A friend of mine recently loaned me a small book titled, "A Cloud of Witnesses- Ten Great Christian Thinkers" by Alister McGrath. In this book McGrath authors a dozen or so chapters on ten Christian thinkers of the past, giving a bit of biography and then focusing on a major topic each particular thinker dealt with during his life time. Though it is quite a small book it says a lot and I am really enjoying it and encouraged by it. I wanted to share some quotes from the chapter on Anselm of Canterbury who really wrestled with the death of Christ, wondering why did God have to redeem us through the death of Christ on the cross- wasn't there another way that God could have done it? After wrangling over God's mercy and justice Anselm's understanding and argument for the death of Christ came down to this:
1. Humans beings have an obligation, but not an ability, to make the satisfaction required if God is to grant us eternal life.
2. God himself has no obligation to make this satisfaction; however, he has the ability to make this satisfaction.
3. Therefore, Anselm concludes, if God became man, the result would be a God-man who has both the obligation and the ability to restore the situation, and allow us to regain eternal life.
I really like the clarity of the way he explained it. Shortly there after McGrath goes on to say this:
"God doesn't just say something like, 'Never mind- we'll pretend that sin never happened.' Even we would find that a shockingly superficial attitude.No- God deals with sin at its root, insisting that it is taken seriously,and really forgiven. And for those of us who know how real sin can be, it is vital that we know that our real sins are really forgiven. We need to know that our sins really have been cancelled and forgiven so that we can rest secure with the God who loves us. Forgiveness is shown to be a very costly matter. But the cost of our redemption also reminds us of how precious we are to God. We must mean something to God, if he goes to such lengths to forgive us, and restore us to fellowship with him."
Wow, what an utterly amazing and marvelous God we have!
1. Humans beings have an obligation, but not an ability, to make the satisfaction required if God is to grant us eternal life.
2. God himself has no obligation to make this satisfaction; however, he has the ability to make this satisfaction.
3. Therefore, Anselm concludes, if God became man, the result would be a God-man who has both the obligation and the ability to restore the situation, and allow us to regain eternal life.
I really like the clarity of the way he explained it. Shortly there after McGrath goes on to say this:
"God doesn't just say something like, 'Never mind- we'll pretend that sin never happened.' Even we would find that a shockingly superficial attitude.No- God deals with sin at its root, insisting that it is taken seriously,and really forgiven. And for those of us who know how real sin can be, it is vital that we know that our real sins are really forgiven. We need to know that our sins really have been cancelled and forgiven so that we can rest secure with the God who loves us. Forgiveness is shown to be a very costly matter. But the cost of our redemption also reminds us of how precious we are to God. We must mean something to God, if he goes to such lengths to forgive us, and restore us to fellowship with him."
Wow, what an utterly amazing and marvelous God we have!
No comments:
Post a Comment