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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S flicted. But he wa? wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : th e chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and w ith his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray ; we have tu rn ed every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him th e iniquity of us all.” Thus Christ “ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” And thu s always we are to consider H is death; not so much w ith reference to its mere occurrence, as an event in history, bu t ra th e r in its bearing on the essential ru le or principle in the holy adm in istration of God, which, as we trace it through all the Scriptures, th e death of Christ is seen to assert and vindicate; s o 'th a t we may be impressed w ith rig h t and suitable views of th e ex ceeding evil and dem erit of sin; th e in evitable certainty of judgm ent, the im possibility of escape otherw ise than through thex shedding of blood; th e in flexible rectitude of th a t moral govern ment by law, which cannot even in mercy be relaxed, whose claims must be met if anarchy is not to reign; th e infinite love, above of all, of th e F ath er, who, when no other adequate sub stitu te can be found,, brings in th e first be gotten, the beloved Son, w ith th e proc lamation— “ Deliver from going down to th e pit, for Xhave found a ransom ”— as well as the infinite love also of the Son who, knowing the inexorable con dition, th a t He can save sinners only by dying for th e ir sins, is heard saying, “Lo! I come; I delight to do thy will/, O God.” He Rose Again The second proposition embraced in thé apostle’s preaching is th e supple m ent or coun terpart of th e first. I t is th is— “He was buried, and he rose again according to th e Scriptures.” These two statem ents m ight be separated; and if, like th e former, “ Christ died for our sins,” they were so pu t as to bring out th eir doctrinal value, or, in other
words, th e ir bearing on th e plan of th e divine government in th e salvation of sinners, it m ight be of importance to consider them separately. B u t they are not so pu t here. Elsewhere they are so put, as when it is said of Christ (Rom. 4:25,) th a t He was “ delivered for our offences, and wa^ raised again for our justification,” and when it is said of believers (Col. 2 :20 ; and 3:1,) th a t they are first “buried w ith him ,” and then “ risen w ith him .” In this very chapter, as th e argum ent goes on, th e full significancy of th e fact of the resurrection, as affecting both our pres en t peace, and our hope for th e future, is illu strated a t length. But, in the brief summary of his preaching now be fore us, P aul merely mentions th e burial of Christ, and His resurrection, as m at te rs of fact, which, viewed in connection w ith H is death, establish th e complete ness of th e transaction which th a t event consummated and sealed. It is to prove the sufficiency and efficacy of Christ’s death, as an atonem ent for sin, th a t His bu rial and resurrection are here brought in. “ Christ died for our sins.” But He did not continue dead. He was not long under the power of death. “He was buried,” indeed, and for a tim e it seemed as if He was to have no power to save; as if the cross were fatal to Him— and, therefore, fatal to those for whose sins He died— as if they had nothing for it bu t to re-echo th e sad complaint of the mourning disciples, “We tru sted tliat it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” But He rose again. W hatever His endurance of death implied, including th e body’s oc cupancy of th e dark and noisome grave, as well as th e soul’s separate sojourn in the unknown region where disembodied spirits dwell, was temporary. These, then, are the facts on which Paul used to insist, in preaching th e gospel to the Corinthians: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
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