The Perfect Love and Justice of God “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26 (NIV) In this passage have the solution to one of the most vexing questions related to our sin. How can God forgive sinners without violating his holy and just character. God revealed himself as one who does not allow the guilty to go unpunished. (Nahum 1:3) Imagine if one of our criminal court judges made a new years’ resolution in 2014, committing to never punish another convicted criminal, but instead to allow everyone to go free. Would we commend him for his merciful, forgiving nature? I don’t think so. The public would be outraged, and rightfully so because he is responsible to uphold justice. Being perfectly righteous, God is absolutely opposed to sin and will not turn away blindly from injustice; it is also part of the nature of God to love sinners and to offer them mercy and forgiveness. Only through the cross could God be faithful to both aspects of his being; his holy justice and his gracious love. C.E.B. Cranfield, commenting on this passage wrote, “We take it that what Paul’s statement that God purposed Christ as a propitiatory victim means is that God, because in His mercy He willed to forgive sinful men and, being truly merciful, willed to forgive them righteously, that is, without in any way condoning their sin, purposed to direct against His own very Self in the person of His Son the full weight of that righteous wrath which they deserved. “(A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. 2 vols. Edinburgh: T & T Clark; vol. 1, 1975, p. 217.) Some have mischaracterized this revelation of scripture as “cosmic child abuse” as if God takes out his anger on his own Son instead of us.” This betrays a failure to recognize the divine-human nature of Jesus. This is not an act of the Father punishing someone else, namely His Son. The father and Son are one so this is God taking upon himself the punishment we deserve. What we are talking about is the SELF-SACRIFICE and SELF-SUBSTITUTION OF GOD. “At the cross, in holy love, God, through Christ, paid the full penalty of our disobedience Himself. He bore the judgment we deserve in order to bring us the forgiveness we do not deserve. On the cross divine mercy and justice were equally expressed and eternally reconciled. God’s holy love was ‘satisfied’.” - John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ ( Downers Grove: IVP, 2006), pg. 91. APPLICATION: A proper understanding of God’s amazing grace is founded upon a proper understanding of the depths of our sinful, rebellious character and the hopelessness of our corrupt condition save for the sacrifice of Christ. When we understand that we deserved God’s wrath and condemnation, but have instead received mercy and adoption; and all of this as the result of God, in the person of His Son, suffering horribly in our place; then we will find ourselves shouting from the rooftops, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” ( 1 John 3:1 NIV)
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 12:18:15 +0000
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