Think Wink.

I think Piper had it right when he stated the gospel like this in Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist,

The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God…The death of Christ is the wisdom of God by which the love of God saves sinners from the wrath of God, all the while upholding and demonstrating the righteousness of God in Christ (pg. 61-62)

The texts that most clearly shows this are first 1 Corinthians 1:23-24,

We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Christ’s death is that wisdom that enables God’s love to save us from his wrath. The question is, how did Christ’s death accomplish that for us? To answer this, I turn to Romans 3:23-26,

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…God put forward [Christ Jesus] as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Christ came to vindicate the righteousness of God. God in the times past had passed over sins when he saved people. Their sins were not punished, as his righteousness requires. Instead, God forgave them and passed over them in his “divine forbearance.” He allowed his hallowed and sacred name to be dishonored in order to love and save sinners. Thus to vindicate his name, Christ was sacrificed. On Christ were laid the sins of those who had come before. Thus God “might be just.” God now has the way to forgive our sins and still maintain that just standing in Christ. God “might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

In his wisdom, God made a way to love us into heaven without dishonoring his name and righteousness.

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