Alan Dale Gross
Active Member
Adapted from;
"With respect to God, and His Concern in them. To trace this, we must go back as far as the Eternal Decrees and Purposes of God; which are the Foundation, Source, and Spring of them; for it was by the Determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God, that Christ was Delivered into the hands of the Jews, and was taken, and by wicked hands was Crucified and Slain.”
“The True Causes and Reasons why it was the Pleasure of God, and the Will of Christ, from their Great Love to men, that He should Suffer for them, were their sins and transgressions; to make Satisfaction for them, and Save them from them; it was not for any sin of His Own, because He never committed any, but for the sins of others;
“Jesus was Wounded for our transgressions;
“He was Bruised for our sins;
“He was Stricken for the transgressions of His people;
“He Died for their sins, according to the Scriptures, #Isa 53:5,8 1Co 15:3.”
“In short, the complete Salvation of all God's Elect: Christ came to gather together the children of God that were scattered abroad, by dying for them to Seek and to Save that which was lost; even to Save all His people from their sins, by Finishing Transgression, Making an End of sin, Making Reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in Everlasting Righteousness; and by Obtaining an entire Conquest over all enemies, sin, Satan, and Death, and Hell, #Joh 11:51,52 Mt 1:21 Da 9:24.
Jesus’ death was "voluntary"; for though His Life was taken from the Earth, seemingly in a violent manner, with respect to men, being cut off in a Judicial way; yet not without His Full Will and Consent; He Laid it down of Himself, and gave Himself freely and Voluntarily to be a Sacrifice, through His Death, for the sins of His people.
Additionally, the Corporal Death Christ Endured in the Flesh included a Death in His Soul, Equal to a Spiritual and an Eternal Death, though not a Death of His Soul.
So, “besides the Corporal Death which Christ Endured, there was a Death in His Soul, though not of it, which answered to a Spiritual and an Eternal Death; for as the Transgression of the first Adam, involved him and all his Posterity in, and exposed them to, not only a Corporal Death, but to a Moral or Spiritual, and an Eternal Death; so the Second Adam, Jesus, as the Surety of His people, to Make Satisfaction for that Transgression, and all others of theirs, must undergo Death, in every Sense of the Threatening, #Ge 2:17.
“And though a Moral or Spiritual Death, which Adam exposed the entire Human Race to lies in a loss of the Image of God; in a privation of Original Righteousness; in impotence to that which is good, and in an inclination, bias, and servitude of the mind to that which is evil;
“And, those effects of the Fall of Adam could not fall upon the Pure and Holy Soul of Jesus Christ, which would have made Him Unfit for His Mediatorial Work; yet there was something similar to the effects of the Fall of Adam Jesus Suffered, and to still have Jesus be without sin and pollution;
“Jesus could and did Suffer a Darkness of His Soul, Disquietude, Distress, want of Spiritual Joy and Comfort, Agony, as His Soul Experienced being Sorrowful even unto Death, Pressed with the Weight of the sins of His people on Him, and a Sense of Divine Wrath on Account of them;
“and what He Endured both in the Garden and on the Cross, especially when He was Made sin and a Curse, and His Soul was made an Offering for sin, was tantamount to an Eternal Death, or the sufferings of the wicked in Hell;
“Since, though the Sufferings of Jesus and those of men differ as to circumstance of time and place; the persons being different, the one finite, the other Infinite; yet, as to the Essence of their Suffering, they are the same:
“The Essence of Suffering in Eternal Death consists in these two things,
1.) Punishment of Loss, and 2.) Punishment of Sense:
1.) Punishment of Loss lies in an Eternal Separation from God, or a deprivation of His Presence Forever; "Depart from Me, ye cursed":
and 2.) Punishment of Sense is an Everlasting sense of the Wrath of God, expressed by "Everlasting Fire".
“Now Christ Endured what was similar and answerable to these;
because for a while He Suffered 1.) the Punishment of Loss of His Father's Gracious Presence, when He said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me!?"
“And He Endured 2.) the Punishment of Sense, when God was Wroth with His Son, Jesus, His Anointed; and God Poured Out His Wrath on Jesus like fire upon Him;
“and His Heart Melted like wax within Him, under The Wrath of God; and "the sorrows of Hell" compassed Him about, #Ps 89:38 22:14 18:5.
“Eternity it not of the Essence of Punishment; and only takes place when the person punished cannot bear the whole at once: and being finite, as sinful man is, cannot make satisfaction to the infinite Majesty of God, injured by sin, the demerit of which is Infinite Punishment: and as that cannot be bore at once by a finite creature, it is continued ad infinitum throughout all Eternity in Hell;
“However, with Jesus Christ being an Infinite Person, He was able to Bear the Whole Punishment of His Elect at once; and the Infinity of His Person abundantly compensates for the Eternity of the Punishment.”
“The Sufferings of Jesus as He Bore the Whole Punishment of God’s Elect are Expiatory and Satisfactory. While the sufferings of saints are by way of Fatherly Chastisement, they have no Efficacy to Expiate sin or make Atonement for their sins.
“|But Christ's Sufferings, through the Infinite-ness of His Person, are a Complete Atonement for all the sins of His people; by His Sacrifice and Death He has Put Away sin Forever, and Perfected Forever them that are Sanctified.”
A Body of Doctrinal & Practical Divinity by John Gill
Doctrinal Divinity~Book 5, Chapter 4:
The Passive Obedience of Christ, or of his Sufferings and Death
"Let us inquire into the Cause, Reason, and Occasion of the Sufferings and Death of Christ; and how He came to undergo them.Doctrinal Divinity~Book 5, Chapter 4:
The Passive Obedience of Christ, or of his Sufferings and Death
"With respect to God, and His Concern in them. To trace this, we must go back as far as the Eternal Decrees and Purposes of God; which are the Foundation, Source, and Spring of them; for it was by the Determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God, that Christ was Delivered into the hands of the Jews, and was taken, and by wicked hands was Crucified and Slain.”
“The True Causes and Reasons why it was the Pleasure of God, and the Will of Christ, from their Great Love to men, that He should Suffer for them, were their sins and transgressions; to make Satisfaction for them, and Save them from them; it was not for any sin of His Own, because He never committed any, but for the sins of others;
“Jesus was Wounded for our transgressions;
“He was Bruised for our sins;
“He was Stricken for the transgressions of His people;
“He Died for their sins, according to the Scriptures, #Isa 53:5,8 1Co 15:3.”
“In short, the complete Salvation of all God's Elect: Christ came to gather together the children of God that were scattered abroad, by dying for them to Seek and to Save that which was lost; even to Save all His people from their sins, by Finishing Transgression, Making an End of sin, Making Reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in Everlasting Righteousness; and by Obtaining an entire Conquest over all enemies, sin, Satan, and Death, and Hell, #Joh 11:51,52 Mt 1:21 Da 9:24.
Jesus’ death was "voluntary"; for though His Life was taken from the Earth, seemingly in a violent manner, with respect to men, being cut off in a Judicial way; yet not without His Full Will and Consent; He Laid it down of Himself, and gave Himself freely and Voluntarily to be a Sacrifice, through His Death, for the sins of His people.
Additionally, the Corporal Death Christ Endured in the Flesh included a Death in His Soul, Equal to a Spiritual and an Eternal Death, though not a Death of His Soul.
So, “besides the Corporal Death which Christ Endured, there was a Death in His Soul, though not of it, which answered to a Spiritual and an Eternal Death; for as the Transgression of the first Adam, involved him and all his Posterity in, and exposed them to, not only a Corporal Death, but to a Moral or Spiritual, and an Eternal Death; so the Second Adam, Jesus, as the Surety of His people, to Make Satisfaction for that Transgression, and all others of theirs, must undergo Death, in every Sense of the Threatening, #Ge 2:17.
“And though a Moral or Spiritual Death, which Adam exposed the entire Human Race to lies in a loss of the Image of God; in a privation of Original Righteousness; in impotence to that which is good, and in an inclination, bias, and servitude of the mind to that which is evil;
“And, those effects of the Fall of Adam could not fall upon the Pure and Holy Soul of Jesus Christ, which would have made Him Unfit for His Mediatorial Work; yet there was something similar to the effects of the Fall of Adam Jesus Suffered, and to still have Jesus be without sin and pollution;
“Jesus could and did Suffer a Darkness of His Soul, Disquietude, Distress, want of Spiritual Joy and Comfort, Agony, as His Soul Experienced being Sorrowful even unto Death, Pressed with the Weight of the sins of His people on Him, and a Sense of Divine Wrath on Account of them;
“and what He Endured both in the Garden and on the Cross, especially when He was Made sin and a Curse, and His Soul was made an Offering for sin, was tantamount to an Eternal Death, or the sufferings of the wicked in Hell;
“Since, though the Sufferings of Jesus and those of men differ as to circumstance of time and place; the persons being different, the one finite, the other Infinite; yet, as to the Essence of their Suffering, they are the same:
“The Essence of Suffering in Eternal Death consists in these two things,
1.) Punishment of Loss, and 2.) Punishment of Sense:
1.) Punishment of Loss lies in an Eternal Separation from God, or a deprivation of His Presence Forever; "Depart from Me, ye cursed":
and 2.) Punishment of Sense is an Everlasting sense of the Wrath of God, expressed by "Everlasting Fire".
“Now Christ Endured what was similar and answerable to these;
because for a while He Suffered 1.) the Punishment of Loss of His Father's Gracious Presence, when He said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me!?"
“And He Endured 2.) the Punishment of Sense, when God was Wroth with His Son, Jesus, His Anointed; and God Poured Out His Wrath on Jesus like fire upon Him;
“and His Heart Melted like wax within Him, under The Wrath of God; and "the sorrows of Hell" compassed Him about, #Ps 89:38 22:14 18:5.
“Eternity it not of the Essence of Punishment; and only takes place when the person punished cannot bear the whole at once: and being finite, as sinful man is, cannot make satisfaction to the infinite Majesty of God, injured by sin, the demerit of which is Infinite Punishment: and as that cannot be bore at once by a finite creature, it is continued ad infinitum throughout all Eternity in Hell;
“However, with Jesus Christ being an Infinite Person, He was able to Bear the Whole Punishment of His Elect at once; and the Infinity of His Person abundantly compensates for the Eternity of the Punishment.”
“The Sufferings of Jesus as He Bore the Whole Punishment of God’s Elect are Expiatory and Satisfactory. While the sufferings of saints are by way of Fatherly Chastisement, they have no Efficacy to Expiate sin or make Atonement for their sins.
“|But Christ's Sufferings, through the Infinite-ness of His Person, are a Complete Atonement for all the sins of His people; by His Sacrifice and Death He has Put Away sin Forever, and Perfected Forever them that are Sanctified.”
