That the Father never stopped loving the Son–even when he hung on the cross–is one of the most important Christological truths upon which we can meditate. After all, it was Jesus who said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again” (John 10:17). Herman Witsius, the 17th century Dutch theologian, explained that the Son “never pleased the Father more, than when he showed himself obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Last week, Wyatt Graham published a post titled, “The Father Was Not Angry at the Son of the Cross,” in which he rightly explained that God the Father never stopped loving the Son–even when the Son hung on the cross. While there are many good and helpful statements in Wyatt’s post–and, while he cites John Calvin for support–quite a number of them raise more questions than they answer. For instance, he says, “To build a case that the Father was angry with the Son goes beyond Scripture and the consensus of orthodox Christianity.” Here we need to pause and ask, “Is it, in fact, unorthodox to believe that, in some sense, the Father was angry with the Son when He hung on the cross in the place of His people to atone for their sin and propitiate the wrath of the Father for their eternal redemption?”
“If it had been possible for God’s love towards His Son to be increased, He would have delighted in Him more when He was standing as the suffering Representative of His chosen people than He had ever delighted in Him before.”2
It is impossible for one member of the Godhead to look upon another without infinite and eternal love…even for one second.
While it is undeniable that the Father never stopped loving the Son (even when the Son bore the wrath of God on the cross), the way we should speak about the Son as our substitute in relation to the Father when he hung on the cross has been long debated. Is it right, in any sense whatsoever, to say that the Father was angry with the Son when He punished the Son in our place and for our sin? Was he ever the subject of the holy anger of which we, as hell-deserving sinners, are the proper objects?
When we take up the question about God’s disposition toward his people, we must first seek to embrace all that Scripture has to say. The Apostle Paul made quite clear that we are all “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:3). John Calvin wrote,
“Children of wrath are those who are lost, and who deserve eternal death. Wrath means the judgment of God; so that the children of wrath are those who are condemned before God. Such, the apostle tells us, had been the Jews,–such had been all the excellent men that were now in the Church; and they were so by nature, that is, from their very commencement, and from their mother’s womb.”3
Why did Jesus have to bear the wrath of God on the cross when he hung there as our representative? Simply put, Jesus had to step in the place of filthy (Job 15:16; Lam. 1:8; Isaiah 64:6; ), ungodly (Rom. 4:5; 5:6); God hating (Rom. 1:30) enemies (Rom. 5:10) who “deserve eternal death,” those who are “condemned before God.” There was nothing in us to commend us to God. The Apostle puts it in the strongest of terms when he said, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells (Rom. 7:18).” When we read these statements, and the many others like it, we are meant to say, “This is who I am by nature–an enemy of God, alienated from Him and under His wrath and just displeasure.”
Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.