Steve,
My son asked me a question that I do I need help answering: If God is loving and all knowing and powerful why did it take a human sacrifice to forgive mankind? Why couldn't He just say that all is forgiven? I will be working on my own reply but I would really appreciate your input too. Thank you for any help you can give.
Sincerely,
Shiela
Hi Shiela,
This question has been debated by theologians for centuries. It involves the nature of the atonement, and exactly what was intended and accomplished by Christ's death. Several views have been championed by different parties through the years.
Some speak of the atonement as paying a price for something that was damaged, while others say it was a satisfaction of justice, the scales of which could not be balanced by any other means. Some believe that the death of Christ was not so much to make forgiveness possible as to defeat Satan and set us free from his power. All of these views have some scripture in their support, though all of them leave some things unexplained.
What we can say with certainty is that it did not require Jesus' death to turn God to our side. On the contrary, it was because God was already on our side that He sent Jesus to die (John 3:16; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10). There was no reluctance on the part of God to forgive, since it was He who freely offered the sacrifice to close the gap.
Exactly how the sacrifice actually closed the gap may, possibly, remain a mystery that only God fully understands, but it clearly was necessary for some reason, or else Christ should not have suffered so much for that which could as well have been achieved at less expense. Thus, we know that Christ's death was necessary for full reconciliation to take place, but that it was not due to any reluctance on God's part to forgive. Rather, it was His unilateral decision to forgive that induced Him to make the necessary sacrifice.
Blessings!
Steve Gregg