Anselm discusses his view on how this satisfaction works and provides the reader with an understanding on what is required to solve the problem of sin. According to Anselm, due the justice and honor of God it is required for sin to be punished or satisfied in a way and cannot be left unnoticed. Anselm states that “to remit sin in this manner is nothing else than not to punish; and since it is not right to cancel sin without compensation or punishment; if it goes unpunished, then it is passed by without being properly resolved” (2). If God were to outright forgive sin by simply ignoring it without punishment, this would establish an irregularity in God's kingdom of order. For God to go against his own character and disrupt the necessity for
He tries to argue against the common notion that that, disasters are direct consequences of God's judgment to some kinds of sin. Fretheirn argues that the judgment of God is not punitive, but recuperativc in nature and is meant to bring cleansing to people. With this idea, Fretheim introduces the idea of intimate relationship between God and humans. Consequently, the judgment of God over sin or evil associated with human behaviors shows the goodness of God and his grief over the disaster inflicted upon humans. For instance, he says that despite God allowing people to the consequences of their sins, hc does not give up on them.
The first objection, with God anything is permissible, means that with God, people can do anything they want because they will always be forgiven. That is not the case. God will forgive people, but only if they ask for forgiveness and truly regret what they did. He also holds Christians accountable for their actions. Since Christians are supposed to be examples of Jesus, we are held at a much higher standard of behavior, as stated in Ephesians 5:3-4. So with God, everyone is held to a certain
xvi) On the same exact page Hill states, “Christian ethics does not involve either or analysis as if we could choose between holiness, justice and love, but rather a synthesis in which all three conditions must be met before an action can be considered moral.” The Bible recognizes this concept by saying, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” (Hebrews
“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You can’t earn that or deserve it” (Portis 40.) Everything you do, good or bad, carries some sort of judgment from the Lord. You might slip through the cracks from this world judgments and law, but you will be judged according to your doings, in this world by God. You can’t earn nor deserve the Grace of the Lord, because it was already given to us in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25.) This gave us Grace to be forgiven after our sin if we repent from further sinning’s. This means you can’t go and commit a crime of revenge, knowing God’s words
The most popular understanding of the atonement today is the theory of “penal substitution.” The concept and idea of a wrathful God who can only have his anger at wicked sinners only appeased through bringing about the violent death of his Son on the cross – forms the basis of much Evangelical thinking, although it was not a view held by the early church. Penal substitution first emerged with Anselm in the 11th century. It was substantially shaped by John Calvin in the Reformation Era but was ultimately finalized by Charles Hodge who lived in the 19th century in the United States; he taught at Princeton Seminary for fifty years. Charles Hodge explains to us how penal substitution provides deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, something more directly associated with Christus Victor model of atonement. (p. 144). Jesus took the punishment because the law was broken and somebody has the pay the crime. Historically the word “satisfaction” does not mean grafication as in common usage, but rather “to make restitution”: mending what has been broken, paying back what was taken and can be connected with the legal concept of balancing out an injustice according to Anselm. From the legal aspect the purpose of satisfaction is not heal us or restore us inwardly, but is rather to satisfy society.
Anselm explains this through the concept that if God was involved in human life and affairs then this would take away his all-powerfulness and omnipotence because his true power comes from the possibility of doing anything and making a decision goes against this. The true power that God has makes him unable to interfere in human affairs as the amount of other decisions and choices that are influenced by this one action takes power from him. Anselm shows this through the analogy that if a man is sitting we talk of him as he is doing the action, but for talking of God, it would be easier to think of it as he isn’t doing any other action other than sitting (Anselm 73). Anselm’s thought that having the power to do something rather than actually doing an action is greater and this leads to him re-establishing the thought of God’s omnipotence through this. As Anselm says, because of God’s ability to do an action that is always to his benefit and because he can not be impotent against anything, this reaffirms his all-powerfulness. God doing an impotent action is self-contradictory because he is the maximum and all-knowing, so he will never do this because it would take power away from Him and make him have the desire to do what is unacceptable of God, which is an action that goes against God himself. Anselm describes this power that is taken away from God if he does a impotent action as “adversity and perversity”, which just means anything that goes against God or is self-harming to Him (Anselm 74). His inaction is true omnipotence because he can, “do nothing through impotence and nothing can have power against You.”(Anselm 74) God’s inaction is one of the main reasons why he is omnipotent according to Anselm, and if he influences human life or anything then he is taking away alternate possibilities which make him less
...e is also a perfect, just, and holy God who cannot even look on sin. He has the power to forgive, but the punishment for crime still must be carried out. A great example of this was the thief on the cross next to Christ. In his last hours on this earth he accepted Christ as his Savior, but God did not take him off the cross because he believed. No, he still had to bear the punishment for the crimes he had committed. Jesus Christ is another good example. He did not even deserve to die. He was innocent! Yet, He submitted to the cross to pay for the sins of mankind. Sin will always have consequences, and just because God is willing to forgive sin, that does not mean He will also take away the consequences. What a criminal sows in crime, he will reap in consequence, whether those consequences are from the justice system, or from a perfectly just God in Heaven.
God seems to look past the grumbling and act from His loving capacity. The concept of grace is highlighted distinctly in this single act of God. As a the 21st century church, we often times focus only on the New Testament to teach us about God’s infinite grace. But the Old Testament clearly illustrates that God cares about his people and is willing to meet their needs. Another theological implication is God does not meet Israelite’s needs only to satisfy them with food, but in order that they may gain the revelation of who He is (v. 12). Out of this revelation the Israelites will have to be dependent on God daily for provision. Peter Enns puts God’s gracious provision this
God’s law demands sins to be confessed and forgiveness be requested in order to become stronger through Him. 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (ESV). Just as the BSC is a strategy for organizations to grow stronger, God’s strategy of sinners confessing and requesting forgiveness is a way for Christians to become stronger. Economies of Scale and
The result of sin, then, would be considered a blurring of the image of God and a barrier between God and man. In addition, salvation is a process not of justification, but of reestablishing man's communion with God (Ware 155-161).
...fe of the Israelites. But God never intended that people should view it as a way to earn salvation, namely: by keeping it perfectly.”
A strong Christian lesson on the true nature of forgiveness can be found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount:
The act of Justification enables us to be right with our God. The doctrine of justification has to do with our status before the just judgment of God, that every person will ultimately be called into account before Him. The whole world will come before the final divine tribunal. We will all come to that place, at that time, as either unjustified or justified sinners. Paul says, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed."
God once promised us that His direct interference in our matters would no longer happen and that He would let us be responsible of our own lives (Ge 9:11 New International Version). In essence, we are all responsible for the evils present in this earth. Every malevolent action, every deprived action we commit is a direct responsibility of our own decisions. For example, if I choose to steal something from any store, why would God stop me if it was a decision that I made and free will was given to me. It is not saying that He could not stop me if He wanted to, He chooses not to because he promised that he would not interfere directly again. It could be by his hand that I trip on my shoelace and drop what I stole and therefore get caught but he did not directly untie my shoe and made it so. Explaining in a way we can all understand, if your boss tells you what to do how to do it and is on his high horse and expects his team to follow the probability of that happening is slim to none. On the other hand, if your boss encourages you to grow and gives you the guidelines for you to operate in you are more likely to flourish and be successful at any task you are given and therefore excelling at your job in its entirety. I believe this is how God wants us to flourish in our faiths and our lives to reach Him and what He demands of
...estiny? That is bullshit. God have no right to punish us if he forced us to do bad actions. You choose your life, your acts and your destiny. When you ask for forgiveness, it is your choice and then God reward you too. Our destiny is to be born well by nature, we become bad and evil by choice.