De Jager
Puritan Board Junior
Hi guys,
I have a really fundamental question that I would love some help on. I believe that God's justice is satisfied in Christ's work. But sometimes, I wonder - how?
I have heard some people say that "Jesus pays your fine" (like Ray Comfort) so that God can "legally dismiss your case". Is that what is happening? If I were to imagine a human courtroom and there was a man on the stand who was guilty of murdering his family, and the judge said "someone in here is willing to pay your fine, so you can leave", while that would be wonderful news for that man, it would be bad news for society, because the murderer is back on the street. Now, I know that this is solved by regeneration and that God doesn't just forgive sin without changing a person from the inside out. So it is not a murderer who is let back onto the street but a changed man who loves God and neighbor.
But back to the penalty question, is it proper to look at our "wages" for sin as being like a "fine"? This seems to put in a separation between me and my sin, because my sin is part of who I am and is tied to my person. Others speak of the atonement in this way: it is as if God unlatched my sin, attached it to Christ, and unlatched his righteousness and gave it to me. However we were separate during this process. In that sense, I wonder on what legal basis this can be done.
My understanding of what happened is that in the atonement, is that God united me to Christ in his death and resurrection. So when he died, I died. When he was punished. That is, there was no imputation without union.
As you can see this is probably very basic stuff and I would appreciate some help. Ultimately the Bible makes it abundantly clear that God's justice is fully satisfied in Christ and I know He is righteous; therefore any misunderstanding is attributable to me, I will not impugn God in this. However, when the tempter asks me to question Him, I would love to be able to better answer these inner accusations and questionings.
I have a really fundamental question that I would love some help on. I believe that God's justice is satisfied in Christ's work. But sometimes, I wonder - how?
I have heard some people say that "Jesus pays your fine" (like Ray Comfort) so that God can "legally dismiss your case". Is that what is happening? If I were to imagine a human courtroom and there was a man on the stand who was guilty of murdering his family, and the judge said "someone in here is willing to pay your fine, so you can leave", while that would be wonderful news for that man, it would be bad news for society, because the murderer is back on the street. Now, I know that this is solved by regeneration and that God doesn't just forgive sin without changing a person from the inside out. So it is not a murderer who is let back onto the street but a changed man who loves God and neighbor.
But back to the penalty question, is it proper to look at our "wages" for sin as being like a "fine"? This seems to put in a separation between me and my sin, because my sin is part of who I am and is tied to my person. Others speak of the atonement in this way: it is as if God unlatched my sin, attached it to Christ, and unlatched his righteousness and gave it to me. However we were separate during this process. In that sense, I wonder on what legal basis this can be done.
My understanding of what happened is that in the atonement, is that God united me to Christ in his death and resurrection. So when he died, I died. When he was punished. That is, there was no imputation without union.
As you can see this is probably very basic stuff and I would appreciate some help. Ultimately the Bible makes it abundantly clear that God's justice is fully satisfied in Christ and I know He is righteous; therefore any misunderstanding is attributable to me, I will not impugn God in this. However, when the tempter asks me to question Him, I would love to be able to better answer these inner accusations and questionings.