“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
—John 3:16
All Christians have heard this verse time and time again, but sometimes familiarity can make us dull to the amazing truth of this verse… this divine grace act of God.
In His triune being, one that is expressed in three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to live as a mere man. (You can liken this act to a human being becoming like an ant – a very humbling thing.) God did this because He knew He must serve holy justice against human rebellion. When humanity rebelled against God’s authority, wanting to be our own “little gods,” this was an offense against Him, the Creator of it all. And because of who God is, the offense must be punished.
Complainers
Lots of complaints about this abound. Without a fuller understanding of the theological concepts within this act of divine incarnation, some question why God must punish? All of those Old Testament practices, where the Jews had to kill animals as a sacrifice for sin, seem unnecessary and downright cruel. Why couldn’t God just let us go without setting up blood sacrifices? Worse yet, why did God end up allowing His own son to be killed, as the final sacrifice for sin? That seems really harsh!
Theological Point
Here’s the thing — God is holy…. so holy that sin must be punished. God cannot do otherwise because of who He is: the Moral Lawmaker. And it’s important to understand that justice is a mode of holiness. God cannot go against His own nature of holiness.
What would happen if our earthly judges decided not to punish offenders? Murderers, thieves, and all sorts of criminals would go free, and most likely continue to wreak havoc on society. It would be utter chaos. We would not want that to happen because we want justice!
Justice is that sense of right and wrong we all have inside us, put there by our Creator. If we have this sense of justice, how much more does God have it? This holy justice, where God takes our sin upon Himself in the person of Jesus, is called “Retributive Justice.” It’s not like vengeance. Unlike revenge, retribution is directed only at the wrongs. It involves no pleasure of the suffering of others. A penalty must either be inflicted on the transgressor, personally, or on a substitute, vicariously.
Another Theological Point
God became our substitute, suffering for us because He loves us enough to take it. And punishing sin as a form of purification, or ridding the world of evil. And because life is in the blood, it was blood that had to be shed as the penalty.
God’s own blood was shed for the entire human race for all time. Only His blood could pay that kind of price. Only God has that kind of power, that kind of purity, that kind of forgiveness. Only God is big enough to cover the sins of the world.
God’s sacrifice is a gift to be received by faith because God is love and love gives.
Think Divinely: The most amazing thing God has ever done
for us is to become our substitute and to pay for a crime that
He did not commit.
Wonderful explanation of the Justice and Holiness of God! Thank you , Lisa
Thanks, Michelle! God bless you
LIsa, I appreciated your post and your explanations of some key theological points. I think you are right on about how “ll Christians have heard this verse time and time again, but sometimes familiarity can make us dull to the amazing truth of this verse… this divine grace act of God.” We can become quite complacent about God’s love and forget the amazing act of love and grace and sacrifice that took place on the Cross. It is almost as though we have watered down the word “love” and it has earthy interpretations like happiness, happy ever after, romantic love etc. This misses the fact God’s agape love includes his mighty power, justice, holiness. A much bigger, broader, deeper type of love. A divine love.
Thanks, Anne. Love is definitely being re-defined today to mean something, I believe, God never intended. It’s good to go back to see the best definition of love I’ve ever read in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. That about sums it up! Bless you!
I really love this explanation; the problem of evil is a major reason I rejected God for so many years. I pray this post impacts many; I’m sharing it. Thanks!
I am SO happy to hear you are no longer rejecting God but have found trust in Him. God is good and deserves our trust, but it does take a bit of thinking things through, at times, in order to see His goodness amidst a dark and often evil culture. May the light shine even brighter in the darkness! Bless you.
So thoughtfully and clearly explained! Well done, Lisa! It is never easy to tackle the subject of God’s holiness and justice, carried out through His judgments. I also try to remember how would I like it if evil went unchecked? If my family was hurt or robbed? How much more does God require absolute justice? I wrote an article that covers many of these same topics but from another angle. “The blood of Jesus speaks a better word.” The Holy Spirit was echoing in our hearts with a similar theme this week. Speak, oh God! And may we listen. Thank you for thinking and writing about the difficult things. God bless!
Thank you, Melissa. You are an excellent Christian thinker/writer and I appreciate your work, too!
John 3:16 is the first Scripture my Daddy taught me when I was a young girl. We sat on the living room floor, opened the Bible and Daddy read the Scripture to me. People have used this Scripture in many ways. I am thankful to know His Word and the true meaning.
What a lovely memory of your Dad! God bless you, Melissa.
I love this. I find it so amazing that God gave us chance after chance, and then He chose to have Word become flesh in the form of His son, Jesus, who lived as a man, died for our sins, and gave us the path to eternity. I am so grateful for this!
I am so grateful, too! God bless you, Jessica.
Thank you for sharing, this is a pure sacrificial love.
Thanks, Carrie! I appreciate you stopping by. God bless you!
I thank God every day for his numerous chances He gives us!
Amen! He death for my sins is so hard to understand the why but I am beyond grateful. Thank you Jesus for correcting me and for dying so I might live.
God bless you Lisa for sharing His truth, His LOVE with us. Wonderful reminder!
Thanks for your comment. God bless you, Teedra!