Atonement

It was God's will that Christ suffer and die at the hands of godless men. This was His predetermined plan. But I think it vitally important that when we consider the topic we understand that it is the love of God manifested in the sending of His only Son that we may live through Him. God loved us and sent Christ to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

Yes, this was God’s will. Isaiah 53 tells us “the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering... the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” Christ's death itself was faithful obedience to God.

The cross was not outside of the will of God.

 

I don't.

It was God's will, His predetermined plan. But it was the actions of godless men, acting in ignorance, that placed Christ upon the Cross. It was Jesus, in loving and faithful obedience, who accomished the feat.

 

God did not prevent Jesus from suffering and dying, this was His will. Nothing happens apart from His will. He suffered in obedience to the Father, by God's predetermined plan, at the hands of godless men who acted in ignorance (they believed Jesus stricken and afflicted by God and numbered Him among the transgressors).

 

Godless men put Christ to death, which was an abomination before God as they convicted the Righteous and killed God’s Anointed. But they acted in ignorance, and this was not outside of God's predetermined plan, so even this horrible sin is forgivable. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death.

Nothing happens outside of God’s providence. But I do not believe it correct to say that God “caused” evil in that He “authored” evil. On God's part, He gave His Son as the "spotless Lamb" who takes away the sins of the world. God's will was for Christ to suffer and die at the hands of the godless. And God raised Him again.

 

No. It was ordained before the Fall, not as a reaction to Adam's sin. When we start to view God as reactionary, as if His plans have been defeated so He must devise an alternate course of action, we have to stop and look again at our theories. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.

I believe that on the Cross the Father looked upon His Son as His beloved, His Holy One, in Whom He is well pleased; His righteous Son in obedience taking upon Himself the sin of mankind and bearing this sin in His flesh.

I do not believe that God was wrathful to Jesus, but rather that the Father offered His Son as a propitiation for us.

 

I agree. I'd expound on your comment to say that you cannot pit God's love, His holiness, and His wrath against each other. They all point to the One True God. When we look at God's wrath against sin as an expression of God's holiness, we cannot divorce this from His love.

But I do not believe that salvation came through the Law in order to give us a righteousness apart from it (not because I cannot comprehend the notion but because I find it foreign to Scripture). I believe that the Law was a witness testifying not only to our sinfulness but also (and primarily) to Christ Himself. So we do disagree on this point.

 

I see how the OP was incomplete. Thank you for pointing that out.

But yes, God sent Christ so that all who believe would have eternal life. Those who do not believe, although they seek Him, will die in their sins unless they believe that He is the Christ. Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. So there is an emphasis not only that salvation has come but also on those who are saved (Christ lay down his life for the sheep, He died to save those who believe). The judgment, therefore, for those who do not believe is that the Light has come into the world and they loved darkness rather than the Light.

 

Perhaps I didn't break it down enough in the OP. I apologize if my lack of articulation caused you to miss the reasons.

Christ died for our sake, for us. He became flesh to share in our humanity so that by His death He might break the power of Satan – that the prince of this world would be cast out and all men would be drawn unto Him. Christ had to suffer and die, to take upon Himself sinful flesh, and be raised to become the “firstfruits” of those who die. Since death came by man, also by man came the resurrection of the dead.

Again, sorry the OP was not complete enough. This is one reason for the thread, to compile my belief more completely in one place. I'm sure that now you can see why Christ was not "mentally unstable", why His death was necessary, and why He is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory.

Thanks again for pointing out the need to put the cookies on the bottom shelf. I took for granted several doctrines that you and @Aaron were gracious enough to point out as absent. I hope this helps to clarify.

 

I do not see such problems with Scripture. Through Adam's transgression sin and death entered the world. Christ came to break the power of Satan and to liberate us from the bondage of sin and death - to free us from the law of sin so that we would live to the law of God. Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, took upon Himself all it is to be human. By the predetermined plan of God, Christ suffered under the power of sin and death (He died at the hands of godless men). God vindicated Him by raising Him from the grave and the Christian hope is in this resurrection.