- by Carrie Shaw
- on June 12, 2025
The Cross Of Christ
The cross of Christ is not just the centre of Christian faith; it is the place where heaven’s deepest truths are made visible. If we want to understand what Christianity truly teaches about God, sin, love, and salvation, we need to come face to face with the cross. This is Christianity 101. It’s not a vague philosophy or moral encouragement. It is a divine rescue. And it begins with a problem.
Justice: What Went Wrong in Eden
Genesis tells us that humanity was created for life, for communion with God, and to dwell in a world that was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But when Adam and Eve rebelled in Eden (Genesis 3), something catastrophic happened, not just personally, but cosmically.
Sin shattered the harmony of creation. Death entered, not just as a physical reality but as a spiritual consequence. As Paul the Apostle would later say in Romans 5:12, “Through one human, sin entered the world, and death through sin” – and in that moment, a debt was incurred – one that could not simply be ignored or wished away. As Romans 6:23 affirms, “The wages of sin is death.”
God’s justice means that what is wrong must be made right. Sin brings real damage – to us, to others, to the created order – and that damage demands restoration. Justice is not about God seeking vengeance or needing to be appeased. It is about the deep moral order of the universe, rooted in God’s holiness, being set right again. Without justice, there is no healing. Without reparation, there is no peace.
This is why the problem of sin is not just emotional or psychological. It is legal and relational. The scales are unbalanced. There is a real chasm between humanity and the holy God – and we cannot cross it on our own.
Love: Not Without Truth
In today’s world, love is often reduced to mere acceptance or affirmation. The phrase “love is love” is used to suggest that as long as something feels loving, it must be right. But biblical love goes far deeper than sentiment or surface kindness. It is grounded in truth and shaped by God’s character.
Scripture shows us that love is not a fleeting emotion but a self-giving, costly commitment to the good of another. It acts even when it hurts. It speaks truth even when it risks offence.
God is love (1 John 4:8), but He is also holy and just. His love does not overlook sin. Instead, it confronts it. The cross tells the truth about sin – that it is deadly – while also offering the greatest grace. As Romans 5:8 declares, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus’ death on the cross is the clearest picture of what love truly is. There, God does not gloss over our sin. He names it. He confronts it. And then He bears it in our place.
The cross shows us that real love tells the hardest truth – that we are lost without God – and then makes a way home. As 1 John 4:10 puts it, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Jesus didn’t come to make us feel better about ourselves. He came to save us. Real love does not lie. Real love says: this is serious, but I will lay down my life for you.
The Cross: Where Justice And Love Meet
The cross is not simply a religious symbol. It is the moment where God’s justice and love converge in perfect unity. On that wooden beam, hanging between two criminals, Jesus bore the weight of all human sin, not as a victim of circumstance, but as the chosen Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). His sacrificial death, planned since the garden and before, demonstrates the preemptive nature of God’s plan of salvation (Revelation 13:8) on behalf of humanity.
At the cross, Jesus took the full penalty of sin – death – upon himself. He offered his perfect life in place of our imperfect one, bridging the separation between humanity and the Father. In doing so, he fully satisfied both divine justice and divine mercy.
This was not arbitrary punishment. The cross was necessary because of who God is: holy, just, and loving. Sin must be dealt with. Evil cannot be ignored. If God were to simply overlook sin without consequence, He would cease to be just. And yet, in His love, He made a way for justice to be fulfilled, not by punishing us, as we fully deserve, but by taking the punishment upon Himself.
This is where Romans 3:26 becomes central to the Christian message. The apostle Paul writes that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement “to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Let that sink in.
God does not set aside justice in order to justify sinners. He remains just – faithful to His own moral perfection – while also being the one who justifies (declares righteous) those who believe in Jesus. The cross allows God to be both.
The phrase “to be just and the one who justifies” is perhaps the clearest summary of the gospel in all of Scripture. God doesn’t compromise His standards. He doesn’t shrug at sin. But instead of destroying the guilty, He steps in to save them. He pays the debt Himself.
This is why the gospel is good news. Because of the cross, we are not left under condemnation. We are not asked to fix ourselves or prove our worth. We are invited to trust in the One who has already done everything necessary to bring us home to the Father, fully forgiven, fully restored.
Justice is satisfied. Love is poured out. The scales are balanced. And Jesus stands at the centre.
Why This Matters: The Non-Negotiable Centre Of Christian Faith
This is not just theological theory. It’s the beating heart of Christianity.
Romans 3:26 shows us that only in Jesus does God remain utterly just while offering mercy to the undeserving. No other worldview holds both justice and grace so tightly together. In every other system, one is sacrificed for the other; either justice without mercy, or mercy without justice. But in the cross of Christ, both are fully upheld.
This is why the cross is not just important – it’s essential. You cannot be saved without Jesus. You cannot bypass the cross and still reach God.
Forgiveness without justice is empty sentiment. Justice without forgiveness leaves us condemned. But at the cross, Jesus does what we could never do – He pays the debt and overcomes death.
This is Christianity 101. Not self-help. Not vague spirituality. Not moral improvement. It is a divine rescue. To believe in Jesus is to receive both pardon and peace, righteousness and relationship, justice satisfied and love poured out.
So if the cross is true – and it is – then the only question left is: How will you respond?
