The Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian faith by R. A. Torrey

Author:R. A. Torrey [Torrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-09-06T22:00:00+00:00

II. THE PURPOSE OF THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

So much for the fundamental and central importance of His death, or of the shedding of His blood. But what was the purpose of the shedding of His blood?

1. First of all, the Bible distinctly and repeatedly tells us by direct statement, and by countless typical reference in the Old Testament, that He died as a vicarious offering for sin; that is, that He, an absolutely perfect, righteous one, who deserved to live, died in the place of unjust men who deserved to die. For example, we read in Isa. 53:5, "But 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." And in the eighth verse we read, "By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?" And in the 11th and 12th verses we read, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of Himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet He bare the sin of many. And made intercession for the transgressors." In I Peter, 3:18 we read, "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit." And in 1 Peter 2:24 we read, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed." Now the meaning of these verses and many other verses, is inescapable. They teach in language the meaning of which no one can misunderstand (unless he is determined not to see) that the death of Jesus Christ was a vicarious atonement, that is, a just one, who deserved to live, dying in the place of unjust ones who deserved to die. It was, to use the language of the Los Angeles minister who denied his belief in it, "an atonement of blood and recompense." This is God's doctrine of the Atonement versus the Unitarian and Christian Science doctrine of the Atonement.

2. But this is not all. We are further taught that He died as a ransom, that is, His death was the price paid to redeem others from death. He Himself says so. His own words are, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." If His life was not a ransom,

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