By Jon Topping | December 14th, 2024
I’ve been asked many times (especially by Muslims), if God can do anything He wants, why can’t He just forgive people? Why does Jesus need to die in order for God to forgive people? This is a great question, because it goes right to the heart of what Christianity is all about, and the entire purpose for Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection.
Suppose a murderer kills some people, then the police track them down, and finally arrest them. In court, the family of one of the victims makes a public declaration that they forgive the murderer. This is a very touching moment, and brings a tear to many people’s eyes in the courtroom. Caught up in the moment, the judge then says, “you know what, in this spirit of forgiveness, the government forgives you too!” And the murderer is allowed to go free, without any punishment whatsoever. Why is it that the family of the victim forgiving the murderer seems okay, but the judge forgiving him is not? It’s because personal forgiveness is a virtuous quality, but when the forgiveness is coming from an authority that is supposed to enact justice, it is no longer a good thing. In fact, it becomes a bad thing. It becomes injustice.
What Scripture tells us in different places is that God is a just judge. He oversees humanity, and in the end of all things, everything will be laid bare, and there will be justice. Humanity has chosen to rebel and dive head first into wickedness. If God simply let that slide without consequence, that would actually be a bad thing. Not only would it be immoral on His part, and unjust, but it would lead to terrible results.
However, God still loves us, and wants to save us from the punishment we already deserve. It’s not that God is just itching to destroy us, on the contrary, God doesn’t want to destroy us, but He knows that’s what we deserve (2 Peter 3:9). So, because of His love for us, God wants to find a way to enact justice, and yet save us from the fate we have brought upon ourselves. So, God became human, in Jesus Christ, in order to become guilty with humanity, and to represent humanity in the cosmic legal battle over sin. In other words, Jesus actually had to become human, in order for us to be forgiven. Humans have sinned, and so humanity needs to pay the price of its sins. So, Jesus then comes, and represents us all, as our leader, or head, or as Scripture puts it, our “Lord”. By being Lord over us, and representing us, He can take the punishment that we deserve. By doing this, justice is fulfilled, and yet God’s love saves us.
Note, this is only true if you allow Jesus to represent you. This is why Christians will say things like, “is Jesus Christ your Lord and savior?” Because, if you don’t submit to Jesus as your Lord, then He does not represent you, and your sins are not paid for. Therefore, you will still be held accountable for your sins, and must be punished, in order for justice to be met out. But God does not want that to happen, which is why Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins on the cross. It’s up to you whether you submit to that and accept Christ as Lord, or remain in your sins and pay the price for them yourself.
Jon Topping is a speaker with Engage International and is based out of Canada.
