God's Is Love

There is a theory that Jesus’ death on the cross was to pay the penalty of our sins. A penalty which God demands. That theory is labeled “substitutionary atonement.” Many of the Protestant “Reformers” taught this theory which may have first been taught by Anselm (1033-1109). That theory seems to make God to be an angry and punitive Deity. That is the concept with which I grew up. It was a significant part of my “imbedded theology” (what was imbedded in me from my up bringing in a Baptist church) or my “folk religion” (what my folks taught me). That idea has bothered me for a long time. The Bible teaches that God is love (I John 4:8). That section of I John also says that Jesus was our atoning sacrifice. The sacrifice was not because God was angry but because God was showing us a better way, a way of love’s redemption that will go to the utmost for our sake. God is love! Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son is about the father who lovingly and continual looks for his son, not to punish him, but to welcome him back to the family. I choose to believe a loving not a punitive God.