(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

DOES THE NECESSITY OF THE ATONEMENT ARISE FROM THE NATURE OF THE CASE, OR FROM ARBITRARY ARRANGEMENT?

ANALYSIS.	REFERENCES.
I. Could Other Means than the Atonement Have Been Provided for Man's Salvation? 1. The Evidence from the Fact of Divine Institution. 2. The Evidence of Scripture.	The texts and contexts of scriptures quoted and cited in the body of this lesson. History of Christian Doctrine (Shedd), Book V, Ch. ii; Anselm's Theory of Satisfaction; Neander's History of the Christian Religion and Doctrine, Vol. IV, pp 49-511. Taylor's Mediation and Atonement.
II. The Severity of the Atonement Justified. 1. By the Value of the Things Purchased. 2. On the Ground that it was a Voluntary Sacrifice. 3. By the Lessons it Teaches Man.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Put up thy sword into its place. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than Twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" (Matt. xxvi:52, 54.)

DISCUSSION.

1. Could Other Means than the Atonement Have Been Devised for Man's Salvation: The question, could any other plan have been devised for the redemption of man than the Atonement as made by the Christ, was discussed, in part, in a previous lesson when considering the question of possible redemption by the sovereign act of God.^[A] It is a question that has been often asked, and oftener in our own day perhaps than at any previous time, since our age is pre-eminently critical, and questions the rationality of the Atonement as set forth in the scriptures and also as taught by the Catholic and the Protestant churches. Shedd propounds the question in this form:

[Footnote A: See Lesson XVI.]

"Does the necessity of expiation in order to pardon arise from the nature of the case, or from an arbitrary arrangement? Could the Deity have dispensed with any or all satisfaction of Justice, or is Justice of such an absolute and necessary character, that it would be impossible to save the guilty without an antecedent satisfaction of this attribute [Justice] as it would be for God to lie?"^[A]

[Footnote A: "History of Christian Doctrine," Shedd—Vol. II, p. 223.]

Answering these questions from the point of view developed in this treatise, it would be necessary to say (1) that the necessity of expiation in order to pardon does arise from the nature of the case and not from arbitrary arrangement; (2) that the Deity could not dispense with any or all satisfaction to Justice since Justice as an attribute of God is of such an absolute and necessary character that it would be as impossible to save the guilty without an antecedent^[A] satisfaction as it would be for God to lie. The attribute of Justice is as necessary to maintain in Deity as the attribute Truth.

[Footnote A: Or pre-determined satisfaction, that ultimately must be realized in fact. I make this qualification of "antecedent" satisfaction in the interest of the great truth that the effects of the Atonement were realized by the ancient saints previous to the coming of Christ to earth and hence previous to his actually making the Atonement; but that was because the Atonement for man's sins, the satisfaction to Justice, had been pre-determined upon, and this fact gave virtue to their faith, repentance and obedience to ordinances of the Gospel. (See Seventy's Year Book II, Lesson XX. "Antiquity of the Gospel.")]

2. (a). The Evidence of Scripture: Considered from the standpoint of scriptural evidence, there can be no doubt of the absolute necessity of the Atonement as it was wrought out in the suffering and death of the Christ. The two disciples overtaken on their way to Emmaus by the unrecognized, risen Savior, gave him an account of the crucifixion and the reported resurrection of Jesus. They also voiced their own great disappointment in the seeming anti-climax of the events which had resulted in the crucifixion by saying: "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel;" but it was now three days since the crucifixion, and consequently their hopes were disappointed. Then said the Christ unto them:

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?"^[A]

[Footnote A: Luke xxiv:13-27.]

The same evening Jesus appeared to a company of his disciples and gave the most palpable demonstration of his resurrection, and said to them:

"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."^[A]

[Footnote A: Luke xxiv:44-47.]

If, then, "all things must be fulfilled" which are written in Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Christ; and if it "behoved Christ thus to suffer and to rise from the dead * * that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations;" then it would seem that there must have been absolute necessity for that order of procedure followed in the events which make up and attend upon the Atonement as we now know it. To this evidence there must be added the thrice repeated, agonized prayer of the Christ, in Gethsemane, when contemplating the approaching climax of his passion:^[A] "O, my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me! nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."^[B]

[Footnote A: Passion—Any suffering or endurance of imposed or inflicted pain * * especially the suffering of Christ between the time of the last supper and his death—especially in the garden and on the cross. (Webster.)]

[Footnote B: Matt. xxvi:39.]

The silence of God in the presence of that prayer tells us that it was not possible for other means to be devised for man's salvation. And when the officers and the rabble led by Judas came upon Jesus and his friends in the garden and Peter drew the sword in defense of the Master, the latter said:

"Put up thy sword into its place; * * thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"^[A]

[Footnote A: Ibid, verses 52-54.]

"Thus it must be," confirms again the absolute necessity of the Atonement as the Christ made it.

3. (b). Evidence of Necessity from the Fact that God Instituted It: The opinions of some of the early Christian fathers upon the possibility of other and perhaps milder means being used to save men than the Atonement, have already been considered, as connected with the suggestion that God might arbitrarily forgive sin by the virtue of his Omnipotence. Also a list was given of both the principal early Christian fathers and the medieval Christian doctors and the views they respectively supported;^[A] and from the necessity of the principles involved, the conclusion was reached that the Atonement as made by Christ was absolutely necessary. It might be argued with great force that since God instituted the Atonement it must have been necessary or it would never have been ordained; especially if milder means could have been made to answer or the satisfaction to justice could have been set aside, and man's reconciliation with God brought about by an act of pure benevolence; for it is inconceivable that either God's Justice or his Mercy^[B] would require or permit more suffering on the part of the Redeemer than was absolutely necessary to accomplish the end proposed.

[Footnote A: Lesson XVI.]

[Footnote B: Ibid, p.— and note —]

On the influence of pain and suffering Baring-Gould has the following fine passage:

"There was no necessity, some theologians have taught, for Christ to have died but as S. Bernard says, "perhaps that method is best, whereby in a land of forgetfulness and sloth we might be more powerfully and vividly reminded of our fall, through the so great and so manifold sufferings of Him who repaired it." Then quoting Oxenham:

"'Pain is one of the deepest and truest things in our nature; we feel instinctively that it is so, even before we can tell why. Pain is what binds us most closely to one another and to God. It appeals most directly to our sympathies, as the very structure of our language indicates. To go no further than our own, we have English words, such as condolence, to express sympathy with grief; we have no one word to express sympathy with joy. So, again, it is a common remark that, if a funeral and wedding procession were to meet, something of the shadow of death would be cast over the bridal train, but no reflection of bridal happiness would pass into the mourners' hearts. Scripture itself has been not inaptly called 'a record of human sorrow.' The same name might be given to history. Friendship is scarcely sure till it has been proved in suffering, but the chains of an affection riveted in the fiery furnace are not easily broken. So much, then, at least, is clear, that the Passion of Jesus was the greatest revelation of sympathy: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' And hence fathers and schoolmen alike conspire to teach, that one reason why he chose the road of suffering was to knit us more closely to himself. For this he exalted his head, not on a throne of earthly glory, but on the cross of death. It is, indeed, no accident of the few, but a law of our present being, which the poet's words express:

'That to the Cross the mourner's eve should turn
Sooner than where the stars of Christmas burn.'

For in all, in their several ways and degrees, are mourners. The dark threads are woven more thickly than the bright ones into the tangled skein of human life; and as time passes on, the conviction that it is so is brought home to us with increasing force.' I (Oxenham: "Doctrine of the Atonement, 1869, pp. 290-292.)

"The Incarnation is the manifestation of perfect love, but perfect love cannot halt at anything short of the extreme disintegration wrought by the fall. Christ must sacrifice Himself wholly to man, or his love is not sufficient to draw man to him. He must enter into man's joys and man's woes, to meet him at every turn of the winding lane of life. Love is not satisfied till it has made every sacrifice that is in its power to make and no more complete sacrifice can be imagined than that of honor, ease, and finally life.

The narrative of Christ's life is, therefore, one of continuous sacrifice, of emptying himself of everything in the overflowing Passion of his love, counting all as nought if only he might catch man's eye and draw him towards himself.

"He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Such is reported by the Evangelist to be the account he gave of his mission." * * * "Pain is the deepest thing we have in our nature, and union through pain has always seemed more real and more holy than any other.^[A]

[Footnote A: "Origin and Development of Religious Beliefs," Vol. II, pp, 305, 307, 330.]

4. The Severity of the Atonement Justified from the Value of Things Purchased by It: The severity of the Atonement may be justified if viewed with reference to what it purchased for man, and the effect it was doubtless designed to have in forever fixing the values upon certain great things, in the mind of man. When the plan of redemption is contemplated with reference to what it cost the Christ, then we must have exalted notions ever after of the majesty and Justice of God, for it was to make ample satisfaction to that majesty and Justice of God that the Christ suffered and died; we must have exalted conceptions of the value of that stately fabric known as the moral government of the world, for it was for the preservation of its integrity that the Christ suffered and died; we must hence forth have a higher regard for God's attribute of Mercy, for it was that Mercy might be brought into the earth-scheme of things, and claim her own, that the Christ suffered and died; we must set a higher value even upon physical life hereafter, for it was in order to bring to pass the resurrection of man to physical life, and to make that life immortal, that the Christ suffered and died; new glory must attach hereafter to spiritual life,—perpetual union between soul of man and soul of God,—for to bring to pass that spiritual life, that indissoluble union with God on which it depends for existence, that the Christ suffered and died; we must henceforth have a deeper reverence for the Love of God and the Love of the Christ for man,—and a higher regard for man himself since God so loved him—for it was to give a manifestation of that Love, that the Christ suffered and died.

If it be true, and it is, that men value things in proportion to what they cost, then how dear to them must be the Atonement, since it cost the Christ so much in suffering that he may be said to have been baptized by blood-sweat in Gethsemane, before he reached the climax of his passion, on calvary. "Behold he suffereth the pains of all men; yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam;"^[A] "surely every man must repent or suffer [i. e., the eternal consequences of sin]. * * * For behold, I God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup."^[B] Advantages to be realized in eternal life purchased at such a cost as this, should indeed be regarded by men as pearls of great price, to obtain which a man would be justified in selling all that he hath, that he might buy them.

[Footnote A: II Nephi ix:21.]

[Footnote B: Doc. & Cov. Sec. xix:4, 16-18.]

But on the other hand if high values for the great and important things enumerated above could only be secured by the severity of suffering that attended upon the Atonement made by the Christ, then, I say, and I trust with becoming reverence, that they were worth all that even the Christ by his blessed suffering paid for them.

5. The Atonement a Voluntary Offering: Another thing may be urged in justification of the severity of the plan of redemption through the Atonement—it was a voluntary act; and no one was compelled to undertake the terrible mission unless he himself elected to do so. "Whom shall I send," asked God the Father, after he had explained the necessity of a Redeemer for man in the earth-scheme of things.^[A] "Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of man, saying, 'Here am I, send me.'" The act was voluntary. Indeed the glory of the Atonement as well as the justification for its severity depend upon its being so. "Therefore doth my father love me," said the Christ, "because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."^[B] And when one would have defended him by physical force the Christ bade him put up his sword, saying, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall give me more than twelve legions of angels?" That is, to deliver him from his captors. "But," he added, after declaring the possibility of his deliverance by legions of angels, "how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"^[C]

[Footnote A: See Lesson VI.]

[Footnote B: John x:17, 18.]

[Footnote C: Matt. xxvi:53, 54.]

6. Lesson Taught by Severity of the Atonement: Let the severity of the Atonement impress men with one very important truth, viz., that breaking up the harmony of the moral government of the world is a serious, adventurous, and dangerous business, even though when necessary to bring about conditions essential to the progress of Intelligences; and more serious when man in his presumption and apostasy from God, of his own perverse will, to gratify his ambition, or pride or appetite or passions, violates the law of God and breaks the union between himself and Deity. That is serious; and how difficult it is to re-establish that union, to purchase forgiveness for that sin! How hard it is to make amends to the majesty of God, dishonored by man's individual transgression of divine law—let the severity of the Christ's Atonement for man's sin bear witness; for it required all that the Christ gave in suffering and agony of spirit and body, to lay the grounds for man's forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

The severity of the Atonement should impress men with the fact that we live in a world of stern realities; that human actions draw with them tremendous consequences that may not be easily set aside if the actions in which they have their origin are wrong.

Moral laws have their penalties as physical laws have their consequences; there could be no moral laws without penalties; and penalties of laws must be enforced, else laws are mere nullities. Violations of moral law are attended by shame and suffering; suffering is the consequence or the penalty of violating divine, moral law; and the penalty must be paid, either by the one sinning or by another who shall suffer vicariously for him.

This brings us to one of the great questions inseparably connected with the Atonement. Can there be such a thing as vicarious suffering? And can the vicarious suffering of an innocent victim pay the debt to justice due from one who is guilty of the transgression of law?