qualities of God

[dthmstr254]

Grace Is Not Legalism

Grace is not legalism. A word should be said about this term, because it is frequently misused and abused. Legalism does not mean trying to please God. It is not legalistic to seek to do God's will as accurately and exactly as possible. Trying to strictly obey God's commands does not make one a legalist. An obedient and scrupulous person might be a legalist or might not be. But the desire or attempt to please God precisely is not the determining factor.

Legalism is not law-keeping, but law-depending. It is not the idea of doing God's will and obeying his commands but of trusting in one's performance for salvation. One falls prey to legalism who supposes that he or she will be saved because of a personal record of obedience that is pleasing to God. Just as license ignores and fails to reckon with the fact that God, by nature, hates and punishes sin, so legalism ignores and fails to reckon with the fact that fallen human beings, which includes us all, are sinners. If the Gentiles were especially prone to the error of license, the Jews seem to have been especially prone to the other error of legalism.

According to those who have studied Jewish thought of the first century, the ordinary rabbi of Jesus' day would have said that he strongly believed in the grace of God. But he would have described it something like this. God's grace, the rabbi might have said, means that God gave us his Law. Of all nations on earth, we Jews alone were given this Law. If we keep it, God will bless us. If we do not, he will punish us. But we have God's grace because we have his Law.

What this rabbi would have failed to consider -- and what many today fail to see as well -- is that neither the Jew then nor anyone today ever does keep God's law perfectly. Legalism says in effect, "keep the rules perfectly and be saved; good luck!" But legalism fails to deal with the eternal principle that fallen humans do NOT keep the rules perfectly! We are sinners, you and I, and everyone else we know. Since Adam, we have been. We are now. Left to ourselves, we always will be. Grace is not simply God giving us his laws and saying, "Keep the rules and be saved -- good luck!"

Just as LICENSE ignores the nature of GOD, so LEGALISM ignores our own nature. No one could EVER be saved by that kind of "grace." No man or woman has ever kept the rules perfectly -- either before becoming a Christian or after --except Jesus Christ. Legalism FRUSTRATES the true grace of God and ignores fallen human nature.

The rabbi might respond to what I have just said by saying, "Oh, I realize that we do not keep all the rules, and that we do not keep the rules perfectly. But God's grace will surely overlook our shortcomings. For we do keep the IMPORTANT rules -- and just look at the other nations of the world!" Some today would say about the same thing. In reality, however, this statement begs the question. It misses the whole point.

We are agreed that we have not kept the rules right. But if grace is no more than legalism ("Here are the rules; keep them and be saved -- good luck!"), no one can be saved. For not one of our race, except Jesus Christ, has kept the rules perfectly -- which is but another way of saying that we have not "kept" them at all. And if salvation is by LAW, there is no room for grace. One either DESERVES to be saved or does NOT DESERVE salvation. Salvation is either EARNED or it is an undeserved GIFT -- but it is not both those things.

Legalism says that we will be saved because we have kept the rules -- because we have earned God's approval. Oh, it will not come right out and say that we earn it -- that would be too obviously wrong. It makes excuses for our shortcomings, it rationalizes our mistakes and errors, it talks all around the matter. It picks out certain rules and says that they are, after all, the IMPORTANT ones -- it makes all kind of maneuvers. But in the end legalism says: "Here are the rules. Keep them and be saved. Good luck!" Grace is not legalism. Legalism ignores our true fallen nature. No one can be saved by keeping the rules because not one of us ever does that. The grace of God is something else.

Scripture warns against LEGALISM as strongly and clearly as it warns against LICENSE. When certain Judean Christians went to the young church in Antioch and began to teach salvation on the basis of law-keeping (in that instance, the Law of Moses), the apostles and elders met together in Jerusalem to settle the matter. It was almost inevitable that a showdown would come in the early church on this matter.

Peter was one spokesman in the Jerusalem assembly. His answer to the legalists highlighted the same truth we have been talking about: the nature of man -- the fact that we are sinners, that we have never kept the rules perfectly and that any hope of salvation on the basis of our own performance is doomed from the very start.

Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS, in the same way as they also are(Acts 15:10-11).
The legalists had said that salvation depended on people properly keeping God's law (Acts 15:1). Peter, speaking for the Holy Spirit, said that salvation -- for Jew or Gentile -- depends instead on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had cleansed the hearts of both Jewish and Gentile Christians by faith. Salvation began on this basis, said Peter, and it will continue on the same basis. To bind on Gentile Christians the burden of law-keeping as a BASIS for acceptance by God is to tempt God and to demand the IMPOSSIBLE from the saints. Our fathers could not do it, Peter said. We could not do it. And Gentile Christians cannot do it either. We all must look to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation -- we cannot expect to find it through our own perfect performance or our own record of law-keeping.

[dthmstr254]

Though Peter had stood firm on this occasion, even he was to play the hypocrite under different circumstances because of the pressures of party-men from Jerusalem. At Antioch, Peter was eating with the Gentile saints --accepting them fully as brethren in the Lord, worthy of sharing in the common life. But when certain men came down from Jerusalem, Peter was intimidated by their presence and did not continue to eat with the non-Jewish Christians. This was not merely racial discrimination in a social sense (though it was also that, and was wrong), but was based on the thinking of some Jews that the Gentiles were not really accepted by God because they did not keep the Law of Moses.

Paul rebuked Peter to his face for this, and said that he was not walking according to the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:11-14). In writing to the Galatians, Paul relates some of his remarks to Peter on that occasion.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of law (Paul literally says), but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of law; since by the works of law shall no flesh be justified (Gal. 2:16).
Salvation cannot come by our own law-keeping. Paul says, "by the works of law shall no flesh be justified." It is not that law is bad -- the Law of Moses was GOD'S law. It was holy and just and good. It was perfect for its purpose. But the Law of Moses could not SAVE for the same reason that no list of rules can save. Rules can only tell WHAT GOD WANTS from his human creatures. For one to be saved on the basis of rules (or law-keeping), one must keep them all and keep them perfectly. And that is just what we have always failed to do.

What Paul says in the verse we noticed had special reference to the Law of Moses. Peter's remarks in Acts 15 had special reference to the Law of Moses, too. But the principle is the same with any law: we cannot be saved on the basis of law-keeping because we never do keep law perfectly. It is a cold, hard fact that we always come short of God's perfect standard. This is undeniable reality -- stated in God's word and verified by all human experience. We are sinners, and even when we sincerely try to do right we do not consistently do what God wants us to do. Paul talks about this very problem in Romans, chapter seven. Legalism is not grace. God does NOT simply give a list of rules in the New Testament and say: "Here are the rules. Keep them and be saved. Good luck!"

Scripture is very plain along this line. The law -- any law -- is weak through the flesh (see Rom. 8:3). That is, no one ever keeps law perfectly, and therefore no one can ever be saved by law. The weakness of the Old Testament was not in the Law of Moses. It was ordained by angels and given by God Himself (Gal. 3:19). Indeed:

If a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:21-22).
No, these words do not apply just to the Law of Moses. If ANY law could have given life, Paul says, surely the Law of Moses could. But even it could not. The law was not bad -- the people were. It is impossible -- because of the way we sinful humans are and always have been -- for law to save. God's grace is not just giving a law which we can keep and be saved. If that is all the New Testament brings it is no better than the Old. We still sins. Sinners must die. Law cannot save. If a law could have been given, Paul says, which could give life, surely it would have been the Law of Moses. But -- he continues -- Scripture has shut up all mankind under the guilt of sin instead. Law can not save.

Grace is not LICENSE. License says "do as you please and God will overlook it." That perverts the grace of God. It ignores the fundamental fact of God's nature, that He is holy and always punishes sin with death.

Grace is not LEGALISM. Legalism says "here are the rules; keep them and be saved -- good luck!" Legalism frustrates the true grace of God. It ignores the fundamental fact of our nature, that we are weak in the flesh and always sin. We never keep the rules perfectly.

How, then, is anyone to be saved? How can we harmonize God's holy nature on the one hand, with our weakness on the other -- and still have anyone enjoy the favor of God? If grace is not LICENSE, if it is not LEGALISM, what is it? Scripture answers this question very clearly, and we will turn to that answer now.

[dthmstr254]

What Grace Is

The true grace of God is God's work in His Son Jesus Christ. We have an indication of this in John 1:17.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
This does not mean that there was no grace under Moses, or that there was no truth under Moses. Nor does it mean that there is no law under Jesus Christ. We have already seen that grace is not license. Paul says that he was not without law to God, but under the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21).

Yet in some way, John is contrasting law -- as characteristic of the Old system -- to grace -- as characteristic of Jesus Christ. What is God's true grace? It came by Jesus Christ. In some sense, it is peculiar to Jesus Christ and his work. Grace will be found in relation to the Son of God himself --the Son who became flesh and dwelt among us. He was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Peter says that it was prophesied in advance that Christ would bring this grace to mankind, and that this grace would be our salvation.

As to this SALVATION, the PROPHETS who prophesied of THE GRACE THAT WOULD COME TO YOU made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow (1 Pet. 1:10-11).
God's true grace would come by Jesus Christ. The prophets had an inkling of this, but they did not see it clearly. John says that grace did come by Jesus Christ, who was God in human flesh. Peter says that the Spirit of Christ testified to the prophets of someone, at some time, who would bring grace to God's people -- grace that would result in their salvation, or right standing with God. We know, looking back, that they spoke of Christ. They did not know the details but "made careful search and inquiry" as to who this Savior was and when he would come.


Jesus Became A Man

How did God's grace involve Christ? What was involved in God's grace? It visibly began when God became incarnate to become a man in Jesus Christ. Paul says:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9) .
Grace began when Jesus left heaven -- with all its riches -- to become a man. He became poor FOR OUR SAKE, that we might become RICH. Grace means, in the first place, that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He became one of us. Jesus came for the purpose of keeping God's will perfectly in a human body -- that is why he was given a body in the first place.

Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering thou hadst not desired, but a body thou hast prepared for me. In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said [putting these words in the mouth of Jesus], `Behold I have come' (in the roll of the book it is written of me), `to DO THY WILL, O GOD'" (Heb. 10:5-7).
God had never wanted animal sacrifices or sin offerings above all else. He had simply wanted people to carry out his will! But even the most pious and faithful Jew had always failed to do God's will (because that is what we have seen to be the universal state of fallen humans), and had to offer sacrifices for sin instead. Jesus did not come to offer more animal sacrifices. He came to do what God had always wanted but what no person had ever yet done: TO DO THE WILL OF GOD! As a MAN, He would do what NO OTHER had done. God gave Jesus a body for that purpose. He came to do the will of God. Not only that, He DID the will of God perfectly in his human body. Jesus then offered that body for OUR sins.

We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. . . . For by one offering he has perfected for all time [or completely] those who are sanctified (Heb. 10:10, 14).
The grace of God means -- first -- that Jesus became a man. He was one of us. As a man he kept God's will perfectly. Then he offered his body to God -- he presented to God what God had always wanted -- a human life perfectly in accord with his will for man. Grace means, in the second place, that Jesus died for sins -- though he himself had none.


Jesus Swapped Places With Us

In dying when he personally had never sinned, Jesus paid the price for OUR sins -- and those of every person who will finally be saved throughout all the world! Remember our two eternal principles: God demands death for sin; fallen humans always sin. Here we see how the two truths are reconciled for our salvation. Jesus died for our sins! HE TOOK OUR PLACE. God does not overlook sin -- a monumental price is paid for it -- the perfect life of the Son of God! The only man who ever did what God wanted died for those who never had. Here is the grace of God! It is not a cheap grace -- it cost the life of the Son of God. He died in our place.

Paul tells us this same thing in Second Corinthians, chapter five:

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. . . . He made him who knew no sin [Jesus Christ] to BE SIN ON OUR BEHALF, that we might become THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in him. And working together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 5:19-6:1).
This story becomes more wondrous all the time! Jesus not only took OUR place; He gives us HIS. He was made SIN for us, that we might be made THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in him. The grace of God is that Jesus became a man -- a representative man who took our place. In a human body, Jesus lived a perfect life which God counts for us, then died the death which, for our sins, we deserved to die.

[dthmstr254]

Peter tells us this in other words:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by his wounds you were healed (1 Pet. 2:24).
Jesus did not stay in the grave. God raised him from the dead -- and that, too, was for our sake!

Now not for [Abraham's] sake only was it written, that "[his faith] was reckoned to him [for righteousness]," but for our sake also, to whom [faith] will be reckoned, as those who believe in him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, him who was delivered up because of OUR transgressions, and was raised because of OUR justification. Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into THIS GRACE IN WHICH WE STAND; and we exult in hope of the glory of God (Rom. 4:23-5:2).
Jesus died for our sins. If God did not have to deal with our sins, Jesus would not have died. If we ever wonder whether we are sinners, we need look only at the cross of Jesus Christ and we see that we are. He was on that cross "because of our transgressions."

But Jesus was raised again "because of our justification." His resurrection demonstrated to the entire watching universe that God loves sinners and that, in Jesus, he has saved those who do not reject his grace, those of every nation and time and place in whom God sees the faith of Abraham. If we ever wonder whether we are forgiven, we need look only by faith at that empty tomb where Jesus was once buried. If we think of Jesus' death as the payment for our sins, we may also think of Jesus' resurrection as God's guaranteed and irrevocable receipt.

Here is the grace of God! It is a great swap-out! It comes through Jesus Christ. In Jesus of Nazareth, the God of the universe became man -- made in the likeness of man -- came to be like sinful flesh. He was actually and really one of us, though he was still deity. But, unlike us, Jesus did not sin. Instead he did the will of God perfectly in his human body. Then the only sinless man who ever lived died a cruel death for sinners like you and me who will never deserve anything else than death.

Here is the grace of God. And here is why JESUS CHRIST is the very heart and soul, the center and circumference, of the New Testament. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the alpha and the omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the first and the last. He is our peace, our justification, our holiness. We owe everything to Him.


Grace Is Received By True Faith

Paul says in Romans, chapter five, that we are justified by faith (v. 1). Faith means trusting God to love us, because of what he did in Jesus Christ, and entrusting ourselves wholeheartedly to that divine love. Salvation is by grace -- we do not deserve God's favor toward us and we can never earn it. We access this grace by faith, which means that we must always look outside ourselves for our salvation (2 Tim. 1:12).

We cannot perform the work which results in our salvation, for Jesus has already done that, once for all time. We cannot add to that finished work, or improve on it. We can only trust God to be gracious to us as he promises in Christ. If we picture grace as the room of God's favor, we may think of faith as the door into that room (Rom. 5:1-2).

God accepts us because of Christ's work on our behalf. We enjoy that grace by accepting it as fact, trusting it as sufficient, and throwing ourselves on it in total and eternal abandon, to become servants of righteousness and true holiness in Christ. We do not earn God's favor. We can not ever please Him enough to be given His blessings. We certainly could never pay for our own sins and be saved. But in Christ God has brought together the justice that is his nature and the weakness that is ours: Christ became a man and took our place.

God's grace deals with the weakness of our flesh because salvation does not depend on our weak flesh -- Jesus has earned it for us already! It also takes into account God's holiness, because sin is punished -- by the death of God's sinless Son! And so Paul can say to the Ephesian Christians:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).
License perverts grace, and does not satisfy God's requirement of perfect obedience to his will. Legalism thwarts and frustrates God's grace, and does not provide for the weakness of fallen humankind. Salvation by grace -- true grace in Jesus Christ -- reckons with God's holiness and with our sinfulness and weakness. The perfect, finished work of Jesus Christ satisfies God's holiness and provides for our sinfulness. In Jesus Christ, the holy God accepts and forgives his sinful human creatures (Eph. 1:7).


One With Christ

We are saved because we are one with Christ -- and he has both offered a perfect life and died for our sins. We are one with Christ on the basis of faith, in the beginning and throughout life. True faith will seek to please him. Yet it is not legalism. There is a vast difference between law-keeping and law-depending. We will want to do God's will, yet we never will trust in our own performance for our salvation. We glory only in the cross of Christ.

Any system, any concept of Christianity, any "ism," any movement, which makes salvation dependent on our own ability to please God destroys and invalidates the work of Christ. If we could have been saved because of our own performance then Christ died in vain. If people could be saved by keeping the rules, Christ could have stayed in heaven -- God's people had possessed perfect rules for centuries. The weakness of the Old Testament was the weakness of man. That is the same weakness of any system which depends on us.

It is one thing to seek God's will in a matter because we love him and want to please him. It is another thing altogether to approach that same matter with the idea that our salvation depends on our own good performance or merit. This attitude is legalism, and it will always lead to pride (insofar as we are successful) or to despair and hopelessness (insofar as we fail).

It is right and proper to seek to please God as thoroughly and exactly and precisely as possible. Any true believer will want to do that, and anyone who does not want to do that is not a true believer. But it is a far different matter to create a system, to formulate a creed, or to devise an elaborate set of rules, and then DEPEND ON OUR OWN KEEPING OF THOSE THINGS FOR OUR SALVATION.

Let us seek to please God. That is what true faith will always do. Let us ask God for forgiveness when we fall. That is what true faith will always do. Let us rejoice in the work of Christ on our behalf. Let us glory in the cross of Christ. Let us say -- first, last, and always -- "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" And -- in Christ -- we know that he always will!

I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that THIS IS THE TRUE GRACE OF GOD. Stand firm in it! . . . Peace be to you all who are in Christ (1 Pet. 5:12, 14).

A Personal Question

Are YOU standing in God's true grace? Are you enjoying peace with God by trusting in his saving kindness shown in Jesus Christ? If you do believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son; if you do trust His perfect life and atoning death for your salvation; if you do rely on Him and intend to please Him as long as you live and as best you are able in all things -- then do not delay acting on that faith!

Express with your mouth and your action the faith that is in your heart.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (Rom. 10:9)

Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on [Jesus'] name (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:26-27).

Of [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that through his name every one who believes in him has received forgiveness of sins. . . . And [Peter] ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:43, 47).
And then, as long as you live, continue to walk by the same faith --trusting, relying and obeying -- living in the TRUE GRACE OF GOD!

[dthmstr254]

in closing, grace is the main aspect of our all-mighty (another aspect of our God) God. no it does not mean you can do anything you want and rely on God's grace to get you through. but it does mean that God will help you fight your sin nature. there are other ways of describing God, the other popular way is through His names, but going aspect by aspect is my favorite way.

[zynner]

Something tells me you didn't write all that out, citations and all.

~ zynner

[dthmstr254]

Quote by: zynner Something tells me you didn't write all that out, citations and all. ~ zynner

going to do anything other than attack me as a person? please just debate.

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: zynner Something tells me you didn't write all that out, citations and all. ~ zynner

He is seriously one big citation. When is this kid gonna think for himself? Maybe if he knew what he was talking about, he could draw his own conclusions and stand up for his own points. But like he says...debate anyways!

[5010]

Quote by: LetThereBe So do you infer that impotence be an attribute of God? Or just one of his qualities is non-existence...

Is a painter impotent or non-existent after the paint dries? Is a musician impotent or non-existent after the sound waves leave the instrument?

[LetThereBe]

Quote by: 5010 Is a painter impotent or non-existent after the paint dries? Is a musician impotent or non-existent after the sound waves leave the instrument?

Well said. I misunderstood your previous statement

[Athena]

Quote by: LetThereBe God according to Christianity. I will not deny the apparent shift between old testament and new testament God. As I mentioned before, I believe the number one quality of God is purity. Humans violated his purity in the garden of Eden, and were banished, and became objects of His wrath. Supposedly, Jesus Christ was sacrificed and finally satisfied the wrath of God, hence we are able to return to the pre-fall state and experience the love and mercy that God is also capable of. This justifies a longer answer, but that will have to wait utnil later....

God's rath? Isn't that a little bit human? A little bit impure? Why would a God be angry?
Is it good to be jealous, revengeful, fearsome? I never acted like out of such emotions and thought well of myself. I think only small, insecure people have such emotions.

How can you speak of a God needing to sacrifice his son to be appeased and not feel sick to your stomache? This is mind blowing! It is such a barbaric thought, and you are okay with it? No, this does not speak of a pure God, but a god in very serious of a mental health help.

[dthmstr254]

Quote by: Athena God's rath? Isn't that a little bit human? A little bit impure? Why would a God be angry? Is it good to be jealous, revengeful, fearsome? I never acted like out of such emotions and thought well of myself. I think only small, insecure people have such emotions. How can you speak of a God needing to sacrifice his son to be appeased and not feel sick to your stomache? This is mind blowing! It is such a barbaric thought, and you are okay with it? No, this does not speak of a pure God, but a god in very serious of a mental health help.

because the second most important attribute to purity is His holiness. He cannot condone sin and will always punish it. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and the punishment was that all his descendants would die by the sword. that punishment was started with his son Absalom who killed his half-brother for raping his full-sister. then Absalom was killed by Joab, the commander of David's army, while he hung by his hair from a tree. the list goes on and on. Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it and was punished for many years by not being allowed in the Promised Land. that punishment was lifted at the Mount of Transfiguration, when he showed up with Jesus. Adam sinned and his sin became the dillemma of all mankind. through the first sin, a sin nature was created and passed down to all men, until Jesus, God on earth, came down in mercy and love and gave Himself to die for our sins. "for no man may take my life, but i lay it down WILLINGLY for the sake of all men." Jesus went to the cross for the JOY of redeeming us. personally, i don't think He was thinking about how much fun it would be to be crucified, i think His joy came from something deeper and more profound. i believe, that Jesus could look across the aeons of time, and see each and every one of us. He endured the cross for the joy of a personal relation with each of us, white, black, asian, latin-american, mexican, etc.
but if the story of Jesus ended with the death, the story would be of just another man. but no! Jesus rose on the third day according to the scriptures; proving that He was God once and for all, taking the keys to death and hell from under Satan's nose! man, i bet Satan had the biggest fit possible when he was, as my mother quite accurately terms it, turned into a doormat.

[LetThereBe]

Quote by: Athena God's rath? Isn't that a little bit human? A little bit impure? Why would a God be angry? Is it good to be jealous, revengeful, fearsome? I never acted like out of such emotions and thought well of myself. I think only small, insecure people have such emotions. How can you speak of a God needing to sacrifice his son to be appeased and not feel sick to your stomache? This is mind blowing! It is such a barbaric thought, and you are okay with it? No, this does not speak of a pure God, but a god in very serious of a mental health help.

Ha, that depends on our reference point now doesn't it? "Without an infinite reference point, everything is absurd." Well, for the Christian, God is that infinite reference point. Purity is defined by God. Goodness is defined by God. Perfection is defined by God. Justice is defined by God. God may not always be "pleasant" or "nice" but that does not mean there is a violation of his traits.
God is pure beyond our reckoning. Imagine God as being absolutely pure water. He must remain absolutely pure for all time, or else He would not be God. We cannot go and join Him unless we too are absolutely pure. Even the smallest flaw, the slightest corruption would violate his purity. Hence, His judgement must be absolute.
All sin must be punished in order for cleansing. Mankind needed the "kinsman redeemer" that was Christ. Mankind needed the unblemished lamb, that was Christ. Christ was the only one who lived that was flawless, and presentable before God. Hence, He could be the sacrifice without violating God's purity.
The idea of the trinity and of the deity of Jesus Christ always complicates things a great deal. That Jesus could somehow be the son..... but at the same time the father. Hence did God sacrifice his son? Or just Himself? One way or another, Jesus proved willing. The trinity has always been an issue I question.....

[dthmstr254]

Quote by: LetThereBe Ha, that depends on our reference point now doesn't it? "Without an infinite reference point, everything is absurd." Well, for the Christian, God is that infinite reference point. Purity is defined by God. Goodness is defined by God. Perfection is defined by God. Justice is defined by God. God may not always be "pleasant" or "nice" but that does not mean there is a violation of his traits. God is pure beyond our reckoning. Imagine God as being absolutely pure water. He must remain absolutely pure for all time, or else He would not be God. We cannot go and join Him unless we too are absolutely pure. Even the smallest flaw, the slightest corruption would violate his purity. Hence, His judgement must be absolute. All sin must be punished in order for cleansing. Mankind needed the "kinsman redeemer" that was Christ. Mankind needed the unblemished lamb, that was Christ. Christ was the only one who lived that was flawless, and presentable before God. Hence, He could be the sacrifice without violating God's purity. The idea of the trinity and of the deity of Jesus Christ always complicates things a great deal. That Jesus could somehow be the son..... but at the same time the father. Hence did God sacrifice his son? Or just Himself? One way or another, Jesus proved willing. The trinity has always been an issue I question.....

if you dont mind me saying: "hold my mule while i shout!" i love this analogy, very good complement to the main point.