Jesus paid it all
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 CSB
Previously, John tells his readers that “love is from God” (1 John 4:7). God’s love emanates from His being. That is God’s nature, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Then this love of God radiates through the lives of those that trusted Him as Lord and Savior. From our text, John now shows proof of how God displayed His love for us, “God sent His One and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” And in this passage, John did not use the name Jesus or Christ but he used the word “Son” showing the intimate relationship of Jesus with His Father. We saw in 1 John 3:16 how Christ displayed His love for us, “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us.” God sent His one and only Son to give us life. In our verse previous, we saw how God the Father loved us from His perspective, sending His Son knowingly what would befall Him, all for our sake “that we might live through Him.” This gift of love was not as a response from humanity’s love for God, but rather, was initiated by God first, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” Jesus Christ was sent to be the “atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus was the “hilasmos,” a Greek word used for a religious sacrifice. “Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice[a] for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). During the Old Testament era, animal sacrifices had to be made regularly in order to atone for the sins committed to avert God’s wrath, but it was always a temporary solution. Jesus Christ, however, was the atoning sacrifice, meaning, once and for all. “He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27). Hence, why Jesus said on the cross in John 19:30, “It is finished.” Therefore, if anyone believes in Christ as their Savior, the wrath of God was turned away, for Christ had paid for the judgment of sin.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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