"The soul that sinneth it shall die," and it "shall not die."
The first quotation, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," is often
produced in support of the scholastic idea that the law of God was
inexorable, that is absolute or unconditional, not to be moved or its
penalty escaped by reformation or petition.
The language of the text is very definite, and, when viewed aside from
its context as an inexorable law, it certainly follows that every
sinning soul must pay its penalty. Neither can I see how it can be
satisfied by punishing an innocent person in the room of the guilty, for
the innocent one was not the "soul that sinned." Yet this quality of law
is claimed in order to make out the theory of a vicarious punishment
endured by the Savior, that is, that He took the sinner's "law place."
This idea was necessitated by the theory that we all sinned when Adam
transgressed, and lost all ability to do anything for ourselves. So we
must be redeemed by satisfaction to justice, rather than by mercy. This
old Calvinistic system of error lays the penalty of the inexorable law
upon Christ. But Calvinists are not alone in this theory of a "vicarious
punishment," in order to a vicarious atonement. Neither are they alone
in the abuse of the phrase "the law," for our Sabbatarian friends are
constantly asserting that the law of God was, and is, simply the ten
commandments given, they say, to Adam in Eden, and authoritatively
published on Sinai. They assert that all the balance of the five books
of Moses was his law, written by him, but the record justifies us in
saying, that the ten precepts were not the tenth part of the words given
to Moses upon Sinai; neither were they all the words that were written
upon the tables of stone. The tables begin with the sixth verse of the
fifth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, in these words, "I am the Lord
thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage," and end with the twenty-first verse. But as the sixth verse is
fatal to the Sabbatarian theory it is clipped off along with the
fifteenth verse, which is cut out of the middle of the matter written
upon the tables, and both are gravely divorced from God and handed over
to Moses. Both, however, are in perfect harmony with the second and
third verses, which read thus: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us
in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us,
even us, who are all of us here alive this day." That the sixth and
fifteenth verses were upon the tables of stone is evident from the
reading of the twenty-second verse, which reads thus: "These words the
Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the
fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. And
He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto you."
Many persons who claim that the import of the term die, in the sentence
"The soul that sinneth it shall die," was experienced by the Savior upon
the cross dying as a substitute in the law-place of sinners, overlook
several things of first importance. First, infants were not included in
the provisions of a vicarious punishment and atonement unless it can be
shown that they sinned--were sinners. Second, no innocent person can
justly suffer in the law-place of the guilty. In all such cases justice
is dishonored and law violated, for just law limits its penalties to the
guilty.
Our salvation "is not of the law," but "by grace" or favor. Law had
nothing to do with the death of Christ. He, "BY THE GRACE OF GOD, tasted
death for every man." "If it be of the law it is not of grace." Again,
the simple sentence, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," never was
_the law_ of God in any age, but simply a fraction of the law. Did
Christ ever sin? No! Then He never honored this law, or satisfied its
penalty by dying; for if, as our friends say, the inexorable quality of
the law will forever hold the guilty to its claims, it will forever keep
the innocent from its penalty. But I aver that the inexorable quality
_that is claimed_ for the law of God never belonged to it. No, not even
to the simple sentence, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." The Lord
authorizes us to supply the condition in every instance where it is not
expressed, thus: "When I shall say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely
die; if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right; if
the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in
the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live,
_he shall not die_." So the prophet gives us the second quotation at the
head of this article, "_Shall not die._" It would be just as proper to
make this last scrap of the law inexorable as its opposite. Such
teachings do violence to the truth by overlooking the merciful
provisions that are found in the laws of God, by holding inexorable law
before us as a streak of justice clothed with _black vengeance_.
The gospel of Jesus Christ knows no law in connection with Christians,
or any others, except, first, the laws of nature. Secondly, the laws of
the state or government in which we reside. Third, the law of Christ. We
are under law to Christ in common with all men, for the Father had put
all things under Him. We were never under the law given to Adam. We were
not in the garden of Eden. We believe with Paul that the first offense
in the history of mankind was the "_offense of one_," that it was "_one
that sinned_," that "_by one man's offense_ death reigned," that it was
"one man's disobedience." When men talk to me as an individual, and of
my relations to law, sin and death, I wish them to recollect that I was
never in the garden of Eden. So I claim an alibi. Adam sinned thousands
of years before I, as a man, had my existence; and as it is true that,
where there is no law there is no transgression, so it is equally true
that, where the man is not, he does not transgress. I was not in the
garden of Eden, so there I did not sin.
But we are told that the Father of mercies, by a decree of law, imputed
Adam's offense to all his children, and that he, by the vicarious
punishment endured by the Savior, took Adam's offense off from Adam's
children.
Admit it, and three things follow: First, we did not sin in fact when
Adam sinned. Second, from Adam to Christ all the innocents upon earth
were sinners by the arbitrary decree of Jehovah. Third, the Father put
this _decree-load_ of guilt upon an innocent one, and executed the real
penalty upon him. How is this? Suppose a legislative body legislates a
man a murderer because his great great grand-father killed a man, should
it not also legislate him free from the penalty of murder and never in
cruel injustice inflict it upon him or any other innocent one simply as
a satisfaction to justice? Law ought to always place us where we are in
fact, otherwise it is detestably unjust. Why should any sensible man
attribute such dealings to the Father of Spirits? The fallacy of such
teaching is seen in the fact that the penalty of the Adamic law was
executed _in the day of the transgression_, and not nine hundred nor
thousands of years afterwards. The phrase, "Dying thou shalt die" does
not help the case, for the phrase "In the day" limits the penalty as
respects the time of its fulfillment.
Adam lost citizen life in the Garden of Eden in the very day of his
offense. The full penalty was executed when he was driven out. Physical
death was an after result, growing out of the fact that Adam's posterity
was unborn when he was driven from his Eden home. The Lord did not say
to Adam, in the day thou eatest thereof you shall die and not live
again, if he had the way of redemption would have been forever closed
against him. Adam's first sons appear before us with a law of faith,
embracing typical and sacrificial duties, through which they were
brought into the way of life with reference to an ultimate arrival at
the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
This law of faith was given to Adam's family outside of the Garden; and
the law of Sinai was not given to Adam, nor to his immediate posterity,
for in that case Cain would have been put to death for killing his
brother Abel. It was given to Abraham's family after the exodus from
Egypt. It was a political law, because it pertained to a community.
Next in order follows the law of Christ. Beside these we know of no
revealed law, excepting those of which we have spoken. So this vicarious
punishment system of things, with all its consequences, rests upon a
something that men call the inexorable law of God, which a man can not
find in the annals of creation, providence or redemption. The prophet,
in the language of our quotation, "The soul that sinneth it shall die,"
is grappling with the system of things which we are endeavoring to
overthrow. The children of Israel fell into the sentiments of our modern
Calvinists, and claimed that "The fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth were set on edge." By this proverb they understood that
the son was to bear the iniquity of the father. The Lord rebuked them in
the language of our topic, and more severely in the context. [See
Ezekiel, eighteenth chapter.]
The Lord said to them, "Behold, all souls are mine. * * * The soul that
sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son."
The prophet also describes a righteous man, and then adds, "If he begets
a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doth the like to
any one of these things, and doth none of the duties of a righteous
life, he shall surely die." We would naturally conclude that this vile
person would transmit moral depravity, if such was possible, but how can
moral corruption be transmitted through physical generation? Let some of
the wise crack this shell! If I was passing around through the little
city of Kokomo to-morrow, and was talking upon this theme, I would hear
some one accuse some poor soul of being a natural born thief, without
the ability to refrain from it. There is neither morality nor
immorality, vice nor virtue in an involuntary act. Are the rushings of
the Wild Cat river moral or immoral? If a man could be a natural thief,
and therefore could not help but steal, he would be no more a sinner in
the sight of God, nor responsible, nor morally corrupt than the horse
that breaks into your cornfield and fills himself.
In the saying, "If the wicked will turn," etc., "he shall surely live,
he shall not die," we discover two important things: First, the death
spoken of is not physical, for all die, regardless of character; second,
it is not moral, for the poor fellow is already morally dead--dead in
trespasses and in sin.
The term die being used in the divine law with reference to the
government of God, and under such circumstances as already mentioned,
must indicate simply the forfeiture of citizen life in the paradise of
God, in the world to come, for it is said of the wicked, "They have no
inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ." But if Christ took
their law-place, and was punished in their stead, satisfied justice, of
course it was done, and then universal salvation, regardless of
character, and upon simple _legal merits, must obtain_, because this
theory rests upon the hypothesis that sinners could do nothing for
themselves. But is it true that the atonement was completed upon the
cross or by the death of Christ only? I answer, he was victim upon the
cross and high priest by the power of an endless life. Priest by the
word of the oath which was subsequent to the law. He was not a priest
while he was a victim in death. In ancient times the victim was slain
and its blood was taken into the holy place, then the high priest
officiated in the holy place. But the priest never entered without
blood. So Christ, by his own blood, entered into Heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. But all this releases us not in
the least from our own obligations to God and our humanity.
The Savior came to our earth to give us, first, his life, in order that
we might make it our own; second, his divine mind concerning us and our
expectations; third to ratify the same by his death; fourth to give us
an assurance of a resurrection from the dead, and of a future judgment.
For the first it is said "that he consecrated for us a new and living
way through the veil, that is to say through his flesh, into the
holiest." For the second we have simply the gift of a second will. "He
took away the first that he might establish the second, by the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ." For
the third it is said that "The New Testament was dedicated not without
blood." For the fourth it is said that "He hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead." So every one of us shall give an account of
himself to God, and receive according to his own works and not the works
of another.
One question, and only one, will be of interest to me in the judgment,
and that is this, how have I lived? What are the deeds which were done
in my body? The Lord once said of a wicked city: "Though Noah, Job and
Daniel were in it they should save none but themselves by their
righteousness." But we are told that the righteousness of Christ was the
only satisfaction; that he, dying in our law-place, paid the debt. Then
I am released. Let the debt be what it may, I can't be held to give
satisfaction. But we were always anxious to know what we were released
from. Was it physical death? No; we must die. Was it death in sin? No;
there is no getting out of that without reformation and pardon.
Vicarious punishment! What is it? What was it that Christ suffered in
the sinners' law-place? It could not be the everlasting punishment
threatened in the Scriptures, for the Savior was only about three hours
upon the cross. And if the Savior paid the debt, why is it that sinners
are to pay it themselves unless they repent?
But there is still another grave objection to the theory. It is this, It
declares that there is no forgiveness with God. He can't forgive when
Christ paid the debt. Can you forgive a debt that is paid? Is it
possible for such a thing to take place? One writer has called this old
theory "the Redeemer's glory;" but if it be his glory it is the Father's
dishonor. Elder Stockell gives the theory the very imposing title, "The
Redeemer's Glory Unveiled." But look at the following from page 157 of
his work thus entitled: "In a _strict_ and _proper_ sense the infinite
God doth not forgive sin; for it is readily granted by all who are sound
in the faith that Jesus Christ hath given full satisfaction to divine
justice for all sin, and hath fully paid the debt of his church. And if
Christ hath satisfied the justice of God for all the sins of his people,
how then can it justly, or with propriety of speech, be said that God
pardoneth our sins and transgressions? Sure I am that debt can never be
forgiven which is paid."
Others, who are not so wise, or, it may be, so frank, refuse to allow
the logical consequences of the doctrine of vicarious sufferings. This
theory represents mercy as always stultified until Christ satisfied
justice. Imagine the Savior upon the cross, innocent, suffering by sheer
necessity of justice in the sinners' law-place. Justice is standing off
to the right and Mercy is a short distance to the left. Poor Mercy! She
says, "I always felt stultified up to this hour, for Justice was always
dissatisfied and frowning." Justice responds, "True; but just now I am
being satisfied. I have always asked for this. So from this time forward
I shall be in a smiling mood. Now we can unite and let the guilty ones
go free, for I have wreaked my vengeance upon the innocent one."
Just now the poor skeptic with common sense says, "Hold! Does not the
law say 'It is the soul that sinneth that shall die?' Did I not hear you
say that you had wreaked your vengeance upon the innocent one?" Justice
and mercy both draw a veil over their faces and respond through the
advocates of this system of things, "Without controversy, great is the
mystery of godliness." The poor skeptic of common sense retires
muttering to himself something like this, "Well, if such is the mystery
of godliness, I pray that I may never fall into her hands."
Just now he is accosted by a preacher, who says to him, "Look there
upon that Roman cross. Don't you see that sinless one? He is spotless,
pure and lovely. He never sinned, neither was guile found in His mouth,
yet He was accounted guilty of all the sins of the whole human family,
at least He suffered the full penalty enacted against all the sins of
all the race, and satisfied justice." Common-sense skeptic says: "Who
required that? Who counted him guilty of the whole? Who?" The preacher
responds, "God and His justice--yes, His justice." Justice, you know,
had to be satisfied, for God Himself could not forgive a man until the
debt was paid. Do you see? Common-sense skeptic turns away disgusted,
and as he walks off he is heard to say, "Farewell, _to all of you_!"
Who can blame men who never heard any thing better for being
unbelievers? When Jehovah proclaimed His name, He said "The Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, _forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin_." This must be admitted by all intelligent
Christians. Mercy was never stultified. There was in all the
dispensations of God's providence free and unstultified mercy. The
infinite One was never unable to forgive sins; neither was He laid under
the necessity of punishing the innocent in the room of the guilty. No,
He never did it. His justice never required it, and it is too mean to
ascribe it to Him. His laws in all the dispensations were conditional,
contained merciful provisions. Now, let us "fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
The great thought of pardon through the abundant goodness of God runs
through all the ages, but substitution, in the sense of vicarious
punishment, does not. It is not taught even in connection with dying
animals, for the "blood of animals could not take away sins." Again, the
soul that sinneth it shall die, but animals were not sinning souls, so
that scrap of revealed law could not be honored in the death of a goat.
There is nothing in the history of the ages to necessitate the idea that
justice could not allow the free exercise of mercy towards the penitent
sinner, or that God's wrath must be appeased, or He made propitious by
means of blood. He was propitious, and therefore ordered the use of
blood for wise and benevolent purposes. The use of blood is related to
His mercy as effect is to cause, and not as cause to effect. The mercy
and goodness of God was always complete, full and unrestrained by all
external causes, except the moral and virtuous qualities of their
object. By the grace of God Jesus tasted death for every man. He did not
go to the cross because law or justice required it, but because He loved
the race. He came from heaven to earth and volunteered the cross as a
commendation or demonstration of the divine love for man. The authority
of law is never associated with the cross or death of Christ. For this
great love for man, manifested even in his death, He gained the throne
of Lordship, where He exercises himself as the Savior of men and as Lord
over all. Will you obey Him and live?