Birthdays: Winston Pannell – Mar. 12th ; Leon Drake – Mar. 14th
Christ as a Surety
There is a twofold debt paid by Christ, as the Surety of his people; the one is a debt of obedience to the law of God; this he engaged to do, when he said, "Lo, I come to do thy will"; thy law is within my heart: and accordingly he was made under the law, and yielded perfect obedience to it, by which his people are made righteous; and the other is a debt of punishment, incurred through failure of obedience in them; the curse of the law he has endured, the penalty of it, death; and by paying both these debts, the whole righteousness of the law is fulfilled in his people, considered in him their Head and Surety. Now let it be observed, that these debts are not pecuniary ones, though there is an allusion to such, and the language is borrowed from them; but criminal ones, a wrong and injury done, as supposed in the case of Onesimus; and are of such a nature as deserve and require punishment in body and soul, being transgressions of the righteous law of God; and God is to be considered, not merely as a creditor, but as the Judge of the whole earth, who will do right, and who will by no means clear the guilty, without a satisfaction to his justice; and yet there is a mixture of grace, mercy, and goodness in God, with his justice in this affair, by admitting a Surety to obey, suffer, and die, in the room and stead of his people, which he was not obliged unto; nor does the law give the least hint of an allowance of it; nor do the civil laws of men admit of any such thing, that an innocent person should suffer death in the room of one that is guilty, even though he consents to it, and desires it; because no man has a power over his own life, to dispose of it at pleasure; but God, who can dispense with his own law, if he pleases, has thought fit to explain it, and put a construction on it in favour of his people, where it is not express; and allow of a commutation of persons, that his Son should stand in their legal place and stead, obey, suffer, and die for them, that they might be made the righteousness of God in him. This is owing to his sovereign grace and mercy; nor is at all inconsistent with his justice, since Christ fully consented to all this, who is the Province of life, and had power over his own life, as man, to lay it down, and take it up again; and since justice is fully satisfied, by the obedience and death of Christ, and the law magnified and made honourable, and more so than it could have been by all the obedience and sufferings of angels and men put together.
--- John Gill
Colossians 2:9 –For in HIM (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. {10} And ye are complete in HIM, which is the head of all principality and power.
What a great and glorious message this is! All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all who are united to Him are complete in HIM! Christ is the fullness of all the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification (holiness), and redemption, God requires. And this is true of all who believe in Him, all who rest in the blessed fact that His righteousness alone entitles them to the whole inheritance of eternal life and final glory in Heaven. If all who believe in Him are complete in Him, and it is all based on the merits of His righteousness alone, then there is nothing left for believers to do in order to attain salvation. They have it completely, and it will never be lost. There is nothing for believers to do in order to be qualified, fit, or entitled to any part of eternal life. Christ has done it all for them, and they are complete and secure in Him. Is He qualified and able to attain and maintain all of this for them? Well, in His Person dwells all the fulness of the Godhead, and His righteousness satisfied God's law and justice for His sheep. His righteousness alone demands their whole salvation, from the new birth to final glorification. In light of this glorious message, you would think that the whole world would believe it. You would think multitudes would come to hear this message. You would think that the churches where this message is preached would overflow with people. This is the only message by which God saves sinners. But the sad fact is this – Men and women by nature will always choose their own self-righteous efforts over the righteousness of Christ. Why? It is because of self-righteousness, self-love, and religious pride. Man by nature will not see himself as complete based on the righteousness of another. He by nature will insist on his own efforts at religion and morality as contributing to his completeness. This is the height of total depravity, human pride, unbelief, and idolatry. So the command of the Gospel is for self-righteous sinners to believe God's gospel proclaiming how all of salvation is based on the righteousness of Christ, and to repent of such dead works and idolatry. God promises to save and to make complete all who come to Him pleading the merits of His Son.
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