“The Cost Of Hope”

Monday, August 18, 2014

      Hi.  I recently renewed my faith in God, but I have a question about something I am struggling with.  I don't quite understand why Jesus was necessary… or rather, why God deemed it necessary to have Jesus die to save everyone.  Couldn't God have saved lost souls without sacrificing Jesus?  I understand that Jesus came to save souls and that as a christian, you have to believe in Him to be saved.  I guess I just don't understand why it isn't enough to love God.

Sincerely,
Perplexed

Dear Perplexed,

God sent Jesus to die on the cross, so He could be both a just God and a loving God.  If God had simply forgiven us of our sins without paying for them, He would be a liar because God says that sin is deserving of eternal death (Rom 6:23).  It wouldn’t be right for Him to simply remove our guilt without paying for it.  It would be akin to a judge letting people go free simply because he liked them – a judge like that would be corrupt.

Instead, we see that God is both just and our justifier.  Jesus’ blood pays the price of our sin (1 Jn 1:7).  There are two ways to pay for sin.  We can pay for the sin ourselves by spending eternity in hell, or God’s blood can cover the cost of sin.  The Son of God came down and gave Himself to purchase us (Acts 20:28).  Rom 3:25-26 says that God sent Jesus, so He could show that He was loving and still righteous.

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