Study on Redemption Accomplished and Applied

 By Dr. John Murray

Chapter 3 - The Perfection of the Atonement

 

In this chapter Dr. Murray is teaching us the degree to which Christ’s work, his atonement, was complete.  How much did the work of Christ accomplish?  To what degree does his work of active and passive obedience on behalf of sinners accomplish their salvation?  Did the work of Jesus complete redemption? 

 

I.      CONTRASTING SYSTEMS

 

Roman Catholicism - teaches an incomplete atonement.  The believer is left in a state in which it is impossible to have an assurance of salvation. 

 

Murray, 51 - According to Romish theology, all past sins both as respects their eternal and temporal punish­ment are blotted out in baptism and also the eternal punish­ment of the future sins of the faithful. But for the temporal punishment of post-baptismal sins the faithful must make satisfaction either in this life or in purgatory.

 

Historic Protestantism - teaches that the atonement was complete and that human effort or good works can never contribute to acceptance with God.  God may chastise us, but our bearing the rod of divine displeasure does not advance our justification.

 

Murray, p. 51, If we once allow the notion of human satisfaction to intrude itself in our construc­tion of justification or sanctification then we have polluted the river the streams whereof make glad the city of God. And the gravest perversion that it entails is that it robs the Re­deemer of the glory of his once4or-all accomplishmentt.

 

·        Hebrews 1:3  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

·        Romans 8:1   There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

 

II.   FEATURES OF CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK

 

A.    The Historic Objectivity - The atonement took place in actual history.  It happened at a particular point in time and space.  The atonement is an event having reality independent of the mind or experience.  It has occurred.  Therefore, it can not be repeated, or does not happen repeatedly.  For example, Christ is not re-sacrificed in the Roman Catholic mass.

1.     Murray, p. 53, “.The historical conditioning and locating of events in time cannot be erased nor their significance under-estimated. And what is true of the event of the in­carnation is true also of the redemption wrought. Both are historically located and neither is suprahistorical or contemporary.

2.     Galatians 4:4-5  But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,  [5] in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

B.    The Finality - The atonement is a completed work, never again to be repeated and is unrepeatable.  The New Testament stresses the historical uniqueness of Christ’s finished work.  What our savior did can never again be repeated. 

1.     Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

2.     Hebrews 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 

3.     Hebrews 9:25-28  nor was it that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood not his own.  [26] Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  [27] And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,  [28] so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. 

C.    The Uniqueness - No other person could make the atonement but Jesus Christ.  His sacrifice was totally matchless, singular in its accomplishment, truly one of a kind. 

1.     Murray, p. 56, “The Scripture representation is that the Son of God incarnate and he alone, to the exclusion of the Father and Spirit in the realm of the divine, to the exclusion of angels and men in the created order, gave himself a sacrifice to re­deem us to God by his blood. From whatever angle we look upon his sacrifice we find its uniqueness to be as inviolable as the uniqueness of his person, of his mission, and of his office. Who is God-man but he alone? Who is great high priest to offer such sacrifice but he alone? Who shed such vicarious blood but he alone?  Who entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption, but he alone?”

2.     Murray quoting Hugh Martin, pp 57, “It is one solitary, matchless, Divine trans­action-never to be repeated, never to be equalled, never to be approached. It was the splendid and unexpected device of Divine wisdom, which in its disclosure flooded the minds of angels with the knowledge of God. It was the free counsel of the good pleasure of God's will. It was the sovereign ap­pointment of His grace and love. We are robbed of the sove­reign love of God by the notion that vicarious sacrifice is the 'law of being'."

 

D.   The Intrinsic Efficacy  - Christ’s work was a full satisfaction of the justice of God on behalf of the elect. Christ made penal satisfaction by suffering the very penalty demanded by the law of sinners.

1.     WCF (8:v) The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inherit­ance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.

2.     Murray, pp 57-58, The atonement is the provision of the Father's love and grace. But there is equal need for remembering that the work wrought by Christ was in itself intrinsically adequate to meet all the exigencies created by our sin and all the demands of God's holiness and justice. Christ discharged the debt of sin. He bore our sins and purged them. He did not make a token payment which God accepts in place of the whole. Our debts are not canceled; they are liquidated. Christ procured redemption and therefore he secured it. He met in himself and swallowed up the full toll of divine condemnation and judgment against sin. He wrought righteousness which is the proper ground of com­plete justification and the title to everlasting life.

3.     Romans 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 

4.     Romans 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

5.     Ephes. 2:4-5  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  [5] even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

6.     Hebrews 5:9  And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 

7.     Hebrews 10:14   For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 

8.     1 John 4:9   By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 

 

Bottner (Atonement, p. 37)  puts it well, “The cross is not a compromise, but a substitution; not a cancellation, but a satisfaction, not a wiping off, but a wiping out in blood and agony and death.  Thus mercy does not cheat justice.  Holiness is rewarded, sin is punished, and the moral order of the universe is maintained in its perfection.”

 

Dr. Wm. C. Robinson writes (quoted in Bottner, p. 41)  “In the very being of God Himself there are eternal love relationships.  ‘God is love.’  And hence out of that self-moving and self-motivated love ever existing between the Persons of the adorable Trinity love came forth into this world of sin.  Out of God’s great eternal love, out of the heart of the Trinity came the love of Calvary.  Before the foundation of the world He did in love predestinate us unto the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself (Eph 1:4-5).  The eternal Son brought the love of heaven into this world of hate, and lited it so high on that hill called a skull that every nation shall behold its light, every age be mellowed by its glow.”