Was Jesus' Death on the Cross Evidence of God's Love or His Justice?

WAS JESUS' DEATH ON THE CROSS EVIDENCE OF GOD'S LOVE OR HIS JUSTICE?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

While I acknowledge that God's condemnation stood upon Adam and his offspring on the basis of his disobedience and judgment recorded in Genesis 3 [a notion that some have disputed on the basis of Ezekiel 18], my view is that God did not merely punish Jesus as one would a condemned criminal. Punishment must be deserved by the recipient. Jesus did not deserve to die. He voluntarily took upon Him our sins as the Lamb of God. That's how John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world (John 1:29,35). This atonement was informed more by God's love than His justice.

If God was solely motivated by the appeasement of wrath and retributive justice, my view is that Jesus did not have to die at all! The sinner's condemnation and his eternal separation from God would have sufficed in line with God's warning in Genesis 2:16-17! 

It was God's unmerited love that stood out in Jesus sacrificial death on the cross and in His personal willingness in accepting to die to redeem sinners. 

We have already established that Jesus was not guilty of any sin and was therefore judicially undeserving of His death per se (2 Corinthians 5:21). In His own words, Jesus discloses that He voluntarily chose to offer His life and to pour His sinless blood for the cleansing of our sin. 

The Bible says that Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn that Jesus willingly gave His life as ransom for many (Mark 10:45). 

His dying on the cross was informed more by God's love than the satisfaction of justice, in my view. 

It was God's love that was behind Jesus' incarnate coming and His death on the cross. John 3:16-17 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." 

John 10:17-18 says "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again..."

Jesus was not compelled to die. He lovingly and willingly chose the path of the cross.

Jesus' death on the cross was evidence of God's overwhelming love that exceeded His His wrath.  

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2022