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study notes
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How God Solved His Own Problem *
If you ask the general public what characteristic they'd most likely attribute to God, you would probably hear the word 'Love' more than not.
This is actually Biblical, as stated in 1 John chapter 4: '...God is Love.' reference
However, if you stopped there, you wouldn't be getting the whole picture. Yes, God is love. Yet He is also Holy. Holy means pure and set apart.
If He weren't Holy, He wouldn't be God. He is also just. He is fair.
There's not a problem yet, because holiness, justice and love can coexist harmoniously in God. But then God created mankind -- and as we all know, the first man decided to sin.
The problem then is that God loves mankind -- He has a special love for man, since he was created in God's image -- but has to punish sin.
Since God is Holy [pure] and Just [fair], he cannot let sin go unpunished. In the Old Testament, God set up a system of sacrifices to atone [to make amends] for sin.
Through Jesus, He created a one-time sacrifice for all sins. He paid the price of sin through His death, and defeated sin and death by rising again to life.
So here you see that God had to punish sin with death [see Romans 6:23], but to solve that problem, He also provided the payment for it.
Our part is simply to accept the payment.
The following is an excellent explanation of the reconciliation between our sin and God's love for us. It's from a book called Growing In Grace by Bob George:
The Bible from beginning to end describes a God who loves mankind; who is forgiving, longsuffering, patient, and merciful in His dealings with our rebellious race.
However, the same Scriptures also depict a God who is perfectly holy and absolutely just, who "does not leave the guilty unpunished" (Exodus 34:7).
How can he do both? Granted that He loves man and wants to save him, how can He do so without compromising His holiness or relaxing His standards--in short, without denying Himself?
The answer lies in the word "propitiation."
Propitiation means to satisfy, or to regain favor. Jesus' death satisfied God's justice, and reconciled man to God.
To further explain this, Bob George offers the following:
If God were not love would there have been a cross? No. He would have just let men go to hell. On the other hand, if God were not just, would there have been a cross? No.
He would have just said,"Boys will be boys. I'll let it go by this time, but try to do better." Only in the pure gospel will you find God shown as He really is, as unlimited sacrificial love in perfect harmony with uncompromising justice.
For more on this topic, visit ...
Verses on Propitiation
On The Incarnation by St. Athanasius
Why God Became Man
A NOTE ON THE TITLE
This title is a figure of speech. I do not mean to say that God creates problems for Himself. He is perfect in all of His being.
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