It is claimed that Christadelphians deny the substitutionary character of the death of the Lord Jesus. Yes, that is true. If Christ were a substitute we ought not to die, and Christ could not have risen. Neither can God be said to “forgive” sin through the kindness of His “forbearance” if He exact the utmost penalty. Neither does “Justice” “substitute” the innocent for the guilty. And God is just. God created man, and placed him under law. Man sinned, and brought death. And all mankind, by the weakness of the flesh, sin and die, even if they do not die in babyhood, which a large proportion of the race does. But God had determined to abolish death on His own principles, which comprise, first, the declaration of His righteousness, and then of His grace in the gift (upon conditions) of eternal life. Therefore He “raised up a horn of salvation in the house of David” (Lu. 1:69), of whom, however, He had spoken from the beginning. This was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a “Son of Man made strong” for the purpose of declaring in flesh and blood the righteousness of the Father in an absolutely sinless life. Thus “sent forth,” the command of the Father (Jno. 10:18) was that he should lay down his life by crucifixion as an exhibition for all time of what was due from God to man for sin. But, at the same time, the Father’s purpose was “that he might take it (his life) again,” because he was “an holy one.” Therefore God raised him from the dead, and gave him “length of days for ever and ever.” His name was then preached in Jerusalem for the remission of sins; that is, men and women were invited to believe God’s promises concerning him, and to identify themselves with him by baptism into his Name. In this way, by the forbearance and kindness of God (Rom. 3:25–26), his blood cleansed them from sin; for God forgave them (when they believed and obeyed the gospel) for Christ’s sake.
This is the Bible doctrine briefly expressed, and largely in the words of Scripture. It is not substitution, but representation—as Aaron was High Priest for Israel. You are not “baptized into the death” of a substitute. If a substitute dies, the survivor lives, because he escapes his fate, and has no more to do with him. It is not so with Christ. We have to do with his death, so much so that an apostle says, “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), “buried with him in baptism” (Col. 2:12).
Certainly it is said, “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:10). “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). “One died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14). But “for” is not equivalent to “instead of,” but rather to “on behalf of,” “on account of.” So it is said, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3), “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4), “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Heb. 10:12), “ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25). But Mr. Meyer says that, in Matt. 20:28, “his life a ransom for many”; and in 1 Tim. 2:6, “Himself a ransom for all,” the Greek is, “instead of”; and, therefore, it must be substitution. But this is not so. ̓ντι (Matt. 20:28) may, indeed, mean “instead of”; but it may also mean “on account of.” It is so used in Matt. 17:27—“A piece of money, that take and give unto them for me and thee.” So also with υ῾περ (1 Tim. 2:6) it may mean “instead of,” but it may also mean “in behalf of,” and is so used, Matt. 5:44, “pray for them”; and Mar. 9:40, “he that is not against you is for you”; also, Jno. 17:19, “for their sakes I sanctify myself.” These words are, therefore, not to be used to overthrow the Scriptures above quoted. The life of Christ was laid down and taken again (υ῾περ) “for the sheep” (Jno. 10:17–18); and, therefore, the figure of ransom must be understood in harmony with this fact, and not strained into fancied agreement with the literal payment of a money ransom. Sinners are not ransomed by the blood of Christ unless they believe the truth and obey it. Having done this, they must continue in his word (Jno. 8:32); which, if they do, the Son will make them “free indeed,” so that they may with him “abide for ever.”
CC Walker, The Christadelphian 1902 page 307–30
WAS THE DEATH OF CHRIST REPRESENTATIVE OR SUBSTITUTIONARY?
A correspondent writes: “You say substitution is but a myth of the apostacy, and that God will not accept the death of others in the place of what he has decreed. His law, you say, must be carried out, and the salvation there is to be, is on the strict basis of compliance with the requirements of His law, in the first place, and man must suffer his own penalty. Now, how can all this be true, if man suffers this penalty in Christ, as you state in line 28, page 84, March number? The true believer is in Christ, by faith and obedience, for the obtaining of the blessings promised, but surely not for penalty incurred in Adam. Neither law nor justice would demand twice payment for the debt, nor double punishment for the offence.”
Answer.—The true believer is in Christ “for the obtaining of the blessings promised,” it is true, but his obtainment thereof is strictly subject to his recognition of the means by which they were “purchased.” The first act he is called upon to perform is a participation in those means, viz., the death of Christ. He has to be baptised at the very outset of his candidature; and what is baptism? Paul says “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised unto Jesus Christ, were baptised unto his death.”—(Rom. 6:3.) Therefore, in the very act of putting on the name of Christ “for the obtaining of the blessings promised,” he is made to endorse and morally participate in the “condemnation of sin in the flesh,” which Jesus underwent in the “body preared” for the purpose.—(Heb. 10:5.) In this way, we are made to suffer the penalty while “obtaining the blessings promised.” By this arrangement of divine love, God is “just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” Jesus was a man, partaking of “the same” nature as ourselves.—(Heb. 2:14.) He was, therefore, no substitute in the orthodox sense. He was a representative. He died a man for men, as the divine law required, and, being without sin, “it was impossible that he should be holden” of the death-bonds in which he was, momentarily, held.—(Acts 2:24.) God raised him from the dead, and appointed him the saviour, high priest, and judge of those for whom he had given his life a ransom. Orthodoxy makes him a substitute of one being for another; one nature for another, wherein lies the “myth” to be reprobated.
Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian Magazine, 1870 page 23.
