Vol. I. | OCTOBER, 1880. | No. 10. |
"The soul that sinneth it shall die," and it "shall not die."
The first quotation, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," is oftenproduced in support of the scholastic idea that the law of God wasinexorable, that is absolute or unconditional, not to be moved or itspenalty escaped by reformation or petition.
The language of the text is very definite, and, when viewed aside fromits context as an inexorable law, it certainly follows that everysinning soul must pay its penalty. Neither can I see how it can besatisfied by punishing an innocent person in the room of the guilty, forthe innocent one was not the "soul that sinned." Yet this quality of lawis claimed in order to make out the theory of a vicarious punishmentendured by the Savior, that is, that He took the sinner's "law place."This idea was necessitated by the theory that we all sinned when Adamtransgressed, and lost all ability to do anything for ourselves. So wemust be redeemed by satisfaction to justice, rather than by mercy. Thisold Calvinistic system of error lays the penalty of the inexorable lawupon Christ. But Calvinists are not alone in this theory of a "vicariouspunishment," in order to a vicarious atonement. Neither are they alonein the abuse of the phrase "the law," for our Sabbatarian friends ar