Was The Cross Really Necessary for Forgiveness?

God doesn’t just forgive because sin is all too real. That Jesus would go to the cross is a demonstration of the dreadfulness of sin. We have a sense within us that we are worth saving because we are made in the image of God. But when we are honest, we know our sin is deep. We certainly know the sin of others is deep. Our wrath at sin is only a small echo of God’s wrath. If God merely forgave, nothing in us would change. We would be like this forever. That would be a horror story for sure.

This question is best answered by considering it from God’s perspec- tive. He created a perfect environment for Adam and Eve. He loved them and provided everything for them. The Serpent provoked them to make their own judgments about things rather than trust God and his direc- tion. They refused God’s authority, putting themselves in his place as their own gods. If God had simply forgiven them, he would have vindi- cated them as sinners and accepted Satan as an equal.

Furthermore, God would be endorsing evil by passively accepting it. Simple forgiveness seems merciful at first. However, what it really does is give God’s blessing to Satan and evil by approving such things as rape and murder. Because God is just, he must distinguish between good and evil by promoting the former and opposing the latter. Mere forgiveness would destroy God’s holiness, justice, and righteousness by not distinguishing between good and evil. Because God is good, he cannot approve of or ignore sin and its consequences.

Basically, the debt of sin must be paid, or evil is vindicated. That debt is paid either by the sinner in the torments of eternal hell or by our eternal God Jesus Christ dying on the cross in our place for our sins.

The great reformer Martin Luther put it well: “Since [Jesus Christ] became a substitute for us all, and took upon himself our sins, that he might bear God’s terrible wrath against sin and expiate our guilt, he necessarily felt the sin of the whole world, together with the entire wrath of God, and afterwards the agony of death on account of this sin.”

The cross demonstrates the loving desire of God to forgive and heal. When God was confronted with the first sin of humanity, he was really angry. But instead of destroying everyone and everything he had made and being done with us forever, God called to Adam and Eve, promised that Jesus their Messiah was coming, and mercifully made coverings for their shame (Genesis 3).

This desire to heal and forgive with compassion, grace, and total justice comes together only at the cross. James Denney put this very suc- cinctly: “Nothing else in the world demonstrates how real is God’s love to the sinful, and how real the sin of the world is to God.”

God “just did it” by providing the full solution in his death and res- urrection. Will you “just do it” and receive his gift of eternal life?

- Mark Driscoll, Death by Love: Letters from the Cross (Re:Lit), 119, 120