The Cost of the Atonement

"He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8:32

This is the third, in a series of post on the atonement of Jesus Christ. Here is the definition I am working from for the atonement; “God killed His perfect Son to save hate-filled rebels from the wrath they deserved from Him”. In the first post, I discussed the general nature and definition of the atonement. In my last post, I walked through the three largest reasons the atonement was necessary. Today, I would like to spend a few moments thinking though why the atonement of Jesus was so costly.

The simple answer for why the atonement was so costly, is because it cost the life of God's Son on the Cross as a payment for the wrath of God towards sin. But we need to think through the simple answer to see the full depth of the atonement. The rest of this article is diving deeper into the depths of the death of God's Son.

God is holy, humans are not. God is sinless, humans are sinners in nature. God is just, humans are deserving of justice. God is alive, humans are spiritually dead. God is love, humans are unloving. God is good, humans can never do any good outside of God. The list of the ways God and sinful humans are separated, could go on. But we get the point. God is completely perfect, good, holy, and separate from sinful, dead, evil humanity. That separation is seen the clearest every single time a human sins and acts in cosmic treason towards God.

The separation and cosmic treason of humanity deserve the just punishment and wrath of God. God hates sin. God judges sin. God deals out His perfect justice on every sin that is committed against Him. This points to the fact that, without the atonement, every single human being will be dealt the perfect just wrath of God, in judgment, for all eternity in Hell. Every single human perfectly and rightly deserves the wrath of God being poured out on them in propitiation (which will be paid and satisfied for all eternity).

Hell is real. Hell is the place of atonement and judgment. Hell is the place where God's wrath will burn against sinners for all eternity. Hell is the right, true, and just destination of all people. Without the atonement, every human deserves Hell. Without the atonement, the final destiny of all humans is Hell. Without the atonement, God is perfectly good and right and loving, in sending every single human to Hell. Without the atonement, Hell cost God nothing (but His perfect justice) and it cost humanity everything.

But God, in His love and grace, chose to save some from the justice they deserve. God did not have to save anyone. God was perfectly right and good, to not save anyone. But God chose to save some by planning and enacting the atonement of Jesus Christ. God, from eternity past, elected some for salvation, decreed salvation from His wrath for His sheep, and sent His Son to this world to make salvation real and secure for the elect. This means God sent His Son, at a costly price to save His people.

The cost of the atonement, is the same exact cost it would cost humans going to Hell. Becasue Hell is the eternal place of God's wrath being satisfied, God had to have His wrath satisfied and His elect justified, so they could have salvation secured. This is why the Bible says God is both the just and the justifier. God, through the atonement, find justice for the cosmic treason of His elect. God, as the justifier sent His Son at great cost, so the elect could be justified. God planned His justice perfectly and produced the justification in His elect perfectly. The justice of God and the justification of the elect, cost God the life of His Son as a substitute.

It is the substitutionary nature of Jesus that shows the great cost of the atonement. Jesus had to stand in the place of the Elect. Jesus had to bear the wrath of the Elect. Jesus had to be a propitiation for the Elect. Jesus had to endure the true taste of Hell for the Elect. Just as Isaiah 53 makes clear, Jesus as the suffering servant, had to bear everything and remove everything from God's sight, that the Elect deserved. This means the atonement cost God not only His Son, but also cost God the action of dealing His own wrath on His perfect son.

God loves His Son above all else. Jesus was perfect. Jesus was holy. Jesus was loving. Jesus was good. Jesus, even as God in the flesh, was in full communion with His Father and never once committed a single act of cosmic treason. Jesus was perfectly righteous. Yet to secure the salvation of the Elect through the atonement, God had to kill His own Son. God had to pour out His wrath (same as Hell) on His Son. God had to have His justice met through the one person who never had to meet it. God had to enact the atonement through the only person who never needed it. The atonement cost God His very own Son.

As Romans 8 reads, if the atonement cost God so much, how much more could He give us? If the atonement was the hardest action God every had to do, why would blessing or caring for us be hard for Him? It's not. Paul is clear. God gave up everything in the atonement. God gave His greatest cost, in the life of His perfect Son. How much more will God give us, as His elect children? Next we move to the propitiation of the atonement.