It is as follows: Christ's death was similar in kind to that of
John Huss, or Polycarp, or any other noble man who has given up
his life as a sacrifice for a principle and for truth.
To this we reply: Then Christ should have so declared Himself.
Paul should have said so. That word was used for other Christian
deaths, why not for Christ's? Then there is no mystery about the
atonement, and the wonder is that Paul should have said anything
about the mystery. Further, if Christ died as a martyr He might, at
least, have had the same comforting presence of God afforded other
martyrs in the hour of their death. Why should He be God-forsaken
in that crucial hour? Is it right that God should make the holiest
man in all the ages the greatest sufferer, if that man were but
a martyr? When you recall the shrinking of Gethsemane, could you
really--and we say it reverently--call Jesus as brave a man facing
death as many another martyr has been? Why should Christ's soul
be filled with anguish (Luke 22:39-46), while Paul the Apostle was
exultant with joy (Phil. 1:23)? Stephen died a martyr's death,
but Paul never preached forgiveness through the death of Stephen.
Such a view of Christ's death may beget martyrs, but it can never
save sinners.