Was the Cross Cosmic Child Abuse? | Michael Horton

Again sort of anticipating what progressive Christians will say or progressive people who are taking a

progressive theology will say.

One of the things that they really say a lot is that the cross was essentially a form of cosmic

child abuse where a wrathful vengeful bloodthirsty

God has Demanded.

I think you said this at the top of the the interview.

Demanded his ounce of flesh, you know to satisfy his wrath.

Can you explain why exactly that is way off?

Sure Nate, um, well it It's first of all, um a

pretty faulty view of the Trinity.

You know, you have God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all being equal three persons.

But one in essence, they all have the same attributes of justice mercy love

Holiness and so forth, but they they they are distinct persons and

The Sun is No lower than the Father in the you know that

there there is no higher and lower in the Trinity.

They are all equal.

And so the Sun and the Father Agree together in the

councils of eternity before the world was even created Knowing that we would fall into sin.

Agreed.

To.

For the Sun to to have a bride be given a bride chosen from

The foundation before the foundation of the world by the father as a gift to the son.

Here is his bride.

Even as he's being given this bride by the father.

He knows.

What's going to happen to her and that he's going?

To come and save her.

He doesn't have to.

He could he could.

He could say, you know, I.

The father and the son could could have decided not to say.

Father could have decided not to give a bride to the Sun.

But that all humanity would be judged and maybe start another human race.

But instead.

Instead the father gave the son a people and the son.

Voluntarily.

Accepted.

The burden as Well as the delight that came with that Isaiah 53 again.

He he will see his seed and be satisfied

Because he poured out his life as a guilt offering for sin.

He will he will see the work he even from eternity.

He was looking forward To becoming flesh in order to

save human beings people from every tribe and kindred and tongue and people and nation

Because he knew He knew what would be the result of his work.

So You have to start start with the Trinity's idea of of God the

father kind of beating up this this man Jesus or No, his his poor son Jesus

said in John 10 No one Takes my life from me.

So let's get that straight.

No one's no one's going to kill me.

No one's going to you know I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna be a hapless victim here.

I'm going to give my life Sure, I'll be arrested.

I'll be handed over and so forth, but Jesus didn't say a word.

He didn't defend himself.

And Is that powerlessness?

No, that's power.

That's Jesus being in control of his destiny and saying I am going to the cross

I'm not going to fight this thing.

This is why I've come into the world and So no one takes my life from me.

I Have the authority to lay it down.

Mm -hmm, and I have the authority to take it back up again.

So we're not talking here about any kind of You know

whipping post any idea of a pound of flesh Furthermore the

father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son not the father was so angry

He beat up his son.

But the father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

You don't have an angry dad right and a a

Brutalized victimized son you have the father so loving the world that he's giving his only

begotten son and his only begotten son.

Saying no one takes my life from me.

I lay it down and I'll take it back up again.

Do you think also this kind of way of characterizing it?

Slips in the idea of Unitarianism, which is to suggest that God isn't the one

going to the cross that it's actually God the father just punishing.

Somebody else.

Yeah, just some dude.

Yeah.

No, exactly.

It's it's God versus man here.

No, it's it.

The person who died on the cross the person who bore our sins.

Is God right.

So, you know R. C. Sproul had that great line.

God God saved us from God.

Yeah, at least from his wrath from his justice but God's love is what

Moved him to save us.

And so.

It's it's it's not that God the son saves us from God the father.

It's that the triune God Mm -hmm works together.

The persons work together in order to save us from the results the

consequences of our own rebellion.