Love through an act of unlove

[DamianWarS]

I have 2 kids, 4 yrs old and a 1½ yr old. I know it's a cliché but since they have come into my life a know a level of love I never understood before. If there was a circumstance were I could trade my life so they could live I would pick their life over my own. Jesus himself says "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." (Jn 15:13) And I can recognize this kind of love with the love I have for my kids. I think many could track with this.

Jesus is described to have a Father-Son relationship with God (the Father) . This is not a biological relationship but there is some overlap with my own with my children. Yet the Father does something I couldn't do, he sends the Son to die and while on the cross he does not prevent it. As Jn 3:16 says that he sent his Son, where his death is implicit, to save the world.

The death of Christ is an act of love from the Father to the world through the Son. Jesus' death is an act of love to his Father in submission and an act of love to the world. But is it an act of love from the Father to the Son?

 

[-Sasha-]

But is it an act of love from the Father to the Son?

Christ desires that all men be reconciled to God, that we all might be co-heirs with Him, experience one-ness with God, and enjoy life eternal in His kingdom. What stood in the way of this was our sin and it's natural consequence - death. This was something we could not overcome on our own (though people who lived under the law did try to), so in order for His desires to be realized, we needed Him to act on our behalf. Of course we understand that the desire, the will, of Christ and that of the Father are one...so Christ's salvific acts of incarnation, ministry, death, defeat of death, resurrection, etc. were to fulfill the desire which was common to all parts of the Trinity, and were based in God's love for man, and His desire for us to be reconciled to Him.

The closest way I can think of this in terms of a human parent/child relationship would be thus: your beloved children have wandered off and become lost, and they've found themselves fallen into a deep pit, and held captive there by someone they cannot defeat. They have tried every means available to them, and cannot manage to escape. You are the only one who is capable of going to the place where they are, and the only one who can break the bonds which hold them there. Your father tells you "Go. Rescue them. I will pull you all out of the pit together once you've accomplished this." When you are on your way, you realize how perilous the path there is - how could your father possibly manage to bring you back from this place? - but you trust him, and know that you must go to your children, so you follow through to the end.

And what then? Of course we cannot speak only of the crucifixion and death, but also of the resurrection! That is, we speak not only of you traveling the perilous path, going down into the pit, and defeating the one who holds your children captive; we must also speak of your father standing true to his word, and showing up to pull you all back out and bring you safely home.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

The death of Christ is an act of love from the Father to the world through the Son. Jesus' death is an act of love to his Father in submission and an act of love to the world. But is it an act of love from the Father to the Son?

Yes.