THE ARC AND THE CROSS
NOAH AND THE FLOOD
Noah only, amongst all the people of his time, was God fearing. The Scriptures say that Noah walked with God. Whatever steps he took in his life he trusted in God to guide him. For this reason God confided in Noah what he was about to do. God said, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy them and the earth.’ (Genesis 6:13 RSB) So God told Noah to build an ark of cypress wood and gave him the measurements and details of how it was to be built. He wanted to save Noah and his family from what he was about to do.
GOD IS A PERSONAL GOD
God is a personal God. He watches over everyone and knows them one by one. He sees their thoughts and their actions, and he knows what is in their hearts, whether good or evil. The story of Noah reveals a God who is all knowing and almighty. The world had become entirely wicked and Godless. For that reason God decided to destroy all the Godless life that lived in it. The extent of mans wickedness was so great that ‘that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.’ (Genesis 6:5)
Godlessness means living a life without God, without worship, prayer, morals, justice, equity or truth. People of that time saw only what was right in their own eyes and did only what they wished without any fear of God. They were beyond repentance and for that reason God decided to destroy them.
GOD’S JUSTICE
There is a higher court of justice than the laws of the land or the will of the people. That is why Solomon said, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the holy One is insight.’ (Proverbs 9:10) For God not only created human life; he not only made man, male and female but he put his fear in their hearts and directed them to choose the right paths and knowledge of life. A just and holy God could do no less than warn humankind of the disasters that face those who do not trust him or obey his commands. The history of the world from age to age shows how Godlessness leads to violence and war. In fact, the study of history in our schools is largely the study of wars for these stand out as the major events of every era. But, because God is merciful, and did not want Noah or mankind to dread a repeat of the flood, it has never been repeated. It totally destroyed humanity at that time save for Noah and his family.
EVIDENCE OF THE FLOOD
What geological studies of that epoch show is that civilizations were inundated with the flood. The fossil remains of trees in Nova Scotia show that they were uprooted and remained upright, torn from their roots; fully grown trees perpendicular fossils, evidence of a great inundation of water. Nothing survived. Mountains were covered; only sea, flood and sky remained. These tree fossils are found all over the world at enormous depths below present sea levels and occur through differing geological formations.
The Black sea which was more like a lake at the time of the flood, was enlarged and deepened to drown the people who lived there. Marine scientists have now probed the depths of the Black sea using robot sonar probes at a depth deeper than any diver might go, and found a landscape corresponding with town and country life, stone tools and ceramics, houses and streams. This discovery was announced by Robert Ballard who discovered the sunk Titanic.
LIFE: OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD
All life is created and dependent upon God. St. Paul said, ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:28) We are the sons of God, made in his likeness, having reason and free will. That is why, being his offspring, he should be grieved when we sin and live Godless lives. God, however has not made us like automatic machines. We have choice. We may either walk with God or walk with Satan, God’s enemy. We may either walk in light or in darkness. The people of Noah’s time chose to walk with Satan who deceived Eve into believing a lie. The outcome of their wickedness was God’s judgment upon them, the flood. He told Noah to build an arc. How long it took Noah to build the arc is any ones guess but considering the size, the dimensions and its interior rooms, it must have taken him longer than a year. He had no modern tools, no steel saws no nails, no cranes or scaffolding. How on earth did he do it? God told him, ‘This is how you are to build it: the arc is to be 450 long, 75 feet wide and forty five feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the arc to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door on the side of the arc and make lower, middle and upper decks.’ (Genesis 6:15-16) The building of the arc was just the start of the salvation God had prepared for preserving life, the life of man and animals, birds and beasts. He had to collect fodder to keep the animals alive and his family during the period of time the earth was flooded.
THE ARC AND THE CROSS
The arc stands for God’s salvation and preservation of life on earth. The cross stands for God’s salvation from sin and the preservation of life in a new heaven and a new earth. The first is a personal salvation, the salvation of Noah’s faith in God from death. The second is also a personal salvation, the salvation of faith in Jesus Christ from sin and God’s judgment on sin, now and forever, in this life and the life to come.
Noah had to believe God to live. He had no proof, other than God’s word, that the flood would come and destroy all life on earth. just as we today have no visible proof that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins or that he rose from the dead, save his word and the witness of the apostles. The proof comes only through faith. Paul reminds us of this in Hebrews chapter 11. ‘Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed,’ said Jesus. (John 20:29) Noah did not see but he believed; hence he did see from the safety of the arc God’s judgment fall on the world that he was saved. We do not see but believing we receive the assurance and help of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so that like Noah we know we are delivered from death. (Romans 5:5)
WHY DID JESUS COME?
The flood points to the reason why Jesus came. God’s judgment on sinful mankind is eternal. There is no way an unclean thing can make itself clean. The heart from which the sin came, needs, like dirty clothes, someone to make it clean. That is a simple analogy but quite true. Sin is irrevocable. Once done it cant be undone by the person committing the sin, whether of thought, word or deed because sin grows out of a sinful heart and opposes God, light, truth and love. But if we ever doubted that, the flood should help us to see that sin is a crime against God and the punishment for sin is death, now and eternally.
It isn’t just in this life that sin is binding but in the next, also. Sin is not merely in the body but in the soul and spirit of man. It is the heart, not the flesh, that sins. And because the soul is immortal and survives biological death, the future of the soul is horrifying. ‘Fear not,’ said Jesus, ‘fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’. (Matthew 10:28) There are many descriptions of hell in the bible. These are metaphorical, for which reason, ‘outer darkness’ (Matthew 8:12) and ‘fire’ (Luke 16:24) are the words used to describe this place. We should never forget the words of Jesus when he speaks of hell. He is not speaking of extinction but sorrow and pain unimaginable. I visited a youth hostel once in Melbourne, Australia. A young woman spoke to me of her boy friend. She expressed her pleasure at introducing him to her mother in New Zealand. ‘My mother let us sleep together,’ she said. ‘Have you considered the awful consequences of God’s judgment?’ I asked her. ‘God’s judgment?’ she said. ‘You are not married to your boy friend yet you slept with him,’ I replied. ‘Are you not afraid of going to hell if you were to die?’ I asked her to think about what she was doing and left her with my address. A few weeks later I received a letter from her. She said she did fear going to hell and that she had now joined a church in New Zealand and had become a Christian.
God speaks to us like he spoke to Noah. He has made a way for us to be saved from eternal death. Like Noah we are faced with death. Either now or eternally we face death. Whether biological death or spiritual death, there is no remedy, either in medicines or good deeds. And just as biological death means separation from our earthly life so spiritual death means separation from our heavenly life, in hell. That heavenly life was once the inheritance of Adam and Eve but was lost because they refused to trust God. The root of all their sin was unbelief. They were cast out of the Garden of Eden. They lost their Paradise. Of course they were sorry and guilty. Read Genesis chapters two and three. How great was their anguish and suffering! Earth became to them a dying existence, as it truly is. They lost eternal life in Paradise.
They could not justify themselves. There was no excuse for what they did. They were told what would happen if they disobeyed God and it did. There is no justification for anyone who sins for that sin is written on their hearts and conscience. Truth is always in the hidden parts and will accuse us even though we excuse ourselves. The inner temple of our souls is a holy place. God breathed into man and he became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7) All that enters the soul that is false and sinful is afraid of the Light that illuminates the conscience and the heart. How then can the soul of man be saved from eternal death and separation from God?
God has made a way.
Just as with Noah, God has prepared a way of salvation from sin and death. And just like Noah who believed God’s Word and built the arc, so we are called upon to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son who was crucified on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the whole world.
HOW DOES JESUS SAVE US?
The words of St. John open up the way of salvation. ‘For God so loved the world,’ he said, ‘that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.’ (John 3:16-19)
What do St. John’s words mean? They mean there is a higher law than the law of sin and death but it is immeasurably higher in cost and sacrifice. Humanly speaking it is the highest cost that a human being can pay to save those he loves. It is the price of his own life. That is why year by year services of remembrance are held to remember those who have died to save their country and their families from being ruled over by tyrants and enemies. They die in battle willingly to save their country. What greater love has a man than to lay down his life for others? Yet what John is saying is a higher love even than that of self sacrifice, for whilst a man may lay his life down to save those he loves, Jesus, God’s Son, laid his life down for the ungodly. St. Paul puts it this way: ‘But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.’ (Romans 5:8) This love is unconditional. It requires no reciprocal repayment and, in fact, none can be given, for what can a man give to repay God for his love or atone for his many sins? The word we use to describe this law of love is grace. There is no love that can equal God’s love or the love of his Son Jesus Christ.
This kind of love, which is incomprehensible and unknown in the laws of mankind, is more than a sacrifice, but a suffering for the sins of others. Isaiah put it this way, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Isaiah 53:6) The prophet Isaiah spoke of One, Jesus, (Saviour) who took the blame and the punishment for our sins. Jesus died upon the cross of Calvary. He suffered death who had no guilt or sin. Like his Father, God, he was holy and pure in heart and mind. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. Isaiah goes on to map the path he was destined to take: ‘The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’
He did not defend himself when he was accused of blasphemy by the priests, nor did he deny that he was a king but spoke of his kingdom being of another world. He knew from the beginning that this suffering awaited him. His exile from heaven was predestined, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He was maligned and accused of crimes he did not commit, beaten by soldiers and laughed at, tortured and nailed to a cross. Yet, as Isaiah says, ‘Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.’ (Isaiah 53:10)
If you can understand this then you know more than I do for it is beyond my comprehension. There is a love that is higher than human thought can imagine or comprehend. The good news is this, in the words of Jesus, ‘I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly.’ (John 10:10} And, ‘He that believes in me out from with him shall flow rivers of living water.’ By which he spoke of the Holy Spirit) John 7:38) And emphatically, Jesus says, ‘Everyone who believes in me will never die.’ (John 11:26’)
JUSTICE AND LOVE
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross satisfies God’s justice. Justice cannot be sidestepped, not even for love because love and justice complement each other. A king who rules his people with love but not with justice is overlooking the sins of his subjects and the terrible effect those sins have on others. A king who rules his people with justice but not with love is a tyrant and is not fit to be a king. God’s is just and because of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of the world, is the justifier of those who put their faith in Jesus. It is faith alone, not self justification that saves the soul from death and hell. St. Paul put it like this, ‘It was to prove at the present time that he (God) himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus’ who also is righteous. (Romans 3:26)
Another word for this kind of love that preserves justice yet forgives the sin, is grace. Grace is the highest form of love because grace is unconditional. It is a gift which, however, to be effectual must be received. It is the gift of new birth, new life and a new future in God’s kingdom. St. Paul makes the whole matter clear, how be it none the less amazing, when he says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8)
There is another article on grace on this web site. It shows how grace from the very beginning is the key to salvation. I invite you to read of God’s amazing grace.
NOAH AND THE FLOOD
Noah only, amongst all the people of his time, was God fearing. The Scriptures say that Noah walked with God. Whatever steps he took in his life he trusted in God to guide him. For this reason God confided in Noah what he was about to do. God said, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy them and the earth.’ (Genesis 6:13 RSB) So God told Noah to build an ark of cypress wood and gave him the measurements and details of how it was to be built. He wanted to save Noah and his family from what he was about to do.
GOD IS A PERSONAL GOD
God is a personal God. He watches over everyone and knows them one by one. He sees their thoughts and their actions, and he knows what is in their hearts, whether good or evil. The story of Noah reveals a God who is all knowing and almighty. The world had become entirely wicked and Godless. For that reason God decided to destroy all the Godless life that lived in it. The extent of mans wickedness was so great that ‘that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.’ (Genesis 6:5)
Godlessness means living a life without God, without worship, prayer, morals, justice, equity or truth. People of that time saw only what was right in their own eyes and did only what they wished without any fear of God. They were beyond repentance and for that reason God decided to destroy them.
GOD’S JUSTICE
There is a higher court of justice than the laws of the land or the will of the people. That is why Solomon said, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the holy One is insight.’ (Proverbs 9:10) For God not only created human life; he not only made man, male and female but he put his fear in their hearts and directed them to choose the right paths and knowledge of life. A just and holy God could do no less than warn humankind of the disasters that face those who do not trust him or obey his commands. The history of the world from age to age shows how Godlessness leads to violence and war. In fact, the study of history in our schools is largely the study of wars for these stand out as the major events of every era. But, because God is merciful, and did not want Noah or mankind to dread a repeat of the flood, it has never been repeated. It totally destroyed humanity at that time save for Noah and his family.
EVIDENCE OF THE FLOOD
What geological studies of that epoch show is that civilizations were inundated with the flood. The fossil remains of trees in Nova Scotia show that they were uprooted and remained upright, torn from their roots; fully grown trees perpendicular fossils, evidence of a great inundation of water. Nothing survived. Mountains were covered; only sea, flood and sky remained. These tree fossils are found all over the world at enormous depths below present sea levels and occur through differing geological formations.
The Black sea which was more like a lake at the time of the flood, was enlarged and deepened to drown the people who lived there. Marine scientists have now probed the depths of the Black sea using robot sonar probes at a depth deeper than any diver might go, and found a landscape corresponding with town and country life, stone tools and ceramics, houses and streams. This discovery was announced by Robert Ballard who discovered the sunk Titanic.
LIFE: OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD
All life is created and dependent upon God. St. Paul said, ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:28) We are the sons of God, made in his likeness, having reason and free will. That is why, being his offspring, he should be grieved when we sin and live Godless lives. God, however has not made us like automatic machines. We have choice. We may either walk with God or walk with Satan, God’s enemy. We may either walk in light or in darkness. The people of Noah’s time chose to walk with Satan who deceived Eve into believing a lie. The outcome of their wickedness was God’s judgment upon them, the flood. He told Noah to build an arc. How long it took Noah to build the arc is any ones guess but considering the size, the dimensions and its interior rooms, it must have taken him longer than a year. He had no modern tools, no steel saws no nails, no cranes or scaffolding. How on earth did he do it? God told him, ‘This is how you are to build it: the arc is to be 450 long, 75 feet wide and forty five feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the arc to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door on the side of the arc and make lower, middle and upper decks.’ (Genesis 6:15-16) The building of the arc was just the start of the salvation God had prepared for preserving life, the life of man and animals, birds and beasts. He had to collect fodder to keep the animals alive and his family during the period of time the earth was flooded.
THE ARC AND THE CROSS
The arc stands for God’s salvation and preservation of life on earth. The cross stands for God’s salvation from sin and the preservation of life in a new heaven and a new earth. The first is a personal salvation, the salvation of Noah’s faith in God from death. The second is also a personal salvation, the salvation of faith in Jesus Christ from sin and God’s judgment on sin, now and forever, in this life and the life to come.
Noah had to believe God to live. He had no proof, other than God’s word, that the flood would come and destroy all life on earth. just as we today have no visible proof that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins or that he rose from the dead, save his word and the witness of the apostles. The proof comes only through faith. Paul reminds us of this in Hebrews chapter 11. ‘Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed,’ said Jesus. (John 20:29) Noah did not see but he believed; hence he did see from the safety of the arc God’s judgment fall on the world that he was saved. We do not see but believing we receive the assurance and help of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so that like Noah we know we are delivered from death. (Romans 5:5)
WHY DID JESUS COME?
The flood points to the reason why Jesus came. God’s judgment on sinful mankind is eternal. There is no way an unclean thing can make itself clean. The heart from which the sin came, needs, like dirty clothes, someone to make it clean. That is a simple analogy but quite true. Sin is irrevocable. Once done it cant be undone by the person committing the sin, whether of thought, word or deed because sin grows out of a sinful heart and opposes God, light, truth and love. But if we ever doubted that, the flood should help us to see that sin is a crime against God and the punishment for sin is death, now and eternally.
It isn’t just in this life that sin is binding but in the next, also. Sin is not merely in the body but in the soul and spirit of man. It is the heart, not the flesh, that sins. And because the soul is immortal and survives biological death, the future of the soul is horrifying. ‘Fear not,’ said Jesus, ‘fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’. (Matthew 10:28) There are many descriptions of hell in the bible. These are metaphorical, for which reason, ‘outer darkness’ (Matthew 8:12) and ‘fire’ (Luke 16:24) are the words used to describe this place. We should never forget the words of Jesus when he speaks of hell. He is not speaking of extinction but sorrow and pain unimaginable. I visited a youth hostel once in Melbourne, Australia. A young woman spoke to me of her boy friend. She expressed her pleasure at introducing him to her mother in New Zealand. ‘My mother let us sleep together,’ she said. ‘Have you considered the awful consequences of God’s judgment?’ I asked her. ‘God’s judgment?’ she said. ‘You are not married to your boy friend yet you slept with him,’ I replied. ‘Are you not afraid of going to hell if you were to die?’ I asked her to think about what she was doing and left her with my address. A few weeks later I received a letter from her. She said she did fear going to hell and that she had now joined a church in New Zealand and had become a Christian.
God speaks to us like he spoke to Noah. He has made a way for us to be saved from eternal death. Like Noah we are faced with death. Either now or eternally we face death. Whether biological death or spiritual death, there is no remedy, either in medicines or good deeds. And just as biological death means separation from our earthly life so spiritual death means separation from our heavenly life, in hell. That heavenly life was once the inheritance of Adam and Eve but was lost because they refused to trust God. The root of all their sin was unbelief. They were cast out of the Garden of Eden. They lost their Paradise. Of course they were sorry and guilty. Read Genesis chapters two and three. How great was their anguish and suffering! Earth became to them a dying existence, as it truly is. They lost eternal life in Paradise.
They could not justify themselves. There was no excuse for what they did. They were told what would happen if they disobeyed God and it did. There is no justification for anyone who sins for that sin is written on their hearts and conscience. Truth is always in the hidden parts and will accuse us even though we excuse ourselves. The inner temple of our souls is a holy place. God breathed into man and he became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7) All that enters the soul that is false and sinful is afraid of the Light that illuminates the conscience and the heart. How then can the soul of man be saved from eternal death and separation from God?
God has made a way.
Just as with Noah, God has prepared a way of salvation from sin and death. And just like Noah who believed God’s Word and built the arc, so we are called upon to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son who was crucified on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the whole world.
HOW DOES JESUS SAVE US?
The words of St. John open up the way of salvation. ‘For God so loved the world,’ he said, ‘that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.’ (John 3:16-19)
What do St. John’s words mean? They mean there is a higher law than the law of sin and death but it is immeasurably higher in cost and sacrifice. Humanly speaking it is the highest cost that a human being can pay to save those he loves. It is the price of his own life. That is why year by year services of remembrance are held to remember those who have died to save their country and their families from being ruled over by tyrants and enemies. They die in battle willingly to save their country. What greater love has a man than to lay down his life for others? Yet what John is saying is a higher love even than that of self sacrifice, for whilst a man may lay his life down to save those he loves, Jesus, God’s Son, laid his life down for the ungodly. St. Paul puts it this way: ‘But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.’ (Romans 5:8) This love is unconditional. It requires no reciprocal repayment and, in fact, none can be given, for what can a man give to repay God for his love or atone for his many sins? The word we use to describe this law of love is grace. There is no love that can equal God’s love or the love of his Son Jesus Christ.
This kind of love, which is incomprehensible and unknown in the laws of mankind, is more than a sacrifice, but a suffering for the sins of others. Isaiah put it this way, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Isaiah 53:6) The prophet Isaiah spoke of One, Jesus, (Saviour) who took the blame and the punishment for our sins. Jesus died upon the cross of Calvary. He suffered death who had no guilt or sin. Like his Father, God, he was holy and pure in heart and mind. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. Isaiah goes on to map the path he was destined to take: ‘The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’
He did not defend himself when he was accused of blasphemy by the priests, nor did he deny that he was a king but spoke of his kingdom being of another world. He knew from the beginning that this suffering awaited him. His exile from heaven was predestined, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He was maligned and accused of crimes he did not commit, beaten by soldiers and laughed at, tortured and nailed to a cross. Yet, as Isaiah says, ‘Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.’ (Isaiah 53:10)
If you can understand this then you know more than I do for it is beyond my comprehension. There is a love that is higher than human thought can imagine or comprehend. The good news is this, in the words of Jesus, ‘I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly.’ (John 10:10} And, ‘He that believes in me out from with him shall flow rivers of living water.’ By which he spoke of the Holy Spirit) John 7:38) And emphatically, Jesus says, ‘Everyone who believes in me will never die.’ (John 11:26’)
JUSTICE AND LOVE
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross satisfies God’s justice. Justice cannot be sidestepped, not even for love because love and justice complement each other. A king who rules his people with love but not with justice is overlooking the sins of his subjects and the terrible effect those sins have on others. A king who rules his people with justice but not with love is a tyrant and is not fit to be a king. God’s is just and because of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of the world, is the justifier of those who put their faith in Jesus. It is faith alone, not self justification that saves the soul from death and hell. St. Paul put it like this, ‘It was to prove at the present time that he (God) himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus’ who also is righteous. (Romans 3:26)
Another word for this kind of love that preserves justice yet forgives the sin, is grace. Grace is the highest form of love because grace is unconditional. It is a gift which, however, to be effectual must be received. It is the gift of new birth, new life and a new future in God’s kingdom. St. Paul makes the whole matter clear, how be it none the less amazing, when he says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8)
There is another article on grace on this web site. It shows how grace from the very beginning is the key to salvation. I invite you to read of God’s amazing grace.