Representitive, Substitutionary, Soteric Activity

The point: The price of mental laziness with God's truth is spiritual instability and immaturity — believers must exercise their minds on the substructure of the gospel, not merely its surface.

Paul's compound verbs are compared to the visible tip of an iceberg: they point to fruits of salvation that are only intelligible if the massive submerged theological mass — representative, substitutionary, soteric activity — is understood beneath the surface

these unusual words to describe the divine method, he was using them, if I may use the figure, in a way that could be likened to someone describing an iceberg by simply pointing to the tip that is above water. And when the apostle, in sort of an offhanded way, writes to the Ephesians and says, but God who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead, quickened us, raised us, and seated us with Christ, he was not giving us a full exposition of the concept bound up in those words. There is a massive amount of biblical thought beneath the surface of the mere use of those words, which indeed forms the...

9:04 - 10:25 Read in full sermon

The point: The price of mental laziness with God's truth is spiritual instability and immaturity — believers must exercise their minds on the substructure of the gospel, not merely its surface.

A second figure for the same point: the apostle points to the fruit of the divine method, but behind it is the trunk, branches, root, and soil of other biblical concepts, all of which must be grasped to understand what the fruit means

these unusual words to describe the divine method, he was using them, if I may use the figure, in a way that could be likened to someone describing an iceberg by simply pointing to the tip that is above water. And when the apostle, in sort of an offhanded way, writes to the Ephesians and says, but God who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead, quickened us, raised us, and seated us with Christ, he was not giving us a full exposition of the concept bound up in those words. There is a massive amount of biblical thought beneath the surface of the mere use of those words, which indeed forms the...

9:04 - 10:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines representation via the analogy of a state assembly representative, then grounds Christ's representative activity in Matthew 1:21, the Adam-Christ parallel of Romans…

A New Jersey state assembly representative is elected to act on behalf of his district constituents — reflecting their thinking, desires, and will — and is self-consciously aware he acts for them. Christ's representative activity is analogous: he acts for his constituents, consciously aware he lives, dies, rises, and is seated not as a private person but on their behalf

the word representative mean? Well, if you have a representative in the State Assembly of New Jersey, what does that representative do? Well, I'll tell you what he's supposed to do. He is supposed to do something. He is supposed to do something. He is supposed to do something.

17:53 - 18:06 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin moves from representation to its deeper form — substitution — using the substitute teacher and football substitute analogies. The Greek preposition anti is examined in…

When the regular teacher is absent, the substitute stands behind the same desk, uses the same lesson plans, and does precisely what the absent teacher would have done. Martin notes children always test substitute teachers to see what they can get away with — illustrating that substitution means occupying the precise place of another, going beyond mere representation

But I must go further and think of it in terms of substitutionary activity. That is, not only was he acting on my behalf, in my interest, as my representative, but he was that because he was my substitute. Now, you kids can tell me what a substitute is. When you have a substitute teacher, what happens? Well, Miss Smith, who is your regular teacher, she isn't there. So what does the substitute do? She comes and stands behind the same desk to use the same lesson plans to look out with the same glowing eyes as little boys that are throwing spitballs when they ought not to be, to teach the same ma...

27:47 - 28:35 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin moves from representation to its deeper form — substitution — using the substitute teacher and football substitute analogies. The Greek preposition anti is examined in…

When a player wrenches his knee on a downfield play, the substitute is sent in to line up in the precise position and do exactly what the injured player was to do. This illustrates the essence of substitution: standing in the room and stead of another to perform what the other was required to perform

And I can remember that was one of the constant patterns that hasn't changed because human nature has not changed. You always lean on the substitute teacher to see if you can get away with more than the regular teacher will let you get away with. So you haven't changed with all you know, your hair may be a little longer, fellas, and you girls, your skirts may be a little shorter, but down underneath it's the same old heart and the same old human nature. Well, that's what a substitute is. One who actually takes the place of another. Not mere representation, but substitution. What happens on a b...

28:57 - 29:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin moves from representation to its deeper form — substitution — using the substitute teacher and football substitute analogies. The Greek preposition anti is examined in…

Matthew 2:22 is cited as a secular use of the Greek preposition anti: Archelaus reigned 'in the room of his father Herod,' taking the precise throne of authority that Herod had vacated — illustrating anti as one in the exact place of another

Turn to Matthew 2 and verse 22. Matthew 2 and verse 22. Speaking of the secular ruler, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judah, Judea, in the room of his father Herod. Now that's the preposition used to translate the one little preposition anti they put in the room of.

30:50 - 31:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must hear the Father's declaration 'This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased' as spoken to them in the person of their substitute — this is not blasphemy but the heart of the gospel.

Luke 11:11's rhetorical question — would a father give his son a serpent as substitute for fish? — illustrates that anti means one specific item placed in the precise place of another, not something merely 'for the good of' another

Here our Lord is giving a lesson on prayer. Encouraging us to believe that the Father's heart is large toward his children. And he says, in verse 11 of Luke 11, and of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf and he give him a stone or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? There's the same preposition. Here a son asks for fish. Will the father as a substitute for fish put a venomous serpent in his hands? That's the concept you see of substitution. One item in the place of another.

32:01 - 32:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers must hear the Father's declaration 'This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased' as spoken to them in the person of their substitute — this is not blasphemy but the heart of the gospel.

Martin reads at length from 'one of the most perceptive and careful students of the word of God of a bygone generation,' who argues that wherever anti does not mean 'against,' it invariably conveys substitution: Christ gave his soul in the room of others, submitted to the penal infliction they deserved, and died in their room that they might be rescued from their due punishment. The term 'vicarious' is explained: the vicar stands in the place of another

even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom ante in the place of in substitution of many. And here is something that goes beyond the mere concept of representation as glorious as it is. And he says that his one life shall be a substitute for the many. And at this point I want to read from one of the most perceptive and careful students of the word of God of a bygone generation who commenting on this very text says in this instance and in every other where the preposition is not used to signify the word against, the notion of substitution...

33:05 - 34:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He is acting on my behalf, representative, in my stead, substitutionary, to rescue me, soteric.

When Israel was in bondage, God raised up Jephthah, Samson, and other judges as soter (deliverer/savior). These figures provide the Old Testament background for understanding Christ as the Savior in its fullest soteric sense — a rescuer of his people from bondage

Now, you kids can really show off tomorrow in school and tell the teacher that you know a Greek word. Okay? And that word is soter, which simply means Savior. One of the wonderful terms applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. But the word Savior comes to us with rich biblical connotations. And it speaks primarily of a deliverer or a rescuer. You remember in Israel when Israel would be in bondage, God would raise up a Savior, a deliverer in the person of one of the judges, be it Jephthah or Samson or one of those other worthies. And so this term Savior applies to our Lord Jesus in its fullest sense. ...

39:28 - 40:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin returns to Ephesians 2:5-6 and notes Paul uses the article — 'the Christ' — to focus on Christ's official messianic office rather than merely his personal name. As the…

Martin uses contemporary political titles to explain why Paul uses the article 'the Christ': 'President' refers to office, not person, just as 'the Christ' (the anointed one) directs attention to Christ's official messianic function and office rather than his personal identity

In other words, the Apostle is pointing us not so much to the word Christ as a title of the Lord Jesus, but he's pointing to the peculiar office of the Lord Jesus as the Christ of God. You see the difference? When you say President Ford, you know instinctively that the first word President has reference not so much to person, but to office. Ford is name that has reference to person. Therefore all references to Mr. Nixon are now former President Nixon. When we read in a context like this that God has done something in the Christ, the attention is being focused not so much upon the person, Jesus...

42:47 - 43:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin returns to Ephesians 2:5-6 and notes Paul uses the article — 'the Christ' — to focus on Christ's official messianic office rather than merely his personal name. As the…

Martin references reading Hugh Martin's profound treatise 'The Abiding Presence' the prior week, which opened up for him in new dimensions why Christ submitted to John's baptism: Christ was doing in reverse what happens to believers in their baptism — officially entering into identification with his people as the sinner in their stead, taking upon himself their debts and obligations

Suffer it now, for so it becometh us to fulfill all what? Righteousness. What is our Lord doing? And I say that it's a thought that has overwhelmed me as I was cooked into it in new dimensions just this past week in reading Hugh Martin's profound treatise called The Abiding Presence. You know what our Lord was doing in his baptism? Listen. He was doing in reverse what happens to us in our baptism. Our baptism is the visible sign of our incorporation into Jesus Christ.

46:47 - 47:23 Read in full sermon

The point: Unconverted hearers do not need to master these deep gospel mysteries before being saved — they need only to embrace the word of the gospel: hear it, believe it, and fall at the feet of Christ.

Martin uses the figure of angels folding their wings to peek into the great gospel mysteries of substitution and union with Christ — contrasting their breathless wonder at these truths with the indifference of those in the congregation who would rather hear football scores or Yankee Doodle

And I would not be surprised at all if, as I have labored to lay this truth out, there are some of you that probably would have been much more interested if I had stood here whistling Yankee Doodle or giving you the scores of your favorite football teams. Oh, my friend, listen. I pity you this morning because you've been able to be dull and lethargic and indifferent to that which causes angels, if I may use the figure, to fold their wings in breathless wonder and try to peek into such great gospel mysteries. Oh, dear unconverted fellow, girl, man, woman, stranger amongst us today, frequenter o...

49:13 - 50:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Doubting believers who have limped and halted for years do not honor God by their false humility — they must venture wholly upon Christ, letting no other trust intrude, for none walks so humbly as he who holds most firml…

Martin quotes the Isaac Watts hymn — 'Love so amazing, so divine, shall have my soul, my life, my all' — as the fitting doxological response to grasping Christ's representative and substitutionary work, punctuating the doctrinal exposition with worship

Love so amazing, so divine,

54:24 - 54:28 Read in full sermon