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facts of life. One who hires another to commit a crime is held responsible; so are all accessories
to a crime.
(3) God the Father is made guilty of injustice.
It appears that all the objections are really
variations on the same theme. The third is virtually the same as the second put in a more legal
form. The doctrine of vicarious atonement, it is said, involves an injustice on the part of the
Father in that He simply sacrifices the Son for the sins of mankind. This objection was already
raised by Abelard, but loses sight of several pertinent facts. It was not the Father but the triune
God that conceived the plan of redemption. There was a solemn agreement between the three
persons in the Godhead. And in this plan the Son voluntarily undertook to bear the penalty for
sin and to satisfy the demands of the divine law. And not only that, but the sacrificial work of
Christ also brought immense gain and glory to Christ as Mediator. It meant for Him a numerous
seed, loving worship, and a glorious kingdom. And, finally, this objection acts as a boomerang,
for it returns with vengeance on the head of all those who, like Abelard, deny the necessity of
an objective atonement, for they are all agreed that the Father sent the Son into the world for
bitter suffering and a shameful death which, while beneficial, was yet unnecessary. This would
have been cruel indeed!
4. There is no such union as would justify a vicarious atonement.
It is said that, if a vicar is to
remove the guilt of an offender there must be some real union between them which would
justify such a procedure. It may be admitted that there must be some antecedent union
between a vicar and those whom he represents, but the idea that this must be an organic
union, such as the objectors really have in mind, cannot be granted. As a matter of fact the
required union should be legal rather than organic, and provision was made for such a union in
the plan of redemption. In the depths of eternity the Mediator of the new covenant freely
undertook to be the representative of His people, that is, of those whom the Father gave unto
Him. A federal relationship was established in virtue of which He became their Surety. This is
the basic and the most fundamental union between Christ and His own, and on the basis of this
a mystical union was formed, ideally in the counsel of peace, to be realized in the course of
history in the organic union of Christ and His Church. Therefore Christ could act as the legal
representative of His own, and being mystically one with them, can also convey to them the
blessings of salvation.
3. IT INCLUDES CHRIST’S ACTIVE AND PASSIVE OBEDIENCE.
It is customary to distinguish
between the active and passive obedience of Christ. But in discriminating between the two, it
should be distinctly understood that they cannot be separated. The two accompany each other
at every point in the Saviour’s life. There is a constant interpenetration of the two. It was part
of Christ’s active obedience, that He subjected Himself voluntarily to sufferings and death. He