The (in)justice of the cross

1. The (in)justice of the cross Presentation to Metro Church of Christ 14 October 2018

2. It wasn’t me! The injustice of it all….

3. Innocent. Tried. Crucified.

4. A God of justice • We know that our God is one of justice, incapable of committing injustices. • Deuteronomy 32:4 • “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

5. Justice or injustice? • Jesus was perfect, sinless and innocent. • Jesus suffered and died for sins and crimes he did not commit. An apparent injustice. • Our God is a God of justice. • How do we reconcile Jesus suffering with God’s justice?

6. Facts, circumstances & knowing ‘why’ “ I killed a man”

7. Why did Jesus have to suffer and die? • Atonement concerns the means by which our sins are forgiven and by which we are reconciled to God. Most know this to be through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A fundamental concept behind many Christian religions. • There are several main and distinct models of atonement. Each has elements of truth, criticism and they can and do overlap in their scope to a considerable degree.

8. Models of atonement

9. Models of atonement • Moral Influence / Example • Ransom / Christus Victor • Satisfaction • Penal Substitution

11. Moral influence / example model • Premise: Jesus Christ’s life and death serve as inspiration to bring about moral change in humankind. • Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. • Criticisms: Does not address the divine nature of God. God’s righteousness, Jesus’ suffering and the nature of sin is mitigated.

13. Ransom / Christus Victor • Premise: Jesus gave his life as a ransom to Satan to free humankind from their bondage of sin and death and reconcile us with God. • Verses: Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:28, 1 Timothy 2:6 • Criticisms: Satan as a created being could never hold God to ransom. God does not owe anything. God’s nature would also not allow him to deceive anyone, Satan included. God does need to forgive, merely to rescue.

14. Chapter and verse – ransom theory • Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. • 1 Timothy 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

15. Satisfaction • Premise: Jesus’ suffering and death is to repay the injustice of human sin to satisfy God’s sense of justice. • Isaiah 42:21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honourable. • Criticisms: Makes the atonement not only necessary for humankind but also focuses on God’s offended honour, rather than his breached righteousness. Mitigates God’s love and grace for humankind.

17. Penal Substitution • Premise: Jesus by his own sacrificial choice is punished in the place of sinners in order to satisfy the demands of God’s justice for the sins which we have committed. • Verses: 1 Corinthians 15:3, 1 Peter 2:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21 • Criticisms: Implies that God may be subject to a greater sense of justice. Jesus is punished as a completely innocent party.

18. Chapter and verse – penal substitution • 1 Corinthians 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, • 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

19. Chapter and verse – penal substitution • 1 Peter 2:21-23 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 

20. Models of atonement

21. Justice

22. What is justice? • There are many different concepts and definitions of what justice is. • Natural Justice • Divine Justice • Retributive Justice

23. Natural justice

24. Divine justice • Justice and morality are the authoritative commands of God. • Who or what determines is just or unjust? If God says it is justice then who are we to say otherwise! God is not subject to any ethical frameworks or external forces and doesn’t issue commands to himself. God has no moral obligation to fulfil other than his own character and nature. It is necessary for God to be God and never to compromise his own holiness, righteousness or justice.

25. Retributive justice - consequentialist • Moral rightness of an action is solely determined by its results or consequences. • The key is where we end up, not how we get there. • “For the greater good” • “The ends justifies the means” • “All’s fair in love and war” • E.g. Decimation, censorship

26. “Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to get the right result.”

27. Retributive justice - consequentialist • Consequentialist theory justifies punishing innocent people if it brings about a desirable end result or consequence. • Based on this approach to justice the treatment of Jesus is justified as his suffering and death brought about a greater good for humankind in reconciling us to God. Albeit an unsavoury treatment it could be said the ends justified the means to do so. We reached the desired end point which was good, even though the means to do so was not. • However, such reasoning does not sit well with biblical content which emphasise that those guilty of sin and unreconciled to God will be punished.

29. Retributive justice - deontological • Moral rightness of an action is solely determined by the intrinsic value of the act itself. • The key is how we get there, not where we end up. • “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” • “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” • “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” • E.g. white lies

30. God punishes wrongdoing • 2 Thessalonians 1:8-98He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. • Romans 12:19 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. • Ecclesiastes 3:17 17I said to myself, “God will bring into judgmentboth the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

31. Deontological Application • Christ voluntarily took on the punishment for our sins. • Punishment and the imputation of sins to Christ.

32. Conclusion • The most contemporaneous models of atonement are weighted towards satisfying God’s justice. • There is no injustice under the concepts of divine justice, consequential justice or deontological justice. • Christ suffering in our place is as a result of his goodness and love for humankind, not a defect in his justice.