A. This article, especially in distinction from Article XXI speaks of the atonement of Christ from the point of view of God and His justice and mercy. The following article speaks of this atonement from the viewpoint of Christ and the satisfaction He made.
1. There is first of all the general statement, “God… sent his Son to assume that nature, in which the disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion and death.”
a. This truth that God sent His Son into our nature is discussed in detail in the foregoing article.
b. It is mentioned here because this is the basis for the cross as the revelation of God’s justice. Only because Christ came into our human flesh, could He also suffer for us. The Heidelberg Catechism makes quite a point of this and says, “the same human nature which hath sinned, should likewise make satisfaction for sin.”
2. Thus the cross is both a revelation of God’s justice and mercy.
a. This is the revelation of justice, that God laid our iniquitien upon Christ.
1) Before salvation could be accomplished, sin had to be removed. God could not simply excuse sin and ignore it; it had to be punished.
2) Since eternal suffering in hell by the sinner makes salvation impossible, God laid all our sins upon Jesus Christ Who suffered for us.
b. This is the revelation of God’s mercy, that God gave His Son for us who were worthy of hell and damnation.
1) God does not reveal His mercy in spite of His justice, but the cross is the highest revelation of both mercy and justice at the same time. There was displayed a merciful justice and a just mercy.
2) This, as the article says, was of mere and perfect love that God’s Son died for us, was raised for our justification, that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal.
B. This still leaves the question, How can a sinless One assume the guilt of a sinful man? How can our guilt be reckoned justly to Christ?
1. The only possible answer is that Christ was eternally appointed to be our Head, our representative in Whom we are all chosen.
2. This can best be understood from a “supra” position. God created a saved and redeemed human race eternally in Christ. We are chosen from all eternity in Him. Thus, in order to realize that purpose, we fell in another representive head, Adam. For as in Adam all died, even so in Christ are all made alive. Christ could therefore come in our place because we were chosen eternally in Him.
3. In this way could God’s justice and mercy be revealed in the highest sense of the word.