There are two attributes of God that are seemingly in conflict with each other: His righteousness and His compassion.
Righteousness
No one is truly righteous, as God is righteous.
What is righteousness, you may ask? It is the ability to be right, not wrong; good, not evil. It also speaks to doing right, not wrong.
When we look to God’s righteousness, we must realize that He is the standard of what is right. He, along with His words and actions are the very definition of goodness, righteousness, and justice.
Because He is the standard of what is right, just and good, and because He is the Master of all creation, He is the Judge of our actions and nature. It is His righteousness that demands that all evil be punished. He never violates His own essence, so He never violates His righteousness. God cannot do anything that is not completely righteous. It just isn’t in Him.
Compassion
Compassion is love. It’s mercy and grace. We humans are able to show compassion for each other, but only so far. God is not just compassionate; He is compassion. He is the very Source from Whom all compassion flows. And because He is infinite and eternal, His compassion is infinite and eternal as well.
It is His compassion for us that drives His desire for a close, personal relationship with each and every one of us. He really does love you, as an individual. He really does want to have an intimate, loving relationship with you.
His righteousness and compassion together give Him the attribute that we refer to as His Omnibenevolence (complete goodness). So, these two essences are like two sides of the same coin.
The Problem
When God made mankind, they had no evil in them at all, and He declared them as “good”. Because of this, God and man shared a very loving relationship. There was nothing that got in the way of their love for each other. The reason that mankind’s love for God had value is because man had the ability to turn from God and disobey Him.
Unfortunately, mankind committed an act of evil: they acted against God’s instructions, which were set in place for man’s protection. This meant that mankind became a race that requires God’s justice to be administered against them. And since the first two people (the parents of mankind) were evil, their children inherited their evil nature as well (like DNA). And just as DNA is an irrevocable essence of our existence, so too is this inherited corruption (that we have from our conception) something that cannot be removed from us.
Also, because God’s righteousness is so powerful and absolute, anything or anyone that is not completely, perfectly good cannot exist in His presence. The very slightest speck of evil that is brought close to Him will just disintegrate before it even gets close to him. Think of water being brought close to the sun; the closer it gets, the less likely its existence. This makes our having a relationship in His presence an absolute impossibility – unless something is done about our evil nature. So we are now stuck in an existence that cannot be sustained in the presence of our Creator, Who greatly desires for us to be near Him.
On the one hand, God’s righteousness demands justice; on the other, God’s compassion desires pardon. What can God do? He is stuck between an essence of complete righteousness and one of utter love. To just let man skate for their evil ways cannot be done. If He could let us escape the consequences of our evil nature, He wouldn’t be righteous (never mind the fact that we would not be able to exist near Him in this fallen state).
Further, if the Creator had simply punished the first two people for that first act of disobedience, then they would have inevitably disobeyed Him again (and again, and again…) and their offspring would have done the same, and there would have been this seemingly endless cycle of disobedience and punishment. That doesn’t sound like a great relationship to me. I like how the Creator simply said something to the effect of, “Alright, now that you have sinned against me, I’m going to bring death into the world and upon you.” Then He allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do. He set things up for a permanent solution and then freed Himself and us from a rollercoaster of punishment and reinstatement. After all, why sweat each and every instance of disobedience when a single, one-time solution will do?
The Solution
God’s way of handling this dilemma is quite ingenious. He wasn’t caught off guard by man’s rebellion because God has always known all things. He knew all along what would happen, even before He made man.
The plan, all along, was for Him to become a human and receive His own punishment in place of the humans. Why not just punish the humans? Because they would not survive the punishment; it would just obliterate them. He had to take the fall for us because He would be able to get back up again, where we would not. In so doing, He satisfied His requirement for making mankind pay for their evil, and He lovingly maintained His relationship with them. He found the balance He needed.
This solution is sufficient for all mankind, regardless of the degree of evil that they have. However, it is only sufficient for those who will accept it – those who want to continue in the loving relationship with God.
Because God is gentle and kind, He would never force Himself (or His solution) upon anyone. Therefore, it is up to each individual whether or not they accept His solution for their problem. There is no other means given to us that will make us “right” with our Creator. Just as no amount of human effort or any degree of human emotion can remove our DNA from our bodies and still keep us intact, there is no other way to solve this problem – especially anything that requires human effort. This truth alone completely destroys any attempt of mankind (through religion, philosophy, science, or any other means) to mend our relationship with our Creator.
Of course, the solution is pinned to the cross of Jesus Christ (God in Human Flesh).
The Offer
God has made it clear that if you want His payment of your penalty to count for you it can. All you have to do is seek, ask, and receive.
Seek His love. Desire a relationship with Him. Desire to be righteous, as He is righteous. Admit that you have an evil nature within you. Admit that He is the Creator, the Master, the Perfect One.
Ask Him for His payment to count for your transgressions against His righteousness. Recognize that His atonement is sufficient for every wrong thing you’ve ever done in this life. Recognize that His solution is the only thing that can be effective to restore our relationship with Him.
Receive His forgiveness and love. And give love back to him. Give yourself over to Him. Allow Him to be your absolute Master in all aspects of your life. From the point of this acceptance on, work closely with Him in a cooperative manner to fight against your own evil attitudes, thoughts, feelings, actions, and words. Allow Him to show you how to live in a way that brings honor to Him and love to the world.
That’s what it’s all about. The whole meaning of life is to enter into a loving relationship with your Creator (and thereby, each other). Since He has provided the means to do this, there’s no excuse for not taking the opportunity and acting upon it. Do it now.
To try and escape His justice by any other means is going to fail, because you cannot pay the penalty without suffering for it. It would utterly destroy you and your relationship with Him.
Take the offer. It’s all you have.
Do it now, because there may not be another opportunity.
In love,
Gary
