GOD ON TRIAL
Table of contents
God is Love
The Atonement
Sacrifices
Scapegoating
The Blood of Jesus
Appendix
FOREWORD
CHAPTER 1
GOD IS LOVE
The exact nature of God is something believers around the globe have been battling with. This has generated endless discussions. For many centuries people have been caught up in a dilemma to understand who God is. One character of God that is so dominant in the scriptures is that God is love. Jesus came to redefine God. The bible says he is the exact representation of the father. He is the express image of the father. He is the brightness of His glory. Jesus said that if you have seen him, you have seen the father. Jesus and God are one. Philip asked Jesus to show them the father. Jesus responded by saying that if you have seen him, you have seen the father. Jesus is the father; the father is Jesus.
John 14
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Beholding Jesus is beholding the father. Whatever is true about Jesus is also true about God. When God wanted to reveal Himself to humanity, He did not give us a book, but he gave us a person. Jesus not only came to redeem man but also to reveal who the father is. The father had been misunderstood in the past as a bipolar being. A person with a mixed personality in whom good and evil mingle. Jesus came to show us that God does not have a split personality in which good and evil mix. God cannot have a mixed personality. Jesus said a kingdom that is divided against itself could not stand. Mathew 12:25
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
Can God use darkness to cast out darkness? Can God use evil to conquer evil?? There is no way a kingdom can operate using two opposing principles. A kingdom that operates in duality will never last for long. It will fall. If God operates with two contradicting principles, then he is unreliable, cannot be trusted. It cannot be depended upon.
John 1
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
No one has seen God at any time means prior to the coming of Jesus, no one understood the character of God. This is because we were viewing God through Satan’s lies. Our view of God is corrupted. We have missed the mark on the character of God. This is why God sent Jesus to reveal the one true God. Only Christ declared the one true God to us. God revealed in Jesus is loving, loving, unconditional, and non-violent. Jesus is the visible and tangible revelation of God’s essence of love. Jesus is the definition of Agape love. When we see him healing the sick, we see God, when we see him raising the dead, we see God. When we see him undoing the work of Satan, we see God. When we see him welcoming and hugging with sinners, we see God. When we see him condemning and scapegoating no one, we see God. When we see him hanging on the cross with relentless love, we see God. This is the singleness of character and the undivided God.
The way to understand the bible is by reading it from Jesus’ lenses. We need first to come to Jesus for us to understand the message of the Scriptures. We need to understand the bible from the cross. We start from the end. The bible is like a puzzle, but to get the puzzle right, we must start from the end. This means we first know Christ for us to know the other parts of the scriptures. Jesus is the master truth on which all the other realities of the bible hung. You remove Christ from your understanding of the bible; you remain with an empty shell. All the troubling texts of the bible find meaning in Jesus. Jesus provides accurate lenses by which we use to interpret the scriptures. Paul says the scriptures are a mystery. Throughout the ministry of Paul, he shows us that Jesus is the key to unlock the puzzles in the bible.
Romans 14:23
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
The gospel is a mystery, and the key to unlocking this mystery is Christ. We need Jesus to understand what is hidden in the pages of the scriptures.
One of the most defining name that is used for God id love. This is the master key to unlock the puzzle of who God is. This is the most definitive statement that we can say about God. Love is not one of his characters. Love is the essence of His being. Love cannot be the essence of his being if he has a mixture of something else. If you have love plus wrath, it can’t be said that you are love. You have a mixture; you have a split personality. Suppose I give you a pie crust to draw different aspects of God. Will you divide the pie crust into three parts and one part you write love, another part wrath, and another part a murderer?
You can make other divisions and write his justice. The fact is that such a division does not exist. When representing God in a pie crust, we just make a big drawing and write one word in it: love. This is because God has no split personality in which good and evil mingle. All the other aspects of God are to be known through the lenses of love. His holiness, justice, and all other aspects of him are to be identified through love. You cannot divorce God from love. Whatever God creates reflect who he is. His creation was created to express his heart and mind. In Jesus, we see this type of God. If we are to examine the God of the old testament and put him on trial, Jesus is the benchmark. As we will see, anything that does not look like Jesus is not from God. If Jesus, who is love, has anything that contradicts love, it will not be safe to say that Jesus is love. We would say he is partly love and partly something else. If I handed you a glass of water and told you that the water is pure, you will know that the water has no traces of anything else. However, if the water has some impurities, even if it is in a small percentage, I will not be honest by saying that the water is pure. If God is pure love, he cannot possess any character that contradicts love. For love to be genuine, anything that flows from it must be love. If God is partly love and partly something else, we will never be at peace with him because we will never know when he will turn and show us the other side of him. This would be like things that we see in a horror movie. The question remains if Jesus is love and if Jesus and the father are one if Jesus reveals to us the father, is there a part of God that Christ did not reveal to us? Did Jesus not fully explain to us the father? Did Jesus leave out a part of what the father is? I don’t think so. Jesus is the exact representation of the father, and when he said that if you see me, you have seen the father, he meant it. He meant am the fullness of God, anything that you haven’t seen in me is also not in the father. Outside Jesus, there is no God. Anything in the scriptures that does not look like Jesus is also not true about God. By putting God on trial and finding out who He is, raises many questions about the God of the old testament which I seek to unveil. The critical thing we need to grab is what we already stated: When God wanted to reveal himself, he did not give us a book he gave us a person. To know God, we must know that person and anything outside this person is not God but something else which we will see later. Everything must be understood by looking into Jesus. Every prophecy and revelation must be understood through Jesus. Our master truth is that love is the fundamental makeup of Christ. God’s singleness nature, which has not a mixture, is defined by the word holy. This word means to be clean and without impurity when it applies to God. This means he is not corrupt. The word corrupts, which is the opposite of holiness, is a characteristic of the kingdom of darkness. God cannot use opposing and mixed principle, which is corrupt. God’s kingdom is everlasting; this means his kingdom will never be brought to desolation. In other words, his kingdom will never be divided or operate with mixed principles. He must remain consistent for his kingdom to stand. Before the fall of man, this is how we operated in singleness of nature. Before Lucifer became Satan, he operated using this principle of love. He was single in nature. Everything in heaven and earth reflected the singleness of God.
Where there is love, there is freedom. Love is free. It gives you your choice to do what you want. God is not just love but perfect love. Where there is perfect love, fear cannot exist. Fear is an intruder and did not come from God. Fear and love are bot motivator; imagine a world that everyone is motivated by love. This was the condition prior to the fall. The target of Satan was to wage war against God’s system of love. Satan target the very heart of God where love came from. God was put on trial. The moment Lucifer failed in heaven, he came and succeeded on earth. But we need to know our God. We need to know him through Christ, not Satan lies. Jesus is the true witness who can reveal to us the father. No one else is referred to as true witness, only Jesus. Only he can tell us who the father is.
Revelation 3
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God
It is time for God’s trial. We are putting him on the dock. Is Satan lies versus the true witness testimony. This trial will exonerate God of all satan’s accusations that he has leveled against him.
CREATION
We also need to understand our roots for us to understand the true nature of God. Our roots run beyond creation. Genesis 1
- In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1 reveals the beginning but our roots beyond the beginning. However, the known will assist us in knowing the unknown. We know our roots by looking beyond creation. Our roots are found in the one who preceded time and set everything in motion. Our roots are found in the one who spoke the first molecule into existence. There is a secret in creation that if we grab, we will know the intent of God. Genesis 1 is the first place in scriptures the word God is mentioned. There is a law in bible interpretation called the law of the first mention. When a word is mentioned for the first time, we can get its original meaning from there. The first mention of a word carries its original meaning. The first time the word God is revealed carries something important that is essential in understanding God and his intentions for us. The word God in Genesis is the Hebrew word Eloheem. Eloheem is plural (singular is Elohim). Eloheem being plural means the DIVINE ONES.
The first time God is revealed in the bible, we are introduced into his plurality, which depicts God the Father, the Son, and the spirit. From the beginning, God reveals that He does not abide alone. The time God is mentioned in the bible, we are introduced to him relational aspect. From eternity, the divine ones existed in an intimate relationship of love. Love is what defined them. The bible says God is love, but it does not say that God has love. To be love and to have love are two different things. By John saying God is love, he wants to bring our attention to the very essence of God, which is love. John wants us not to miss the point which existed in the Trinity even before the world was formed. This reality is that from eternity past, the Divine ones lived in a relationship with each other, which can be summed up with one word: love. God’s essence is love. Love is not one of his attributes but the core of his being. This means his attributes are an expression of his love. Every aspect of his attributes, like his holiness and sovereignty, must be understood from his love. Divine ones existed in a realm of shared love. They share their passion. Love is not selfish. Love is selfless. Love focuses on the other person.
Singleness is the character of God. Everything that runs from him is love. God, being love, means he is always consistent with his nature of love and does nothing outside love. It means love is the principle by which God does things. It means all other things about God are a reflection of his love. His attributes reflect his love.
Furthermore, his attributes are different ways his love finds expression in the world. It also means that any attributes of God are just outworking of his love. God does not change; he is always consistent with his nature no matter what he is confronted with. Even when faced with evil, his response is love. God acts and reacts within parameters of his character. He always operates within the parameters of his love. Many tend to think God as a judge in a supreme court who is ready to sentence them to hell. But that is not who God is. We have just received the traditions of men over the years who misunderstood the nature of God. But God wants us to live in the truth of who he is. Unless we understand the true nature of God, we will have a misdirected zeal. We need to realize that the God of the bible is singular and not dualistic. Remember, God does not change. This means that he always remains true to his nature of love. Also, remember God is eternal, so his law of love is also timeless, and everything that comes from God is infinite. He will always remain true to who he is for he says: Malachi 3
6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
We have seen in Genesis1, the relational aspect of God is something we are first introduced to. Though God is one being in essence, they are three persons whom they enjoy each other in an intimate relationship. The defining thing about their relationship is love. The character of God is to be known within the lens of love, and anything outside love is the demonization of God. Divine ones enjoy intimate interaction with each other, the bond of unity being love. This is how God is to be known. But many have fallen into the trap of an angry God who sits with a cane and waits for us to sin so that he strikes us. This has lead to the erroneous concept of God and understanding of his nature. Many worship a God who is violent and who strikes when sin. This also makes us try please God, and when we think we have achieved this goal, we start to look down upon those who we believe are sinners and away from God’s will. In Jesus’ days, those who considered themselves to have achieved this goal persecuted those who were considered sinners. Paul is one such character. Paul was a Pharisee, and he was strict at obeying the law of God. Paul persecuted People in God’s name, and this has been happening since the fall, as we will see later. Paul never understood a God of love. This false view of God made Paul equip himself with the law, and he persecuted the people of God. Where did the law come from? For which purpose was it given? How did Paul before his conversion misuse it? But before we understand the law, it is suitable for this study, we start on what is sin. What is sin?
WHAT IS SIN?
I have tried to define sin on my online platforms and even in my previous books. But thank be to God that we are always students of discipleship class. In the course of this book, you will note that the way I defined sin, the way I looked at atonement, the way I look at justice has all changed. We always need to allow room for change, and when confronted with change, we should not be resistant by fearing the fate of your previous work or years of preaching. Have read testimonies of preachers who preached for years, but at a particular time of their lives, their understanding of scriptures experienced a significant change. I am preparing you for what we are going to discuss for the rest of this book.
Sin can be traced back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve interacted with God based on love. God created man in the image of Divine Ones. This means that the intention of God was his creation to relate with each other in love. Remember that the Divine Ones interact with each other in love, and this has been the truth about their relationship from eternity past. God wanted this reality of their involvement in the Godhead to be the reality within the human connection. God’s eternal purpose was to create a people in whom He will share his love. Remember that love is selfless. God wanted to have people in who his love will be shared. In His divine love, he created a man and a woman. These people were to live by reflecting on God. They were to reflect the reality that is in God. They were to love each other intimately and to always operate within the parameters of love.
Something happened. Something foreign was introduced into the universe. Satan came and deceived humanity. Before the fall, human beings only knew God as love and interacted with God based on love. They also interacted with each other based on love. They knew God’s nature as singular. They never knew a dualistic God. Dualism came from Satan. Dualism is viewing God as both light and darkness; Love to those who love him and hate those who hate him. But Jesus told us to love our enemies. Mathew 5.44
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
The question arises, how can God tell us to love his enemies, but at the same time, he kills his enemies. Does God give us a standard which he does not abide by? Remember, we were created to reflect God. How then are we going to reflect God who operates differently from us? Which example are we going to follow? It seems like God is telling us to follow what he says but not what he does. Is this not horrifying? It seems the God of Christians is a hypocrite. I don’t give an apology for that. That is what it appears to be. Or maybe I don’t know the definition of a hypocrite. Is a hypocrite not a person who tells you to do this, but he does a whole opposite thing? The fall of Satan reveals to us where we got this erroneous concept of God and the nature of our fall.
FALL OF SATAN
Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 show us the fall of Satan.
Ezekiel 28
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart was [b]lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
18 “You defiled your sanctuaries
By the multitude of your iniquities,
By the iniquity of your trading;
Therefore I brought fire from your midst;
It devoured you,
And I turned you to ashes upon the earth
In the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you;
You have become a horror,
And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”
Isaiah 14
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?
18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
Satan wanted to exalt his throne above God. Satan wanted to have his kingdom. A kingdom must have his own rules and principles. If Satan opposed the kingdom of God, it means he had to develop his kingdom, which is directly opposite of God. It had to have its principles, which opposes the principle of God. The principle of God is his singleness. From eternity past, God ruled his kingdom with a single principle of love. Therefore, the attack of Satan was an attack on God’s principle of love. Satan wanted a kingdom that is not ruled by love. This means he had another principle in his mind. The bible says he was perfect till iniquity was found in him. Meaning he operated like God, he operated in singleness of nature. Therefore, the iniquity found in him was something dualistic in nature. Dualism caused Satan to change from his perfect condition. This iniquity caused Satan to be the opposite of God. He became conditional, divided, doubled-minded with contradictions, and unstable in all his ways. It was something hybrid. But as we know, he failed in heaven, but there is a crucial thing to understand the nature of the fall of Satan and also key to understand our original sin.
The critical element that reveals to us the fall of the devil, which is intertwined with our fall, is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree represents his principal, his jurisdiction. It is hybrid in nature. This tree represents his kingdom, which is built on the hybrid principle of good and evil. Therefore, the fall of Satan is represented by this tree, and since he failed to expand his kingdom in heaven, he came to take men captives and advance his kingdom on earth. Ezekiel points us to the garden of Eden because there we can understand the nature of the fall of Satan. This was something that was embedded into the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was something that caused him to lose his singleness of nature, a dividing principle. The fall of Satan was changing the laws of God and establish his kingdom on his commandments, which are the opposite of God’s. This is something that causes him to fall from heaven, and the principle of heaven, which is simplicity. This knowledge of Satan is not constant because it contains contrary duality. God cannot operate with this principle; he cannot waver back and forth between good and evil. Paul address Gods singleness in Romans 1
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
We reflected the singleness of God, but after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of duality, we came to perceive God precisely as that: corrupt, unpredictable, inconsistent. That’s why they hide from him. They saw him as Good and evil. When they partook of this tree, they opened themselves to Satan’s influence, and he, through his tree, embedded his corrupt thinking in our minds, and this became our view of God. The iniquity of Satan was a departure from singleness to duality. This is the corruption we embraced. This is the corruption Satan is energizing the all world with. Adam and Eve permitted him to build his kingdom on earth, which is founded on his corrupt principles. His corrupt principles are so deceptive that all world is held hostage of, even the church is in this hostage.
Satan wanted a kingdom that will be ruled by a dividing principle of good and evil. This means that he wanted a kingdom in which every good act is rewarded, and every evil act is punishable. He developed a principle by which people will be classified as good and evil. Every good will be paid, and every bad thing will be punished. His principle was dividing. God operated by a single principle of love. In God, there was no, and still, there are no divisions. All divisions, even if it appears good is from the devil. The tree which represents the kingdom of Satan had some form of good that’s why the tree has two nature: good and evil. But even this goodness is not good at all. This goodness is conditional. When you do good, you get good, but when you do evil, you get evil. This is not God’s goodness since it is conditional. Satan goodness is just evil. Satan knows how to market his kingdom. The bible says that Satan disguised himself as an angel of light. He is using marketing principles to sell his products. His tree has two natures, good and evil. Satan developed this principle in heaven when he wanted to exalt his throne above God. When he did this, he stopped reflecting on God’s singleness of nature and started to reflect his new hybrid law. He stopped being singular to dualist. This is what Paul is warning us from in his letter to Corinthians.2nd Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The word simplicity, as used by Paul, In Greek, it means “singleness. “This means that the mind of Eve was pure, but Satan’s tree corrupted him to something else which is not single but dualistic. This means Eve’s mind was reprogrammed from something pure in nature to something that is corrupted and dualistic. This means the understanding of God in Eve’s mind was changed or altered from its original configuration. The mind of Eve was configured to singleness by God, but Satan reprogrammed it to a mixture. The singleness in Eve’s mind was exchanged with something dualistic. This means Eve was held hostage by this principle. She became a hostage of the devil, and later, Adam joined her. From that moment, humanity failed to reflect the true God but reflected a false God that was reprogrammed into our minds. We started to be conditional. Jesus came and told us that in the past, you were told to be conditional, but now he calls us to be unconditional. Be unconditional; be impartial. Be impartial that you may be perfect as your father in heaven. Mathew 5
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Jesus says we must be good at all the time to be perfect as our father. This means this is how God operates. It means he does not operate with mixed personalities. God does not have a mood swing. God is good at all times. This is where Lucifer deviated from, from singleness to dualistic. He became conditional and double-minded that defiled his all being. He was perfect in all his ways, but iniquity was found in him. He became dualistic and made us become like him. Our mind was darkened from singleness that was in God. We were given false knowledge of God. Satan rejected God and his love, and we adopted his new wisdom, which has blocked our view from God’s infinite love, which is his wisdom. The deception embedded in his new wisdom, made us run from God, for we viewed God through this new-found wisdom. We have been living with Satan wisdom, and we have viewed God through Satan’s wisdom.
This is what was happening to Paul. Paul, before his conversion, reflected a false God that is formed through Satan lies. He was operating with a dividing principle that contains a mixture of light and darkness. Immediately man partook of this dualistic tree; we became dual in nature, and we also so God through this lens. This means we never saw God anymore as love but love and something else. Love and a punisher. Saul saw God this way, and this reflected in his character. He persecuted people in the name of God, thinking he was doing service to God. This was the understanding of Saul of God. He was genuine in his service for God, but he was also genuinely wrong.
When you have a false view of God, this is what will reflect in your theology and behavior. I believe many are genuine in their ministries in representing God, but they are genuinely wrong and in hostage of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They are reflecting a false God. After Eve partook of this dualistic tree, he ceased from seeing a singular God and became a hostage of dualistic God. They henceforth thought God as a hybrid God who punishes and love. That’s why when God showed us, they hide, thinking God had come to punish them. They no longer viewed God has as love but love and a punisher. They were no longer perfected in love because perfect love cast out fear. But God had not changed; he just showed up to have fellowship with them. What had changed is their view of God; they viewed him from another lens, the dualistic lens. In their minds, they saw a God who came to punish them, a blemish God, a spotted God. So, the initial fall of Satan was that he developed this dividing principle, which is the cause of all evil in the world. God wanted his beings to relate by reflecting on him. The purpose of God’s eternal law of love was so that we may relate with each other and with him in love. The single law of God was so that we may behold him and reflect it in our daily lives. His principle of love was for our good, not his good. He wanted his creation to operate in perfect union as the Divine ones and fellowship with each other. God is generous that he decided to create a people in who his love relationship would find expression. This love relationship within the Eloheem was something so amazing that it made God decide that He can’t enjoy it alone. This love is so amazing even to understand. It’s so amazing that Paul prayed that the Ephesians church could comprehend its depth, width, height, and length. This love is so intimate that Paul told the church of Romans that he is convinced nothing could separate us from the love of God. Neither death, demons, principalities, angels, persecution could separate us from this love.
VIOLENCE
We have seen that iniquity came through Satan. His area of operation is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. His Kingdom is the opposite of love. And though his tree is not just evil but good, his goodness also hides evil in it. Jesus said a tree could not produce both good and bad fruit. If we follow Jesus’ dichotomy, this tree cannot be good because it bears bad fruit. The tree is a wolf clothed in sheep’s skin. The tree is a mixture of good and evil, but its pretense of good is a lie. It has a contrary duality and double-mindedness; it does not have singleness that is characteristic of Christ. This tree is a distortion of God’s moral law of love. The opposite of love is force. Force uses violence. Lucifer was filled with violence within because the law of iniquity is violent. Iniquity depends on violence and force because it is forced on us; we have no choice in the matter. It is also violent because lucifer introduced punishment in the universe. Iniquity does not function by love but by violence; it uses reward and punishment. The devil wants his kingdom to be ruled by the principle of reward and punishment. You do good, you get good, and you do evil, you get punished. This dualism came from him. He established violence, which was by rejecting love, and to hide the operation of his principle, he established to reward and punishment principle for him to appear good. The foundation of God’s kingdom was ruled by the principle that was freely presented to all. The power of love was the only principle to be used. Force or violence must never come in. Satan’s kingdom is ruled in violence. Violence is the root of his sin and all sins. Satan, as an enforcer of this law, is a dictator. His throne has absolutely no fellowship with God since violence is the foundation of his throne. That’s why Jesus is non-violent, he can’t operate with mixed principles. But we have been enslaved, thinking God uses violence and force to discipline us. God is innocent of this accusation. This shows us how we view God from our lenses of violence. Satan’s violent system was a reaction to God’s non-violent government. Satan saw God’s law of love as weak. His violence was a repudiation of God’s non-violent law of love. He became filled with violence within because he believed force must be used for peace to be established. He saw God’s law of love as weak and cannot be relied upon to keep peace and harmony. He did not believe that love was strong enough to keep things in order. He attacked God’s law, and God did nothing to stop Satan, this cemented his belief that God’s law of love was weak. He saw God did not responded in a violent way when he rebelled, and he was like mocking God. He looked at his situation and saw God did nothing. Even the war that broke in heaven is not physical. It was two conflicting principles and ideas. But as we know, the law of love stood the test in heaven. Satan cast himself from heaven when violence was found in him. This made him not to be at peace with those who were on the side of non-violence. From Satan’s perspective, unconditional love was weak, impractical, and unrealistic. Satan’s kingdom is embedded in violence. By the time of Noah, violence had filled the world.
Genesis 6:11
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
In Strong’s dictionary, the word corrupt means decay, ruin, destruction, perish, spill,waste. This is the description of violence. It was violence that corrupted people in the time of Noah.Bibilicaly, corruption, sin, and iniquity equal to violence. Satan corrupted his pure wisdom of love and invented violence. He established a violent administration. He deviated from non-violent character of God. The principles that Satan wanted to start in heaven and by which he works through his agents are corrupt(violent), and every country and churches have been increasingly corrupt (become violent) and is by this principle that Satan corrupts the world. He is energizing the world with violence, with which he also corrupted the world during the days of Noah. Satan established a system of reward and punishment, which cannot exist without violence. Punishment and conditional goodness came from the tree of duality. The idea of punishment was a reaction against God’s moral law of love. He believed love was too weak to keep order. Punishment cannot exist without violence. He argued that violence could be used to instill good behavior and as a way to peace. Violence may come in many ways: physical violence, backbiting, gossiping,character assassination, rejection,silent treatment,lying, psychological abuse,…etc. Satan punitive measures are cruel, unkind, and very aggressive. God’s teaching ways are always non-violent. When we use violence to others and especially our children, we are teaching them that violence is the best way to solve a problem. We even quote spare the road spoil the child. We misunderstand this verse. The road here in proverbs 13 is the same road used in psalms 2:9 and Revelation 2:26-27. In all this instance, it means the unbreakable nature of God’s eternal law of love revealed in Christ. Jesus is the good shepherd, and he did not use a physical road to punish anyone. So, let’s not misuse this verse. There is absolutely no violence in God. Any violation of God’s law is violence. That’s why James said that if we break one, we break all. If in any way, we violate God’s law of love in the horizontal dimension, that is, toward a human being, we are guilty of violence even if it does not appear like violence. Any time we harm someone, we are violent towards him or her. Adultery is violence, killing is violence, stealing is violence, cheating is violence, bearing false witness, and coveting is violence. All these are hurting and destroying someone; they are inherently violent. When we start using God’s unconditional love and stop using Satan’s system of reward and punishment, then we cease inflicting physical, psychological, and emotional violence. There is no punishment in God’s system of unconditional love, but when we get out of it and embrace the values of the kingdom of darkness, we are punished by their system. But one of the deceptions of Satan is that violence is good. He lies that he uses violence as a cure for evil, but we will see later violence cannot cure evil. It only leads to an escalation of violence. Then Satan makes us think through his lies that God is punishing us.
SATAN GOODNESS
Satan believes that goodness must be conditional. That is why he brought the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Anyone who operates by this tree is unstable, and he or she lives according to the condition of others. The good of Satan tree is a false good. It is a bait to draw you close. The love in this tree is conditional upon your goodness. You see the way we have demonized God. We claim that God operates with this principle of reward and punishment, and his goodness is conditional upon your sacrifices, giving your goodness. This is what the devil has made us believe. The good that Satan tree promotes is self-centeredness, egocentric, and pride. Satan has clothed himself with light to deceive many. We do good but with selfish motives. We do good because we desire a reward but not because we are good. We stop doing something good when we see there is nothing we are gaining from it. We do good because we desire praise and recognition like politicians. We can go to any length just to receive recognition, and when we don’t get, our ego is crushed. We can harm to gain what we want. We use violence to achieve what we want. We need to ask ourselves serious questions. A we charitable for selfish reason or out of real love? The ultimate form of selfishness is that of seeking rewards; even if these rewards are simply applause and recognition, is still evilness in its purest form. When good is motivated by selfishness is utterly evil. This system of rewards and punishment has created classes in the society an,d the most dominant class is the haves and have nots. We are full of pride, self-seeking, competition and envy.
JUSTICE.
In the attack of Gods principle, Satan argued that every sin must be punished. He argued that justice is inconsistent with mercy. Satan comes with a way to go against Gods will and he introduces the method of punishment. Every evil must be punished. He declares that justice is inconsistent with mercy. He rebels against love and introduce violence and demands every evil to be punished. He came with his concept of justice which is the justice of the world today. If you tell anyone that God is love, they will not hesitate even to think and they will tell you God is also just. They fail to understand that Gods justice is directly opposite of the world justice, our today understanding of justice is inconsistent with forgiveness. They are mutually exclusive. Gods concept of justice is not like ours. Let’s see Gods concept of justice. Isaiah 16
5 In mercy the throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.
Psalms 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
Psalms 89:2
2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”
Psalms 32:10
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
These scriptures show as that whenever Gods justice is mentioned, mercy is there. The two go hand in hand. Satan introduced another concept of justice. He claimed that agape love was weak and when challenged it could not stand. Lucifer said that justice was inconsistent with mercy. This is not God’s way of thinking but Satan. In the tabernacle of Moses, the law was covered by mercy seat. The mercy seat is his throne. It is a symbol of Gods kingdom. It is foundations is justice which is can only be viewed though mercy. Mercy is the lens. But lucifer argued that agape was doomed to fail. We must use force, we must use violence. Anything that come from Satan is opposite of agape love and it uses force and violence. There is no choice in this kingdom. We think we are free but we are in bondage. Punishment is Satan version for justice. Violence and punishment go hand in hand. It uses the principle of reward and punishment. His ideas were highly organized; create a need then a solution. If we take our world understanding of justice and attribute it to God, we are demonizing God and makes him inconsistent with his true nature. If every sin must be punished by God, he cannot be forgiving. Is either you forgive or you serve justice (our understanding of justice). Our justice and mercy are mutually exclusive. God cannot operate with our justice and be merciful at the same time, they are mutually exclusive. If you decide to forgive someone debt you cannot demand for justice again. But Gods justice is not like ours. Gods justice is mercy and forgiveness that’s why they can exist together. The foundation of his throne is justice which is mercy. Gods justice is perfectly in union with his love and mercy. Whenever Gods justice is mentioned as we have seen in the scriptures, mercy is there. The two cannot be divorced.
SIN
We have seen so far, the nature of the fall, which I love to say is a fall from love. We have seen sin as violence and everything that surrounds it. We have seen the devil opposed love and established a system built on violence. We will see how the word sin is used in the bible. Man fell in Genesis 3. But the bible avoids calling the fall of man in Genesis 3 as sin. There is no mentioning of the word sin in Genesis 3. God does not want us to miss out on the meaning of sin. God does not want human beings to think sin is doing something against him. God does not want us to believe that when we sin, we hurt him or make him angry. He wants us to know that when he instructs us, is not so that he may love us, but so that we may many live in peace with each other. Even after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he just showed up in the garden as usual, as though nothing had happened. In that account, he shows his role in the fall, which is redeeming man by giving man the hope of salvation. He announced about the seed of man by whom salvation will be revealed. When God highlights the consequences of sin, it is not God who will bring these consequences. God was making man aware of the bondage he had subjected himself to. In all this account, the bible does not mention the word sin. The word sin is first mentioned in Genesis 4. Moses, through inspiration, fails to connect the account of Genesis 3 with the word sin. He does not want people to think sin is offence to God as many thinks today. But sin is the best sin in Genesis 4.
Genesis 4
6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Sin is always defined as missing the mark. But the question that needs to be answered is missing the mark about what? The bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What is the glory of God? The glory of God is best known as the holiness of God. The holiness of God has been defined religiously. It is defined as some set of religious rules to follow to be like God. But holiness is not a moral code to achieve to become like God. Holiness is wholeness. Wholeness is life. Holiness is a way of maintaining peace in society. Holiness is for assisting as in or interaction with others.
God did not give us laws so that we could please him and make Him love us. God gave us laws for our good. To ensure we live at peace with each other. A call to holiness is a call to be human. When we became holy, we reflect the intention of God on earth, which exists in the Eloheem. God called us to show forth the reality that exists in him. He calls us to love and serve one another. A call to holiness is a call to love and help one another. A call to holiness is a call to live in peace and unity. Remember, everything must be known through his love. God created us to be human; we became inhuman when we don’t show forth his purpose on earth. We became inhuman when we don’t love and care for each other. We became inhuman when we adopt violence in our relationships as humans. The glory of God is seen when we treat each other as the Divine ones treat each other and interact in perfect love. We become holy when we show forth the purpose of God on earth. The purpose of God is to love and serve one another. That’s why I say that a call to holiness is a call to be humans who God created us to be; To interact in love and unity. Sin is mentioned when the hidden principle of Satan came to fuitition in God’s creation. The principle was hidden to increase its influence without being detected. God waited to show us the true nature of sin in Genesis 4, that sin is when we adopt violent ways in our dealings. Sin is mentioned for the first time when violent is in view; violence is the initial sin of Satan.
Anything that does not reflect the nature of Eloheem in their interactions is sin. Holiness is not about observing some religious rules to become like God, but holiness is merely doing what we see in the Trinity. Holiness is incarnating the trinitarian God in all the aspects of life. This is how God is gloried on earth; by embracing our humanity as much as possible, by operating through the single principle of love. Holiness is achieved when we live in love with another and the right relationship. Anything that falls short of this is sin. Sin is not defined when we fail to climb some religious ladder and became like God. Sin is best illustrated when we fail to live like humans that God created us to be. Sin is seen when we live in rivalry and violence towards each other. After Adam and Eve ate from the hybrid tree, they failed to be humans who God created us to be. They started scapegoating, rivalry, and violence. In Genesis, 3 the nature of sin is not clearly seen. In Genesis 4, it came to full fruition, and that is where sin is defined as sin. God is showing us that sin makes us not to live like humans he created. Sin causes us to miss the mark on our humanity. Sin makes us inhuman. God gave us his law not as an areligious ladder to please him but to cat in unity, peace, and love. It was for our own God. To share love and unity. God wanted us to live in a healthy relationship with each other. God wanted us to reflect him for our own good. He wanted us to operate in a healthy environment that does not have violence. Violence resulted to all evil we see on earth.
When we ate from the dualistic tree, we started to see each other as good and evil. We ceased from becoming human to Inhumans. Sin makes us inhuman. After Genesis 3, the bible reveals our failure to live as humans. As I said, sin is not mentioned when Adam and Eve partook from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but in Genesis 4, when Cain planned to kill Abel. This does not mean that what Adam and Eve are not sinful, but the true nature of sin wants to be revealed and God wants to show us why he instructed us; it was for our own God. Our failure did not affect him but it affected us. Sin is not defined in Genesis as disobeying God but as a failure to live up to our humanity. God gives us his laws so that we relate in peace with each other. But instead of reflecting God, we reflected the serpent by living with his principle from the hybrid tree. Sin is first defined it the bible when violence, hatred, bloodshed, and scapegoating are in view. Sin is not really about us breaking God’s command but our failure to live as humans God created. Sin is our unending cycle of violence. Sin is damaging, and it ruins all human relationships. The commands of God are only given to restrain violence after we rejected the way of love. But the law is not a good substitute for love. It is not God’s best, as we will see next.
The LAW
The law was given as a poor substitute for love. Many assume that the law is the solution to the problem of sin. Many thinks that if we obey the law, we will not sin. But it’s clear from the scriptures that the law never solved the problem of sin, instead it amplified the problem. Imagine building your relationship with love. Can that work? Imagine a checklist of laws in your marriage. This is something burdensome and tiresome. But the law is a substitute where love relationship is not present. The law has some things that we see in a loving relationship, but it cannot substitute a loving relationship. Laws exist where there is no love and where there is love, the law is not needed. Rules are made where there is a need. Where there is a gap, where love does not exist, the law is made to contain people’s behavior. This is how laws are made even in countries. When people don’t show love towards others and start killing others, an injunction against killing is made. This law may tame our bloodthirsty behavior, but it cannot make you love another person. Inside you will reside hatred and all sorts of evil towards your neighbor though the law has tied your hands against killing that fellow. So, the law shows some outside aspects of love but is not true love.
Laws are created to show some outside aspects of love. But it does not fulfill the true nature of love, the intent of love, which is the way of care, unity, and self-sacrifice. The law might say, do not cheat. In your marriage, you might fail to cheat and, at the same time, fail to show love. The law does not lead to love and relationship but more laws and laws. In Exodus, it started as ten laws, by the time Moses died, they were 613 laws. During the time of Paul, they were over 6000 laws. Laws give birth to more laws. You can make a law concerning cheating on your wife. A loophole develops, though you don’t cheat, you don’t show her affection. A law is made on showing your wife affection. Another gap develops, though you show her affection, you don’t take her out, a law is made that each month you must take your wife out. Another loophole develops, you don’t buy her gifts. You came up with a law that each week you must give her a present. Another loophole is seen, the gifts are cheap. You came up with another law, and the list goes on and on that the books of the world cannot contain. Laws don’t give birth to a love relationship but more laws. You live by a checklist.
Since man rejected a loving relationship with God, laws came into place. Laws came so that we may show some love to God and people. But it failed in this purpose. In fact, the law made us worse. It made our hearts cold towards people and God. We took the law as a standard that God uses to measure our behaviors. At the same time, we used it to measure the behavior of others to determine who is accepted by us and who is not. We thought this is how God related to us, so we reflected the god of our formation in our relationships with people. The law was never given for this purpose. God was not giving us a weapon to demonize and reject others. This was a substitute for love, to contain our behaviors, and to show some outside appearance of love since we had rejected the reality that exists in Eloheem.
Have said that, the law makes us cold towards God and people. The Pharisees and Sadducees were considered perfect in keeping the law. But they were the most unloving people. If they caught you in the wrong, you must be punished. Nobody thought of these guys when thinking about love. Whenever a person did not follow their teachings, these fellows never thought twice. They would condemn that person and even kill him. This is also true today. The most unloving people are religious fellow. They claim every sin must be punished, and when you do not adhere to their laws, you are an outcast. They will not want to relate with you even if you attend the same church. They will not welcome you in their company. They might not even greet you. They demand for punishment for you to be welcomed back. Punishment may come in many ways like rejection. You develop fear when you are in their presence because they always condemn you. This religious mafias thinks they are advancing the course of God but in real sense they are directly opposite of the kingdom of God. God is love, in him there is no fear; he is perfect love. Love and fear are mutually exclusive. Instead, perfect love cast out fear. Since God is love, in him, there is no fear. And since fear comes from punishment, it means then that punishment is not from the kingdom of God. That’s why whenever an angelic being visited people, the first word he uttered does not fear.
Whenever there was a heavenly visitation, people were instructed not to fear. Fear is not of the kingdom of God. It belongs to the other kingdom of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan came up with a law that every sin must be punished. He came up with a problem and a solution, which is evil by itself. In the kingdom of God, evil is not overcome by evil. Evil is overcomed by good. Fear is the opposite of love that comes as a result of punishment. Fear and punishment are not from the kingdom of God. Every sin must be punished, or the wages of sin is death is not a reality in the kingdom of God; It is a reality in the kingdom that is ruled by a dualistic tree.
When Jesus was faced with choosing between love and the law, he chose love. This is why religious mafias of his day hated him a lot. Jesus came to restore the rule of God, which is love. But the bible says that Jesus never came to abolish the law but fulfill it (Mathew 5:17). Remember, the law was to show some outside appearance of love since people rejected love. So, at the heart of the law is love. That’s why Jesus sums up the law with one word: love. Love is in the intent of the law. God never gave the law for religious purposes but to reveal some aspects of love since his people had rejected relationship based on love. But we equipped ourselves with the law as a weapon to justify ourselves and judge others. Jesus showed us a different approach to the law. Jesus healed on the sabbath, hung out with prostitutes, dinned with tax collectors, touched the leapers. To a religious person, Jesus broke the law. But we know Jesus never broke the law. This means the religious elite missed the purpose of the law, which is to serve others and to contain our evil behavior inherited from the hybrid tree. The law could only contain but could not change anyone that’s why though it has some outside appearance of love, its weak. Only love cam change the hearts of men and women.
Jesus fulfilled the law by walking in love. He did not fulfill it the way religious mafias understood. They had made the law as a weapon and as a tool to divide people. Jesus came broke all those divisions and fulfilled the intent of the law. Love is the fulfillment of the law. If Jesus focused on the law but not the intent of the law, he would just be like the religious elite of his days. Any Christians who focus on the law are very unloving, unforgiving, and very skeptical. Jesus revealed in his life what it is like to live a life of love; Jesus came to call us to love. Jesus also showed us that where there is love, the law is not needed. He came to spark love in our hearts. He came to make us warm again. He came to restore our focus to love. God has always desired love, but where love does not exist, a poor substitute for love is given: law. But through history, we see when we substitute love with the law, it leads to the sin of condemning each other, judging, scapegoating, accusing each other. We condemn others through the law and kill others through the law.
CHAPTER 2
THE ATONEMENT
The central message of the bible is atonement. Our understanding of atonement determines how we are going to understand the rest of the scriptures. In this chapter, we are going to see different views of the atonement, and in the next sections, we are going to see how this view of atonement affects our different understanding of crucial topics in the bible. Let’s start by defining what atonement is. Atonement has been described as a way of becoming one with God. Many people believe God has been angry because of sin, and now atonement provides a way back to God. I find this not to be true. As we saw earlier, there have never been divisions between God and man, and any division that exists is not from God but due to a faulty understanding of God which we inherited for the father of lies. God has not separated himself from us until the sin issue is taken care of; We are the one who separated ourselves from God. As we will see later, God has never demanded anything to forgive man because he has never had anything against us. When we break the laws, he gives us, it only affects us not him.Job says that if we sin many times, it does nothing to God, it only affects us.
Job 35
5 Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds—
They are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?
Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him?
Or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects a man such as you,
And your righteousness a son of man.
This shows us clearly that when we sin, we accomplish nothing against God. The laws of God were never meant to please him but to create a healthy environment. This means God had nothing against us. He did not demand any payment to cancel our debt, we have not debt against him.
The understanding of a God who demand payment before he forgives people is due to the lousy presentation of atonement. If there has been any division between God and us, it is not because God had separated himself from us, but as we saw previously, it is because man fled from God and hid from God. The separation is one-sided. In the atonement, there is a work of reconciliation but is not reconciling God to man but man to God. Atonement reveals what has always been true about us. Atonement reveals a God who has never been angry with us. There are different views of atonement, I have mine, which I hold to, and I will give reasons why hold onto this view. But before that, let’s see the most common view of the atonement.
PENAL SUBSTITUTION
Penal substitution is the most common view of substitution in most Christian circles. This atonement is widely being preached till many Christians even don’t know that there are other views of the atonement. Penal substitution is the most common dominant view that the minds of many have been programmed with. This substitution has other names. It can be referred to as Governmental theory, justice theory, satisfactory theory. But just because many believe in this atonement theory does not make it right. Just because something is a common practice, it does not make it right. This view of the atonement was developed by a guy named Anselm, and it underwent several modifications over the years. Penal substitution has it that man offended against God’s righteousness standards, and because of his justice (our worldly understanding of Gods justice), he can’t overlook sin. Because of his Justice, God punishes every sin. At the same time, God is love. God, as love, wants to forgive sin, but he can’t overlook sin. So, God arranged away. His righteousness can be satisfied. He sent his son. His son took our humanity and took our sin and was punished on Christ. In Jesus, the justice of God is satisfied.
I, too, believed in this theory. In my previous books, I wrote about this view of atonement. But we are always growing and don’t fear change when is positive, embrace it and thank God for the growth. We saw that God could not have a split personality in which good and evil mingle. God’s nature is singleness and we are to see him through his lens of love. By understanding the singleness of the nature of God, when we are presented with penal substitution, we immediately see something wrong. Remember our pie crust; it has no divisions in it. This means penal substitution cannot stand the trial. God cannot be love and at the same time, be the punisher. The system of reward and punishment is from the devil. The devil seeks to punish every soul that sin. The devil does not operate with agape love. He rejected this perfection that is in agape love. Viewing God as a being who demands his justice to be satisfied before he forgives is viewing God from Satan lies. Worldly justice in fact is Satan justice. Is the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of God is foolishness to the world, the wisdom of God is justice equals to mercy. The wisdom of the world is justice equals to punishment and Satan has defiled the all world with this wisdom. It came from his hybrid tree. Viewing God from the lens of penal substitution is seeing God from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Jesus perfectly revealed to us the father. Malachi says that God is immutable; He does not change. It means God has a single consistent nature, and that nature can be seen in Christ. Christ was full of love and never punished anyone. When John and James asked Jesus to call down fire on Samaria people, Jesus rebuked them. He did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save. Jesus showed us a God who does not punish people. Jesus revealed a God who loves people unconditionally. Penal substitution represents a God who Jesus never presents. It strengthens the lies of the devil. Penal substitution presents an angry God who does not exist in our pie crust, a God who kills, a God who is bloodthirsty, and asks for blood for him to love. Penal substitution presents a conditional God. A God who demands blood and death for his ledgers to be balanced.
This view was a common view of God in the day of Jesus. The religious people believed God was angry and demanded payment for sin. They thought that God was angry towards sin and needed to be calmed down with blood and the death of an animal. This is the mindset Jesus came to deliver us from. Jesus, throughout his earthly ministry, revealed God as loving who is willing to hang out with sinners. Jesus never looked down on anyone. He interacted with those who were considered as sinners in his times. This got him a lot of problems with religious people. They believed God could not associate with sinners, so they reflected their belief about God to sinners. When they saw Jesus interacting with sinners freely, they were furious. But Jesus revealed a God who does not judge people. A God who loves and interacts with sinners freely. Jesus forgave freely without demanding anything. This reveals a God who does not demand the death of anything for him to forgive. Only human religion required death, not God. Jesus ignored the priesthood and his structure. This made Jesus to be seen as a blasphemer who threatens the honor of God. They thought they were defending the honor of God by killing Jesus. Jesus was killed by religion, not by God. Jesus died for religion.
If we say God demanded payment for him to forgive, then we cannot say God is merciful. If God decides to show justice (worldly understanding of justice), we cannot say that he is merciful. Mercy and justice (Satan justice) cannot exist in the same place. They are mutually exclusive. If I owe you a dept, and I pay you, you haven’t extended mercy or forgiveness, I have paid the dept. If you decide to forgive and extend mercy, you cannot demand payment. Mercy is inconsistent with justice (world justice). Mercy can only be consistent when understood in the context of Gods justice. Gods justice is mercy. But according to the world view of justice, God cannot be just and at the same time merciful, is either God is justice or is merciful, but he cannot be both. If Jesus’ death was for satisfying God’s demands of his righteousness, then God is just but not merciful. If he decides to extend mercy and forgiveness, then he cannot demand payment at the same time. Can you see how Satan’s justice is inconsistent with mercy? Another argument is that God extends mercy because he punished sin on himself. If that is true, why could God not just cancel the debt? Imagine a debt owed to God, and he decided to pay himself to cancel debt on himself. If there is a debt that exists which is owed to you, if you choose to forgive, you will just forgive without punishing yourself to pay yourself. The death of Jesus had nothing about payment to God. Again, penal substitution is a paganism view of God. Only pagans’ worshipers believed that their gods required blood and sacrifices to be appeased. This view was carried over to Christianity, But the God revealed in Christ shows us something entirely different.
Penal substitution has made many to reject Christianity. Atheism rejects a God who requires blood to forgive sin. They claim they can’t worship such a God. And I think atheists are better than some Christians. They can’t see how a guy full of love can again require blood to forgive. They can’t conceive how God can kill people one day and the next show love. Our failure to represent the true nature of God has pushed many away from Jesus. If God kills and demands blood to forgive, then the extremist who practices jihadis are on the right track. They are imitating their bloodthirsty God. Though penal substitution is common, it cannot stand the trial. It is not consistent with God that was revealed in Christ. The character of God has suffered in the hands of many unskilled preachers.
RANSOM VIEW OF ATONEMENT
This view seems pleasant and a bit better. It appears to be headed in the right direction because it says that God never demanded payment. But it says there is payment but not to God. In this view, we were in bondage of Satan. And as we know, after being taken into captivity, you have to pay a ransom to the person who held you to servitude for you to be released. It still has a debt payment language but not to God but Satan. We were in Satan bondage; he demanded payment to free us. God sent Jesus to pay the devil for him to release us. Ransom’s view also has its popularity. Though the bible says Jesus became as a ransom to many, it does not imply that Jesus came to pay off the devil for him to release us.
Jesus never came to do some transaction with the enemy. Jesus came for a rescue mission. He came to break into our prison to set us free. Jesus came for a rescue mission like the one we see in movies. Jesus came and conquered the powers of darkness. This does not look like a transaction with the enemy. Colossians 2
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus conquered the devil, making a public spectacle of them. During Paul’s time, Romans engaged in battles. When they win against their enemy, they would take their leader, cut his big toes, and thumbs. This ensured that their enemy would never hold a sword again or run. Then they would parade their enemy along the streets of Rome to show their citizens that their enemy is conquered. These parades served the purpose of removing fear from their citizens that they had previously because of their enemy. This parade served the purpose of telling them that they should never fear again, the enemy is conquered and he can’t hold the sword again, he can’t run. Paul being a Roman citizen, was familiar with this kind of parades. With this knowledge in mind, Paul goes ahead to tell us that Satan has been conquered. This is a victorious scripture. Jesus defeated the devil, and he has been stripped of his powers. He has been ashamed publicly. But Jesus did not overcome him by violence. In God, there is no violence. How did he then defeat the devil, this is what we see next in non-violent atonement.
NON-VIOLENT ATONEMENT
This Atonement is also known as Christus Victor. Christus Victor is Latin for Christ the Victor. This view was the dominant view of the early church Fathers. They advocated for the superiority of Jesus over evil forces. This view rejects the penal substation view that the payment of sin was made to God. It doesn’t agree with the concept of an angry God. Christus victor also rejects the ransom theory. It states that Jesus never paid anything to the devil, but he came and overcame evil forces. Gustaf Aulen discusses this view in his book Christus Victor published in 1931. Jesus came and triumphed over tyrants that man was held under bondage. It was a victory against hostile powers that held man in bondage. Gustaf gets his ideas from the writings of Irenaeus, who was an early church father. Irenaeus was a student of Bishop Polycarp who was a disciple of Apostle John. Non-violent atonement has its roots back to the apostles.
In Christus Victor, Jesus is victorious over evil forces, but he does not use violence to achieve this. This is the wisdom of the cross. Jesus was killed violently to empty violence of its power. He submitted to violence without retaliation. He did this to unmask violence, the devil, and the grave. At the cross, he uncovered the lies of the devil, the myth of violence, and the power of death. By doing this, he triumphs over them. Jesus’ way of overcoming these tyrants is the way of humility, the way of sacrifice, the way of the cross. The devil wanted Jesus to adopt his ways of doing things at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus went to the wilderness where he was tempted. In the temptations of Christ, the devil tempted him first to change stones to bread. At the surface, the temptation does not appear to be wrong. Is this not what Jesus did throughout his ministry, providing bread for the people. But Satan was tempting Jesus to be selfish. He was making Jesus to focus on himself. This is the temptation that always human beings are confronted with. Both Christians and non-Christians follow this pattern of the devil; the focus is on self. The second temptation was to be given dominion and authority. Is this not what Jesus came for? To regain authority over the earth. It seems to be a good deal. But this temptation meant that Jesus had to acquire it through an agreement with the devil. It means Jesus had to strike a deal with the devil. This means Jesus had to adopt values that are not godly. In our time, we usually don’t care how we achieve anything. We say the end justifies the means. But this is not true about Jesus; he knew godly things must be achieved godly ways. The third temptation was to throw himself, and angels will come and save him. This was to occur at the temple, which was always full of people from all over the world. It was an opportunity for recognition, an opportunity for fame. A chance to be recognized as the messiah. Jesus rejected this too. Yes, he came, and he wanted to be known as the messiah, but he knew he must use God’s ways to achieve godly results. Christ rejected the world’s ideas of power, fame, and selfishness to achieve what he came for. God cannot use violence to achieve something godly even our salvation’s. Violence of the cross is human, not divine. God was the recipient of our human violence. He used non-violence to secure our salivation, subjected himself to violence without acting in violence. This is the way to achieve things of God. Godly things must follow a godly pattern, which is the way of love, humility, sacrifice. This is the way the early church spread the gospel, but something happened around the fourth century.
The first 300 years of the early church was dominated by this view of atonement and the way of achieving godly results. In the fourth century, change came. Emperor Constantine, Roman emperor, came to power. He won a war with a sign of across. From that day, Constantine converted to Christianity. He declared Christianity an official religion of the empire. Remember, in the early days, Christians were persecuted. But immediately Constantine won the war with the sign of the cross, Christianity became the official religion of the empire and things changed. Christians were given wealth, power, pagans temples became Christian temples. Religion blessed the Romans wars. The church had a new role. It had to change his doctrines to accommodate its new way of doing things. The church that was persecuted now became the tool of persecution. Anybody who did not convert to Christianity was tortured and killed. The church was now achieving its purpose on earth through methods that Jesus rejected in the wilderness. The church became famous and influential. Divisions were established between priestly class and the other believers; Priests were given unique clothing, religious clothing. These things were not there during the time of the apostles. The only difference between the early church Christians and the rest of the world was good acts. They blended in the rest of the things with their society. They became a hidden influence in the community like a salt.
Imagine Jesus amid 12 people; somebody had to be paid to identify Jesus. Just twelve people. Today you can know a pastor amid 10 million people. The secret of Jesus was getting so low to our level. Not even dressing code distinguished him from the crowd. The special dressing code to be recognized was the way of Pharisees and not Christ. Christ did not even have special clothes for special occasions. Today is a different thing. Christ blended with his society; it was difficult to separate him from the crowd. He was only known for his love and humility. The bible says they shall know you by your love. Is this true in our churches today? Today we are known because of our significant buildings, wealth, and power. We enter into deals with politicians to advance our ministry. We use fame for advertising our ministries. The way to achieve godly results is not the way of power and prestige but death.
Death precedes resurrection. The church must die for it to resurrect. Recognition is not a bad thing, but it must precede the way of death. The things that Christ rejected are the things the church is fighting to use to achieve godly results. Jesus said that they would cast out demons in my name, but he will say that he never knew them. This should give us a pause and think. Christianity today is like competition for wealth and celebrity. I want to be the best pastor in the town, and I want to have the Largest church in the city. All these are good, but godly results are achieved in the road of love, service, humility, and death.