April - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

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114The Free Presbyterian MagazineNow what did this intimate, in a typical point of view, but the sinlessnessof Jesus, who must be righteous to stand in the place of the unrighteous,innocent to stand for the guilty? Did this convey anything further than thethought that the spotless holiness of Jesus was necessary as a prerequisite forthe oblation itself? It meant more. The holiness of Jesus was itself an essentialelement in the atonement, considered as a satisfaction to justice, as a fulfilmentof the law. One essential part of the sacrifice was the perfect holinessand sinless purity of the Lord, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himselfwithout spot to God (Heb 9:14).2. The next act of the ritual was the laying on of the hand upon the victim’shead. This symbolically intimated the communication of that which was ours,the transfer of our guilt, to the substitute, and it was accompanied on the dayof atonement with the confession of sins (Lev 16:21). This conclusivelyshows what was the meaning of the act, and this is not to be overthrown byfanciful theories. Thus Bahr, opposed in principle to vicarious sacrifice 2 , willhave the action mean no more than this, that the animal was the offerer’sproperty. Kurtz will have it mean the devoting of the animal to death, forgettingthat there must be a reason why it was visited with death. That reasonis the imputation of sin, or the arrangement by which it was made sin.The laying on of the hand, at one time for one purpose and at another timefor another, was a common action – meaning generally the communicatingof something from one party to another. In the case before us it meant thatthe offerer put himself in a relation to the victim, or into a special connectionwith it, so as to communicate to it his own guilt, or the nation’s guilt, accordingto the private or public nature of the sacrifice. And after this ceremonythe animal suffered death for the sin. The punishment followed, and thisdetermines its meaning. Though this is the only act of the ritual not expresslynamed in the New Testament, it comes before us under other turns of phrase.Thus, when Jesus was numbered with transgressors (Mk 15:26), when Hewas sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3), and made sin (2 Cor 5:21),we have that which was denoted by this ritual act.3. The next act was the animal’s death. The symbolical meaning of thisis that death is the wages of sin, and that sin and death stand related as causeand consequence. But further, the animal must die by the hand of the worshipper,and for an obvious reason. His was the sin laid upon the victim – his thedeath – and hence none but he who laid his hand on the animal’s head wasto kill it. In this part of the sacrificial ritual there was, on many grounds, adeep significance; not least is the circumstance that there was a marked cor-2 That is, the doctrine that when Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice, He did so as thesubstitute of sinners.
Some Steps in Offering Sacrifice 115respondence between this fact and the mode in which the Saviour died. TheLord was not to meet His death in any other way but by violence. The sinner’shand was to be the instrument of inflicting the death, even as thesinner’s guilt was the meritorious cause, and the only assignable cause, whydeath could come to Him at all.Still further, the death was penal. This is to be strictly maintained; as thenotion that the death was only in order to obtain the blood – a mere meansto an end and without further significance – would perplex and unsettle theentire ritual. The death in itself was punitive, the wages of sin. If not, whatcould the blood have accomplished? But on the principle that the imputationof guilt was signified by the laying on of hands, death followed as the necessaryeffect; for the worshipper owed death, and the infliction of it was penal.This excludes the subjective theory, which has been contrived by the opponentsof vicarious satisfaction to explain the death of the victim. ThusBahr, with those who follow in his tendency, will have it mean that the selfseekinglife of man dies, and is replaced by a spiritual life devoted to God.According to this notion, the death of the animal, in its symbolical meaning,teaches the mortification of sin, that self must be sacrificed. On every groundthis exposition is untenable. Not to mention that it is out of keeping with theritual, according to which the animal died and continued dead, it takes forgranted that a guilty man can, without any reparation, dedicate himself toGod. But that cannot be, as he has no power to dispose of a forfeited life;and without atonement, or covering, for his soul he cannot be dedicated toGod. There is no possibility of this without expiation, for death is the wagesof sin.4. The next act in the sacrificial ritual was the sprinkling of the blood. Atthis point the priest’s activity commenced. He had been, up to this step in theritual, present as a spectator, but he now steps in to take part in it. It was hewho received the flowing blood of the animal and who put it on the horns,or highest point, of the altar, and who poured it out at the bottom (Lev 4:25-34), an action which intimated that the meeting-place between God andHis people was from top to bottom covered with blood, that the sins of thepeople were covered by an atonement, and that the worshippers were nomore exposed to His frown.The blood received by the priest, and made his own, is regarded as thevicariously-shed blood of the priest. Thus, in the ritual, we consider notthe victim alone but also the priest, without whom the sacrifice could not beduly offered. The action of receiving the blood had a special significance: itsignified that he made the blood his own. Besides, the washings, vestmentsand other typical sanctifications shadowed forth the holiness and righteous-
Page 1 and 2: TheFree PresbyterianMagazineIssued
Page 3 and 4: TheFree Presbyterian MagazineVol 11
Page 5 and 6: Thomas Manton and Contentment 99beh
Page 7 and 8: “But . . . ” 101the world as He
Page 9 and 10: “But . . . ” 103a speaking as w
Page 11 and 12: “But . . . ” 105Now with these
Page 13 and 14: Benefits of the Reformation to Scot
Page 19: Some Steps in Offering Sacrifice 11
Page 23 and 24: Scottish Reformers’ View of Roman
Page 25 and 26: The Obligation of the Lord’s Supp
Page 27 and 28: The Call to the Water of Life 121Th
Page 29 and 30: Book Review 123aloud: “Ho”. How
Page 31 and 32: Protestant View 125the Church has r
Page 33 and 34: Notes and Comments 127a believer’
Page 35 and 36: FREE PRESBYTERIAN PLACES OF WORSHIP

April - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

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