Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God our Father:
Read Chapter 1
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
For when the human race was held in the dominion of the devil, the Savior offered himself to the willing devil, so that deceiving him by the power of his virtue— for the devil wanted to take possession of one whom he was unable to hold—he could carry off those whom the devil was detaining by a false right. .
Now Christ by atoning for our transgressions not only gave us life but also made us his own, so that we might be called children of God, made so through faith. What a great error it is, therefore, to go under the law again after receiving grace. .
Who gave Himself.—to be an expiatory victim for an atonement, and to the death of the Cross, that He might pay the price of our redemption.
For our sins. "Righteousness Himself," says S. Jerome, "gave Himself, that He might destroy the unrighteousness in us; Wisdom gave Himself to undo our foolishness; Holiness and Fortitude offered Himself, that He might blot out our uncleanness and weakness."
From this present evil world. Why does he call the world evil? The Manichæans reply: Because the world is material, it is evil and the creation of the devil. But this is a foolish reply. The evil world is worldly and carnal life and conversation, such as this world lives, and such as it invites us to; and worldly men are such as by hook or by crook hunt after the goods of this world only—riches, honours, and pleasures. The figure of speech here is a metonymy; the world is put for those who are in, or who are coming into the world. "The whole world lieth in wickedness. Not that the world itself...
Neither did the Son give himself without the Father’s will, nor did the Father give up the Son without the Son’s will…. The Son gave himself, that he himself, as righteousness, might do away with the unrighteousness in us. Wisdom gave itself that it might oust foolishness. .
Who gave himself for our sins.
Thus it appears, that the ministry which He undertook was free and uncompelled; that He was delivered up by Himself, not by another. Let not therefore the words of John, that the Father gave His only-begotten Son John 3:16 for us, lead you to derogate from the dignity of the Only-begotten, or to infer therefrom that He is only human. For the Father is said to have given Him, not as implying that the Son's ministry was a servile one, but to teach us that it seemed good to the Father, as Paul too has shown in the immediate context: according to the will of our God, and Father. He says not by the command, but according to the will, for inasmuch as there is an unity of will in the Father and the Son, that which the Son wills, the Father wills also.
For our sins, says the Apostle; we had pierced ourselves with ten thousand evils, and had deserved the gravest punishment; and the Law not only did not deliver us, but it even condemned us, making sin more ma...
Since they thought that they were disobeying God, as the giver of the law, and were afraid to forsake the old and pass to the new, he corrects this reasoning of theirs, saying that this also pleased the Father. And he said not simply “of the Father” but “of your Father.” He adds this immediately, exhorting them by showing that Christ made his Father our Father.
We have incurred innumerable evils, and have become responsible for the last punishment; for the law not only has not led anyone to reconciliation, but, to condemnation, and besides, it is incapable of emancipating anyone, or putting an end to God’s wrath, when it reveals sin; whereas the Son of God, not only has made possible what was impossible, but also has remitted sins and has placed enemies to the position of friends.
