Cruciform Love

by Chris Castaldo | Posted on

carry.cross.christ.jesus[1]

The legacy of Jesus is cruciform, it is redemptive, and it is the tangible illustration of why we declare that “God is love.”

“When we are united to Christ a mysterious exchange takes place: he took our curse, so that we may receive his blessing; he became sin with our sin, so that we may become righteous with his righteousness. . . . On the one hand, God declined to ‘impute’ our sins to us, or ‘count’ them against us, with the implication that he imputed them to Christ instead. On the other, God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. . . . We ourselves have done nothing of what is imputed to us, nor Christ anything of what is imputed to him. . . . He voluntarily accepted liability for our sins.”

Footnotes:

John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, 1986), 148-149.

About the author

Chris Castaldo (PhD, London School of Theology) is the lead pastor at New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Talking with Catholics about the Gospel and coauthor of The Unfinished Reformation.

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Comments

  1. Hi Chris,

    Thank you for posting this quote. Just brought to my mind how Christ has exchanged His virtues for our unrighteousness. Who can love us the way He does? I am soo amazed that we have the privilege to know such a loving God.

    God Bless
    Anju

  3. Quote: “On the one hand, God declined to ‘impute’ our sins to us, or ‘count’ them against us, with the implication that he imputed them to Christ instead.”

    I think it’s dubious and dangerous to say “with the implication that” since such a thing as important as this should not be speculative but rather plainly taught in the Bible. Logically speaking, just because I’m not imputing X to someone, does not necessitate that I must then impute X to someone else.

    1. Absolutely!

      The very concept of “forgiveness” means to no longer count the sin. Forgiving someone because someone else paid their debt is not forgiveness! It’s not a balance sheet being balanced, it’s a completely new account being given!

  4. Nate, your statement flies in the face of the gospel: “Forgiving someone because someone else paid their debt is not forgiveness.” Jesus became a curse for us by hanging on a wooden cross (Gal 3:13) paying the penalty for our disobedience (Mark 10:45). On account of his great love, Jesus shed his blood (Eph 5:2) as an offering for our sin (Rom 8:3). “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). As a result, all who trust in Christ for salvation no longer stand in the crosshairs of divine judgment (Rom. 5:10–11); instead, we are embraced by God as his beloved children (Gal 3:26).

  5. But can it be said that Jesus shed his blood for us without requiring our sins/guilt to be imputed to Him? I think yes.

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