Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. A physician testifies: I have been chargeable with forgetfulness of God, and with disobedience to His commands; so that I am numbered among those whom He has threatened with punishment. How, then, can I escape? Such is the constitution of my mind; such has been my education as a man of honour; such is my regard to the inviolability of my own word, and such my contempt for whatever has the semblance of falsehood; that, were God to allow His threatening to remain unfulfilled, in consequence of forgiving me, "simply, Immediately, and unconditionally," I could not esteem or pay homage to His character, even though constrained to acknowledge Him as the governor of the world. But, said he, I have read of atonement on the principle of vicarious suffering. It was exhibited, under the Mosaic dispensation, in the erection of the brazen serpent, in the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, and in the ceremony of the scapegoat. This principle is, in fact, a law of Providence, which is traceable throughout society, in every age, and in every state of advancement. It forms the link of connection between the Old Testament and the New; and now that, in seriousness, I am led to ask, How can a sinner be washed from his guilt? reason, feeling, and observation, unite with the authority of Scripture in disposing me to rest on the expiatory efficiency of Christ's vicarious suffering. To me has been given faith in Jesus Christ: and, I now perceive, that pardon conferred, in consideration of what my Saviour has endured, sheds a lustre both over the milder and more awful attributes of the Divine character. My soul is satisfied; my heart is enlarged; my eye is fixed in admiration of the glory of God, as it appears "in the face of Jesus Christ." (Wilson's Dissertation on the Reasonableness of Christianity.) Parallel Verses KJV: And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. |
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