"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:25-26
It is true that God is good, but it would have been morally inconsistent with His justice to exercise His goodness without judging sin; His justice demands that the soul that sins shall die, this, His goodness would not upturn. It would have been inconsistent with His just nature to forgive sin that has not been punished, but if He punished sin in the sinner, then, there will be no place left for forgiveness.
The necessity of the atonement derived from the justice of God, even though it rested on the love of God. When Adam sinned, what was in the fore was the justice of God, not necessarily the love of God. His law had been violated, therefore, His justice must be satisfied. God is righteous, and He would only do right, and the right thing to do in the face of the violation of His law was to punish man for sin.
To
deal with sin in any other way would violate His righteousness. To
forgive sin, sin must be punished, but if sin is punished in the sinner,
he will be lost forever, therefore, a substitute must be found who is
without sin. To show His kindness to the sinner, God's justice would
first have to be satisfied, and this was possible only through the
sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. And this, He did for the
undeserving. Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. "Once I was
lost..." The song of the ages.
Toni
Toni
