- Jesus, the Christ, died on the cross in the place of sinners – as a substitute for them.
- On the cross Jesus took upon Himself our sins and endured the separation and punishment (the penal bit) that was ours.
- And the shedding of Jesus’ blood and His death pays the price of our sin – and cancels its debt.
- Thus man and God are reconciled and the relationship is restored (atonement making amend, restoring relationship) in this one atoning act.
Now this is great, news and pretty simple to understand, or so you might think, but in fact this is a most contentious topic!
In and around there are so many areas of disagreement and much debate (so any peace Jesus brought can immediately be tossed in the bin!). I’m going to try to see what safe passage through the rocks, sirens and storms might be found. I will undoubtedly (as some will tell me) get it wrong, but hey ho, wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t would it? I have been told by some that I adopt a classic PSA stance whilst others tell me that I need to adopt exactly that whilst more still tell me I'm *!*!** (well, shouldn’t swear, should we? So we’ll merely pass that one by)!
My understanding is that sin causes separation because, to quote that great theologian and engineer, Montgomery Scott (Star Trek), ‘You can’t mix matter and anti-matter!’ Indeed, as even the Gnostics realised, God is all good and man is corrupt and flawed and because of this the two had to have a degree of separation or else – kaboom! So this is where we found ourselves separated and without any hope until Jesus decides to get down there and sort stuff out.
Now this is an important issue for I believe Jesus came as man because He saw the need and decided to do what was needed rather than found Himself merely following orders from the Father (with whom He [and the Holy Spirit] are equal) because if He didn’t then those who beat their breasts and scream about ‘cosmic child abuse’ might just have a point. So this is something we need to visit on our journey (Sent/Went).
Within this issue we come to the sticky issues of ‘satisfaction’ and ‘wrath’ because some would have it that in Jesus death on the cross ‘satisfied God’s wrath’ – now this is an area that causes some real angst because regarding ‘wrath’ and ‘God’ I have to say that I don't see God's wrath being aimed at, or poured out, on Jesus and with regard to sin have also to point you to Scotty once mor. But this does indeed highlight another issues for investigation (God/Wrath).
Some will point us to a quote from Hebrews 9.22 which tells us that:
‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’
So Jesus is sacrificed for us to atone (pay) for our sins – handy that because this fits well with the Passover and stuff we derive from there. (Pascal Lamb/Shedding of Blood).
God wants to forgive but, as some would have it, He isn’t big enough to do so without the debt caused by sin and the rift being mended – So He holds His breath until it’s sorted (and He can you know). If we are not careful we can make God just a little petty here and yet it also makes Him pretty consistent too (and I like consistent) – but it’s a consideration we need to have had and resolved I reckons (petty/legalistic/loving).
All in all as I struggle with this (and believe me, I will struggle) there is the tension between the accountant and lawyer God and the loving and compassionate God to be dealt with. Cold and calculating versus warm inclusive – Not going to be easy is it?
It will not be a quick journey because I’m going to have to read and think (aaargh) and pray (phew!) and get into all that sort of stuff that makes my head hurt before we reach a conclusion that some/may/all* will disagree with. But it will be an honest journey and if on the way it causes you pain, frustration or something else – I apologise for being unapologetic.
Pax
ps. here's a little something to start the journey:
* delete as applicable
