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T h e K i n g ’ s
March 1930
B u s i n e s s
The Salvation of Scripture—The Nature B y B. B. S utcliffe (Portland, Oregon) (All rights reserved),
f N a previous paper it was pointed out that salva tion belongs to God, and that man has nothing with which to buy it, nor has he the power to force God to give it, nor can he secure it by stealth. Hence, unless God is pleased to give it man can never possess salvation. From this two Will God be pleased to give it for nothing? The answers to these questions are found in Jno. 3:16: “Far God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But would not some thing other or less than His Son suffice? No! God must give His Son because of the very nature of salvation. S alvation I s I n G od ’ s S on Salvation is not primarily a thing, or an experience, or a condition, which may be possessed apart from God’s Son; but salvation is; at the last analysis, a Person, and that Person the Lord Jesus Christ. When Satan succeeded in bringing sin into the world, God declared that “ the seed o f the woman ” should bruise the serpent’s head. In this “ seed o f the woman” would be found two things:—-the nemesis of Satan, and salva tion for man. This “ seed,” we know, was a person; and Satan, as well as man, knew that salvation would come in a Person. When Israel came out of Egypt and had crossed the Red Sea, the song of Moses, celebrating that deliverance,, began with the words, “ The Lord . . . is become my sal vation” (Ex. 15:2). That is, the Lord Himself had become the salvation of Israel. David the Psalmist also speaks of this when he begins Psalm 27 by declaring, “ The Lord is my light and my sal vation.” David recognized that his salvation was a person. In Isa. 49:6 God, speaking prophetically to His Son, says, “ It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my ser vant to raise up the tribes o f Jacob, . . . I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end o f the earth.” Not merely that He should be the one to obtain salvation, or provide salvation as something apart from Himself, but that He in His own person should be the salvation of God. This truth is still more plainly discerned in Luke 2. When .the parents of the Child Jesus brought Him into the temple to do for Him after the manner of the law, they were met by aged Simeon, and he, when he saw the child, took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ac cording to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salva tion” (Luke 2:28-30). What had Simeon seen? Not a thing, but a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Salvation of Scripture. Hence we are not surprised to read that “as many as received him, [i.e., this Person who is salvation] to them gave he power to become the sons o f God” (Jno. 1 :12). Over and over John the Apostle bears the same witness; e.g., “ God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. H e that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son o f God, hath not life” . (1 Jno. 5:11, 12).
Here is the absolute imperative. Whatever may be the possessions of which man may boast, if he has not the Son of God he has not life; but if he has the Son of God, whatever else he may be without, he has life. Hav ing, or not having, this Person decides whether one has or has not the Salvation of Scripture, Paul was called to bring salvation to the Gentiles, as he once declared— “ . . . it pleased God . . . to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles . . . ” (Gab 1:15, 16). To fulfill his calling Paul preached not a thing, a system, or a set of dogmas among the Gentiles, but he preached a Person. It was true in Paul’s day, as it is true in our own, that only as this Person, God’s Son, is presented as the free gift of God to sinful men, is the Salvation of Scripture proclaimed. S alvation I s T hrough G od ’ s S on The person and the work of Christ are inseparable. The- efficacy of His work is derived from the char acter of His person. Salvation for man is possible only because of what Christ has done, is doing, and will yet do. It is not without reason that we read of “ so great sal vation” in Hebrews 2 :l-3, because it is in this Epistle to the Hebrews we see the full scope of that “ great salva tion.” Its greatness lies in its connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. It begins, with the announced eternal pur pose of Christ, “Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God” (Heb. 10:1-7). It is secured by His incarnation (Heb. 2:14- 16), His sinless life (Heb. 5:7-9), His death on the Cross (Heb. 12:2), and His physical resurrection from among the dead (Heb. 13:20). It is continued by His constant and prevailing intercession (Heb. 7:24-25), and at last will be completed by His coming again without sin unto salvation (Heb. 9:28). Hence, when God so loved the world, and because of that love would give salvation to man, He could do no other than to give His Son, in whom and through whom, is the Salvation of Scripture. What tremendous force this gives to the words of the Lord Jesus in Jno. 14:6, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Out of Him, as the way, is to be in the road of eternal ruin; out of Him, as "the truth, is to be in fatal error; and out of. Him, as the life, is to be in eternal death. T estimony of T he N ew T estament That salvation is in and through a Person, and that that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ, the entire New Tes tament bears witness. Beginning with the sayings of Jesus Christ, and run ning through to the end of the Scriptures, the universal testimony is to this great truth, that he who. would have the salvation given by God must have the person o f the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord continually refers to Himself as “ the bread o f life,” “ the water o f life,” “ the light o f life,” “ the life” itself. Peter declares to the religious Jews, “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12 ). Paul tells the irre ligious Gentiles to “ believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
questions emerge:—Will God be pleased to give it ? and,
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