is, that when we possess the benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection, there is nothing wanting to
the completion of perfect righteousness. By separating his death from his resurrection, he no doubt
accommodates what he says to our ignorance; for it is also true that righteousness has been obtained
for us by that obedience of Christ, which he exhibited in his death, as the Apostle himself teaches
us in the following chapter. But as Christ, by rising from the dead, made known how much he had
effected by his death, this distinction is calculated to teach us that our salvation was begun by the
sacrifice, by which our sins were expiated, and was at length completed by his resurrection: for the
beginning of righteousness is to be reconciled to God, and its completion is to attain life by having
death abolished. Paul then means, that satisfaction for our sins was given on the cross: for it was
necessary, in order that Christ might restore us to the Father’s favor, that our sins should be abolished
by him; which could not have been done had he not on their account suffered the punishment, which
we were not equal to endure. Hence Isaiah says, that the chastisement of our peace was upon him.
(Isaiah 53:5.) But he says that he was delivered, and not, that he died; for expiation depended on
the eternal goodwill of God, who purposed to be in this way pacified.
And was raised again for our justification. As it would not have been enough for Christ to
undergo the wrath and judgment of God, and to endure the curse due to our sins, without his coming
forth a conqueror, and without being received into celestial glory, that by his intercession he might
reconcile God to us, the efficacy of justification is ascribed to his resurrection, by which death was
overcome; not that the sacrifice of the cross, by which we are reconciled to God, contributes nothing
towards our justification, but that the completeness of his favor appears more clear by his coming
to life again.^151
But I cannot assent to those who refer this second clause to newness of life; for of that the
Apostle has not begun to speak; and further, it is certain that both clauses refer to the same thing.
For if justification means renovation, then that he died for our sins must be taken in the same sense,
as signifying that he acquired for us grace to mortify the flesh; which no one admits. Then, as he
is said to have died for our sins, because he delivered us from the evil of death by suffering death
as a punishment for our sins; so he is now said to have been raised for our justification, because he
fully restored life to us by his resurrection: for he was first smitten by the hand of God, that in the
person of the sinner he might sustain the misery of sin; and then he was raised to life, that he might
freely grant to his people righteousness and life.^152 He therefore still speaks of imputative
justification; and this will be confirmed by what immediately follows in the next chapter.
(^151) Christ is said here to have been raised from the dead by God, as well as delivered into death. “However much of the import
of this,” says Chalmers, “may have escaped the notice of an ordinary reader, it is pregnant with meaning of the weightiest
importance. You know that when the prison door is opened to a criminal, and that by the very authority which lodged him there,
it envinces that the debt of his transgression has been rendered, and that he stands aquitted of all it’s penalties. It was not for his
own, but for our offenses that Jesus was delivered unto the death, and that his body was consigned to the imprisonment of the
grave. And when an angel descended from heaven, and rolled back the great stone from the door of the sepulchre, this speaks
to us, that the justice of God is satisfied, that the ransom of our iniquity has been paid, that Christ has rendered a full discharge
of all the debt for which he undertook as the great surety between God and the sinners who believe in him.” — Ed.
(^152) “Either therefore as the evidence of the acceptance of his suffering as our substitute, or as a necessary step toward securing
the application of their merit to our benefit, the resurrection of Christ was essential to our justification.” — Professor Hodge