I am often amazed by some authors' ability to articulate Christian truth with such clarity, conciseness, and power so as to leave one unable to be unaffected. This can be nothing less than a gift of God. John R. W. Stott is one such author. Consider this quote from The Cross of Christ on satisfaction through substitution:
“…it is the Judge who himself in holy love assumed the role of the innocent victim, for in and through the person of his Son he himself bore the penalty which he himself inflicted. As Dale put it, ‘the mysterious unity of the Father and Son rendered it possible for God at once to endure and inflict penal suffering’. There is neither harsh injustice nor unprincipled love nor Christological heresy in that; there is only unfathomable mercy. For in order to save us in such a way so as to satisfy himself, God through Christ substituted himself for us. Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy.” (159)
Divine love love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. That is how to wield a sledge-hammer!
That is an awesome quote. The idea that only God can correctly reconcile his own attributes and requirements with one another again reminds me that I can't really make any of those calls. Thanks for your faithful blog entries.
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