Who killed Jesus?

Sven continues his excellent look at the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and how they relate to God’s justice and our salvation.

God’s justice is not simply aligned towards the guilty perpetrators of sin, but it is also orientated towards the victims of sin… This is not the justice that is pitted against the divine desire to save, but rather it is the justice that saves. God is the Judge, but this does not simply mean that “he must punish sin.” What is does mean is that God must also undo the damage caused by sin… For his justice to be truly established, he has to go further and not only eradicate the sin, but also transform the nature of the sinner…
As our Great High Priest and the head of the human race, [Christ] turns us back to the God that we have rejected. On our behalf, he undergoes the baptism for repentance and is faithful to God in everything. Yet as one of us, he also comes under the judgment that is part of the human lot. Crucially, unlike all the human race before him, when confronted with the divine judgment, he does not rebel, he obeys… Christ does not shirk the judgment. In perfect obedience he says “Amen” and goes to his death. God has become flesh and taken his own judgment upon himself…
The reason for the judgment upon Christ is not to balance the universal equation between divine holiness and divine love, or simply because God will not tolerate sin. The judgment is simultaneously an act of love and holiness and justice because it will ultimately lead to the overthrow of sin and death, and the end of man as a sinner and the beginning of his holiness. It is a just judgment because it will put things to rights.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 09:28am on 22 June 2006
Category: Faith, Links