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A sinner who pays the penalty of his own sins has no claim upon life. He is finished.
The sacrifices offered under the old covenant were substitutes for the sinner, but their
efficacy was in the fact that they pointed on to a better sacrifice. The penalty was
inflicted, death endured, the blood shed, but where was the possibility of life? Were any
of the bulls and goats ever raised from the dead? There is something deeper and fuller
even than substitution, and that is identification, and it is in this blessed relationship that
Christ is seen as the Surety, Whose sacrifice for sin is the only one that could put away
sin, and Whose resurrection from the dead alone gives to those identified with Him the
hope of glory.
In Hebrews Christ is seen as the Surety of the better covenant. Although the word
"surety" is not used in Ephesians and Colossians, we hope to show that every passage
that speaks of dying "with Christ" or being raised "with Christ" passes beyond the
thought of sacrifice and substitution to that fullest and closest of all relationships
expressed by the titles of the Kinsman-Redeemer and Surety.
The meaning of the word.
The word translated "surety" in the O.T. is the Hebrew word arab, which in the form
arabon is brought over into the N.T. Greek, occurring in Eph. 1: 14 as "earnest". This
word corresponds with "pledge" in Gen. 38: 17, 18: "Wilt thou give me a pledge till
thou send it?" The root idea appears to be that of mixing or mingling:--
"A mixed multitude" (Margin a great mixture) (Exod. 12: 38).
"The holy seed have mingled themselves" (Ezra 9: 2).
"A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy" (Prov. 14: 10).
"In the warp, or woof" (Lev. 13: 48).
Arising out of this idea of mixing and interweaving comes that of the surety, who is so
intimately associated with the obligations laid upon the one for whom he acts that he can
be treated in his stead. So we get:--
"Thy servant became surety for the lad" (Gen. 44: 32).
"He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it" (Prov. 11: 15).
"We have mortgaged our lands" (Neh. 5: 3).
"Give pledges to my lord the king" (II Kings 18: 23).
In Ezek. 27: 9, 27 we find the word translated "occupy" in the sense of exchange
or bartering. In a way we understand the expression, "Occupy, till I come", and still
speak of man's trade as his "occupation".
Such is the underlying meaning of the word "surety"--one who identifies himself
with another in order to bring about deliverance from obligations. This is clearly seen
in Prov. 22: 26, 27: "Be not thou one of those that strike hands, or of them that are
sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from
under thee?" It is evident from this passage that the surety was held liable for the debts
of the one whose cause he had espoused, even to the loss of his bed--and this meant