F.E. Marsh
13. Four Errors Regarding Christ's Atonement

The Christ of Calvary is the One who is walking in the midst of the people, and every error and evil is open to His eyes of fire. The trend of every new cult of modern teaching is to have no place for the atoning Saviour in the vicariousness of His death.

• Socialism can patronize Him and speak of Him for its own ends as the Pattern of Beneficence.
• Spiritualism can point to Him as a Great Medium to draw recruits under its own fell influence.
• New Thought can talk about Him as the Perfect Man, but stabs Him in the back by the denial of His substitutionary death.
• New Theology betrays Him by taking away the virtue of His once offered sacrifice for sin, in the self-evolved statement, that Christ is atoning in a continuous sense in the sufferings of all who are suffering in a so-called good cause.
• Christian Science repudiates the actuality of Christ's vicarious work by denying the reality of sin, and repudiating the actual humanity of our Lord.

The fact is, every error of modern times, and ancient ones too, proves its evil and its wrong by the denial of the God-Man in the reality of His humanity, in the denial of the vitality of His Deity, and in the denial of His substitutionary death as an offering for sin.

There are four errors in relation to Christ's atonement which we do well to recognise and avoid.

1. Some are preaching a Christ without a cross,
2. others are preaching a cross without a Christ,
3. others again are preaching the subjective side of the death of Christ and leaving out the objective side, and
4. there are others who are preaching the objective side of the atonement and leaving out the subjective application of it.

• A Crossless Christ, for me no refuge is,
• A Christless Cross, to me no hope can bring,
• The Christ and Cross, for me alone avail.

I.—Some are preaching a Christ without a Cross. A bloodless Gospel is no Gospel. A rock-bound coast is no harbour of refuge to the storm tossed mariner on a rudderless vessel who is being carried on to the cruel reef of rocks. What he needs is a life-boat. Unitarianism, New Thought, and The New Theology have no gleam of hope, no harbour of refuge in their so-called Gospel. On the outside of a Unitarian Chapel in the City of Edinburgh is this inscription, "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus." The omitted words are, "Who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1Ti 2:5-6). To leave out the ransom is to stultify [make useless, invalidate] the mediatorial work of Christ, for it is by means of His ransom He mediates.

"The only Gospel I want is contained in the sermon on the Mount," said a minister to Dr. C. I. Scofield sometime ago. The doctor replied, "There is no gospel in the sermon on the Mount. There is not a single drop of blood there. The sermon on the Mount contains the maxims and morals of the King for His subjects, and not a salvation for the sinner." It goes without saying that the Gospel, in its practical outcome, inculcates [instills] and enjoins [instructs] the morality and spirituality of the sermon on the Mount, but the sermon on the Mount does not embrace the Gospel of the Grace of God. One thing alone proves it, the sermon on the Mount says, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," that makes forgiveness conditional upon our forgiving others. Whereas we are forgiven by means of the blood of Christ—"In Whom we have redemption, through His blood the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph 1:7); and when we are exhorted to forgive one another, it is on the ground of, and in like manner, as God's forgiveness to us—"Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us" (Eph 4:32). "According to the riches of God's grace," is the measure of God's forgiveness, and "for Christ's sake" is the ground of it, and not our forgiving others. We forgive others because we are forgiven, not to be forgiven.

"What do you think of New Thought?" asked an old lady of the writer, at the close of a Sunday morning service in the city of Brooklyn, "What do you think of it?"

"Not much," was the reply. "Why did you ask me?"

"Why, I went to hear a New Thought lecturer sometime ago, and at the close of the lecture I went and told the speaker I did not believe a word she had said."

"What did she say?"

"Why, she said, she supposed I believed in the vicarious [substitutive] work of Christ, but she did not believe the blood of one man could atone for the sins of many."

"What would you have said to that?"

"I agree with the New Thought lecturer," I replied, to the consternation of the old lady.

"You do," she exclaimed. "My! You do surprise me. I should not have thought you would, after hearing you preach."

"Let me explain," I replied, "I do not believe the blood of one man can atone for the sins of many, but you must remember that Christ is God as well as man. Paul said to the Elders of Ephesus 'Feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.' The Church is called The Church of God, God's Church, and it has been purchased with 'His blood,' that is, the blood of God. I don't understand the mystery of it, but I accept its revealed fact. Besides Paul says the same thing in his well-known words of faith, 'The Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me, namely. The Son, the God. 'The Son' in His relationship to the Father and the sons, and 'The God' as proclaiming His Diety. Therefore the One who died for us, is the Son of God, God the Son. That makes His death more than a man's, and since it is infinite in value it covers all who are finite and human."

There are four things we ever need to remember.

• First:—Sin is an offence against God. Every Spirit enlightened man confesses with David, "Against Thee, and Thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in Thy sight." Christ's death can only be explained in the light of this fact, namely. "He was delivered for our offences," otherwise His death is an outrage, a blunder, a meaningless farce, and an offence to reason. Sin explains the sacrifice of the Saviour, as one has said, "The cross is God's final treatment of sin, the one compendium [summary of a collection] work of grace, and the one hinge of human destiny. Apart from sin the cross has no meaning. It was the exhibition of the worst in the heart of man, and the best in the heart of God."
• Second:—God meets His own requirement in the death of Christ. The one thing which distinguishes the gospel of God's grace and extinguishes the religions of the world, is, in the religions of the world the blood is flowing from the devotees to the gods to appease them, but with Christianity the blood is flowing from the God to the sinners.
  
  • "See from His head, His hands, His feet,
  • Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
  • Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
  • Or thorns compose so rich a crown?"
  God Himself meets His own requirement in the death of Christ. He is not acting apart from Him, therefore His action is God's act.
• Third:—The Gospel proclaims, Justice saves. The Gospel declares God's righteousness as well as His mercy—"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood, to declare His righteousness," (Rom 3:25-26.) "There is no thought in propitiation of placating a vengeful God, but of doing right by His holy law, and so making it possible for Him righteously to show mercy." The Scotch woman rightly apprehended the truth, when in reply to Dr. Chalmers' question, as to what she was resting in for her soul's salvation, said, "I am resting in the justice of God."
• Fourth:—The vicarious [substitute] death of Christ is the only work which brings satisfaction to the conscience.
  Only that which satisfies God, can satisfy us.
  • Dr. Chamberlain relates the experience of a Hindu devotee at Benares, who had dragged himself from a long distance to wash in the so-called sacred river Ganges. The devotee said, "If I can but reach the Ganges, the shame and bondage and fear will be taken away." He reached the Ganges and washed in its waters, but he got no relief. He exclaimed, "The pain is still here, the pain is still here," as he pressed his hand to his heart. Then he heard the gospel, that "Christ died for our sins," and as he listened with wondering ears and eyes, he said, "That's what I want! That's what I want!"
  Christ dying on our behalf is what meets our want and nothing else does.
  • Two men listening to a Unitarian lecturer on Glasgow Green, who was speaking on Christ as a Model, and depreciating Him as the Atoner of sin, listened for a little while, then one said to the other, "Come awa' Wullie, he's na' gude, his [grasp, forceful seizure] is no' long enough."
  Christ in His death is the only One who reaches us. There is something in the heart and conscience of man which demands that sin shall be punished, and it is only when we know that that demand is met, that rest of conscience is obtained. The shekinah glory rested upon the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. Noah's dove rested only in the Ark, as long as the judgment waters prevailed. The Holy Ghost rested upon the Christ after He had gone beneath the waters of Jordan, the symbol of His greater baptism at the cross. We too only have rest when we rest where God rests. We are rested when we rest in His rest.

II. Some are preaching the Cross without the Christ. The Romanist and Ritualist practically do this. I do not mean that all Romanists and Ritualists do this, but they make so much of the crucifix and ceremonies that many obscure the living Christ. Perhaps there is no incident better illustrates this, than the following. Some years ago in Cornwall there was a ritualistic clergyman of the Church of England, who was very religious and zealous in Churchanity, but had not a saving knowledge of Christ. Among other things, he contemplated building a new steeple to the church building. He related to a friend what he intended doing, whereupon the friend startled him by asking, "Are you going to build the steeple from the top?" The friend knew he was putting his religiosity in the place of the Redeemer. The clergyman saw his error, and discovered that he had no foundation for his faith, and that he was obscuring Christ by his ritual. The drapery of ritualism and the crucifix of a dead past will not avail. They hide the person of Christ and make His work of none effect. The statement of the wise man applies here. He said, "Whatsoever the Lord doeth it shall be for ever, nothing shall be put to it, nor anything taken from it." No one can enter into the rest of salvation so long as they do not rest on Christ's finished work. The Holy Spirit says, "For He that is entered into His rest. He also hath ceased from His own works as God did from His." (Heb 4:10). The undoubted reference is to Christ having finished His atoning work and His resting in consequence. Alford well says, "That a contrast is intended between the Jesus (Joshua), and the great High Priest who is gone through the heavens seems very plain. And if so, it would easily be accounted for, that Christ should be here introduced merely under the designation of "He that entereth into His rest." Alford further says: "The introduction of the words, 'He Himself also,' lifting out and dignifying the subject of the clause as compared with God, in a way which would hardly be done, had the assertion been merely of any man generally."

"Again, the Spirit says: He has "for ever sat down," that is. He will never rise up to open the question of sin again, for He has settled it once for all. Besides He on the Cross said, "It is finished," or more correctly "Accomplished." He filled to the full everything that was requisite, therefore all was fulfilled—filled full, and there is no room for man additions. Man's additions are man's assumptions.

It is strange how we often find those who are in some senses diameterically opposed to be in the same bed together. Thus the Ritualist and the Catholic Apostolic Evangelist both teach baptismal regeneration; and now we have the ancient error of gnosticism reproduced in milleninal dawnism, for the co-existence of the eternal Sonship of the Christ, with the Christ of human existence, and the glorified Man at God's right hand, are denied. To quote from the modern apostle of ancient heresy, he says in referring to Christ's existence before He became man:

"Previous to that time He was a perfect spiritual being, and since His resurrection He is a perfect spiritual being of the highest or divine order. It was not until the time of His consecration, even unto death, as typified in His baptism, that He received the earnest of His inheritance of the divine nature. The human nature had to be consecrated to death before He could receive even the pledge of the divine nature. And not until that consecration was actually carried out, and He had actually sacrificed the human nature, even unto death, did our Lord become a full partaker of the divine nature."

There is the denial of three essential things in this statement.

• That Jesus was not divine before He became man;
• that Christ was not divine while He was on earth.
• He was human only; and that He is not human now but divine.

This is practically to make three personalities. He was angelic before He became a man, by becoming a man He ceased to be angelic, and now He is neither angelic or human, but divine. One passage among the many to be found will refute such a mixed medley, and that is Phl 2:6-11. Notice the continuity of the same personality, and then look up the confirming scriptures:

• ⩵Christ the Form of Deity.
  • —"Being in the form of God." (Heb 1:3).
• ⩵Christ the Equality of Deity.
  • —"Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. (Jhn 15:9.)
• ⩵Christ the Emptied of Glory.
  • —"Made Himself of no reputation."—"emptied Himself."—(Jhn 17:5).
• ⩵Christ the Slave Becomer.
  • —"Took upon Him the form of a servant" i.e. "slave." (Jhn 13:4-5.)
• ⩵Christ the Identified with men.
  • —"Made in the likeness of men." (Rom 8:3.)
• ⩵Christ the Actual Man.
  • —"Being found in fashion as a man." (1Ti 2:5).
• ⩵Christ the Humble Servant.
  • —"He humbled Himself." (1Pe 2:21-24.)
• ⩵Christ the Obedient Son.
  • —"Obedient unto death." (Jhn 17:4).
• ⩵Christ the Vicarious Sufferer.
  • —"The death of the cross." (Rom 4:25.)
• ⩵Christ the Exalted Man.
  • —"God hath highly exalted Him." (Act 2:33.)

There is no thought in this passage of Christ becoming someone else. He always was what He is, and ever will be what He is and was; but He assumed our nature that He might have the right to redeem by means of His death; and as our Representative He has become the Son of God in a sense in which He was not before, namely, as the First-Begotten from the dead, because as such He is bringing the many sons to the glory. There was a time when King George the 5th was only the Duke of York, then he became the Prince of Wales, and now he is King of England, but he is the same person although he has undergone a gradation of rank. So with Christ, He became in time what He was not in eternity, and He is now what He was not in the eternal past and the time past. He, the Eternal Son of God became the Son of Man and is the Son of God as representing the sons of God. Therefore, while Christ was perfectly human as man, He was perfectly Divine as God, and never was any other than He is and was in His personality. The Eternal Son of God gives value to His work in time, hence, it is a timeless work, which projects itself out in an eternal blessedness. This could never be if He were not Deity. Don't let us divorce what the Spirit has united in those pregnant and pointed words: The Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." The work of the Cross tells out the worth of the Saviour, and the worth of the Saviour gives value to the work of the cross. The white light of His Deity is coloured by the ruddy glare of Calvary, but Calvary would have no light at all but for that white light. On the other hand the white light would only blind us, but for the Blood tint of the Cross, but now through the lens of Calvary it blesses us, and enables us with unveiled face to behold the glory of Jehovah.

III. Some are preaching the subjective side of the Cross alone, and omitting the objective. Some teachers on holiness entirely ignore the act of the Christ on the Cross, and speak not of it as a fact about an act, but call it "a process," hence, they mix up the fact of Christ's work with its result. As a factor the Atonement is a process in its practical outcome, but as a fact it is finished and complete. The exponent of the new theology in referring to a well-known infidel says of him, "His moral earnestness is a mark of his Christhood, and his work is a part of the atonement." Such a statement is blasphemous and a libel on the work of Christ.

We are ready to admit because the Spirit emphasizes it, that the Atonement of Christ is

• the basis of all blessing,
• the inspiration of all true service,
• the igniter of all devoted missionary zeal,
• the mould of all holy living,
• the cause of all noble sacrifice,
• the soul of all whole-hearted consecration,
• the incentive to all unselfish generosity, and
• the mover to all loving help.

But don't let us forget these are

• products not producers,
• the effects not the cause,
• the building not the foundation,
• the plant not the root,
• the fruit not the tree,
• the sunshine not the sun,
• the stream not the smitten rock.

We must have

• the rock smitten before the stream flows,
• the sun before the sunshine,
• the tree before the fruit,
• the root before the plant,
• the foundation before the building,
• the cause before the effect, and
• the producer before the product.

A young girl, who applied for Church fellowship, unconsciously illustrated both the objective work of Christ in His Atonement on the Cross, and the subjective result of it, in the replies she gave to the writer in answer to the following question, "Why did Christ die?" She said, " I could not be saved in any other way."

"Can you give me a Scripture," I asked.

"Yes," Christ said, " The Son of Man must be lifted up."

"Can you give me another reason why Christ died ?

"He died," was the reply, " That I might have eternal life."

"Scripture, please."

"John 3:16, says: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

To draw out the faith of this lassie of eleven years still further, I said, " Can you give me another reason why Christ died?"

"He died that I should not be wicked."

"Can you prove it from Scripture ?"

She replied, " I cannot remember a Scripture, but I know there are many."

I told her to turn up 2 Corinthians 5:15, and she read, "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again."

I thought I would try her yet once more, so I said, "Edith, could you give me yet one more reason why Christ died?"

She thought a minute then she replied, " Yes, He died that I should not be of the world."

"Chapter and verse."

"I cannot remember one at the moment."

"Galatians 1:4, tells you."

She read, " Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father."

Without knowing anything about objective and subjective she had apprehended the whole situation, for the first two scriptures which she gave speak of the objective work of Christ for us in securing salvation; and in the two last scriptures she unconsciously demonstrated the subjective power of Christ's Atonement in its practical application.

In the Atonement of Christ we find a double blessing all the time.

• It is the foundation of faith's reliance and the flame of love's inspiration;
• it is the cause of repentance's change and the conformer of the redeemed's consecration;
• it is the basis of all blessing and the beautifier of all believers;
• it is the means of the sinner's forgiveness and the mould of the saint's fervour;
• it is the remover of sin's guilt and the regulator of the servant's work;
• it is the origin of hope's expectation and the passport to Heaven's Glory; and
• it is the death of every vice and the incentive to every virtue.

Cowper well says:

"THE CROSS!"

• There and there only........
• There and there only is the power to save.
• There no delusive hope invites despair,
• No mock'ry meets you, no deception there.
• The spells and charms that blinded you before,
• All vanish there and fascinate no more.

• I am no preacher, let this hint suffice—
• The Cross once seen, is death to every vice:
• Else He that hung there suffered all His pain,
• Bled, groaned, and agonised, and died in vain."

The Cross is not only the "death to every vice," but it is the source of every virtue.

IV.—Some are preaching the objective side of the Cross of Christ's Atonement and omitting the subjective power of it. This is the fault often to be found in evangelism.

• The root is the cause of the tree, but a tree which is all root is only a stump;
• the scale is the basis of music, but music which is all scale is wearisome;
• the foundation is the base of the house, but the house which is all base is an unfinished product; and
• the vine which is fruitless is only fit for the fire.

The above similes are ungrammatical and impossible as illustrations of Christ's death, but they express what is true in fact, when only the objective side of Christ's work is presented. The Atonement of Christ is always the adequate cause which produces an assimilating consequence. In type, in illustration, and by explicit statement the death of our Lord is the moulding power as well as the meeting propitiation. As the blood protected the Israelites on the night of the passover and also separated them from the gods of Egypt, so the Paschal Lamb saves from avenging justice and separates from sin's unholy associations; as the blood of the offering cleansed the leper and was also placed upon the different members of the cleansed man's body, indicating he was consecrated to Jehovah henceforth; so the Blood of Christ not only cleanses the conscience from guilt, but it also claims the sinner as Christ's property.

Something of the balance of the truth may be apprehended, if the following contrastive alphabetical list of Scripture sentences are pondered. The death of Christ is the causative power which produces a corresponding action. The objective fact of Christ's Atonement is complete apart from us, and completes us in salvation; but that Atonement also produces consequences which mould and make as He, the Christ of Calvary imparts the spirit of Calvary into our life and labours.