A85428:146
Christ Set Forth
Christ set forth in his [brace] death, resurrection, ascension, sitting at Gods right hand, intercession, [brace] as the [brace] cause of justification. Object of justifying faith. Upon Rom. 8. ver. 34. Together with a treatise discovering the affectionate tenderness of Christs heart now in heaven, unto sinners on earth. / By Tho: Goodwin, B.D.Christ set forth in his [brace] death, resurrection, ascension, sitting at Gods right hand, intercession, [brace] as the [brace] cause of justification. Object of justifying faith. Upon Rom. 8. ver. 34. Together with a treatise discovering the affectionate tendernesse of Christs heart now in heaven, unto sinners on earth. / By Tho: Goodwin, B.D.
London: printed by W.E. and J.G. for Robert Dawlman, 1642
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
For the first,1 Christ was appointed by God, (and himself also undertook) to be our Surety. 2This you have, Heb. 7. 22. He was made Surety of a better Testament, or Covenant; namely, of the New. The Hebrew word for Covenant, the Septuagint still translated [[Greek or Hebrew]] Testament: the word in the Hebrew being of a large signification, & comprehending both a Covenant, and Testament; and so in the New Testament it is used promiscuously for either: And indeed, this new Covenant of Grace is both. Of this Covenant Christ is the [Greek or Hebrew], the plighter of his troth for it, the Surety, the Promiser, the Undertaker. The Verb this comes of, is [Greek or Hebrew], [promittere] which comes form [Greek or Hebrew], [in manibus] striking hands, or giving ones hand, as a sign of a covenant; and so, to bargain with, or make up a covenant. Prov. 22. 26. Be not thou ⟨p. 51⟩one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts: Which whole verse the Septuagint reads, Give not thy self [Greek or Hebrew], to Suretyship. The same word that is here used by the Apostle. It was the manner both of the Jews and Romans also, to make Covenants by striking of hands: And in Testaments, the Heir and Executor shook hands, or the Executor gave his hand to fulfil it.3 And the word [[Greek or Hebrew]] is used, not only in promising to pay a debt for another, but also in becoming a pledge for another, for to undergo death, or a capital punishment in another's room: as in that famous story of friends, namely, Evephenus and Eucritus: Eucritus did [[Greek or Hebrew]] willingly become a surety for Evephenus, when condemned to dye by Dionysius the tyrant. This very word is used by Polyenus, the Historian of that fact. Now such a Surety every way did Christ become unto God for us,4 both to pay the debt, by undergoing death in our stead, and so to satisfy God; and then as the Heir to execute his Will and Testament: He became a Surety of the whole Covenant, and every condition in it, take it in the largest sense; and this of all, both on Gods part, and on ours. For us he undertook to God to work all our works, and undergo all our punishments; to pay our debts for us, and to work in us all that God required should be done by us, in the Covenant of Grace.