Word of the Week

Jesus’ Atoning Work on the Cross

As we enter Jesus’ Passion on our calendars celebrating Palm Sunday, March 29 and Easter, April 5, let’s remember what Jesus did when he went to the cross.

On more occasions than I can count I have uttered the sentence, “Jesus died for our sins.” That Jesus died for our sins is the crux of the gospel. The glory of that sentence, “Jesus died for our sins” is even more meaningful than we often imagine. Jesus’ death atoned for our sins.

The atonement is a theological term meaning the satisfaction of divine justice in Jesus’ act of obedience on the cross.

Theological liberalism is embarrassed by the concept of divine wrath against sin and has avoided a theologically robust definition of the atonement. As Christians, we must grasp the truth of the atonement to better understand the glory of our salvation.

The Bible teaches the penal substitutionary view of the atonement. Don’t be intimidated by these terms. Penal means that we are sinful, and that our sins deserve punishment. Substitutionary means that Jesus took our place when he atoned for our sins by taking the punishment we deserve.

In his excellent book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott underscored the importance of this doctrine.

All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge that we are, namely “hell-deserving sinners,” then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.

Stott, Cross, 111

The biblical doctrine of the atonement reminds us of three staggering truths that are deeper than we will ever fully grasp this side of eternity.

  1. God is more holy than we imagine.
  2. We are more sinful than we think.
  3. Jesus loves us more deeply than we deserve.

Only a grasp of what Jesus did on the cross—the doctrine of substitutionary atonement—can prevent spiritual distortions. . . . Only this doctrine keeps us from thinking God is mainly holy with some love or mainly loving with some holiness—but instead [he] is both holy and loving equally, interdependently. Only this view of God makes the spoiled or the neglected into the healthy and the loved.

Tim Keller

The atonement emphasizes God’s wrath against sin. The Bible is full of divine judgment against sin. From Adam and Eve being kicked out of the Garden, to the flood, to the plagues on Egypt, to the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, to the judgments and exiles upon Israel, to the cross, and through to the judgments described in the book of Revelation, the Bible is a book that declares judgment. Why does God judge so often? Well, God is supremely holy. He is more holy than we can imagine, and his standard for humanity is absolute perfection and holiness.

The other reason the Bible describes God’s judgments so often is that we are sinful. We are more sinful than we’d like to admit. Our motivations, desires, and longings are sinful. Our actions and dreams and words and ways are sinful. We are sinful.

Our sin deserves judgment. Thus, the cross and the penal substitutionary atonement. Jesus took our place, received in his body the punishment for our sins, and satisfied God’s wrath against sin (penal substitutionary atonement). Jesus’ death on the cross shouts loudly the staggering love of God for sinners.

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.‘

Stott, Cross, 91.

What do we do with this glorious theological truth?

  • Meditate on the holiness of God.
  • Thank God for sending Jesus to take your place.
  • Worship God for the depth of his love.
  • Love God because he so loved you.
  • Follow Christ with your life because this is the only appropriate response to the atonement.

Photo by Luis Vidal on Unsplash

Word of the Week: Creator

Where did you come from? I’m not asking where you’re from in the sense of the place of your birth/family history. Rather, I’m asking, “Where did humanity come from?” Are we products of evolutionary naturalism? Were we created? Does the biblical picture of creation as detailed in Genesis detail where we are from? Are our ancient ancestors from Africa 200,000 years ago?

These questions intersect philosophically, theologically, scientifically, and anthropologically. We might be tempted to leave these discussions to the academics and philosophers. However, as followers of Jesus, our faith literally begins with creation. Not only does the Bible begin with the creation narrative, but faith in God finds its root in the doctrine of creation. The book of Psalms highlights the Lord as Creator (Ps. 8, 19, 24 just to name a few). When Paul preaches to polytheists and philosophers at Athens, he begins with the Lord as Creator (Acts 17:24).

As we continue these posts on the doctrine of God, we’re going to spend a couple of weeks answering questions about creation. God as Creator forms the foundation for our faith.

Question # 1—Why the doctrine of creation? 

Answer: We must explore the doctrine of creation and seek to know the Lord as Creator because every worldview must answer the question of origin.

The Bible teaches that before creation, only God existed and that God created ex nihilo—out of nothing. The Hebrew word bara means “create.” It is a technical term that is reserved specifically for God’s act of creating. It is used 50 times in OT, and God is always the subject of the verb “create.”

Nearly every worldview has an origin story, and every worldview (for it to be valid) must account for the origin of the universe.

In his book, Genesis in Space and Time, Francis Schaeffer summarizes the 4 options regarding origins:

  • “Once there was absolutely nothing, and now there is something.” This is not really a serious answer and has not been held by philosophers over the years.
  • “Everything began with an impersonal something.” This answer leaves no room for personality to exist in the universe. As such, it is a view that falls staggeringly short of experiential reality.
  • “Everything began with a personal something.” This is the only explanation that accords with reality—human personality and the universe as we know it. This is also what is tacitly observed in many of the ancient creation accounts—why people have almost always subscribed to gods. However, when getting behind those worldviews, only biblical, Trinitarian Christianity answers the why and what questions behind creation. Only biblical Christianity as a worldview sufficiently explains the intrinsic nature of love and communication. 
  • “There is and always has been a dualism.” This answer falls apart when we press the dualism on the specific interactions between the competing tensions like: Yin/Yang; ideas/matter; or brain and mind. Dualistic answers tend to lean toward one end or the other and fail to articulate a way forward together. (Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time, 10-11).

Schaeffer, correctly I believe, leaves us with a personal Creator. The Bible tells us that this personal Creator spoke the world into existence ex nihilo.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Genesis 1:1

Question # 2—Why the biblical creation account when there are other creation narratives? A common criticism of the Bible’s claim is: “There are numerous creation myths, and they cannot be literally true.”  

Answer: The biblical creation account in Genesis is unique in the accounts found in history and worldview. 

Creation by Yahweh is unique in the ancient creation stories. God announced in history and by revelation his claim upon all. In contrast other creation narratives allude to strife between deities, chaos, and disaster that result in the creation of the world (Michael Horton, The Christian Faith, 325).

Yes, there are dozens of other creation narratives, and not all of them can be true. But just because many are not true, does not mean one cannot be true. What one must do is evaluate the claims. The violence of the Egyptian narrative where gods like Typhon kill the fertility god, Osiris only to have him resurrected stretch the imagination. Intra-deity violence is also present in the Indian creation account as well as the Greco-Roman and Babylonian accounts (Horton, The Christian Faith, 325).

Reading Genesis 1-2 sounds tame and matter-of-fact in comparison. This is the point. The biblical account is certainly miraculous, but it is also straightforward. It is written, not to defend God, but to declare him.

Question # 3—Why does it matter what we believe about creation? 

Answer: It matters what we believe about creation because where the story begins determines how the story can finish. 

If the universe was not created, then how did it come about? Genesis assumes God’s existence and thus points us to a God who can be known and worshiped.

To have a worldview that ends with hope and assurance, one must have a framework that accounts for it. If one’s worldview begins with an origin narrative that does not account for morality, love, hope, relationship, peace, fulfillment, purpose, or eternity, then those very normal human longings remain unfulfilled. Personally, I believe one of the main reasons why our world is so full of chaos, disruption, and destruction is simply because we have rejected what God made known to us through creation.

As I was driving into the office today, I saw the most beautiful sunrise. The clouds had a deep almost purplish gray. The sun was shining behind the clouds with hues of orange, pink, and deep peach. It was art. It was a work of art that humans can only hope to imitate. The biblical doctrine of creation accounts for this beauty. The scene led me to worship. And that is the primary reason for the biblical doctrine of creation. God the Creator is worthy of our worship.

For today, look at creation and pause to worship the Creator.

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash