Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:707 (Jul 2020)
Article: From The Editor
Author: Glenn R. Kreider

From The Editor

Glenn R. Kreider

What does love look like? According to the apostle Paul, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). From the beginning of the biblical story, substitutionary atonement has been the ground of forgiveness and the basis of a relationship with God. From the animals who died to cover Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness through the sacrificial system in the Mosaic Covenant, the guilty have been saved from the wages of sin through the death of an animal. Those sacrifices looked forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The death of Jesus for our sins, while we were yet sinners, is a graphic demonstration of God’s love. He did for us what we could never do and would never desire to do; we were still sinners. Jesus’s death as a sacrifice brings forgiveness.

If this is how God loves sinners, then the resurrection of Jesus promises us much more. Since we have been reconciled by his death, we will be saved through his life (Rom 5:10). That Jesus is alive is the ultimate good news. Because he lives, we too shall live. This is our hope, our destiny, our future, eternal life with the living Savior (v. 21).