Three Streams

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:21-26) E.S.V.

“It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26) E.S.V.

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Heb. 2:17) E.S.V.

God’s wrath had to be pacified. That may be hard for us to accept but it’s true. Both Old and New Testaments teach blood atonement. In O.T. times a guilt offering had to be made for the sins of the people.(Lev.4:1-6:7;16:1-34)

I really don’t think most Christians (Including Myself) understand just how much Adam’s sin affected the human race. For God to be a God of justice the sins of mankind had to be judged. Only the Virgin born … Sinless … God-Man, could pay our sin debt once for all. No more animal sacrifices … our debt has been paid in full. When Jesus said it is finished … it was finished!(John 19:30)

Jesus absorbed God’s wrath, in his penal substitutionary atonement, he paid our sin debt and satisfied God’s wrath against us. So now all who trust in and believe on him can stand before Almighty God justified. It’s like being guilty of murder and the Judge declaring you … Not guilty! And this was God’s plan before the foundation of the world … it pleased God to crush Him!(Is.53:10)

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6) E.S.V.

The death of Jesus on the cross was not Divine Child abuse, it was the ultimate act of love! (John 3:16)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10) E.S.V.

Here are some helpful definitions from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology:

Penal Substitution: The view that Christ in his death bore the just penalty of God for our sins as a substitute for us.

Propitiation: A sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us to favor.

Justification: An instantaneous legal act of God in which he
(1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.

Bobby