fitting application to the handwriting with its ordinances against us. "Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities," was the penitential prayer of the Psalmist. And the voice of God to His contrite children is in language which may well stir emotions in our hearts both of wonder and praise: "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Thus does He wipe out the handwriting against us. And more, the indictment is not only cancelled, but altogether removed, so that it cannot be brought up any more against us. The handwriting is taken out of the way. St. Paul does not mean that law and moral obligation are abolished, but that the indictment or the verdict against us is removed, so that it cannot be adduced for our condemnation. The verdict which the law had recorded is blotted out, and the record itself is taken out of the way. The words rendered out of the way are literally in the Greek, out of the midst, as if the handwriting had lain between God and His people-a barrier to their approach to Him, and to their peace and friendship with Him. But God has Himself wiped it out, and taken it away. There is now nothing against us, nothing between us and the bosom of Infinite love as our refuge and home,-"no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." "Nailing it to His cross." These words indicate the means or mode of our deliverance. The idea of the Apostle is, that when Christ Jesus, as our Saviour and Surety, was nailed to the cross, the indictment against us was nailed along with Him, and so was destroyed or taken away. "Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead in which we were held." The handwriting against us is removed and destroyed through the sacrificial death of the Son of God. Its condemning force was poured out and exhausted on Him, so that it is powerless against all who are in Him. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Our iniquities were laid on Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Behold the verdict which condemns us as sinful and guilty-the just indictment against us-affixed, as it were, to the cross on which the Lord of glory died for men. There, in sight of the holy universe, is exhibited the cancelled sentence, torn and rent asunder by the very nails which pierced the sacred body of the Saviour. There is our discharge; the law has been fulfilled, and its finding against us for ever taken away. St. Paul's language may be figurative, but how precious the truth which it conveys. It proclaims our righteous deliverance and our perfect liberty-a perpetual consolation and joyous assurance to contrite and penitent souls. I am not careful to defend the doctrine of the cross; only to expound the teaching of the Apostle. "The offence of the cross " has not ceased; and the remission of sin and deliverance from condemnation through the vicarious sacrifice of Christ Jesus are contrary to the ideas and opinions of many. This, however, was the belief and the teaching of St. Paul; and it ought not for a moment to be a question whether he or some modern theologians are right in their view of the cross. In that cross, according to the Apostle's view, satisfaction to God and salvation to man freely and perfectly met. We are assured that Christ "gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour." Had it not been for the cross, the law which we had broken would still have been "contrary to us;" but by His "obedience unto death" the words of Isaiah have been gloriously fulfilled :-" The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake: He will magnify the law, and make it honourable" (chap. xlii. 21). Thus the indictment against us has been abolished. It is strange that so many who profess to receive the teaching of the New Testament, should yet object to the great idea of satisfaction to law, justice, and government expressed in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and taught in so many ways in the oracles of God. We claim such satisfaction for human law; and when the criminal who has shocked society by his crime, escapes righteous retribution, our moral nature is offended and wounded. But when Divine law is defied, there must be, or need be, no satisfaction! Yet our moral nature and its instincts are the best practical evidence of the moral government of God. He formed us after His own image; and though by sin the image has been defaced, its grand outlines as the basis of the likeness have not been lost. The language of St. Paul here cannot be understood or explained on any principle but that of satisfaction to law and justice in the sufferings of the Saviour. The indictment against us is cancelled in His cross, and only there; and full and complete salvation is provided for man. To them who are in Christ Jesus the "verdict is taken away, and no charge can be made against them. has been borne by Him on whom our iniquities were laid, and there remains no more curse for us. It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?'" Why then should the believer doubt, or hesitate, or fear? In the cross you can see your guilt borne away, and the handwriting against you abolished. In the cross is made void the indictment which condemns you; there you can hear the voice of the pardoning God, and receive the assurance of His forgiving love; and there also you will find the energy of a new and better life, to walk with God in joyful obedience and hope. Condemnation now, in the case of all to whom the gospel comes, will not be because of the broken law, but because of a great salvation neglected, and God's message of mercy and pardon refused. The curse XXII. Christ's Triumph over the Devil and his Angels. "And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."-COLOSSIANS ii. 15. F " OF "does the Apostle speak? Of good angels, or of fallen and evil spirits, of whom Satan is the master and chief? A few commentators think the reference is to good angels; and as Dean Alford, in his Greek New Testament, maintains this opinion with ability and ingenuity, I may briefly refer to it by way of introduction here. God revealed Himself to men in the early history of our race mainly through angels. He shrouded Himself in those powers, to make known His will and to speak to men. The law was given at Sinai "by the disposition of angels," and generally through angelic powers God was pleased to manifest Himself to the patriarchs and fathers of our race. Now, however, Jehovah has divested Himself of such spiritual environments, has revealed Himself without any such angelic veil of principalities and powers, and has come down to us in the person of Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son. Now He exhibits all these angelic powers as not only thus put away from Himself, but as completely subjected to Christ--triumphing over them in Him. "The act of triumph by which God has for ever subjected all principality and power to Christ, and made Him to be the only Head of His people, in whom they are complete, was that sacrifice whereby all the law was accomplished."* But how ingenious soever this theory may be, there are strong reasons against it, both in the phraseology of the verse and the scope of the context. It is true that the terms used to express principalities and powers do not indicate that they were infernal powers or evil spirits; but hostile spiritual powers seem plainly intended. Good angels did not need to be spoiled or triumphed over; nor was it necessary for God to strip them away from Himself. Moreover it is difficult, if not impossible, to see the connexion of such an idea with the Apostle's argument. On all accounts, then, we adhere to the common interpretation, that evil powers and principalities are here referred to by St. Paul. The meaning thus becomes plain and beautifully suggestive. The Christian might say, "The handwriting against me may be removed, my guilt may be taken away, and my transgressions blotted out through the blood of the cross; but Satan and his hosts still harass my soul, and rage against me. I am continually exposed to fresh assaults and fierce temptations; how shall I be sure of safety and protection ?" "There is no need for fear"-as if the Apostle said in reply "the principalities and powers of darkness now rage only as conquered foes; they have been vanquished and foiled by Christ, and in His cross you can behold the means of your victory. From them, therefore, you have nothing really to fear. In blotting out the handwriting against you, God at the same time vanquished the devil and all his angels for you." The imagery of the text is taken from an ancient Roman triumph, in which the vanquished hostile leaders were publicly exhibited as captives; * Alford's Gk. Test. in loc. |