Just Yet Merciful

[Arial]

Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ---

Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, ---

Jesus went to the cross, offering himself as a sacrifice and shedding his own blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Wonderful news!

But is that where we stop in our new life in Christ?

No. If we are to grow in our understanding of and therefore love of Christ, giving all glory to him, that is where we begin.

Here is what I propose in regard to that magnificent work of Christ.

It has to do with the simplicity of God. This means that God is not made up of parts.. God is entirely unified, indivisible, and identical with his attributes. He is his attributes. Love for instance. In humans love is something we possess and that means it can fluctuate. Increase, decrease, fail.

God doesn't possess love, he is love. Therefore, it never changes. It is the same with wisdom, goodness, the omni's, justice and all of his attributes. His justice can never decrease in favor of love, nor love to decrease in favor of justice.
Anything composed of parts depends on the existence of other parts and a cause that joins those parts together. God depends on nothing outside himself. He is the self-existent source of all being.

Because God's essence is one and not divided, his love is his power is his wisdom is his justice is his holiness and so on.

Forgiveness of sin requires grace and mercy from God. Because of his simplicity justice requires that the sinner face his wrath. For him to simply say he forgives with no shedding of blood, since the life is in the blood, would be impossible for him because he would have to violate his very essence. Love/mercy would have to sacrifice justice.

So, when Jesus substituted himself on the cross, taking the penal requirement of sin upon himself, he was doing the only thing that could be done to procure redemption and only God himself, God the Son, could do it, and by becoming one of us. He made room for God to forgive, to have saving mercy, on the sinner. It is where and how, justice and mercy kissed.

Thoughts?

 

[Josheb]

Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ---

Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, ---

Jesus went to the cross, offering himself as a sacrifice and shedding his own blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Wonderful news!

But is that where we stop in our new life in Christ?

No. If we are to grow in our understanding of and therefore love of Christ, giving all glory to him, that is where we begin.

Here is what I propose in regard to that magnificent work of Christ.

It has to do with the simplicity of God. This means that God is not made up of parts.. God is entirely unified, indivisible, and identical with his attributes. He is his attributes. Love for instance. In humans love is something we possess and that means it can fluctuate. Increase, decrease, fail.

God doesn't possess love, he is love. Therefore, it never changes. It is the same with wisdom, goodness, the omni's, justice and all of his attributes. His justice can never decrease in favor of love, nor love to decrease in favor of justice.
Anything composed of parts depends on the existence of other parts and a cause that joins those parts together. God depends on nothing outside himself. He is the self-existent source of all being.

Because God's essence is one and not divided, his love is his power is his wisdom is his justice is his holiness and so on.

Forgiveness of sin requires grace and mercy from God. Because of his simplicity justice requires that the sinner face his wrath. For him to simply say he forgives with no shedding of blood, since the life is in the blood, would be impossible for him because he would have to violate his very essence. Love/mercy would have to sacrifice justice.

So, when Jesus substituted himself on the cross, taking the penal requirement of sin upon himself, he was doing the only thing that could be done to procure redemption and only God himself, God the Son, could do it, and by becoming one of us. He made room for God to forgive, to have saving mercy, on the sinner. It is where and how, justice and mercy kissed.

Thoughts?

Very well said but I think one particular point is in need of amendment.

......Because of his simplicity justice requires that the sinner face his wrath. For him to simply say he forgives with no shedding of blood, since the life is in the blood, would be impossible for him because he would have to violate his very essence.

That shedding of blood is required is not an attribute of God. It is an attribute of God's law(s), His design of creation. Ot, more accurately, His design of this creation.

God can/could create an infinite number of planets with inhabitants created to know and worship Him. God can make multiple different kinds of creatures, some with two heads or five arms, or eight eyes. He can also make a different set of moral and functional codes for each creation to live by..... each set of commands and laws an extension of His ontology, His simplicity. Therefore, a little caution should be applied to the way this creation exists when defining God.

In smaller detail, we have the Law of Moses as an example. God could have created a different set of dietary, religious, and moral laws for the Shona, or the Inuit. Some of that code probably would have been identical to all other codes but prohibitions and directives in what to eat or not eat, or how to worship or not worship may well have varied. God can make sentient creatures who procreate differently than humans so all the commands governing sexual conduct would be different. All of them would exist as a function of divine simplicity.

Then there is the prophetic nature of our scripture. All the Law/law, psalms, and prophets (as well as the history) testify to and about Jesus. Presumably, all the other codes on all the other planets that apply to all the other creatures would have similar witness. As the late great Larry Norman used to say, "If life exists on other planets, I'm sure Jesus has been there, too." The one common aspect f any such "code" would be the worship of the Creator by the creature. This is why sin, or missing the target, is not defined in our scriptures solely by obedience or compliance to the written code. Faith and righteousness exceeding the code must exist. Perfection must exist.

On top of all of this, God can also make creatures with degrees of volitional agency much different, much greater (or lesser) than that of the angels or the humans on and around this planet. The creative diversity possible creating creatures and what governs them is infinite. The requirements for justice are, therefore, not limited to the particular requirement(s) God dictated to humans (the Hebrews). The requirements for justice are specific to the particular requirement(s) God dictated to humans (the Hebrews). The design of this world is only one way divine simplicity is made known.

Love/mercy would have to sacrifice justice.

Yep. I would go even further to say love requires justice and vice versa. When correctly understood and practiced, the two are never mutually exclusive conditions and, given the possibility divine justice could always be annihilative, that should be self-evident . The only reason any law-breaker exists past his/her moment of law breaking is grace. All of it a manifestation of God's infinite nature and the character inextricably inherent to His nature.

 

[Arial]

That shedding of blood is required is not an attribute of God. It is an attribute of God's law(s), His design of creation. Ot, more accurately, His design of this creation.

In all fairness, I did not present it as an attribute of God. He is the one that says there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. So, his justice requires the shedding of blood for forgiveness.

What he "could have done instead" is always irrelevant when it comes to God.