Did God sacrifice Himself to Himself to save us from Himself because of a rule He made Himself?

Answer

Some argue that God saves us from His wrath by sacrificing Himself to satisfy a rule He established. They question why the rule exists and why wrath cannot be set aside without a sacrifice. How does it make sense to sacrifice Himself to Himself? These are valid inquiries, but they stem from misunderstandings of God’s nature and character.

First, let’s address the notion that God sacrificed Himself to Himself. This misinterprets God’s triune nature by merging the Father and the Son. The Father sent the Son «Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. », (John 7:33), the Son fulfilled the Father’s will «I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. », (John 17:4), and the Son died for sinners «But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. », (Romans 5:8). The Father did not die; the Son laid down His life to atone for sin «Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. », (1 John 4:10).

Second, the idea that a sacrifice is necessary to reconcile sin is not an arbitrary rule. God’s Law is not a mere invention; it reflects His holy nature. Morality was not created by God; it is a revelation of His character to us. When God stated, “The wages of sin is death” «ForThe wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). He was not concocting a rule or imposing a new punishment on us; rather, He was revealing to us an unalterable, eternal reality—if you depart from the Sustainer of life, then you logically cut yourself off from the possibility of a continued existence. Those who reject Life only have one other option, and that is Death.

Saying that God made the “rules” by which sin is atoned for is somewhat like saying that Isaac Newton wrote the law of gravity. Newton described the effects and nature of gravity, but the law of gravity preceded and transcended his description. In a similar fashion, the Bible describes the nature of sin and righteousness, but the universal laws concerning sin and righteousness, death and life, and justice and mercy precede and transcend the writing. God’s laws flow eternally from the nature of God Himself.

Since God’s Law is an outflowing of His nature, the Law is unchanging. It is “firmly fixed in the heavens” “For ever, O LORD, Thy word Is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89, ESV). God cannot set aside His wrath at sin any more than we can change our DNA. God’s justice is not a guideline that He chooses to follow; justice is part of His very character. Righteousness and justice are foundational to His sovereign rule of the universe “Clouds and darkness are round about him: Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” (Psalm 97:2). Without justice—without wrath at sin—He is not God. Death follows sin not because “God says so” but because sin is rebellion against Life.

We should also define the nature of sin. Sin is much more than thoughts or actions that God “dislikes.”“There is an objective standard by which sin is measured. Sin is any thought or action that does not measure up to God’s holiness and absolute perfection. It is that which opposes His nature. Lying is wrong—not because God chose to dislike it but because God is Truth, and lies oppose His nature. Murder is wrong—not due to an arbitrary rule God made but because God is Life, and murder opposes His eternal character.

As sinners before a holy God, we faced sure judgment: an eternal separation from Him, that is to say, an eternal death. Were God to lay aside His wrath at sin and not give us what sin required, He would cease to be just. But, in His great love and mercy, God provided a way for justice to be satisfied and salvation to be extended: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” «For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. », (John 3:16).

At the cross of Christ, perfect justice and perfect mercy meet. Sin and injustice were punished on the cross, with the Son of God receiving the condemnation for sin. It’s because the penalty of sin was satisfied through Christ’s sacrifice that the Father can extend His mercy to undeserving sinners. God was just in punishing sin, and He can also justify sinners who receive Christ by faith «to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. », (Romans 3:26). God’s justice and His mercy were demonstrated by Christ’s crucifixion. At the cross, God’s justice was meted out in full (upon Christ), and God’s mercy was extended in full (to all who believe). God’s perfect mercy was exercised through His perfect justice.

God did not sacrifice Himself to Himself to save us from Himself because of a rule He made Himself. No, there are spiritual realities as certain as any physical reality or law of nature that we can observe: one of those realities is that death follows sin. But the God who is Love «He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. », (1 John 4:8) sent His Son to save us from our sin and the evil that naturally befalls those who reject the good. “Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to—because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice” (Philip Yancy, from Where Is God When It Hurts?, Zondervan, 1990).