With all of the debate swirling around recently with the Iowa Gay Marriage Ruling, with my stand on Abortion, and in my work with high-risk kids when sharing the Gospel; I’m often told… “yeah Shane, but God is love.” “A loving God would never do that.” “A loving God wouldn’t make me this way and then call it sin.” (That should be a blog post all its own.) “How could a loving God send me to hell because I don’t believe in him.”
It is ultimately based on a one-dimensional view of God focused solely on one of his attributes. They often neglect the fact that God is also just. Neither can be sacrificed for the other. He is both. How are those reconciled? At the cross. Dr. Michael Horton in Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church
In justifying sinners, God does not relax his righteousness that is revealed in his law but imputes Christ’s righteousness to every believer. In this way, God’s justice is not sacrificed to his love; rather his love and his justice are mutually satisfied. We are saved by works – in fact, by perfect love and obedience. However it is Christ’s works rather than ours that serve as the basis of our confidence: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, NIV).
Amen and amen!