Principle #3: God responds

God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
-Romans 5:8 

Because of sin (Principle #2), God had a choice to make – either forget about the lot of us or take the initiative and do something himself to bridge the gap. God’s love for humans (Principle #1) drove him to respond to the sin, but that solution came at a great cost to himself. 

Because the penalty for sin is death and separation from God, a price had to be paid. But a person couldn’t just pay it, because as you’ve seen, humans can’t pull themselves up to God. Therefore, in order for the gap to be closed, God had to take the initiative and pay the price himself. He had to come to earth as a man, Jesus Christ, and die for the sins of the world (1 Peter 3:18). 

Therefore, Christians believe God’s gift of grace is the work that Jesus Christ did by dying on the cross for the sins of the world and coming back to life again three days later. 

Principle #4: People must choose

If you will confess with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

-Romans 10:9

 

Why did Jesus have to die for your sins?

Buried in the Old Testament is an obscure Israelite custom that helps makes sense of why Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross redeems (saves) people from their sins. Ancient Israel had a concept of a kinsmen redeemer, which was someone who protected members of his or her extended family if they got into trouble. For example, suppose a person got deep into debt and couldn’t repay it. By law, that person could be sold into slavery until the debt was paid. However, if the person sold into servitude had a relative who could act as a kinsmen redeemer, then that individual could be freed as the kinsmen redeemer would pay off the debt. The qualifications for a kinsmen redeemer were threefold: you had to be a blood relative, be free, and be willing and able to redeem. 

Christians think of Jesus as being the kinsmen redeemer for humanity. People have gotten themselves into a debt of sin that they can never, not in a million years, repay themselves. However, only one person in all history is qualified to serve as humanity’s kinsmen redeemer – Jesus Christ. He alone meets the threefold requirements: 

Jesus is God (see Chapters 5 and 7), but he’s also a “relative,” because he was born into the world as a man.

 

Jesus is free, being the only person to have led a sinless life. 

Jesus voluntarily went to the cross on behalf of everyone. 

Although a kinsmen redeemer in ancient Israel would pay a financial debt to release a relative from slavery, the penalty for sin isn’t financial, but a matter of life and death. Therefore, the price that Jesus had to pay was his own life for the lives of all humans. 

Through the work of Jesus Christ, God built a bridge over the gorge of sin that eliminates the consequences of Principle #2 (people sin) and enables Principle #1 (God loves) to happen. Christians believe that one doesn’t have to buy a ticket or do anything to earn his way across the bridge, but he does have to decidedly walk across it in order to take up God on his offer. In Les Miserables, the candlesticks wouldn’t have meant anything to Valjean if he hadn’t taken them with his hands from the bishop and carried them away. In the story of the prodigal son, the father’s love wouldn’t have mattered had the son not accepted it. And in “Babette’s Feast,” the dinner wouldn’t have done its transforming work on the church members if they didn’t lift their forks and partake of the food. 

In the same way, it’s not enough for people to simply nod their heads toward God and the work of Jesus Christ. They must do something about it. Salvation, then, is God’s gift, but it requires a deliberate act of one’s will in response. Christians believe a proper response to God’s gift of grace is as easy as A-B-C: 

Acknowledge your sinful position to God.

Believe that Jesus Christ died in your place for your sins.

Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and allow him to be lord of your life.

 
It’s important to note that God doesn’t treat humans as a group, but as individuals. Although grasping it seems impossible, Christians believe he desires a relationship with every single person who walks the face of the earth. So, given that he singles every person out for love, he also holds every individual accountable for the choices that he or she makes. Christians believe that God gives freedom, but he demands accountability.