4. Christ crucified and risen

The section begins where the Gospel begins: with the Word made flesh. "The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The one who is crucified is therefore not a man taken up into a divine errand. The one who is crucified is the Son, come in flesh, and the glory seen in him is the glory of the only born Son of the Father.

Philippians traces the descent in order: "who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross" (Phil 2:6-8). The movement is stated in steps. Form of God. Servant form. Likeness of men. Human form found. Obedience. Death. The death named at the end of the descent is not death in general; the text specifies the manner, "the death of the cross." The humbling and the crucifixion are one movement, and the cross is its lowest point.

The confirmation texts fix who suffered and what the suffering carried. The high priest of Hebrews is not a sinner suffering for his own sin: "For we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). Temptation in all points stands in the text beside sinlessness in the same sentence, and neither half is removed.

Isaiah assigns the wounds their cause: "But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:5-6). The going astray is assigned to the sheep, every one to his own way. The iniquity is assigned by Yahweh to the servant. The piercings and the crushing are stated with their objects: transgressions, iniquities, peace, healing — none of them the servant's own.

Paul states the exchange in one sentence: "For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). The one made sin is identified first as the one who knew no sin, and the purpose clause runs toward the other side of the exchange: righteousness of God, in him. Romans sets the same cross before God himself as a demonstration: Christ is the one "whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance; to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom 3:25-26). The cross therefore answers two directions at once in the text: toward man, an atoning sacrifice; toward the righteousness of God, a demonstration, so that God stands shown as just in the same act in which he justifies. Peter closes the confirmation with the measure and the end of the suffering: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit" (1 Pet 3:18). Once. Righteous for unrighteous. Put to death in the flesh, made alive in the Spirit — the resurrection stands inside the same sentence as the death.

The risen texts keep the same order: death first, then raising, each "according to the Scriptures." Paul delivers what he received: "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3-4). The burial stands between the death and the raising as the seal of the one and the boundary of the other. Romans joins the two halves to their two ends: Christ is the one "who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification" (Rom 4:25). Delivered for trespasses; raised for justification. The resurrection is not an appendix to the cross in these texts but its counterpart, each half carrying its own "for."

The risen Christ does not rest from the work. Hebrews states his present occupation and its extent: "Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them" (Heb 7:25). The saving runs to the uttermost, and its stated ground is the unending life of the intercessor. He lives forever; therefore the intercession does not lapse, and neither does the salvation of those who draw near through him.

The question of the death's reach is answered by the texts in two registers, and the registers stand side by side as written.

In the particular register, the beneficiaries are named by belonging. Of his birth it is said: "She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21). His people. The shepherd discourse names the same belonging: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11), and again, "even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). The same discourse states the negative in the same terms: "But you don't believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you" (John 10:26). The reason given for the unbelief is the not-belonging; the sentence does not run the other way. In the prayer of John 17 the line is drawn in his own words: "I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours" (John 17:9). Paul names the bride: Christ "loved the assembly and gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). And the flock is described by its purchase price: "the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).

In the world register, the texts speak no less plainly. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again" (2 Cor 5:14-15). "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:19). "And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

Both registers stand as written. The word "only" is not added to the particular texts, as though it were written in them; neither are the world texts cut down to the size of the particular texts. The sheep, the given ones, the assembly, and his people are named in the one register; the world, all, and the whole world are named in the other. The conclusion drawn from the texts — stated once, and labeled as inference rather than as a further text — is that his death is read as for his own. Beyond that statement, nothing further is concluded here.