Lewis Sperry Chafer asks the questions, “How can the righteous God deal righteously with the sinner and at the same time satisfy His own compassion and love in saving him from the doom His own righteousness must ever impose on one who commits sin?” “Can sin be righteously treated as sin and still a way be provided for the salvation of the sinner?”
The Bible declares to mankind, God is righteous, God is holy, and God is just in all He does; they are a part of His nature. The Bible states Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that he should lie; either the son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good.” When God speaks, His words are true and what He speaks to will come about.
In Genesis 2:16-17, God declared and clearly communicated to Adam the outcome of not obeying His commandment in reference to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” The Bible doesn’t provide us with an exact timeline as to when Adam disobeyed, was it a week, was it a month, was it a year after God commanded Adam not to eat of the fruit, we don’t know, but what we do know is Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit (Genesis 3:6 – “and he ate”). Once Adam disobeyed, God had to act and hold Adam accountable for his disobedience (sin), because God’s righteousness demanded judgement; His command was communicated and disobedience had a stated outcome. Chafer states, “Though He loves the sinner, there are unalterable conditions to be met in upholding His justice and personal character.” Sin is sin, and it cannot be treated otherwise. God doesn’t provide mankind a “mulligan” when comes to sin. If God did so, then all standards of God’s holiness and justice fail. God’s absolute holiness and righteousness demands sin must be punished. What God spoke, He would do and Adam had to face God’s judgement because of his sin (disobedience). Genesis 3:8-19 details other outcomes and ramifications on mankind as a result of Adams’ disobedience, but the final outcome of death is noted in verse 19, “by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There is one more ramification of Adam’s disobedience that must be noted and it is found in Romans 5:12, where the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-”; sin has come upon all mankind as a result of Adams disobedience and as a result, all mankind falls under the judgement of God’s righteous demand on sin.
So, as Chafer asks, “Can sin be righteously treated as sin and still a way be provided for the salvation of the sinner?” The Bible clearly speaks to the fact mankind cannot save themselves from the judgement of sin. Mankind cannot, by their own efforts, be made to be found righteous before God. Isaiah 64:6 declares, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away.” In Philippians 3:2-10, the Apostle Paul notes if anyone could boast of having a confidence in their own efforts to be found righteous before God, it was he, but he declares his efforts were but rubbish and his righteousness came from God on the basis of faith. As the Apostle states in Philippians, righteousness comes from God, on the basis of faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Chafer notes, “Even God cannot change the character of righteousness by altering or lessening the slightest degree its holy demands. What is done for the satisfaction of His love in saving any whom His righteous condemns must be done in full view of all that His righteousness could ever require.” Chafer further states, “He might not change the demands of righteousness, but He has sufficient power and resource to meet perfectly those demands for every sin-doomed soul.”
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:26, Christ death on the cross was set forth in order that God “would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” In the cross, Chafer states, “As the righteous Judge, He pronounced the full divine judgement against sin. As the Savior of sinners, He stepped down from His judgement throne and took into His breast the very doom He had in righteousness imposed.” Again, Chafer writes, “The cross declares the righteousness of God, and because of that cross His righteousness cannot suffer or ever be called in question, even when He wholly pardons the chief of sinners and floods him with the riches of grace. All that righteousness can demand has by the Judge been supplied: for it was God who was “in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” He was the mediator between His own righteous Being and the meritless, helpless sinner.”” V.E Vine states, “Romans 3:25-26 speaks of His “righteousness” as exhibited in the death of Christ, which is sufficient to show men that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly. On the contrary, it demonstrates that quality of holiness in Him which must find expression in His condemnation of sin.” What God’s righteous judgement demanded of the sinner, God Himself, through Jesus’ death on the cross, paid for mankind. When Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished” from the cross just prior to His death, He was proclaiming to the world God’s righteous demand on sin was met. Chafer writes, “It is, therefore, now possible for the righteous God to deal graciously with a sinner because that sinner, through the substitutionary death of Christ, is, in the estimation of God, placed beyond his own execution, and the ground of condemnation is forever past. God has, for His own sake, removed very moral hindrance which His infinite holiness might see in sinful man, and so it is now possible for Him to exercise the last impulse of His love without reservation or limitation.”
The message of cross declares to mankind the sinfulness of man, God’s own unmeasured love for mankind, and God’s own righteousness. Mankind cannot of themselves bring about their salvation. God’s means of salvation is not the result of mankind’s request for God do so, but was determined by God before the creation of the world (I Peter 1:18-20, Titus 1:1-2, Ephesians 1:4-6). The cross is God’s provision of salvation for sinful mankind. In the cross, sin’s judgements are already perfectly met and the cross declares to mankind the full proof of God’s righteous demand on sin. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentile’s foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jew and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Chafer states, “He has spoken to us through His Son. The reasonable requirement is that we believe that message. This is the only condition given in the Bible upon which one may enter into God’s saving grace.”
“…has He said, and will He not do it?”
Biblical text:
Unless otherwise noted all Biblical text is taken from New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Quotes from Lewis Sperry Chafer taken from his work entitled “Salvation” published in 1971
In Genesis 2:16-17, God declared and clearly communicated to Adam the outcome of not obeying His commandment in reference to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” The Bible doesn’t provide us with an exact timeline as to when Adam disobeyed, was it a week, was it a month, was it a year after God commanded Adam not to eat of the fruit, we don’t know, but what we do know is Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit (Genesis 3:6 – “and he ate”). Once Adam disobeyed, God had to act and hold Adam accountable for his disobedience (sin), because God’s righteousness demanded judgement; His command was communicated and disobedience had a stated outcome. Chafer states, “Though He loves the sinner, there are unalterable conditions to be met in upholding His justice and personal character.” Sin is sin, and it cannot be treated otherwise. God doesn’t provide mankind a “mulligan” when comes to sin. If God did so, then all standards of God’s holiness and justice fail. God’s absolute holiness and righteousness demands sin must be punished. What God spoke, He would do and Adam had to face God’s judgement because of his sin (disobedience). Genesis 3:8-19 details other outcomes and ramifications on mankind as a result of Adams’ disobedience, but the final outcome of death is noted in verse 19, “by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” There is one more ramification of Adam’s disobedience that must be noted and it is found in Romans 5:12, where the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-”; sin has come upon all mankind as a result of Adams disobedience and as a result, all mankind falls under the judgement of God’s righteous demand on sin.
So, as Chafer asks, “Can sin be righteously treated as sin and still a way be provided for the salvation of the sinner?” The Bible clearly speaks to the fact mankind cannot save themselves from the judgement of sin. Mankind cannot, by their own efforts, be made to be found righteous before God. Isaiah 64:6 declares, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away.” In Philippians 3:2-10, the Apostle Paul notes if anyone could boast of having a confidence in their own efforts to be found righteous before God, it was he, but he declares his efforts were but rubbish and his righteousness came from God on the basis of faith. As the Apostle states in Philippians, righteousness comes from God, on the basis of faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Chafer notes, “Even God cannot change the character of righteousness by altering or lessening the slightest degree its holy demands. What is done for the satisfaction of His love in saving any whom His righteous condemns must be done in full view of all that His righteousness could ever require.” Chafer further states, “He might not change the demands of righteousness, but He has sufficient power and resource to meet perfectly those demands for every sin-doomed soul.”
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:26, Christ death on the cross was set forth in order that God “would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” In the cross, Chafer states, “As the righteous Judge, He pronounced the full divine judgement against sin. As the Savior of sinners, He stepped down from His judgement throne and took into His breast the very doom He had in righteousness imposed.” Again, Chafer writes, “The cross declares the righteousness of God, and because of that cross His righteousness cannot suffer or ever be called in question, even when He wholly pardons the chief of sinners and floods him with the riches of grace. All that righteousness can demand has by the Judge been supplied: for it was God who was “in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” He was the mediator between His own righteous Being and the meritless, helpless sinner.”” V.E Vine states, “Romans 3:25-26 speaks of His “righteousness” as exhibited in the death of Christ, which is sufficient to show men that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly. On the contrary, it demonstrates that quality of holiness in Him which must find expression in His condemnation of sin.” What God’s righteous judgement demanded of the sinner, God Himself, through Jesus’ death on the cross, paid for mankind. When Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished” from the cross just prior to His death, He was proclaiming to the world God’s righteous demand on sin was met. Chafer writes, “It is, therefore, now possible for the righteous God to deal graciously with a sinner because that sinner, through the substitutionary death of Christ, is, in the estimation of God, placed beyond his own execution, and the ground of condemnation is forever past. God has, for His own sake, removed very moral hindrance which His infinite holiness might see in sinful man, and so it is now possible for Him to exercise the last impulse of His love without reservation or limitation.”
The message of cross declares to mankind the sinfulness of man, God’s own unmeasured love for mankind, and God’s own righteousness. Mankind cannot of themselves bring about their salvation. God’s means of salvation is not the result of mankind’s request for God do so, but was determined by God before the creation of the world (I Peter 1:18-20, Titus 1:1-2, Ephesians 1:4-6). The cross is God’s provision of salvation for sinful mankind. In the cross, sin’s judgements are already perfectly met and the cross declares to mankind the full proof of God’s righteous demand on sin. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentile’s foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jew and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Chafer states, “He has spoken to us through His Son. The reasonable requirement is that we believe that message. This is the only condition given in the Bible upon which one may enter into God’s saving grace.”
“…has He said, and will He not do it?”
Biblical text:
Unless otherwise noted all Biblical text is taken from New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Quotes from Lewis Sperry Chafer taken from his work entitled “Salvation” published in 1971