[The reader should be sure to peruse the relevant footnotes for explicit comments]

Brown:

Sins of the World:

1) The last of these analogies is more strongly expressed in the original than in our translation–”So Christ, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear the second time, without sin, to them who look for Him for salvation.” Christ was offered as a sacrificial victim for the purpose of “bearing the sins of many.” The “many” here are the same as the “many sons”–His “brethren”–those who should be “heirs of salvation,” for every one of whom, “by the grace of God, He tasted death.”¹ To bear their sins, is just to be charged with their guilt or obligation to punishment, and to undergo the consequence of being thus charged with their guilt. God “made to meet on His head,” as the great sacrificial victim, “the iniquity of them all.” The consequence was, “exaction was made, and He became answerable. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He put Him to grief; and His soul was made an offering for sin.” Now, having offered Himself a sacrifice, and having thus presented an offering of infinite value, “He has entered into the holiest of all, into heaven itself”–as men, having once died, go into the separate state; and there He will abide till the mystery of God be finished. He will no more return to our world to suffer and die. He will indeed appear again, as men who have once died will live again; but as they will live again, not again to die, but to be judged, so He will appear again, not to expiate the sins, but to complete the salvation, of His people. “Christ will appear a second time” in our world. This is very plainly stated in Scripture. “This same Jesus,” said the angels to the disciples while “they stood gazing up into heaven,” after their Lord had disappeared in the clouds, “who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” This coming is very often spoken of in the New Testament, represented as one of the grand objects of the Christian’s hope; and the time of its arrival is represented as the period of their complete deliverance.

When He is a second time manifested in our world. He shall be “without sin.” In one sense lie was ”without sin” when he appeared the first time. “Without sin” has often been interpreted, ‘without a sin–offering’–’not as a sin–offering, not for the purpose of again presenting Himself in sacrifice.’ That is substantially the meaning; but I rather think “sin” is here used as it is in the preceding clause of the verse: to “bear the sins of many,” is to bear their guilt. When He came the first time, the sins of all his people, the sins of the whole world, were laid on Him; but now He will come without sin. He has borne, and borne away these sins by His one sacrifice–”He has put away sin.” There is no more remaining to be borne by Him–He appears not for expiation, but for salvation. John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1862), 1:429-431. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

2) Let us now, secondly, consider his statement with regard to efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ offered by Himself, and applied to all who believe. “The blood of Christ purges your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.” The blood of Christ is the blood which He shed, when by His death on the cross He finished the great sacrifice which He came to offer for the sins of mankind. This blood is in the text represented as “sprinkled” on the conscience. The conscience is the soul, the spiritual part of our nature, the inner man. It is obvious, then, that the language must be figurative. The soul can neither be sprinkled with blood nor washed with water. It is not, however, difficult to perceive at once the meaning and the fitness of the metaphorical representation. It was by sprinkling the blood of the animal sacrifices under the law on the individual for whom they were offered, that that individual became personally possessed of the advantage to obtain which they were offered,–that is, deliverance from the ceremonial guilt and defilement which prevented him from drawing near to God in the temple along with His people. Now the question is, What is it under the new covenant which answers to this’ How is a man interested in the expiatory, justifying, sanctifying efficacy of the sacrifice which Christ Jesus finished on the cross by pouring out His blood, His life, His soul unto death? An answer to that question will explain what the sprinkling of the blood of Christ on the conscience, so as to cleanse it from dead works, is. The priest who offered the sacrifice, sprinkled the blood on those for whom it was offered; and it is the work of the great High Priest of our profession to sprinkle His own blood on the conscience. Let us translate these figures into literal language. By the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, Christ leads the individual so to apprehend the meaning and evidence of the truth respecting His sacrifice, exhibited in the Gospel revelation, as that, according to the arrangements of the new covenant, he becomes personally interested in the blessings obtained by that sacrifice. The expiatory, justifying, sanctifying influences of the atonement are thus shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given us; the man is pardoned, and accepted, and sanctified; the conscience is thus “purged from dead works.” John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1862), 2:341-342. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

3) The meaning of the phrase is best illustrated by parallel passages:–”I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”² And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me”³ “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”⁴ “If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.”⁵ “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?⁶ “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”⁷ “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”⁸

The meaning of the words, God gave his Son, then, is, ‘God devoted his Son to death, as a victim for the sins of men,’ and the first truth with regard to the manner in which the benevolent design of the Messiah’s mission was to be gained, taught us here by our Lord, is, that it was to be the result of his submit; sting to death, as the victim for the sins of mankind. This, though not revealed so as to be generally, if at all, understood till the prediction was accomplished, is, now that the light of fulfillment has shone upon them, the obvious meaning of the following ancient oracles, which must have been very mysterious to the saints under a former dispensation, and into the meaning of which, even the prophets themselves would find it necessary to “search diligently.” “God made to meet on the head of his righteous servant the iniquities of us all, and exaction was made, and he became answerable; and he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; and the chastisement of our peace was on him, and he made his soul an offering for sin and he bare the sins of many.” “The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.”⁹ John Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857), 1:38-39. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

4) Everyone, then, who believes the truth respecting Jesus Christ, God’s Son, dying as a victim for the sins of mankind, is interested in the salvation which he has procured for men. He is no longer in a state of condemnation; he receives the remission of his sins; he shall never come into condemnation; he has peace and joy in believing; his heart is purified by believing; he is sanctified by faith which is in Christ; and not turning back by unbelief unto perdition, he believes to the salvation of the soul, which he in due time receives as the end of his believing. John Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857), 1:42. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

1 John 2:2:

1) But our Lord was appointed to be a minister of the uncircumcision as well as of the circumcision. He is not said to be so in so many words, but it is so implied in the apostle’s language, which is elliptical, that you must supply the words, ‘and a minister of the uncircumcision,’ or something equivalent, to complete the sense. He was so, in order ” that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.” He “gave Himself a ransom for all;” He was “the propitiation for the sins of the whole world; ” He ordered His apostles “to go teach all nations,” and to preach His Gospel “to every creature.” He was “a light to lighten the Gentiles,” as well as “the glory of God’s people, Israel.” He came, in the administration of His Gospel, and in the effusion of His Spirit, “preaching peace” and giving salvation “to them that were far off as well as to them who were nigh.” He visited the Gentiles, “to take from among them a people to His name.”¹⁰ All this was done that the mercy of God might be glorified through the Gentiles, as His truth had been through the Jews. He received sinners of the Gentiles, so as to set them down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God–not making two societies of them, but one; receiving them all on the same principles, and with equal cordiality; “making in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; reconciling both by the blood of His cross; and giving them all, through Himself, access by one Spirit to the Father.”¹¹ John Brown, Analytical Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857), 556. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

2) The great work in which the Son is engaged is salvation deliverance–the deliverance of men–of a particular class of men. In the discourse of our Lord, it is represented under the figure of rescuing a flock of sheep from circumstances of extreme impending danger, and bringing them into circumstances of complete security and perfect happiness. It is plainly of primary importance to our forming just judgments of this work, that we have clear apprehensions as to the class of individuals who are here termed “the sheep.”

It is obvious that they are men; and some interpreters and divines have been disposed to think, that “the sheep” is just another name for the human race, viewed as the subjects of the Divine property, and the objects of the Divine care; but we are persuaded that this is false interpretation, and naturally leads to unsound theology. There can be no doubt that Jesus Christ is the divinely-appointed Savior of the world; there can be no doubt that the salvation he came to work out, is a salvation which all men need–which is suited to all men–and which all men, without exception, are made heartily welcome to participate in. There is no doubt that “the one Mediator gave himself a ransom for all”–that he is “the propitiation for the sins of the whole world“¹²–that no man perishes because there is not an all-perfect sacrifice for sin–and that no man: to whom the Gospel comes, need want a personal interest in the saving effects of that sacrifice, but for his own simple refusal to accept of what is freely given to him of God–and that, in this view of the matter, men might have been represented as “the sheep,” in opposition to the fallen angels, for whom no mediator has been provided, to whom no Savior has been offered.

But while all this is truth–important truth–it is plain that “the sheep” here are but a portion of mankind, for we read in the context of men who are not Christ’s sheep; and the salvation here spoken of is not only a possible, but an actual salvation; not only the means of deliverance, but deliverance itself; salvation not only procured, but applied. The good Shepherd not only gives his life for” the sheep,”–which he did when he gave himself a sacrifice, the just in the room of the unjust, when he died” once for all”¹³–but he gives unto” the sheep eternal life; and they shall never perish,”¹⁴ but “shall have everlasting life.” Now, we know these statements are not true of all mankind; for, while “the sheep” at last enter into life eternal, there is another class of men who go away into everlasting punishment.

“The sheep” are obviously the same persons who are termed “the called ones”–”the faithful or believing ones”–”the holy ones”–”the heirs of salvation”–”the chosen generation”–”the royal priesthood”–“the holy nation”–the disciples of the great Prophet-those who, sprinkled by the blood of the atoning sacrifice, come to God through the great High Priest–the obedient subjects of the King, whom God has set on his holy hill. “The sheep” is just a general name for” the innumerable company, out of every kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation,” who shall be made possessors, in all its blissful extent, of the salvation that is in Christ with eternal glory. In other words, they are “the elect of God,”for there can be no doubt that it is the same class of individuals who are” blessed with all spiritual and heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus”–who were” chosen in him before the foundation of the world, and predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to God the Father, according to the good pleasure of his will.”¹⁵ Whether the term “sheep” have a direct reference to their being “elected,” or rather to their being “selected”–whether it be intended as descriptive of them, as objects of eternal, special, sovereign favor, without reference to spiritual character, or of them as possessed of, or to become possessed of, certain distinctive characters, in connection with certain distinctive privileges, is a question of minor import; though I confess that, while I can have no doubt that “the sheep” and “the elect” are two terms descriptive of the same class, I should hesitate to say that they are synonymous expressions-two terms which are intended to be expressive of the same truths with regard to that class. “The sheep” are just the same persons as “the many sons” whom the Son–the first-born among many brethren–as the Captain of salvation, is certainly conducting to glory-the brethren, whom he is to present to his, and their, Father and God. John Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857), 1:526. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

3) 1st, Those sufferings and that death which, viewed as the execution of the curse of the Mosaic law, were the price of the redemption of all believers who were subject to that law–a law that included the moral law to which all men are subject–and who had incurred its curse, were also the effectual expiation of the sins of such Gentiles as should believe. For, as the apostle John says, when Christ died, he was” the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”¹⁶ So that what laid a foundation for the deliverance of believing Jews from the consequence of the Divine displeasure as threatened in the law to which they were subject, laid also a foundation for the deliverance of believing Gentiles from that “wrath of God which was revealed from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness.” The same satisfaction which redeemed the believing Jews, laid a foundation for the justification of the believing Gentiles. John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 134. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

4) The conscience being thus purified from dead works through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ’s sacrifice, the man formerly shut out from, as unworthy of, unfit for, favorable intercourse with God, in consequence of the pollution rising from his dead works, “now serves the living God.” The proper meaning of the word “serve” here is, religious ministration–worship. The Israelite who violated Moses’ law, and incurred ceremonial guilt and pollution, shut himself out of the enjoyment of his highest privilege–that which, indeed, may be considered as including them all–access to Jehovah as his covenant God. The sacrifices of the law, when duly attended to, restored him to this privilege. He went up to the temple and mingled with the congregation of the Lord. Men, by the pollution connected with dead works, are shut out from the favour and fellowship of God–i.e., from true holiness and true happiness. The sacrifice of Christ, applied to the conscience by the truth in reference to it being understood and believed, brings men to God–opens their way into the favorable presence of the Divine Being, as God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; seeing He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for them, that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him. They are made priests to God, and are enabled, influenced by the mercies of God manifested in the sacrifice of Christ, to go boldly to the throne of grace, and to present themselves living sacrifices to Him, the living God, holy and acceptable, which is rational worship, or service. They who are thus interested in the effects of the great sacrifice, are even here “a people near to Him.” They dwell in His house; they serve Him without fear, in righteousness and holiness; they offer to Him continually the sacrifices of praise; and the ultimate result of the great sacrifice, the blood shed and sprinkled, will be their being taken, like their great High Priest, body and spirit, fully sanctified, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, into the immediate presence of their God and Father, where they shall no more go out, but serve Him day and night in His temple, for ever and ever, the living worshippers of the living God. Such, then, is the Apostle’s statement respecting the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ when applied to the conscience.

It only remains, on this part of the subject, to remark, that the efficacy of the Savior’s sacrifice is not, like that of the Levitical sacrifices, confined to the Jewish people. He gave Himself a ransom for all; He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. It was predicted, not only that He should bear the sins of many, but that He should “sprinkle many nations.” The guiltiest and the most depraved of our race are not excluded from the benefits of the blood of this sacrifice, shed and sprinkled.”The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.”However defiled the previous state of the inner man, the sprinkling of this blood purges from dead works, and converts the dead worker into a living minister of a living God–the holy, happy participant of the mind, and will, and enjoyments of the holy, holy, holy, ever blessed God. It must, however, never be forgotten, that though the value of the shed blood is in itself infinite, it is only in the event of its being sprinkled on the conscience that it is efficacious in reference to individuals. It is by the blood of sprinkling–the sprinkled blood–by it alone, that there is sanctification. John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1862) 2:343-344. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

5) The extent–the design, reference, and effects–of the death of Christ has been a fruitful subject of controversy in the Christian Church: some holding that He so died for all, that all shall be saved by Him; others’ holding that He died for all, inasmuch as His sufferings and death removed the obstacles, arising out of the divine moral character and government, in the way of the pardon and salvation of sinners generally; and others holding that He died for all “whom the Father has given Him,” and in no sense for any other. I do not think the present a proper opportunity for entering on a full discussion of this subject;–indeed, as Moses Stuart says, it is a question rather for the theologian than for the commentator to discuss;–but only observe, that the passage before us, when rightly interpreted, furnishes no support to either of the first two of the theories mentioned. The universality here specified is plainly a limited universality. The word in the original is not ‘every man,’ ‘every human being;’ it is “every one,”–a word that naturally leads you on to ask, ‘ Every one of whom?’ And when you look into the context you find a particular class of persons mentioned,–”the heirs of salvation”–the “many sons” of God–the “sanctified” ones–the “brethren” of Christ–the “children” of Christ, “Whom God had given Him.”¹⁷ It was for “every one” of these, that Jesus, when He became mortal, laid down His life. He died for them; i.e., He died on their account. He died in their room. He died, not on account of His own sins, but on account of theirs. “He was wounded for their transgressions, He was bruised for their iniquities;” He died for their sins. He “suffered for them, the just for the unjust;” He “gave Himself a ransom for them.” When we think that those for whom He died are “an innumerable company, out of every kindred, and people, and tongue,” and when we reflect on the number, and variety, and duration of the blessings which He has secured for every one of these, we cannot help perceiving, that if the dignity of His person stamped an infinite value on His sacrifice, the efficacy of that sacrifice reflects back a glorious light on the dignity of His person. When Jesus, in His mortal nature, died in the room of all His people, He did so “by the grace of God.”¹⁸ It is impossible to trace the appointment of this mysterious sacrifice to any principle in the divine mind but free, sovereign mercy. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The expression seems a pregnant one: ‘That he might taste death for every one of the heirs of salvation, and by that death secure that they, as well as He, according to the ancient oracle, should be crowned with glory and honor.’ John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1862), 1:101-103. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

Christ Sacrificed for all:

1) Besides the obvious connection which the principle enjoined in the text has with the security and promotion of all the more important interests of society, there are other and most powerful motives which urge us to cultivate and exemplify it. To the question, Why should we honor all men? we have already given the reply, Because all men, viewed as rational, responsible, and immortal, deserve to be honored; and because the honoring of men is necessary, in order to the attainment and security of the greatest amount of social happiness. We now add: we should honor all men; for God, the fountain of true honor, the best judge of what is to be honors, honors men, honors all men. He has honored them, in making them honorable in the possession of those capacities to which we have already referred. The eighth Psalm, whether descriptive of man in the primitive or of man in the millennial state, is a striking proof that God honors men. And in the place he has assigned them among his creatures on this earth, and in the arrangements of his providence, he takes kind notice of the whole race. He makes his sun to shine and his rain to descend on them all. “Have we not all one Father,” and is he not a kind Father to us all? “Behold, God is mighty, yet he despises not any.” He is “mindful” of our race, he ” visits” man.¹⁹

For reasons known only to himself, but necessarily most sufficient, he shows a respect to men which he did not show to angels. When men ruined themselves, he did not act as if their perdition would be a slight matter, an easily reparable loss. He was gracious to them, and said, “Deliver them from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” And their deliverer sent by him was not an angel, not the highest of angels, but his own Son; and that deliverance was obtained by nothing short of the sacrifice of the life of that Son. What an apparatus of means has he called into being for bringing this deliverance home to individual men, in the revelation of his word, the ordinances of his worship, the influence of his Spirit! And these amazing dispensations are the result of love to the race, love to the world, the love of man;²⁰ and the deliverance is not a deliverance for men of particular nations or particular ranks, but for men of every rank, every nation, Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, male and female, bond and free.²¹

In his dealings with man he honors him, treating him in a way corresponding to his rational and moral nature. He does not act towards him as if he were a piece of inanimate matter, or a brute animal. He seeks to enlighten and convince his mind, and to engage his affections. He says, “Come now, and let us reason together.” He employs “cords of a man, bands of love,”–arguments and motives fitted to his reason, and conscience, and heart, to draw him to himself, and bind him to his service.²²

Jesus Christ, the only–begotten of God, honors man. He has taken into union with his divinity mans nature. He never so honored angels: they count it an honor to call him Lord; but man may, without presumption, call him Brother. “The Word of life,” the living One who “was in the beginning with God,” who was and is God, “became flesh.” “Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;” and in human nature he died for men, “the just in the room of the unjust,” giving himself a “ransom for all,” and bringing in an everlasting salvation–a salvation suited to all, needed by all, and to which all are invited, with an assurance that “whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” His command is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” It is his will that his salvation should be brought near “to every creature under heaven.”²³ Further, lie carried human nature to heaven with him. A man sits on the throne of the universe; one who is not ashamed to call men brethren, and whom the most abject of the human race may call brother. This is the true dignity of human nature, “Human nature,” as an old divine forcibly remarks, “has become adorable as the true Shekinah, the everlasting palace of the supreme Majesty, wherein the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,–the most holy shrine of the Divinity, the orb of inaccessible light,–as this, and more than all this, if more could be expressed, or, if we could explain that text, ‘ The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’²⁴ John Brown, Expository Discourses of the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1866), 2:87-90. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

John 3:16 and the General Reference of the Atonement:

§ 2. The love of God to the world the origin of the plan of salvation.

There is another idea to which I wish for a little to turn your attention on this part of the subject. The love in which the economy of salvation originates, is love to the world. “God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son.” The term “world,” is here just equivalent to mankind. It seems to be used by our Lord with a reference to the very limited and exclusive views of the Jews. They thought God loved them, and hated all the other nations of mankind. These were their own feelings, and they foolishly thought that God was altogether such an one as themselves. They accordingly expected that the Messiah was to come to deliver Israel, and to punish and destroy the other nations of the earth. But “God’s ways were not their ways, nor his thoughts their thoughts. As the heavens are high above the earth, so were his ways above their ways, and his thoughts above their thoughts.”

Some have supposed that the word “world” here, is descriptive, not of mankind generally, but of the whole of a particular class, that portion of mankind who, according to the Divine purpose of mercy, shall ultimately become partakers of the salvation of Christ. But this is to give to the term a meaning altogether unwarranted by the usage of Scripture. There can be no doubt in the mind of a person who understands the doctrine of personal election, that those who are actually saved are the objects of a special love on the part of God; and that the oblation of the Savior had a special design in reference to them. But there can be as little doubt, that the atonement of Christ has a general reference to mankind at large; and that it was intended as a display of love on the part of God to our guilty race. Not merely was the atonement offered by Christ Jesus sufficient for the salvation of the whole world, but it was intended and fitted to remove out of the way of the salvation of sinners generally, every bar which the perfections of the Divine moral character, and the principles of the Divine moral government, presented. Without that atonement, no sinner could have been pardoned in consistency with justice. In consequence of that atonement, every sinner may be, and if he believe in Jesus certainly shall be, pardoned and saved. Through the medium of this atonement, the Divine Being is revealed to sinners, indiscriminately, as gracious and ready to forgive; and the invitations and promises warranting men to confide in Christ for salvation, are addressed to all, and are true and applicable to all without exception or restriction. The revelation of mercy made in the Gospel, refers to men as sinners, not as elect sinners. Their election, or their non-election, is something of which, when called on to believe the Gospel, they are necessarily entirely ignorant, and with which they have nothing to do. ” The kindness and love of God toward man,” the Divine philanthropy, is revealed. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” He appears in the revelation of mercy as the God who “has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” ” The grace of God” revealed in the Gospel ” brings salvation to all,” without exception, who in the faith of the truth will receive it.

I am persuaded that the doctrine of personal election is very plainly taught in Scripture; but I am equally persuaded that the minister misunderstands that doctrine who finds it, in the least degree, hampering him in presenting a full and a free salvation as the gift of God to every one who hears the Gospel; and that the man abuses the doctrine who finds in it anything which operates as a barrier in the way of his receiving, as a sinner, all the blessings of the Christian salvation, in the belief of the truth. Indeed, when rightly understood, it can have no such effect. For what is that doctrine, but just this, in other words,–It is absolutely certain that a vast multitude of the race of man shall be saved through Christ?’ And it is as certain, that if any one of those to whom that salvation is offered, remains destitute of it, and perishes eternally, it is entirely owing to his own obstinate refusal of what is freely, honestly, presented to him. The kindness of God, as manifested in the gift of his Son, is kindness to the race of man; and when, as an individual, I credit the kindness of God to man, so strangely displayed, so abundantly proved, I cannot find any reason why I should not depend on this kindness, and expect to be saved even as others.

Whenever a man hesitates about placing his dependence on the mercy of God, because he is not sure whether he be elected or not, he gives clear evidence that he does not yet understand the Gospel. He does not apprehend “the manifestation of the love of God to man.” When he sees God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, “he does not need to ask, Is the plan of mercy such as I am warranted to embrace? may I not somehow be excluded from availing myself of it? These, and similar suggestions, which draw away his mind from the voice of God to the speculations of his own mind, are no more regarded.” He sees God rich in mercy, ready to forgive; just, and the justifier of the ungodly. He cannot but place his confidence in him. ” Jehovah,” as it has been happily said, “by the manifestation of what he has done, especially in sending Christ, and delivering him up, the just in the room of the unjust, pleads his own cause with such subduing pathos, that there is no more power of resistance; but the person, who is the object of the demonstration, yields himself up to the authority and glory of the truth.” The sinner, thus cordially believing the Gospel, gladly and gratefully receives “the Savior of the world” as his Savior, and trusts that by the grace of God he shall partake of “the common salvation.” John Brown of Broughton, Discourses and Sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1854), 49-51. [Some spelling modernized; footnotes not included; and underlining mine.]

Died for all:

1) The first plea which I would bring under your consideration is, ‘that the objects of his prayer were a peculiar class–not the world.’ “I pray not for the world “1 (ver. 9). And I call your attention to this plea first, because it lays the foundation for all the, rest. Indeed, all the rest may be considered as only the expansion or development of this.

The words, “I pray for them, I pray not for the world,” have by many able theologians been considered as an assertion that our Lord’s intercession does not in any sense extend to mankind at large, but is strictly limited to the elect. It is one of the passages which have been much used in support of the doctrine, that in no sense did Christ die for all men, and that therefore the atonement has exclusively a reference to ‘the elect;’ the two parts of our Lord’s mediatorial work being justly considered as indissoluble.

Like many other passages of Scripture, more eagerness has been discovered by polemical divines to wrest it as a weapon out of the hand of an antagonist, or to employ it as a weapon against him, than to discover what is the precise meaning of the words as used by our Lord, and how they serve the purpose for which he employed them. I think it will not be difficult to show that the assertion that our Lord prays for no blessings for any but the elect, is not warranted by Scripture; and that, even if it were, it would not be easy to show how such a statement should have a place in a plea for the bestowal of certain blessings on his apostles.²⁵

“The world,” here, is not an expression coincident in meaning with the reprobate–the non–elect. It is equivalent to men who have not been converted–men in their fallen, unchanged state–men under the power of unbelief, impenitence, and depravity. Now undoubtedly our Lord does not mean to make an unqualified declaration that he does not pray for any of these. All his elect originally belonged to this class. They were not .only “in the world,” but “of the world;” and they ceased to be of the world just in consequence of his praying for them on the ground of his atoning death, that they should be brought out of the world, by his Spirit being given them, to the sending of which it was necessary that he should go away in his death. In the context immediately following we find him praying that the world might be brought to know and acknowledge that the Father had sent him. Surely this was praying for the world.

Nor is this all. We have reason to believe that Christ’s intercession as well as his death has a reference to mankind universally, and that in an important sense he prays for all, as well as has died for all. But for the mediation of Christ, it is difficult to see how fallen men could have enjoyed any blessings. The unmitigated execution of the curse was their desert; and but for the intervention of the mediatorial economy, how could they have escaped it? All that is not wrathful in the divine dispensations to fallen man, is directly or indirectly the result of Christ’s mediation; and the parts of that mediation, while they must be distinguished, cannot be separated. Had Christ not died, could men, even those who are ultimately to perish, have had in this world the blessings of various kinds they possess? could the door of mercy have been opened to them t could a free and a full salvation have been presented to them for their acceptance t and do they possess any of these blessings without his willing it to be so, and without his expressing that will in his intercession? In the parable of the barren fig-tree, who is the vine-dresser who petitions the husbandman to spare the fruitless tree for three years more, contemplating as a possible event, that, after all, it will continue hopelessly barren, and be cut down as cumbering the ground. The prophetic oracle is fulfilled, “He makes intercession for the transgressors.”²⁶

It is most true he does not pray for these as he does for those whom, in accordance with his covenant engagement, he is determined to save.²⁷ In making intercession, just as in making atonement, he bears special relations to them, regards them with a special love, and by his intercession secures for them the enjoyment of saving blessings. “It is equally true,” as Luther says, according to the sense in which you use the words, “that Christ prays for the world,” for unbelieving men, “and that he does not pray for them.”²⁸ There are blessings conferred on men who, in consequence of their sin and unbelief, shall finally perish, and who were not” chosen in Christ” to eternal life; there are blessings conferred on elect men in their state of irregeneracy, especially the great blessing of bringing them out of that state; and there are blessings conferred on elect men in their regenerate state, of which in their irregenerate state they were incapable; and the communication of all these blessings is connected, though by no means in the same way, with that mediation of our Lord which consists in his making atonement and making intercession. But even although the assertion, that in no sense does our Lord make intercession for any but the elect, were better founded than as we have seen it is, it would be difficult to perceive what bearing it could have on a prayer for particular blessings to the apostles. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world.” Them is here an emphatic word. ‘I am now praying for my apostles, not for mankind at large–not for unconverted men. I am asking peculiar blessings for a peculiar class; blessings which it would not be fitting for me to ask, nor for thee to bestow, on the world.’ They have peculiar claims and peculiar necessities. What these are, will come out as we proceed with the illustration of the other particulars. John Brown, An Exposition of Our Lord’s Intercessory Prayer, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1866), 101-104. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

2) [This comment is repeated, but now to highlight the idea of Christ dying for all.] The extent–the design, reference, and effects–of the death of Christ has been a fruitful subject of controversy in the Christian Church: some holding that He so died for all, that all shall be saved by Him; others’ holding that He died for all, inasmuch as His sufferings and death removed the obstacles, arising out of the divine moral character and government, in the way of the pardon and salvation of sinners generally; and others holding that He died for all “whom the Father has given Him,” and in no sense for any other. I do not think the present a proper opportunity for entering on a full discussion of this subject;–indeed, as Moses Stuart says, it is a question rather for the theologian than for the commentator to discuss;–but only observe, that the passage before us, when rightly interpreted, furnishes no support to either of the first two of the theories mentioned. The universality here specified is plainly a limited universality. The word in the original is not ‘every man,’ ‘every human being;’ it is “every one,”–a word that naturally leads you on to ask, ‘Every one of whom?’ And when you look into the context you find a particular class of persons mentioned,–”the heirs of salvation”–the “many sons” of God–the “sanctified” ones–the “brethren” of Christ–the “children” of Christ, “Whom God had given Him.”²⁹ It was for “every one” of these, that Jesus, when He became mortal, laid down His life. He died for them; i.e., He died on their account. He died in their room. He died, not on account of His own sins, but on account of theirs. “He was wounded for their transgressions, He was bruised for their iniquities;” He died for their sins. He “suffered for them, the just for the unjust;” He “gave Himself a ransom for them.” When we think that those for whom He died are “an innumerable company, out of every kindred, and people, and tongue,” and when we reflect on the number, and variety, and duration of the blessings which He has secured for every one of these, we cannot help perceiving, that if the dignity of His person stamped an infinite value on His sacrifice, the efficacy of that sacrifice reflects back a glorious light on the dignity of His person. When Jesus, in His mortal nature, died in the room of all His people, He did so “by the grace of God.”³⁰ It is impossible to trace the appointment of this mysterious sacrifice to any principle in the divine mind but free, sovereign mercy. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The expression seems a pregnant one: ‘That he might taste death for every one of the heirs of salvation, and by that death secure that they, as well as He, according to the ancient oracle, should be crowned with glory and honor.’ John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1862), 1:101-103. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; square bracketed insert mine; and underlining mine.]

Notes:

The Just and the Unjust:

1) (1.) Christians are called to the course of conduct which the apostle has been recommending. “Hereunto ye are called.” To no duty are Christians more explicitly called.

Hear the words of our one Master in heaven: “Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” This was the doctrine of the scribes, and it was but too fully acted out in the conduct of their disciples, the Pharisees. But hear the law of the kingdom: “I say unto you. Love your enemies, bless them who curse you, do good to them who hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.”³¹ John Brown, Expository Discourses of the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1866), 2:305. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

On reconciliation:

1) There is no need of asking if this reconciliation be intended for me. Who shall enjoy the saving results of this reconciliation is known only to God, can be known only to God, except in the case of those who make their election sure by making sure their calling; who, by accepting the reconciliation, obtain experimental evidence that they are reconciled. But nothing is plainer than that this reconciliation, and the blessings flowing from it, were intended to be, and are in fact, freely offered to all who hear the gospel; and who that knows anything of the character of him who makes the offer, dare express or even harbor a doubt as to that offer being a most sincere and unequivocal one? The satisfaction made was perfect satisfaction. The law could demand no more. The atonement is an infinite atonement: Christ, the incarnate, only-begotten, “suffered for sin, the just One in the room of the unjust.” For every human being then, however guilty and depraved, to whom the gospel comes, there is reconciliation through Christ, if he will but gladly” and gratefully receive what is freely given him of God. John Brown, Expository Discourses of the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1866), 2:432-433. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

Legal bars:

But there has been an all-perfect, an infinitely valuable atoning sacrifice offered up. Christ, the just One, has died in the room of the unjust, for the express purpose that enslaved, condemned man may be brought to forgiveness and liberty, by being brought to God. No legal bar lies in the way of the emancipation of the spirits in prison, for the offered sacrifice has been accepted. The righteous Judge is well pleased with it, and is ready to demonstrate that he is just in justifying the ungodly who believe in Jesus. He has shown this, by bringing from the dust of death, and seating on his right hand, Him who gave himself a ransom for many. And as there is a law-satisfying atonement, so there is a powerful quickening Spirit, who gives life and liberty. He who was put to death in the flesh is spiritually quickened by that Spirit. And having that Spirit given him without measure, he, in the word of the truth of the gospel, not only proclaims liberty to the captive, but, going forth by the Spirit, he actually unlooses their fetters, and gives them at once that power and the disposition to walk at liberty, keeping the commandments of God. Yes, He who died, the just in the room of the unjust,–He who, to make atonement for sin, was “crucified in weakness,” and “became dead in the flesh,” having been “quickened in the Spirit,” lives by the power of God, and has come preaching to the spirits in prison, making the perverse willing in the day of his power, and “turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” John Brown, Expository Discourses of the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter, (Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Co., 1866), 2:473-474. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

Sins of men (sample):

1) But why did the apostle thus glory in the Cross of Christ He saw, in the fact of the expiation of the sins of men by the death of the Son of God on the Cross, such a glorious display of the wisdom and power, the holiness and benignity, of the Divine character, as destroyed the native enmity of his own heart, quelled the jealousies of guilt, sweetly constrained him to love God, filled his mind with holy peace and joyful hope, delivered him from “the bondage of corruption,” and brought him into” the glorious liberty of the children of God;” and he was persuaded that what the Cross of Christ was to him it was calculated to be to every one of the children of Adam, who, like him, understood and believed the truth respecting it. Therefore he gloried in the Cross–in Christ–in Christ crucified. John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 367-368. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

Romans 8:32:

1) The premise is, “God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” The expression “spared not,” is plainly borrowed from Gen. xxii. 12, where it is used to express Abraham’s readiness to offer up Isaac in sacrifice at the command of God. The purport of the apostle’s argument restricts the words “us all,” to all justified by believing. This is not one of the passages in which the general reference of the atonement is stated. Us all, plainly refers to those predestinated, and called, and justified, and glorified. The whole discussion refers to them only. God spared not His Son–His own Son–a person one in nature with Himself, and infinitely dear to Him. He spared Him not; He did not withhold Him; He did not refuse to allow Him to undertake our apparently hopeless cause. There is here what grammarians call a negative phrase with a positive meaning. He spared Him not, is equivalent to, He freely gave Him. Some have supposed that the phrase refers not only to the free gift of the Son to be the Savior, by the Father as the God of all grace, but also to the Father’s not dealing, as righteous judge, more gently with Him in the character of the victim for human guilt, than if He had not been His own Son. As it has been expressed, “He not only did not spare Him from being a sufferer, but He did not spare Him when He suffered.” This is a truth, but it may be questioned whether the phrase means so much. It is implied, however, in the second clause, “He delivered Him up for us all.” He devoted Him to be a sacrifice for the sins of men: “God so loved the world, that He gave His Son to be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.” He was “delivered for our offences”–devoted as a sacrifice in our room, for the salvation of all the justified ones.

The conclusion from this premise is, “God will freely with Him give us all things;” that is, God will, in connection with Him, give us, without desert on our part, freely–in the exercise of abundant grace on His part, all things that are necessary for our happiness. John Brown, Analytical Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857, 256-257. [Some spelling modernized; footnote values modified to run consecutively; italics original; and underlining mine.]

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¹To say that polloi = pantes, is to make a very questionable statement. Nothing almost in the New Testament seems plainer to me, than that in one sense Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, and in another and higher sense gave Himself for the Church. The declaration, that He died with a special reference to those who are actually saved, does in no degree interfere with the declaration, that He died with a general reference, “the just for the unjust.”

²John vi. 51.

³Luke xxii. 19.

⁴Gal. i. 4 .

⁵Rom. iv. 24, 25.

⁶Rom. viii. 32.

⁷1 Tim. ii 6.

⁸Titus ii 14.

⁹Isa. liii. 5, 6. Dan. ix. 26.

¹⁰1 Tim. ii. 6; 1 John ii. 2; Matt, xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15; Luke ii. 32; Eph. ii. 17; Acts xv 14.

¹¹Eph. ii. 14 18.

¹²1 Tim. n. 5, 6. 1 John ii. 2.

¹³Heb. x. 10. ephapax.

¹⁴John x. 28.

¹⁵Eph. i. 8-6.

¹⁶1 John ii. 2.

¹⁷ Peirce’s note deserves to be quoted for its candour:–”I own I have not the least doubt of the truth of that doctrine, that Christ died for all mankind, for the proof of which this text has commonly been alleged. I am satisfied that Christ ‘ gave Himself a ransom for all,’ 1 Tim. ii. 6; that ‘He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,’ 1 John ii. 2; and that God showed His ‘love to the world,’ that is, to all mankind, in giving His only begotten Son to die for them, John iii. 16. But still, as He died for the whole world. He did it to save them only in a way of believing, ‘that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ And therefore, as believers only shall share in the final advantages of His death. He may very properly, and consistently with the foresaid extent of His death, be said to die for them. And hence, what brings the matter nearer to my purpose. He is spoken of as showing a peculiar regard to His Church in His death. Eph. v. 25, ‘Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.’ And, to say the truth, it appears most natural to me, from the context and scope of this writer, to understand every man in this place under such a limitation. Nor will it be easy for a man to avoid seeing this, who attentively considers what follows in our author’s discourse.”

¹⁸There is a very remarkable various reading here, which deserves some notice. Some MSS. read choois theou. Bengel prefers this to the textus receptus, on the principle that it is easier to see how chariti should be substituted for choois than the reverse. The direct evidence, both external and internal, is however decidedly in favour of the text. rec. The probability is, that originally it was merely a note to the words in the middle clause of the 8th verse, suggested by 1 Cor. xv. 27, and that some subsequent transcriber, mistaking it for a correction of chariti transferred it into the text.

¹⁹Ps. viii. 5-8, comp. Heb. ii. 6, etc.; Matt. v. 45; Mal. ii. 10; Job xxxvi. 5.

²⁰Jolm iii. 16; Tit. iii. 4. Philanthropia.

²¹Job xxxiii. 24; Col. iii. 11.

²²Isa. i. 18; Hos. xi. 4.

²³1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 Tim. ii. 16; John iii. 6; Mark xvi. 15; Col. i. 23; Heb. ii. 11.

²⁴Barrow.

²⁵“That John xvii. 9 is to be understood not absolutely but comparatively with respect to the manner and grounds of supplication, is plain from Matt. v. 44; Luke xxiii. 34; Acts vii. 60; 1 Tim. ii 1.”–PYE SMlTH

²⁶Isa. liii. 12.

²⁷That Christ did not pray such a prayer for all men as was only proper for believers, doth not conclude that he did not at all pray for them.”–POLHILL.

²⁸Pro mundo rogare, et pro mundo non rogare utrumque est bonum et rectum. Mox enim in sequentibus dicit Christus, non pro eis tantum rogo, sed et pro iis qui credituri aunt per sermonem eorum.’ Hos carte priusquam ad fidem convertuntur, de mundo esse oportet, ideo pro mundo ipso orandum, propter eos, qui adhuc sunt convertendi: Sanctus Paulus haud dubie etiamnum de mundo erat, cum persequeretur et occideret Chri~OB : attamen S. Stephanus rogabat pro eo ut converteretur: ita Christus quoque rogabat in cruce Pater ignosce illis.’ Ita verum esse videmus, quod pariter pro mundo roget et non roget. Hoc autem inest discrimiuis. Non rogat pro mundo hoc modo, quo pro suis Christianis rogando utitur. Pro Christiania ita rogat, ut penes rectam fidem manesnt, inque ea proficiant et pergant, neque ab es desciscant; pro convertendis orat, ut relicta priori vita ad fidem accedant.”–LUTHER, v. 198. “The prayer of Christ for the world takes quite a different form from that for the church. He prays that the world may cease to be what it is; he prays for the church, that what it is may be perfected.”–OLSHIAUSEN.

²⁹Peirce’s note deserves to be quoted for its candour:–”I own I have not the least doubt of the truth of that doctrine, that Christ died for all mankind, for the proof of which this text has commonly been alleged. I am satisfied that Christ ‘ gave Himself a ransom for all,’ 1 Tim. ii. 6; that ‘He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,’ 1 John ii. 2; and that God showed His ‘love to the world,’ that is, to all mankind, in giving His only begotten Son to die for them, John iii. 16. But still, as He died for the whole world. He did it to save them only in a way of believing, ‘that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ And therefore, as believers only shall share in the final advantages of His death. He may very properly, and consistently with the foresaid extent of His death, be said to die for them. And hence, what brings the matter nearer to my purpose. He is spoken of as showing a peculiar regard to His Church in His death. Eph. v. 25, ‘Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.’ And, to say the truth, it appears most natural to me, from the context and scope of this writer, to understand every man in this place under such a limitation. Nor will it be easy for a man to avoid seeing this, who attentively considers what follows in our author’s discourse.”

³⁰There is a very remarkable various reading here, which deserves some notice. Some MSS. read choois theou. Bengel prefers this to the textus receptus, on the principle that it is easier to see how chariti should be substituted for choois than the reverse. The direct evidence, both external and internal, is however decidedly in favour of the text. rec. The probability is, that originally it was merely a note to the words in the middle clause of the 8th verse, suggested by 1 Cor. xv. 27, and that some subsequent transcriber, mistaking it for a correction of chariti transferred it into the text.

³¹Matt. v. 43-48.