The Problem of Forgiveness

Excerpt from The Cross of Christ, Author - John Stott


We must, therefore, hold fast to the biblical revelation of the living God who hates evil, is disgusted and angered by it, and refuses ever to come to terms with it.  In consequence, we may be sure he searched in his mercy for some way to forgive, cleanse and accept evil-doers, it was not along the road of moral compromise.  It had to be a way that was equally expressive of his love and of his wrath.  As Brunner put it, "where the idea of the wrath of God is ignored, there also will be no understanding of the central conception of the Gospel:  the uniqueness of the revelation in the Mediator.  Similarly, "only he who knows the greatness of wrath will be mastered by the greatness of mercy."


All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity.  If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it.  When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely "hell-deserving sinners," then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.


The essential background of the cross, therefore, is a balanced understanding of the gravity of sin and the majesty of God.  If we diminish either, we thereby diminish the cross.  If we reinterpret sin as a lapse instead of a rebellion and God as indulgent instead of indignant, then naturally the cross appears superfluous. But to dethrone God and enthrone ourselves not only dispenses with the cross; it also degrades both God and humans.  A biblical view of God and ourselves, however-- that is, of our sin and of God's wrath-- honors both.  It honors God by affirming him as having moral character.


So we come back to where we began this chapter, namely that forgiveness is for God the profoundest of problems.  As Bishop B. F. Westcott expressed it,  "Nothing superficially seems simpler than forgiveness," whereas "nothing if we look deeply is more mysterious or more difficult."  Sin and wrath stand in the way.  God must not only respect us as the responsible beings we are, but he must also respect himself as the holy God he is.  Before the holy God can forgive us, some kind of "satisfaction" is necessary.


(pages 110-111)