Free Forgiveness

Atonement, Forgiveness, God, Jesus, Redemption 0

But if we look at the life and teachings of Jesus we see a vastly different image of God. We see a God of love and peace, who freely forgives sin without first balancing the cosmic accounts. As the fullest revelation of God, Jesus never demands retribution. He never talks about his offended honor. He forgives and heals and saves unconditionally. He is the Prince of Peace who reveals to us the true nature of God and tells us so when he says, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

— Sharon L. Baker, Executing God, p. 73

Photo: View from Burg Montfort, Germany, June 19, 2024

About Forgiveness, not Punishment

Atonement, Forgiveness, God, Jesus 0

The cross is not what God inflicts in order to forgive; the cross is what God in Christ endures as he forgives. This is an essential and enormous clarification! At the cross the Son does not act as an agent of change upon the Father. Orthodox theology has always insisted that God is not subject to change or mutation. Rather, God is immutable. Thus the cross is not where Jesus changes God but where Jesus reveals God. On Good Friday Jesus does not save us from God; Jesus reveals God as Savior! We don’t have to imagine the Son pacifying an angry Father in order to understand Good Friday as the epicenter of forgiveness.

— Brian Zahnd, The Wood Between the Worlds, p. 16

Photo: South Riding, Virginia, January 20, 2025