“Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” (1 Cor. 1:22–23)
No one likes a loser. An eccentric religious scholar who may or may not be a political revolutionary and has managed either to anger or alienate a fair amount of both the establishment and the proletariat isn’t anyone’s idea of a role model, much less a savior. How can someone convicted by the criminal justice system and violently executed by the state save others from the divine judgment of God? Jews may have been looking for someone who would restore the kingdom, and Greeks may have wanted epistemological enlightenment, but neither of them wanted a god who somehow became a man and saved people from a threat they knew nothing about, in order to usher in a kingdom they couldn’t see, by dying a shameful death on a cross.
The paradox of the cross is one that continues today, centering on the mystery of how God himself could die for humans and what that means. Rick Ritchie, a frequent contributor to the magazine, tackles this in his article on the suffering and death of the God-Man on the cross. Editor-in-Chief Michael Horton and N. T. Wright discuss the events that happened after the veil was torn in two, focusing on the necessity of juxtaposing the penal substitution and propitiatory aspects of the crucifixion with the resultant in-breaking of the glorious kingdom age. OPC pastor Marcus Serven further develops this by discussing Calvin’s exposition of the cross as vital to our Christian life, and church-planter David Ávila testifies to the profound comfort and strength that can be drawn from the deep-seated assurance that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection bring to toiling ministers and world-weary pilgrims alike. Methodist pastor Jason Micheli (with some help from Fleming Rutledge) brings helpful perspective to the relationship between forgiveness and justice from the vantage point of a wrongfully convicted prisoner.
As pilgrims in a country that celebrates the joy of Easter apart from the gravity of Good Friday, it’s easy to understand the tendency of reformational Christians to (possibly) overemphasize the necessity and reality of Christ’s sacrifice. In an age when—despite daily reminders to the contrary—belief in human goodness and potential knows no limits, it behooves us to be mindful of our sin. However, it is precisely for that reason that we ought not to sideline the wonderful consequences of the cross—the absolute victory over sin and death; the resurrection of all creation into a new heavens and new earth; the eternal reign of the Christ and his bride in everlasting glory. The somber fact of substitution and propitiation must always be tempered by the joyous comfort that our forgiveness is secured, our reconciliation is effected, and our hope in the resurrection of our body and the life everlasting will not fail.
Brooke Ventura associate editor
