Christ to be a most able leader of them. Great, indeed, have been the advantages of the ransom.
Some attention should be given to the ransom's uses, which are fourfold; (1) its delivery, (2) its deposit, (3) its imputation and (4) its application. Each of these may well deserve our study. By its delivery we mean its laying down, i.e., Jesus' giving up unto death His human body, life, right to life and the right to the life-rights. Just before coming to Jordan He consecrated these unto death, and immediately after Jordan He began the hard process of laying these down unto death during His 3½ years of ministry through physical exhaustion due to His great labors, privations and hardships, through mental sorrows, culminating in Gethsemane and on the cross, and through the physical violence marking His last thirteen hours. We have given details on these things in Chapter II: Christ: His Narrow Way, and in Chapter III: Christ: His Sufferings, hence will write no more on this feature of the ransom. Its second use is the deposit. This is referred to in Luke 23:46, in the words, "Father, into thy hands I commend [deposit] my spirit." The form of Greek word here used means deposit, to commit or entrust something into another's charge or care. Thus the act of depositing money with a banker was and is yet regularly expressed by the form (middle voice) of the, word paratithemai here used. See also Luke 12:48;
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Acts 14:23; 20:32; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 2:1; 1 Pet. 4:19. Hence Jesus was here entrusting, depositing, or committing (not commending, as the A. V. gives it) His Spirit to the Father's charge. As we have often seen, the word spirit has 12 different meanings in the Bible, one of which is the right to life (Ps. 3:5; Acts 7:59). Jesus had two rights to life, (1) that of His humanity, and (2) that of His New Creature. He refers to both of them here; and at the moment of death He deposited both of them with the Father, in full faith that He would care for them aright; that of His humanity, i.e., the ransom, He deposited with the Father, that in harmony with God's will He might use it to purchase from God's justice every member of Adam's race, and that of His New Creature, that He might in due time, in His resurrection, receive it back for His spirit-being existence in the Divine nature, according to God's promise (John 5:26). In the ransom transaction we here are concerned with the deposit of His human right to life; for that involves the ransom, since whoever has the right to human life has by it the right to a perfect human body and life and the right to the human life-rights. In other words, the whole ransom is implied in the expression, the right to human life. Hence this language, "Into thy hands I deposit my spirit," teaches that He was also depositing the ransom merit in the Father's care.
The imputation is the use of the ransom made by Jesus during the Gospel Age, as distinct from the application, which is its use to be made by Jesus during the Millennial Age. That Jesus does not now actually buy us and then actually give us the ransom merit is evident from several facts: (1) If He did, we would now be actually perfect, which, of course, is not true, evidenced by our physical, mental, artistic, moral and religious imperfections, lacks, faults and weaknesses; (2) if He did, our justification would now be an actual one, which it is not; for if it were an actual one we would be actually in every way perfect; (3) but it must
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be a reckoned one, proven by our imperfections; and (4) since the actual lifting of the Adamic sentence and the actual giving of perfection requires as much of the merit for even one as for all of the race, if the merit were actually given to the Church during the Gospel Age, there would be none of it left for the purchase of, and the giving to Adam and the race in the Millennium. These four reasons unanswerably prove that the use of the ransom is not now that of an actual purchase by, and giving of the ransom merit now. It, therefore, must be a reckoned purchase and giving that now operates; for the Bible teaches that righteousness, i.e., Christ's merit, is now imputed, not given to us. Our faith appropriating Christ's righteousness is by that appropriated thing imputed to us for righteousness; hence Jesus' merit is now an imputed one, not one actually given us (Rom. 4:5). Moreover, God is directly said to impute to us righteousness, i.e., the righteousness of Christ is ours by imputation through faith (Rom. 4:6). Hence Jesus, in His ransom merit, is now by faith, not by works, i.e., reckonedly, not actually, the righteousness of the believer (Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9). His righteousness like a robe covers our iniquities and sins, whereby God gives us forgiveness (Rom. 4:7, 8). What is this imputation that God gives? It is the loan to the believer of the credit of the merit deposited with God. Thus it is not an outright gift. It is not a gift, but a loan, which covers our indebtedness and counts, reckons us as perfect, while we are actually not perfect. It is because we are loaned the credit of Christ's deposited merit that actually none of it is given up by Christ, though by reason of these loans of credit there are embargoes placed on that deposited merit which estops Christ from drawing out anything from that deposit, or of using any of it otherwise than as a loan of credit to believers. These embargoes are lifted, (1) by the sacrificial death of the fully faithful, (2) by the constrained death of the measurably faithful, and (3) by
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the new-creaturely deaths of the fully unfaithful, since in these three kinds of death states the merit is no more needed to cover its former loans. Hence at the end of this Age, when all three sets of those having had imputations will no longer be alive, the deposited merit will be in the Father's care without any embargoes, outstanding imputations, being operative against it, and is Christ's without any embargo.
Then Christ can and will take it out of deposit, and by it purchase the race from God's justice and give it on condition of obedience to the race. This transaction we call the application. As distinct from the Gospel Age's loans of credit against the deposited merit, there will be no loans of credit in the Millennium; for while a loan of credit can and does operate in connection with a reckoned justification, a reckoned righteousness, it cannot operate in connection with an actual justification, an actual righteousness, such as will operate during the Millennium. Here then lies the distinction between the imputation and the application: As to the act of purchase, the one is a loan of credit that Jesus makes for the Gospel-Age beneficiaries of the ransom, which loan the Father accepts as a reckoned purchase, while the other is an outright actual purchase, which the Father accepts as an actual purchase for the world. As to the bestowal of the ransom merit, the one is reckoned as given to the ransom's Gospel-Age beneficiaries, while it is not actually given them; the other is an actual bestowal of the ransom's merit to the obedient of the world. Both the imputation and application Godward are instantaneous works. Manward the imputation is an instantaneous one to the Church as a whole, having occurred at Pentecost (Acts 2:38), and an instantaneous work for the individuals, tentatively when they accept Jesus as Savior (Rom. 3:21, 22; 4:1-8), and vitalizedly when in consecration God was about to accept the consecration by the Spirit-begettal (Heb. 9:24; 10:14), and continuing to cover later sins on repentances and faith setting in (1 John 2:1, 2),
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while manward the application will be a gradual bestowing work requiring the full thousand years for its complete bestowal (1 Cor. 15:23-26). Godward the application will be made instantaneously after the complete death of the Great Company and Youthful Worthies, who are covered, the former vitalizedly, the latter tentatively, by the imputed merit, and just before the marriage supper of the Lamb. Manward the application will begin with the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, raising them from the dead, perfect in all their faculties and keeping them so, while they will become perfect in character gradually by obedience during the Millennium. Shortly after the resurrection of the Worthies the application manward will reach those of the restitution class who will not have entered the death state and will gradually lift them up physically, mentally, artistically, morally and religiously, as they obey the Kingdom arrangements. After the living will have advanced sufficiently in restitution, and will have made preparations to receive the dead, the first, then later the second company, etc., with a fitting amount of time lapsing between each company's resuscitation, will come back from the tomb; and as they obey, they will gradually receive the applied ransom merit. And so it will continue, until at the end of the Millennium all of the applied ransom merit will have been actually given to the obedient, resulting in their complete perfection (Rev. 21:4, 5; 22:1-3). Only the willfully disobedient will fail to get all of the applied merit, they dying the second death after 100 years of misused opportunity (Is. 65:20).
The ransom suggests only one side of the saving work of Jesus; but there are as many sides to His saving work as there are effects of the curse; for the curse has evilly affected the race from 21 standpoints, and there is a separate feature of Christ's office work as Savior for each one of these 21 features of the curse. In Chapter II of our book, The Bible, some details are given on these 21 effects of the curse and the
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separate 21 offices of Christ for their cure. It will clarify our understanding of the ransom, if we compare the other 20 features of the curse and of Jesus' Savior works, with the ransom as the first of such 21 features. In ten features the merit of Christ directly affects the cure, and is the basis of the cure in every feature, but it does so in these ten cases from a different standpoint in each case in which it affects the cure, since the Savior acts in a different one of His offices in curing each effect of the curse. The ten offices in which Christ's merit directly affects the cure of the pertinent evils are Ransomer, Advocate, Justifier, High Priest, Mediator, Father, King, Physician, Lord and Provider. Thus as Ransomer He purchases by His merit the enslaved race out of its debt unto death. As Advocate by His merit He satisfies justice in the Divine Court for the Church's, the convict's, crime. As our Justifier by His merit His righteousness supplies our lacks as to righteousness. As our Bridegroom He delivers us from selfishness and worldliness. As our High Priest by His merit He makes reconciliation between God and us. As our Teacher He enlightens us. As our Deliverer He frees us from Satan as our captor. As our Captain He leads us to victory in our battles with our natural enmity to righteousness, holiness and truth. As our Head He supplies us with the ability to think, feel and will God's will, from which we were disabled by the curse. As Mediator by His merit He guarantees God, who distrusts the race, and the world, which distrusts God, to one another for the New Covenant in the Millennium. As the world's Father He will give life to the dying and dead race. As Lawgiver He will give a perfect law to the lawless race. As the Prince of Peace He will pacify all worry and strife. As King He will rescue the world from its unruliness and rule over it. As Revealer He will supply man's lack of a Divine revelation. As God's Executive He will rescue man from his curse-made impracticability. As Physician by His merit He will cure all man's physical,
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mental, artistic, moral and religious diseases. As Lord by His merit He will take and keep possession of the race that Satan usurpatorilly seized as his possession. As Judge He will enable the unable race to stand successfully the judgment process. As Purifier and Refiner He will purge the race from all impurity. And as Provider by His merit He supplies all the needs of our deep impoverishment. Thus in affecting the cure of nearly a half of the feature of the curse the merit of Christ is the direct means that affects it, and is the basis of the cure in all other features of the curse; but in each case in which it effects the cure it is differently used to affect that cure, because these 21 evils of the curse need in each case a different treatment from what the other 20 need. How great is God to have provided such a Savior, and how great is Jesus in His saving offices as the Savior!
The blessings of the ransom are many and very great, both in the Gospel Age and in the Millennial Age. In the Gospel Age it works first of all to the penitent believer in faith justification a tentative forgiveness of the debt that made the race the slaves of the dying process and the death state (Rom. 4:1-8), and later in consecration it works a vitalized forgiveness of that debt (Heb. 10:14). Thus it, in justification, tentatively frees from this slavery, and in consecration, by vitalized justification, it frees actually from that slavery. Moreover, it gives peace with God to the penitent believer (Rom. 5:1). It also enables him to overcome more and more his inherited and acquired depravity; and while the entrance of new consecrators into the High Calling was open, it made one acceptable for that High Calling in consecration (Rom. 12:1), and avails to make acceptable to God his separate sacrificial Acts whereby he daily carries out his sacrifice (1 Pet. 2:5). And this it continues until the death of the faithful. Moreover, after the crown-losers renew their consecration, it makes them acceptable, not
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as sacrifices, but as servants of God. It also gives the good Youthful Worthies through their tentative justification the privilege of carrying out their consecration, not as sacrificers, but as servants of God. It gives the defiled Youthful Worthies after their cleansing from their defilements as defiled Youthful Worthies to renew their consecration and thus become acceptable servants of God. These are the main Gospel-Age blessings of the ransom. But it will confer many Millennial blessings; the main ones of which are the following: It will, by its application Godward, cancel the Adamic sentence, which will result in the awakening of all the non-elect dead and the elect Ancient and Youthful Worthies, as parts of the world.
The latter will then be the first to have the ransom's application made to them, whose first step will be that they be inaugurated as the Millennial-Age princes, constituting the earthly phase of the Kingdom. This will be followed by the application of the ransom merit being made to the non-elect living and dead, which will place them under the administration of the Kingdom for the Millennial-Age Kingdom blessings. As we saw above, the ransom merit: perfect human bodies, lives, right to life and the right to the life-rights, will be gradually given them as they obey. This will result in the wiping away of every feature of the curse and the bestowment of their opposites in restitution. Among the curse features, all of which will be removed, the following will be the main ones ended: sickness, disease germs, accidents, sorrow, pain, trouble, dying, death, enmity, wars, revolutions, famines, pestilences, swamps, deserts, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, tidal waves, droughts, extremes of temperature, crop failures, pests, danger from beasts and reptiles, extreme nationalism, poverty, panics and depressions, sin, error, false religions, predatory aristocracies, oppressive governments, arrogant labor organizations, persecution, boycotts, corruption and alienation in government, religion, aristocracy, business, labor and society,
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presence of the devil and his fallen angels, with their powers of deception and the worst features of the curse: alienation between God and man and between man and man. The ransom merit, as it is gradually given, will remove these and all other features of the curse; for its nature requires this.
On the contrary that merit will spread among the obedient the blessings that are the opposite of these curse features: health, health conditions, safety, joy, pleasure, quietness, rejuvenation, life, brotherly love, peace, contentment, earth turned into Paradise, abundance of rain, equitable temperature, abundant harvests, prosperous methods of fertility, taming of beasts and reptiles, international fraternity, universal wealth, prosperity, righteousness, truth, the true religion, benevolent aristocracies, fostering government, helpful labor, religious fellowship, mutual helpfulness, righteousness, truth and benevolence in government, religion, aristocracy, business, work and society, presence of Christ and the Church to uplift man, peace between God and man, and between man and man. The ransom merit as it is gradually given will spread increasingly these blessings until at the Millennium's end these blessings will result in the obedients' being lifted up out of the curse's degradation, physical, mental, artistic, moral and religious, into restitution's perfection, physical, mental, artistic, moral and religious; for Christ's ransom-merited right to life and right to the life-rights will destroy every vestige of the curse and inaugurate every feature of the restitution.
Some have concluded that the ransom merit will force the immediate enactment of perfect restitution of faculties. This will be accomplished in the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, because of their having faithfully stood trial for faith and righteousness, but not in the non-elect living and dead; for the Bible proves that the whole thousand years will be required to free the race from all the effects of the curse and to bestow all the features of the restitution perfectly. This Paul
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tells us in his argument in 1 Cor. 15:23-28: He shows that after the restitutionists will have become Christ's during His 1,000 years' presence (23), the Little Season will come at the end of the Kingdom, before which He will have surrendered the Kingdom up to God for the final testing of the race, and which will not come until He has put down all effects of Satan's reign over the race, which effects are here called all rule, all authority and power (24). That these baleful effects are meant by the expression, all rule, all authority and power, the causes are here being put for the effects, we can see from his calling the dying process the last one of these to be destroyed (26). Christ will accomplish this result, because through the ransom everything of the curse and of restitution has been put in His control, together with everything else and every one else in the universe, except God (27). And when He by His reign has brought everything on earth and in heaven into complete subjection to His all-conquering power, then He will hand over the Kingdom to God, that God may be accepted as supreme over, and sufficient for all (28). This passage proves that the non-elect dead and living will not be perfected until the last vestige of the curse has been removed (26); hence to effect that perfection will take the 1,000 years. The fact that 100 years' trial for progress up the highway of holiness will be the least time given anyone (Is. 65:20) proves that the living and dead non-elect will in its progressing ones be given a longer time than 100 years for progress to perfection. The fact that correctional stripes will be given to help onward to perfection proves the same thing (Is. 26:9). The fact that it is during the kingdom that all the effects of the curse will be removed and the opposite blessings will be given, proves the same thing (Is. 25:6-9). The following Scriptures imply the same thing: Ps. 22:27-31; 72:1-17; Is. 2:2-4; 11:4-9; 29:17-19, 24; 35:5-10; 60:4, 5, 14, 21; 65:16; Ezek. 16:53, 55, 60, 61-63; John 5:28, 29; Acts 3:19-21; Rev. 22:2, 3).
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Many Biblical teachings and facts prove the same thing. If the living non-elect at the time of their coming under the Kingdom were instantly made perfect in their physical, mental, artistic, moral and religious faculties, they would undergo an operation that would make it impossible for them to recognize and to identify themselves. It would be an operation that would be most painful for them, e.g., greatly enlarging their heads to make them large enough to have perfectly sized brain organs, while their gradually receiving such faculties would not have any such undesirable effects. Moreover, for the non-elect dead to be given such perfection in the act of their resuscitation would make it impossible for each to identify himself; and for friends, acquaintances and relatives to recognize one another. Again, if they should gain such a perfection at once they would be put on final trial for life immediately, since Christ's ransom merit will have exhausted itself in giving them everything of restitution, with freedom from every feature of the curse at once; and that means that by their sinful dispositions every one of them would be immediately sentenced to the second death. The reason that such a result will not follow the Ancient and Youthful Worthies' instantaneous perfection is that the ransom merit not yet being exhausted, but prevailing for the whole Millennial dispensation, they will thereby be shielded, though perfect in faculty. But if all of it is used up for everybody in the Millennium's beginning, it could shield no one afterward, which disproves this view.
Furthermore, if perfect in faculty, why should 1,000 years be devoted to their trial? Like Adam's, their trial would be much shorter. Again, why should God have prepared a priesthood that can be touched for 1,000 years with the feeling of man's imperfections of faculty, if he had none, as he would not have any, if made perfect at once on coming under the Kingdom? Why would God have arranged for such an elaborate Kingdom with its many facilities to remove the curse
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and work its opposite blessings to operate, if restitution will be given instantaneously? And how can God's arranging first for an experience with evil to teach its miseries as a deterrent from sin, and then an experience with righteousness, as a gradual cure of evil and as an incentive to good, be made to make sense, if the ransom merit is given the race instantly? The experience of evil would be made practically of no effect and the second one would be impossible of enactment, if the ransom merit made the race perfect instantly on the race's coming under the Kingdom. How could faithful living restitutionists minister the blessings that Jesus says they will minister to later comersback from the tomb and the unfaithful living restitutionists fail so to do (Matt. 25:31-45), if all of the dead ones are awakened perfect? How could the varied experiences of the Millennium described in Ezek. 18 be had, if they were made perfect at once? These experiences require the Millennium for their enactment. Their coming back as they were when they died, and being given abundant time to become free from the effects of the curse and to gain restitution perfection as a reward of well-doing, is in harmony with everything of God's purpose with them, and has none of the objections against it that are against the error that we have just refuted, hence it is doubtless true.
To obtain the ransom's benefits certain conditions must, during the Gospel Age, be fulfilled. For the Gospel Age there is first a tentative justification, i.e., one in which there is not a real but a reckoned imputation of the ransom merit made. God has arranged for this, so that if one failed to consecrate and thus failed to get into the High Calling, there being no real imputation made for him, he would yet be a candidate for the Millennial application, since one real and only one real use of the merit is by God apportioned to everybody. If there had been a real imputation made for one and he failed to enter the High Calling through failure to consecrate, he would go into the second death. But
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such having no real imputation, they will get an actual use of the merit in the Millennial Age for its trial for life. Thus tentative justification is a gracious provision of God to give certain ones the opportunity of the High Calling and all the faith-justified who did not consecrate in the High Calling the Millennial opportunity for life. To obtain tentative justification two conditions must be fulfilled: (1) repentance toward God, and (2) faith toward our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:21). In repentance there are seven things: knowledge of, sorrow for, hatred of, opposition to, and avoidance of sin, and love for, and practice of righteousness. In faith there are two parts, each having three ingredients: (1) mental appreciation, working along the lines of knowledge, understanding and belief as to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior; and (2) heart's reliance, working along the lines of assurance, appropriation and responsiveness as to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Whoever takes the steps of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ receives tentative justification by faith, i.e., Jesus makes a reckoned, not actual imputation of His ransom merit to God for him, and God makes a reckoned, not actual imputation of Jesus' ransom merit to him; and treats him accordingly for the time being as though the imputation for and to him were actual. Thus we see how those who would come to God must fulfill two conditions: repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, if he would attain tentative justification through faith. But to have had his justification vitalized he must have fulfilled two other conditions, while it was possible of attainment, i.e., while the High Calling was open to its aspirants. These conditions were: (1) faithfulness to righteousness while trusting in Jesus' merit for acceptableness to God, and (2) entire consecration of oneself to God in deadness to self and the world and aliveness to God. If one did these two things, after his consecration and just before God was about to accept that consecration by Spirit-begettal, God had
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Jesus make an actual imputation of His ransom merit for him; and God Himself actually gave this imputation to him. And by this actual imputation for and to him his justification was vitalized (Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 6:11; Heb. 10:14; Jas. 2:14-26). Vitalized, like tentative justification, though requiring works, is not through them, but through faith. Thus we have seen the conditions of the ransom's imputation now.
Let us see the conditions of justification that will prevail during the Millennial Age. During that Age there will be neither a tentative nor a vitalized justification, since both of these kinds of justification operate on the basis of the imputed ransom merit, as distinct from the applied ransom merit; and the Millennium will have no imputed, but an applied ransom merit operating. Without anything at all being required from the non-elect, the mere application of Christ's ransom merit for them will effect forgiveness of their sins and will cancel their Adamic sentence. This is evident from the non-elect in the death condition: Since they are unconscious they can know and do nothing; yet they will be awakened from the death state, which implies the cancellation of the Adamic sentence, whose cancellation implies the forgiveness of their sins. Unlike the Gospel-Age justification, which is instantaneous in both of its kinds, the Millennial justification will require the entire Millennium to complete, because it will be an actual as distinct from the reckoned justification of the Gospel Age. And the conditions on which it will be bestowed will be faith and obedience unto perfection. They will have to believe in the sense of mental appreciation and heart's reliance as to the Millennial teachings and arrangements; for without such a faith they could not come into harmony with them; for never in any Age will God save or deal with unbelievers. But the Millennial faith will not be a sightless faith such as we must now exercise, but one that will have indisputable evidence convincing to everybody; for when all the effects of the curse, mentioned
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in large part above, will be removed and their opposite blessings will everywhere prevail, of course, all will have a sight faith, but they will have to obey the Millennial teachings and arrangements completely to gain justification in completeness; for Jesus and the Church will give them the healing of the curse and the bestowal of restitution through giving them His right to life and the right to the life-rights gradually.
He will not give them these instantaneously, as we saw above, but gradually as they obey His teachings and arrangements. E.g., He will offer to heal one's diabetes and give him a proper blood stream, if he obeys certain commands, and as he gradually obeys these, he will gradually receive the pertinent healing and health, and so with all other effects of the curse and features of the restitution; and a certain amount of faith and a certain kind of works will thus be required from the non-elect to receive each feature of the healing and health, which will be given in proportion to the pertinent faith and works. These teachings, arrangements and helps will be along the line of every feature of the curse and of restitution; and faith and obedience will be required at every healing of these features of the curse and restoration, and as, and only as, they are exercised will a corresponding healing and restoration be administered. Thus will this process go on for the entire Millennium; and at its end as the faith and obedience, even external faith and obedience, will be exercised in all details, will all the effects of the curse be destroyed and full physical, mental, artistic, moral, religious perfection in faculty be completed; for the healing and restitution will be as gradually administered as the faith and obedience will appropriate the ransom merit, the right to life and the life-rights, gradually and will have appropriated them completely by the Millennium's end. The result will be that they will be completely justified by works at the end of that Age. In a word, faith is the justifying instrumentality and thus the condition of justification
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in this Age, while obedience will be the justifying instrumentality and thus the condition of justification in the next Age. These Ages' purposes account for this.
There have in human history been other things tried as the merit of justification than the ransom; but these could not accomplish the desired effect. Thus in Romanism: the alleged merit of the saints and Mary, the alleged merit of the works of hermits, monks and nuns, the alleged merit of the works of penitence charged as expiations in the confessional, the alleged merits of masses, indulgences, pilgrimages, alms deeds, founding of institutions of mercy, education, etc., and asceticism. But these avail nothing as prices to free the sin and death enslaved children of Adam. In the heathen world things similar to those in vogue in Romanism have been used to purchase freedom from the curse and its effects, to propitiate the Deity, but these have failed to gain the desired result or to give the guilty conscience peace. No efforts of sinners to make self-atonement can be successful, because they are not a corresponding price to the debt that holds all as captives of death; moreover, being the works of imperfection, they cannot satisfy a God who requires absolute perfection in the worker to be acceptable to Him. Hence all are concluded in unfitness to redeem themselves; and to gain the desired freedom they must avail themselves of the ransom merit, the corresponding price, saying in act, if not in word, the words of the hymn, "Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling." Even of the sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood it must be said, "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4); because they are not a corresponding price. The best they could do was to work out for a year a typical atonement, to be repeated annually, until the time of the antitype, when the real atonement came into existence through the death of Christ, our costly ransom sacrifice, whose merit is fully sufficient to set aside the Adamic sin and sentence with all
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the sins flowing out of them, and bring the comers thereto to perfection.
We now bring our discussion of, Christ: His ransom, to a close with the sweet songs of salvation in our mouths, the harmonious thoughts of salvation in our minds and the triumphant joys of salvation in our hearts. Glory be to God, who in harmony with His justice, by His wisdom, love and power, has furnished the ransom as the costly gift of His well beloved Son! And glory be to Christ, whose love could give Himself to be our ransom. Glory be to God and Christ for the ransom, the present faith of the Church and the coming hope of the world!
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Tow'ring o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
When the woes of life o'ertake me,
Hopes deceive and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me;
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
When the sun of life is beaming
Bright and clear upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds new lustre to the day.
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
joys that through all time abide.