Of the passive obedience of christ,
or of his sufferings and death
John Gill
Another part of Christ's
humiliation, lies in his sufferings and death; to which he readily submitted;
he was "obedient unto death", and in it. He cheerfully endured all sufferings for the sake of his people, it was his Father's
will and pleasure he should; he "was not rebellious, neither turned away
his back from the smiters, nor his face from shame and spitting": and when
the time was come to suffer death, in the room and stead of his people,
according to the counsel of God, and his own agreement; he was like the
innocent dumb sheep, "So he opened not his mouth"; said
not one word against the sentence of death being executed on him; was not
reluctant to become a sacrifice for the sins of men; but as he had
"received a commandment" from his Father to lay down his life, as
well as to take it up again; he readily and voluntarily obeyed that
commandment; and this is what is sometimes called his passive obedience, #Isa
50:5,6 53:7 Joh 10:18.
1. First, I shall observe what the sufferings of Christ were which
he endured. They were foretold by the prophets, "who testified beforehand"
of them; and the apostles said no other things than what "Moses and the
prophets did say should come, that Christ should suffer", &c. #1Pe
1:11 Ac 26:22,23. This was intimated in
the first revelation made of the Messiah; "Thou shall
bruise his heel", #Ge 3:15. The twenty second Psalm, and fifty third of
Isaiah, and ninth of Daniel, are illustrious prophecies of his sufferings; and
which have had their exact accomplishment in him. Christ's whole life was a
life of sufferings, from the cradle to the cross; he suffered very early from
Herod, who sought to destroy him; and which obliged his parents to flee with him into Egypt; he suffered much from Satan's
temptations; for his temptations were sufferings, "He suffered, being
tempted"; and from the reproaches and persecutions of men; his life,
throughout, was a life of meanness and poverty, which must be reckoned a branch
of his sufferings: but what may more eminently and particularly be called his
sufferings, are those which he endured as preparatory to his
death, which led on to it, and issued in it: and death itself, and what
attended it.
1a. The things preparatory to
his death, and which led on to it, and issued in it.
1a1. The conspiracy of the chief priests and elders to take
away
his life; this
they had often meditated, and had made some
fruitless
attempts upon him: but a few days before his death
it became a
more serious affair; and they met, together in a
body, in
the palace of the high priest, to consult the most
crafty methods to take him and kill him, #Mt 26:3,4 whereby
was
fulfilled what was foretold, "the rulers take counsel
together";
the ecclesiastic rulers, as well as the civil
ones, #Ps
2:2.
1a2. The offer of Judas Iscariot to them, to betray him into
their
hands. A little before the passover, Christ and his
disciples
supped at Bethany, when Satan put it into the
heart of
Judas to betray him; which Christ, being God
omniscient,
knew, and gave an hint of it at supper; and said
to Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly": upon
which, he set
out for
Jerusalem that night, and went to the chief priests,
where they
were assembled, and covenanted with them to
bestray his
Master into their hands for thirty pieces of
silver.
This was one part of Christ's sufferings, to be
betrayed by one of his own disciples; and which, in
prophecy,
is observed as such; and the sum of money is
foretold
for which he agreed with them; and which also is
observed as
an instance of great disesteem of him,
#Ps 41:9
Zec 11:12,13.
1a3. After Christ
had eat his last passover with his disciples,
and had
instituted and celebrated the ordinance of the
Supper; he
went into a garden, where he used sometimes to
go: here
more manifestly his sufferings began; he saw what
was coming upon him; the sins of his people he stood charged
with as
their surety, and the wrath of God for them; this
caused him
to be exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: at
this his
human nature shrunk; and he prayed that, if
possible,
the cup might pass from him; and the agony he was
in was so great, and the pressure on his mind to heavy, and
so much
affected his body, that his sweat was, as it were,
great drops
of blood falling to the ground; this was a
foretaste
of what he was after more fully to endure,
#Mt
26:38,39 Lu 22:44.
1a4. Judas
knowing the place Christ resorted to, and where he now
was, came
with a band of soldiers he had from the
chief
priests, and with a multitude of others, armed with
swords and
clubs, as if they came out against a thief, to
take him, as our Lord observed to them; when with a kiss be
betrayed
him to them; and, after he had given them proof of
his
almighty power, and how easily he could have made his
escape from
them, voluntarily surrendered himself unto them;
who laid
hold on him, and bound him as a malefactor, and had
him to Caiaphas the high priest.
1a5. In
whose palace he endured much from men, rude and inhumane;
some
"spit in his face, and buffetted him; and others smote
him with
the palms of their hands"; one particularly struck
him with the palm of his hand, as with a rod, saying,
"Answerest
thou the high priest so?" all which Christ took
patiently,
whereby the prophecies concerning him were
fulfilled,
#Isa 50:6 Mic 5:1.
1a6. Still more he endured in the hall of Pilate the Roman
governor,
to whom the Jews delivered him bound. Here he was
accused of
sedition, and of stirring up the people against
the Roman
government; as he had been before in the
high
priest's palace of an evil design to destroy the
temple; which were all forged and false; as is said in
prophetic
language, #Ps 35:11 and though he appeared to
be
innocent, and that to the judge himself, who would
willingly
have let him go; yet such were the enmity and
malice of
the chief priests and elders, and of the multitude
of the people, that they were the more vehement and
incessant
in their cries, to have Barabbas, a robber,
released,
and Jesus crucified: which verified what David, in
the person
of the Messiah, said, #Ps 69:4. Upon which he
was
scourged by Pilate, or by his orders; to which he
willingly submitted, according to #Isa 50:6 and then was
delivered
to the Roman soldiers, who used him extremely ill;
who platted
a crown of thorns, and put it upon his head,
which gave
him pain, as well as disgrace, which is now
crowned
with glory and honour; and put a reed in his right
hand, for a sceptre, whose proper sceptre is a sceptre of
righteousness;
and, in a mock way, bowed to him, to whom
every knee shall
bow in the most solemn manner; having
before
stripped him of his garments, and put on him a
soldier's
coat, as fit apparel for a king; and then having
put on his clothes again, when they had sated tbemselves
with sport,
led him forth to be crucified, according to the
sentence
the governor had passed upon him, at the instance
of the
Jews; bearing his own cross they laid upon him, as
was the
custom with the Romans. Plutarch {1} says, when
malefactors were brought out to be punished, everyone
carried his
own cross: only Christ meeting with Simon, a
Cyrenean,
by the way, they obliged him to bear the cross
after him;
that is, one end of it, and so crucified him:
which leads
on to consider,
1b. Secondly, The death itself
he died. He was obedient to "the death of the cross", the death he
died on the cross; hence his blood shed on it is called, "the blood of the
cross"; and the cross is put for the whole of his sufferings and death,
#Col 1:20 #Eph 2:16. This was plainly foretold and pointed out in prophecy,
particularly in the twenty second Psalm, described by the
dislocation and starting out of his bones; by the fever upon him, which usually
attended crucifixion; and especially by the piercing of his hands and feet; and
was typified by the lifting up of the brazen serpent by Moses in the
wilderness; and the phrase of lifting up from the earth, is used by Christ
himself, to signify what death he should die, #Joh 3:14 12:32,33. This kind of death was a shameful one; hence Christ is said to
endure the cross, and despise the shame; that is, the shame that attended it,
#Heb 12:2 which lay not so much in his being crucified naked, and so exposed,
was that truly the case, as in its being the punishment of strangers, of
servants, and slaves, and such like mean persons; but not of freemen and
citizens of Rome; hence it was called "servile supplicium"
{2}, a servile punishment: and it was also a painful and cruel one, as the
thing itself speaks; to have the whole body stretched to the uttermost; the
hands and feet, those sensible parts of it, pierced; and to have the weight of
the body depending on them! it was so cruel, that the most humane {3} among the
Romans, wished to have it disused, even to servants; and the more mild and
gentle of the emperors {4} would order persons to be
strangled before they were nailed to the cross: and it was reckoned an accursed
death {5}. And though Christ was not accursed of God, but was his beloved Son,
while he was suffering this death; yet it was a symbol of the curse; and he was
hereby treated as if he was one accursed; and it became a clear case hereby,
that he bore the curse of the law in the room and stead of
sinners; yea, that he was made a curse for them; "for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree", #Ga 3:13.
There were several
circumstances which attended the death of Christ, which made it the more
ignominious and distressing; as the place where he suffered, Golgotha, so called from the skulls of malefactors executed there; and was
as infamous as our Tyburn; and it was as scandalous to be crucified in the one
place, as to be hanged in the other. Here he was crucified between two thieves;
as if he had been guilty of the same, or a like transgression, as theirs; and
so fulfilled the prophecy in #Isa 53:12. He "was numbered among the
transgressors"; and, instead of giving him a cup of wine
with frankincense, which they used to give in kindness to a person about to be
executed, to intoxicate him, that he might not be sensible of his misery; they
gave to Christ vinegar mixed with gall, or sour wine with myrrh, and such like
bitter ingredients, the more to distress him; of which he, in prophecy,
complains, #Ps 69:21. Then they parted his garments, and cast lots upon his
vesture; by which it seems that he was crucified naked, the
more to expose him to shame and contempt; and which was predicted in #Ps 22:18
and while he was suffering, he endured the trial of cruel mocking, from all
sorts of people; not only from travellers that passed by, and from the multitude
of common people, assembled on the occasion; but from the chief priests,
scribes, and elders; and even from the thieves, with whom he was crucified: to all which respect is had in prophecy, #Ps
22:7,8,12,13,16. And for three hours together, while he was on the cross, there
was darkness over all the land, the sun, as it were, blushing and hiding its
face at the heinousness of the sin now committed by the Jews; or as refusing to
yield any relief and comfort to Christ, now sustaining as a surety the wrath of
God, for the sins of his people; and might be an emblem of
that greater darkness upon his soul, being now forsaken by his Father; see #Am
8:9. And when this was over, he quickly gave up the ghost.
Let it be observed, that
Christ was "put to death in the flesh"; as the apostle expresses it,
#1Pe 3:18 that is, in the body; that only suffered death; not his soul, that died not; but was commended into the hands of his divine
Father: nor his Deity, or divine nature, which was impassible, and not capable
of suffering death; and yet the body of Christ suffered death, in union with
his divine person; hence the Lord of glory is said to be crucified and God is
said to purchase the church with his blood, #1Co 2:8 Ac 20:28. And the death of
Christ, as the death of other men, lay in the disunion of,
or in a dissolution of the union between soul and body; these two were parted
for a while; the one was commended to God in heaven; the other was laid in the
grave: but hereby he was not reduced to a state of non-existence, as say the
Socinians; his soul was with God in paradise; and his body, when taken from the
cross, was laid in a sepulchre, and where it saw no corruption. The death of
Christ was "real", not in appearance only, as
some of the ancient heretics affirmed; nor was he taken down from the cross
alive; but was really dead, as appears by the testimony of the centurion that
guarded the cross, to Pilate; by the soldiers not breaking his legs, with the
others crucified with him, perceiving he was dead; and by one of them piercing
his side, the "pericardium", from whence flowed blood and water; after which, had he not been dead before, he must have
died then. And lastly, his 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.
Now, besides this 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 one; so the second Adam, as the surety of his people, in order 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, as it 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;
could not fall upon the pure and holy soul of Christ; which must have made him
unfit for his mediatorial work; yet there was something similar to it, so as to
be without sin and pollution; as darkness of soul, disquietude, distress, want
of spiritual joy and comfort, amazement, agony, his soul 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 {6}; for though they
differ as to circumstance of time and place; the persons being different, the
one finite, the other infinite; yet, as to the essence of them, the same: eternal death consists in these two things, punishment
of loss, and punishment of sense: the former lies in an eternal separation from
God, or a deprivation of his presence for ever; "Depart from me, ye
cursed": the latter is an everlasting sense of the wrath of God, expressed
by "everlasting fire". Now Christ endured what was answerable to
these; for a while he suffered the loss of his Father's gracious presence, when he said, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me!" And he endured the punishment of sense, when God was wroth
with him, his anointed; when his wrath was poured out like fire upon him; and
his heart melted like wax within him, under it; 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; but Christ being an infinite
Person, was able to bear the whole at once; and the infinity of his Person,
abundantly compensates for the eternity of the punishment
{7}.
2. Secondly, Let us next
inquire into the cause, reason, and occasion of the sufferings and death of
Christ; and how he came to undergo them.
2a. 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; Herod and Pontius Pilate, the
Gentiles, and the people of the Jews, did no other things
against him than what the hand and counsel of God determined before should be
done; and therefore it was necessary they should be done, #Ac 2:23 4:27,28.
Hence all things were overruled by the providence of God in time, to bring
about what he had decreed should be; and without it nothing could have been
done: Pilate had no power over him but what was given him
from above: so great an hand had God in the sufferings of his Son, that he is
said to bruise and put him to grief; to awake the sword of justice against him;
to spare him not, but deliver him up for us all, into the hands of men, to
justice and to death: and the moving cause of all this was, the great love he
bore to his chosen ones in Christ; "God so loved the world", &c.
"In this was manifested the love of God towards
us", &c. #Joh 3:16 1Jo 4:9,10 Ro 5:8.
2b. With respect to Christ, and
his will, as to his sufferings and death; we must have recourse to the council
and covenant of grace and peace; in which the plan of salvation
was formed upon the obedience, and sufferings, and death of Christ; these were
proposed to him, and he readily assented to them; and said, "Lo, I come to
do thy will, O God! which was, to become incarnate; to obey, suffer, and die,
in the room and stead of his people; and what moved him thereunto was, his free
and unmerited love to them; and which is so fully and strongly expressed
therein, #Joh 15:13 1Jo 3:16 Eph 5:2,25.
2c. With respect to Satan; the
concern he had therein, in putting it into the heart of Judas, to betray his
Lord and Master; and in stirring up the chief priests and elders of the Jews to
conspire to take away his life; and so strongly to move for it, and insist upon with the Roman Governor: this arose from that old
enmity that was between him and the woman's seed; in which he betrayed great
ignorance of the way of man's salvation, or else acted in great contradiction
to himself, and to his own scheme.
2d. With
respect to men; these acted from different motives, and with different views:
Judas from a spirit of covetousness, to gain a small sum of money from the
Jews; they, from envy and malice to the Person of Christ, delivered him to
Pilate, and moved to have him crucified; and he, against his own conscience,
and the remonstrance of his wife, passed sentence of death on him, and
delivered him to be crucified, to get and continue an
interest in the affections of the Jews, and retain the good will and favour of
his prince, the Roman emperor.
2e. But 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, for he never committed any,
but for the sins of others; he 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.
3. Thirdly, The effects of the
sufferings and death of Christ, or the things procured thereby, are many. As,
3a. The redemption of his
people from sin, from Satan, from the curse and condemnation
of the law, and from wrath to come; which is through his blood, his sufferings,
and death: he gave his flesh for the life of the world of his elect; and gave
his life a ransom for them; and being made perfect through sufferings, became
the author of salvation to them, #Eph 1:7 Joh 6:51 #Mt 20:28 Heb 2:10 5:9.
3b.
Reconciliation, which is by the death of Christ; and peace, which is made by
his blood; even a complete atonement for sin; which is obtained through
Christ's being a propitiation for it, which he is, through his blood; that is,
his sufferings and death, #Ro 3:25 5:10 Col 1:20.
3c. Pardon
of sin; which is a branch of redemption, through the blood of Christ, which was
shed for the remission of sin; and without shedding of blood there is no
remission, #Eph 1:7 #Mt 26:28 Heb 9:22.
3d. Justification, which is
sometimes ascribed to the blood of Christ; that is, to his sufferings
and death; the consequence of which is, deliverance, and security from wrath to
come, #Ro 5:9.
3e. 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.
3f. In all
which the glory of God is great; the glory of his mercy, grace, and goodness;
the glory of his wisdom, truth, and faithfulness; the glory of his power, and
the glory of his justice and holiness.
4. Fourthly, The properties of
Christ's death and sufferings.
4a. They were real; and not
imaginary, or in appearance only: as he really became incarnate, so he really
suffered and died; which was confirmed by the testimony of the centurion, and
the soldiers that guarded him; by his hands, feet, and side being pierced, and
the prints of these being seen after his resurrection.
4b. They were voluntary; he
willingly agreed in council and covenant to undergo them; he came readily into
the world, in the time appointed for that purpose; and was earnestly desirous
of, and even straitened until they were accomplished; he freely surrendered
himself into the hands of his enemies; and cheerfully laid down his life, and resigned his breath.
4c. They were necessary: he
ought to suffer; he could not be excused from suffering; because of the decrees
of God; the covenant and agreement he entered into with his Father; the
prophecies concerning them; and the types and figures on them. Besides, the redemption and salvation of his people could not be procured
in any other way.
4d. They were efficacious, or
effectual to the purposes for which they were endured; as redemption,
reconciliation, &c. which efficacy they had from the dignity of his Person,
as the Son of God; hence his blood cleansed from all sin; and his righteousness justified from all; and it is unto all, and upon
all them that believe, to the justification of them; and his sacrifice is of a
sweet smelling savour with God; and a full and proper atonement for the sins of
men. For,
4e. They are expiatory and
satisfactory. The sufferings of saints are by way of fatherly
chastisement; but they have no efficacy to expiate sin, or make atonement for
it. But Christ's sufferings, through the infiniteness of his Person, are a
complete atonement for all the sins of his people; by his sacrifice and death
he has put away sin for ever, and perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
{1} De
sear Num. Vindict. p. 554.
{2} Valer. Maxim. l. 2, s. 7.
s. 12. it is called the grave of servants, Plaut. Miles, 2, 4, 19. "Pone
crucem servo", Juvenal. Satyr. 6. v. 248.
{3} As Cicero in Orat. pro
Rabirio.
{4} Sueton. Vit. Jul. Caesar.
c. 74.
{5} It is
called "arbor infelix", in Cicero ibid. "abire in malam crucem",
is often used as a curse by Plautus, vide Parei Lexic. Plant. in voce crux.
{6} "Ita quidem ut brevis
passio Christi aeternae damnandorum aequipolleat", Witsius in Symbol.
Exercit. 15. s. 16.
{7} Of Christ's enduring the
same sufferings his people should, and undergoing the same
punishment threatened in the law, see Dr. Owen, Exercit. 5. on Heb. vol. 2. p.
80, &c. and his Vindiciae Evangel. c. 26. s. 28. p. 564, &c.