Basic HTML Version
352
the good pleasure of God to save sinners by a substitutionary atonement. Christ Himself is the
fruit of this good pleasure of God. It was predicted that He would come into the world to carry
out the good pleasure of God, . . . “and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand”, Isa.
53:10. At His birth the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among
men in whom He is well pleased”, Luke 2:14. The glorious message of John 3:16 is that “God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should
not perish, but have eternal life.” Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might
deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father”, Gal. 1:4.
And again, “For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell;
and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself”, Col. 1:19, 20. It would not be difficult to
add other similar passages.
2. NOT IN THE ARBITRARY WILL OF GOD.
The question may be raised, whether this good
pleasure of God is to be regarded as an arbitrary will, or as a will that is rooted in the very
nature of God and is in harmony with the divine perfections. It has been represented by Duns
Scotus as if it were merely an arbitrary expression of the absolute sovereignty of God. But it is
more in harmony with Scripture to say that the good pleasure of God to save sinners by a
substitutionary atonement was founded in the love and justice of God. It was the love of God
that provided a way of escape for lost sinners, John 3:16. And it was the justice of God which
required that this way should be of such a nature as to meet the demands of the law, in order
that God “might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus,” Rom. 3:26. In Rom.
3:24,25, we find both elements combined: “Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God.” This representation guards against the idea of an arbitrary will.
3. IN LOVE AND JUSTICE COMBINED.
It is necessary to avoid all one-sidedness in this respect. If
we represent the atonement as founded only in the righteousness and justice of God, we fail to
do justice to the love of God as a moving cause of the atonement, and afford a pretext to those
enemies of the satisfaction theory of the atonement who like to represent it as implying that
God is a vindictive being, who is concerned only about His own honour. If, on the other hand,
we consider the atonement purely as an expression of the love of God, we fail to do justice to
the righteousness and veracity of God, and we reduce the sufferings and the death of Christ to
an unexplained enigma. The fact that God gave up His only begotten Son to bitter sufferings
and to a shameful death cannot be explained on the principle of His love only.