In his book The Truth of the Cross, R.C. Sproul spends some time discussing the human condition and as he does so he uses three biblical concepts: debtors, enemies, and criminals. The Bible describes all of us in these terms. What Sproul does here, and this really helped it hit home for me, is show how it is always the Father who has been offended and the Son who intercedes. We have committed crimes against God and are, thus, justly termed criminals. The Father stands as Judge, passing the just sentence of death. But Christ stands between us and the Father, acting as substitute. Our sin puts us in debt to God so that we are debtors to Him. God is the creditor who demands repayment, but Christ stands in as surety. And sin puts us at enmity with God, making us His enemies. He has been violated by our sin, but Christ intercedes as mediator, opening the way between man and God.
Sproul breaks this down into the following simple table:
| Sin As… | Man | God | Christ |
| Debt | Debtor | Creditor | Surety |
| Enmity | Enemy | Violated One | Mediator |
| Crime | Criminal | Judge | Substitute |
He concludes this: “Christ, then, is the One Who made satisfaction. By His work on the cross, He satisfied the demands of God’s justice with regard to our debt, our state of enmity, and our crime. In light of the facts of God’s justice and our sinfulness, it is not difficult to see the absolute necessity of the atonement.”
What a great Savior!
Comments (3) »
1. Redeeming Riches
June 29, 2009
9:41 AM
That’s a great chart! How often do we miss the fact that we are the debtors, the enemies and the criminals. The easy believism and soft gospel messages out there miss this point so badly. To me, understanding that point helps us see how truly great Jesus is and how much God loves us!
JT@RedeemingRiches
http://redeemingriches.wordpress.com
2. humanitas remedium
June 29, 2009
2:04 PM
That chart is great!
3. humanitas remedium
June 29, 2009
2:05 PM
Great chart!