Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Matthew 27:35 Then they crucified Him,
Mark 15:24 And when they crucified Him,
Luke 23:33 there they crucified Him,
John 19:18 where they crucified Him,
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? -- SEPARATE
Christ's crucifixion means that God has no part whatsoever in sin.
Modern theologians try to differentiate between the various aspects of God's nature. Many of them believe that God's essence is love and everything else is only a part of who He is. The Bible teaches us something very different. Lutheran scholars use the term "simple." That might seem to be a very strange word for God but it is, properly understood, a very good description of God. It is the description that God Himself uses when He says, "I am what I am." (Exodus 3:14).
All created things have an essence and often also various aspects of that essence -- as well as many other things added on. Like a space station, there is the original and then all the little additions. Thus created things are complex. There is not one thing that defines them absolutely -- and whatever you use to define them is only part of what they are. God on the other hand is what He is. You cannot dissect Him. You cannot divide Him. Whatever is a part of Him is all of Him. Any aspect of Him defines Him completely. He is love and He is completely love, at the same time He is just and He is completely just. He is not more just than He is love and He is not more love than He is just. He is not more mercy than He is angry with sin. Whatever He is, He is fully. And whatever He is not has no part in Him at all.
In the crucifixion we see that God is not sin. And not being sin, He has no part whatsoever in sin. He repels it more fully than opposite sides of a magnet. And He repels it no matter which direction He faces. God and sin are completely incompatible and cannot be mixed even in the smallest degree. And so -- in a halting way -- the great mystery of divine love and justice in action at the cross: Jesus Christ, God and man, takes upon Himself our sin. He does this so completely that the Bible says "He was made to be sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of this, Jesus was completely and absolutely separated from God the Father as he hung on the cross. He was forsaken (Matthew 27:46). As a result we who really are sinful are not separated from God, but through faith in Christ "become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
