Surety, Mediator, Substitute

In the last post we have seen that the bible describes sin as: (1) debt, (2) enmity, and a (3) crime. We have seen that each and every person is in a state of total helplessness. By nature of God’s sovereignty and authority over our lives, we owe God perfect obedience but even our best efforts are as “filthy rags” the Hebrew literally means “dirty menstrual rags”, no joke. God is obligated to bring justice unless the demands with respect to our debt, state of enmity, and crimes are satisfied.

How are these demands satisfied? As I mentioned at the end of the last post, this satisfaction is provided on behalf of all who repent and believe by the God/Man, Jesus Christ.

In each of the three ways the bible describes sin, Jesus plays a crucial role.

Sin as:	Man	God	Christ
Debt	Debtor	Creditor	Surety
Enmity	Enemy	Violated One	Mediator
Crime	Criminal	Judge	Substitute

When sin is described as a debt, Christ is our Surety (Heb. 7:22). These are both economic terms. Jesus is the one who cosigns the note. He is the one who stands there, backing up our indebtedness, taking on himself the requirement of what must be paid.

When sin is described as an expression of enmity, Christ plays the role of Mediator. When two humans get into a conflict, the mediator is the one who stands in the middle in order to settle the conflict. This is called reconciliation, and this is exactly what Jesus does for us. He reconciles us to God. As a result of our sin we have shown ourselves to be enemies of God, we have separated ourselves and alienated ourselves from God, but Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:19, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”

When sin is characterized as a crime, Christ is the one who actually comes under judgment. He acts as our substitute, the innocent in the place of the guilty criminals.

It is Christ who makes the satisfaction for our debt, our enmity, and our crimes. It is essential to understand exactly how Jesus functions in each of the crucial roles. Today there are all kinds of misunderstandings on the atonement that are common. According to one popular view, God the Father is enraged at man, but God the Son is sympathetic with fallen man and sides with us and acts as our Mediator to calm the Father’s anger. The father is about to punish everybody and send them to hell, but the Son says: “Punish Me instead. Let Me stand in their place.” According to this view, there is a tension or a split within the Godhead itself, as if the Father has an agenda and the Son persuades Him to change His mind. It is a widespread belief that the Son seems more loving, patient, and compassionate than the Father.

In “The Truth of the Cross”, Sproul gives an illustration that is really helpful. He gives the following scenario. Imagine that I go to a friend and say: “Don, I’m in trouble. I need to borrow $10,000. Would you lend me $10,000?” And Don says, “Sure.” He lends me $10,000 and I understand that I now owe him $10,000. We have a perfectly legal and ethical arrangement. Unfortunately, I wake up one morning and I find out I can’t pay the $10,000. Now I’m in big trouble. However, my brother says: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay the $10,000.” So he pays Don the money that I owe. Now I owe Don nothing. My debt has been cancelled 100 percent. In fact, he must receive that $10,000 legal tender in payment for the debt because the only responsibility I have to him is to pay the money. That’s the way a debt is.

Now suppose I were to break into Don’s house and steal $10,000. Don comes home and finds his $10,000 missing and calls the police. The police track me down and find the $10,000 in my possession and arrest me. I might say: “I’m sorry Don, here take the money back and let’s just forget it.” Or perhaps I have spent the money by the time they arrest me, but my brother steps in again and says, “Wait a minute, I’ll give him the $10,000.” In either scenario, Don is not bound to receive that $10,000 and wipe the slate clean because not only have I incurred a “debt” to Don, I have committed a crime against him and have violated him as a person. He has the right to decide whether he will accept that payment and refuse to press charges – because he is the one who has been wronged.

When Jesus offers to make satisfaction for me, in order for that payment to be accepted, God the Father, who is my Creditor, the party I have violated, and my Judge, must decide that He will accept payment from another in my behalf. In other words, if I owe God the death penalty because I sinned against Him, and Jesus says, “I will die for him,” and then lays down His life and dies for me, would the Father be under any obligation whatsoever to accept the payment? No. There first must be a judgment or decree by the creator of the universe that He will in fact accept a substitutionary payment for my debt, my enmity, and my crime. The beauty of it is that the Father did accept Jesus’ substitutionary payment for us. There was a prior decision of the Father that was based on sheer grace. At some point before time began, He made the decision to accept the satisfaction made by a Substitute. We may think the Son is more loving that the Father, but whose idea was it for us to have a Mediator? Who sent the Mediator? God the Father sent the Son to be the Mediator who would reconcile us to himself. “God so love the world that He gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16)

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all^[h] who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

In the cross we see perfect justice mixed with perfect mercy. At the cross, forgiveness was achieved by canceling the debt that stood against us. This debt was not a hypothetical debt or paper debt, but it was an actual legal debt in which Christ’s own flesh was nailed to the cross. The wrath of God was removed from believing sinners as a result of Christ bearing the full force of God’s wrath in our place.

From the famed suffering servant passage in Isaiah 53:

…5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed….10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53: 5 & 10)

He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

Not everyone today understands the idea of God having to be just. God is typically pictured as being so absolutely and unconditionally loving that he can forgive sin on the basis of his love alone. This is an extremely dangerous position to be in because it neglects two other important parts of his nature- holiness and justice. Even worse than that, it reduces the infinitely costly sacrifice of the Son of God to having almost no purpose whatsoever. If God can justify on the basis of love alone, then the cross was not needed. It overlooks the purpose and beauty of the cross which was God’s ultimate display of his love towards an undeserving people.

As you may be starting to see, the Gospel is more than just a handbook on how to get saved. The Gospel is simple enough for anyone to understand yet deep enough to where we can study it our whole lives and never fully exhaust the truths that it contains. The Gospel is not just for unbelievers, it is for everyone no matter what the situation. Just think about all of the problems in 1 Corinthians that the church had. After every problem Paul mentioned in Corinthians the answer was always the Gospel.

2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Take favoritism or partiality as an example since we just talked about it yesterday in James. How do you stop showing favoritism toward people like yourself or rich and important people? How do you stop judging those who are outcast, unimportant or poor? The answer again is the Gospel. In light of the Gospel it is arrogant and presumptuous to think of yourselves more highly than others, as if there is something inherently good within you that makes you better or more important than someone else. There is a hint of pride wrapped up in favoritism. The cross removes all traces of pride and all grounds for boasting; all that is left is humbleness and thanksgiving. The cross reminds us that we were all debtors, enemies, and criminals, and that it was only by sheer grace that God chose us and called us out of the darkness.

26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)