Nature of God: God is a moral being Who behaves in All ways in conformity to HIS moral principles of Holiness, Love, Truth, and Wisdom.   By a "moral" being, for you people under 60 years old, we mean a being with an inborn sense of good or evil, right or wrong, true or false, selfish or unselfish, and logical (noncontradictory) or contradictory sense of things. 

A moral being has an intrinsic sense of "ought" for all things to be either "right" or "wrong" according to these narrow parameters.   All created spiritual sentient beings (Angels and mankind) are moral beings similar to their Creator of what is Holy, Loving (unselfish), Just, and True without anyone telling them.

All such Moral Principles existing can only be the nature of God Himself, Immutable and Eternal.  The moral law (God's Eternal Nature) makes it the existential obligation of all in God's Creation to do only what is right-related to God, and all other conduct or even thoughts are totally abhorrent and rejected by God's Presence.   God cannot deny Himself.  God by His essential and infinite preeminence is the necessary and rightful ruler of this His Moral Kingdom (Rule).  He could do no other than Create only Moral beings or creations as Himself.   This cannot be other than a Kingdom of God's Moral Attributes.   He is Holiness, Love, Truth, and Wisdom--His Moral Attributes, which universally rule His Kingdom in every aspect.

Moral LAW, therefore, derives from the nature of God Himself and becomes the necessary nature and relationship of all things in His Creation.   The word moral refers to principles of "the way things ought to be".  These principles from the time of Creation have been instinctively known by all humans as those principles relating to God Himself.  "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom 1:20).

• Eternal as God Himself, extending beyond time.
• Not dependant upon God's Will or any other being.  God cannot be but what He is.  Self existent eternally moral nature.  And His Creations can only be moral also.   He is Holiness, Love, Truth, and Wisdom--His Moral Attributes.
• Always looks to effecting the best possible right-related "ought" relationships to Himself in the greatest possible "ought" quality and quantity.  All encompassed and made possible only by ALL His Attributes.
  
  Any imagined god has, of course, sovereignty, meaning he does whatever he wishes.  But only the one True Creator God of the universe has other Attributes (Holiness, Love, Truth, and Wisdom) controlling and determining what He Sovereignly Wills. 
  
  He is by no means inscrutible and unclear about All His Creation or the Government of His Kingdom (Rule) or what He Wills or WHY and HOW.  He openly declares and manifests Himself to us in His Holy written inspired inerrant Word given to us for our learning.   But we need born-from-above ears to hear and eyes to behold and His Holy Spirit to teach us what His Word written to little children says.

Crime (sin) is any violation of choosing the wrong instead of the right-related to God's Being (All Attributes).   Self-serving is the essence of All sin; mimicking the satan, saying, "I will, I will, I will...." (Isa 14 and Ezek 18). 

This is why death to our flesh nature of self-serving, both accomplished in actual fact by Christ's Death for us and in our obedience minding our new Spiritual born-from-above Life of Christ's nature, thereby puts our flesh nature to death in our daily living NOW.   ONLY Christ's indwelling Life of righteousness IN FACT could NOW restore us to any fellowship or relationship to God's Being of Holiness, Truth, Love, and Wisdom.

Behold, "NOW is the day of salvation," IN FACT.³  2 cor 6:2



                                                           JUSTICE

Justice is given when God's Holiness, Love, Truth, and Wisdom all meet together in judgment.  All of God's Kingdom (rule) is run upon a continuous administration and operation of all God's Moral Attributes.  And justice always results in every continuous instance of Kingdom administration. 

Justice, God acting justly, morally necessary, in the best effort solution to cause the greatest possible quality and quantity of that which is morally rightly-related to Himself. Two Administrations and operations of such Justice exist at all times simultaneously. They are:

                                                BECAUSE OF GOD'S ATTRIBUTES

I.  Retributive Justice--At ALL TIMES, since ADAM and for ETERNITY BECAUSE OF GOD'S ATTRIBUTES.

• Arbitrary, eye for eye, every person, without partiality, according to his character relation to God's Being.
• No exceptions, without mercy, in every instance of crime
• All individuals rightly expect penalties by law as general (public) interests of highest good demands
• When law (Attributes) is violated every subject is injured and his rights invaded
• The certainty of retributive justice is promoted at all times that the greatest possible good be maintained and to make impunity to law in the minds of subjects to be avoided. This type of justice stands for Eternity.
• Criminal offenses (sins) requires an expression of God's abhorrence to sin and His respect for His Moral Being by law, not a dead letter violation, but for a violation of His Being, His very existence.
• "The most sacred rights and the highest welfare of all Holy moral beings are involved. Where are they to find protection and security if their Ruler is defied with impunity, His majesty insulted, and His Holy Laws trampled in the dust." (A.M. Hills)

• Always a first priority effort to promote the greatest quality and quantity of greatest good possible-requires God's Mercy, an essential of His great Love. 
• Always utilized first for greatest possible good and the greatest number of criminals restored to moral standing with God's Being.
• Must be done in such a manner that no impunity to violate a Moral God is encouraged in the minds of the subjects.
• The mercy provided to achieve moral rectitude of the most subjects must not be spurned or retributive justice must occur.
• Therefore, nothing can be done to remove or undermine or disturb the influences of God's Immutable Being, Attributes.
  
  GOD'S MERCY PROVIDED to criminals, vicariously¹, and conditionally²

1. Discontinuance of future crimes in the criminal's life by removal of the propensity or nature of the criminal to commit crimes-death to flesh (sin) nature, (provided conditionally in His Body Death vicariously for our natures),
2. Removing all criminal acts (sins) from the law Book, (provided conditionally by His shed Blood vicariously for sins), and
3. A provision to allow the possibility of all PRESENT living on earth to be obedient, pleasing, and consenting to God's Being, His Moral Laws (Attributes), and Holy Living by Christ's resurrection Life in us and through us (providing His Life conditionally to us). 
4. It must always be conditional, because of retributive justice, and God cannot change His Immutable Attributes of Love, Holiness, Truth, and Wisdom.  Therefore, obedience must always be our priority.  Our priority must be to become conformed to the Attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Loving Atonement provisions for us to live in Righteousness and true Holiness before Him in His Love and His Mind (faith) "IN THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD".

Titus 2:14 says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee."

Much Error Today about Atonement because Heresies Abound

Christ vicariously removed our sin and sins by His dead Body and his sinless Blood as a Perfect sinless Man on the cross. 

Christ's death in behalf of us was not "the innocent for the guilty".  He was not guilty, nor did he take some guilt or punishment upon Himself in our place.  This would have accomplished nothing in fact of justice to remove our sin natures or forgiveness of sins for eternity at all.  We would still be sinners (unholy and evil) mistakenly said to be destined for Heaven.  This substitute punishment idea is evil darkened thinking.    Nothing was done to Him "in our place" as a Wrath from the Father.  He Who knew no sin finalized our sin "in behalf of us" that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21 rightly translated).  Heb 2:9 says, "How that by the grace of God He might taste (experience) death in behalf of every man."  "He hath appeared to put away (destroy) the sin (of all) through the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:26).

The putting to death of His own Body to vicariously¹ remove our sin flesh nature was not because of any sin found in His sinless flesh nature.  So no Gnostic teaching about sinfull body nature and a spiritual nature of man being sinless and eternal can possibly apply.  God's sinless flesh nature removed our dead (separation from God) nature, to give us a new creation Life, NOW in fact, within us of God Himself indwelling, replacing our spiritual death also.  This is what all scriptural new-birth, to a new creation, and the symbolism of water baptism is all about.

The ancient Gnostic idea that all the righteousness of a spirit life outside of ourselves can be reserved for us while we can continue in a sinful flesh nature lifestyle has no place in scriptural Christian theology.   But this is taught by Calvin's substitutionary punishment Atonement (Calvin's Institutes 2.16.10) and also the modern "grace" regardless apostates; an external spiritual righteousness reserved for us only in Heaven, regardless of a continuing "sinning" carnal "Christian" in present living.     Christ's necessary Atonement of us, in His Death for us, and resurrection Life for us, entirely destroys any such theological blasphemy as credible.

Vicariously¹: means He Died "in behalf of us" to justly provide a removal of our sin natures and sins; in order then, in fact of present reality, to justly provide us with His indwelling Holy Life, to those who would repent and commit to His Lordship.

We are all born with a sinning blinded flesh nature in which we as individuals had no choice but to sin.    Christ's Atonement in universal public justice gives to all mankind a choice.   And all men throughout the history of mankind will be righteously judged upon what he did with the light of understanding given to him for his choosing.   By their nature of creation as spirit creations in His Love, all mankind is given choice.  Adam was removed from the Garden because he still had choice to eat of the Tree of Life.  God had to provide a better way for man to safeguard His Eternal LIFE.   He could not allow someone with a sin nature who only sins to also have Eternal Life.  Even the fallen angel, satan, does not have this.

AT THIS TIME, Christ provided to man's Holy Spirit enlightenment, a choice of personally continuing in sin or choosing His Atonement for themselves, NOW in this life.   No one will be in eternal hell without choosing to be there.    God is Love.   Without choice, is it Love or a prankster pagan god arbitrarily amusing himself?    All salvation is by all of God's Attributes, not just a pagan sovereignty for his own pagan pleasure and appeasement, as the Calvinist's teach.

Christ's death on the cross was done by Him, vicariously for us, not to Him by the Father.   He was doing a work for us that only a Perfect Man and a Perfect self-existent God could do on the cross.    He suffered a Human Death for us vicariously to remove our death state separating from Him, that we might be restored in fellowship with Him by His resurrection Life provided to us.    A total salvation provided NOW in this Life.

Acts 13:39-41 says, "And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you."

Christ said on the cross, "It is finished."    Christ said, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.......Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life , that I might take it again.   No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of My Father" (John 10:15-18).   As Perfect Man and Perfect God only Christ could do this great work of Love for all sinners.

Christ suffered an OT type sacrificial Death for us, to remove our already Retributive Justice of death separation from God.   He never suffered in our place as in any OT type punishment from the Father's wrath on sin to occur in the future.   This is not said any place in scripture, only in men's imaginations and a poor exegesis of the Greek pure Word of God.   This false understanding comes from the traditions of the Roman Catholic teachers, and Gnostic mysticism; the Reformers never wandered very far from either of them in many aspects of their How or Why explanations of anything relating to God.

And Christ certainly never went to hades in order to suffer under the torments of the devil.   This is abject demonic teachings of many "word of faith" Charismatics in these last days (1 Tim 4:1).   Christ never died Spiritually, nor did He have to.   He dealt with our spiritual dead state in our flesh nature of all selfish sin.   He by His sinless flesh nature put to death, removed, our selfish sin nature of death, to give us His sinless indwelling nature of Christ Himself, the Mind of Christ, our faith, by which we are to be obedient thereafter in living righteously and Holy (separated) in this present evil world.   His Atonement provided us with a brand new Living Life NOW to be lived NOW by HIs faith in us, assuring, gifting, guiding, and teaching us.

In the New Covenant as in the Old Covenant, our obedience to Him is better than our sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams (1 Sam 15:22). 

This universal Public Justice provided by a Loving yet Holy God to all sinners is appropriated conditionally.²

Christ died for all sinners, the scriptures plainly declare this.  The message of salvation throughout is, "Whosoever will....I will in no wise cast out."   God is not two faced, does not doublespeak, does not lie.  He means what he plainly says.    Because God is Love, he cannot force His will upon any of His spirit creations, except in His universal, always existing, Retributive Justice, finalized only as a last resort among all alternatives. 

Therefore His gracious provision by His death and resurrection provided to us, can only be appropriated by an individual who submits to the Holy Spirit's enlightenment of Christ's work, Holiness, yet Love offered to him or her.   The person can resist (Acts 7:51) the Holy Spirit's drawing and speaking to every man's heart (Jn 12:32; Jn 1:9; and Jn 6:44), or he can turn from his sin (repent) and commit (believe) to the Lord who died and rose again to provide to him, in actual fact, NOW, a new creation, righteous and Holy, walking in fellowship/relationship to His Lord through the indwelling Mind of Christ (faith), mercifly provided by our God in His Atonement for us.  

By this great Eternal apex act of Atonement, God restores Eden to man to walk with God, and much more: the provision of an Eternal fellowship of the Spiritually Perfected MAN with God at all times, and an Eternal justification of our Spriitually Perfect (Glorified) Creator God.  What great Wisdom and planning before the foundation of the world!

It is a public universal justice because it is to all people for all Eternity, all sinners who were born, only able to sin, and gives to them factual, present tense, indwelling righteousness of new Life of God Himself in them to guide them, teach, gift, and empower; providing peace and assurance in their hearts and an understanding of their Creator for the first time in their lives.    By this great redemption (restoration of God's "second man" indwelling us), Christ Himself, in actual fact, becomes our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.    They NOW, in fact, become "the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them , and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Cor 6:16).

This Justice of Mercy (Public Justice), conditionally² providing removal of our death by His vicarious ¹ sinless flesh Death of himself, and replaced with His Indwelling Resurrection Life, has nothing at all to do with Calvin's concept of Justice, the fiction that sinless Christ took punishment for our sins into Himself.  The Atonement was much more curative than taking a punishment, it was a Death and Life issue.  Only this could restore man to fellowship with His Creator's Attributes.  Christ never became just an OT goat sacrifice.

• The fiction of ONLY a forensically applied Atonement evolved in the following sequence.  A "Substitutional Atonement", was first proposed by Catholic priest Anselm (1033-1109 AD) in his writing Dur Deus Homo;  then Catholic Aquinas (1225- 1274 AD), made this into "Substitutional Punishment" in his writing Summa; and then finally John Calvin (1509-1564) made "Substitutional Punishment applied only Forensically in his Institutes of Religion.   Calvin was the first to formulate that Christ became sin and took upon himself the punishment due to sin, by a Wrathful Father on sin.  And by this, all the sins of the Elect were only Forensically (legal bookkeeping) removed.  Luther and Calvin vigorously denied that the Elect had any means of any righteousness in any form themselves until they get to Heaven.  And this is all that was accomplished in this terrible (and unscriptural) form of the Atonement, according to them.   This view was, in substance, followed by the theologians of the later Middle Ages, and prevails in Catholic theology today and most all protestant teachings even today. 
  
  "Calvin credited the all-sufficiency of Christ's merit to the divine decree of Election (a fictional "decree" nonexistent in scripture), not Christ's Person. Calvin could say, therefore: "If Christ had merely died a corporeal [bodily] death, no end would have been accomplished by it; it was requisite, also, that he should feel the severity of the Divine vengeance, in order to appease the wrath of God, and satisfy his justice.  Hence it was necessary for him to contend with the powers of hell and the horror of eternal death." (Institutes, 2.16.10; Trans.: J. A.).  So, Calvin erroneously credited the all-sufficiency of Christ's merit to (a fiction nonexistent in scripture) divine decree, removing sufficiency from the Person Who wrought Atonement.   Accordingly, in the Calvinistic system Atonement is extrinsic, outside of Christ, not intrinsically in Him, of Him, by Him, through Him; in Christ alone!  John Calvin thus impugns the new order of priesthood under the New Covenant."   (ATONEMENT TERMS IN USE © Malcolm L. Lavender, Litt.D., See The Call to Reform website, see Recommended Links in opening page of this site.)  [Underlining ours.]
  
  
• "Vicarious. In Five Point Calvinism this term is understood to mean that: ". . . Christ's satisfaction includes and implies the obedientia Christi . . . [obedience of Christ] through which Christ both fulfills the law for us vicariously (in His sinless ministry) and then accepts, vicariously, the punishment for sin required under the law, death." (Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms, p. 272).

"So then, according to this reasoning, Christ was righteous for us in the Incarnation, and then bore the punishment due our sins on the cross; accordingly, neither righ­teous­ness nor punishment may now be required of the believer inasmuch as total satisfaction has already been fulfilled in Christ.   This is all false to the Scriptures.

[[ Our note: From this thinking, we then have unconditional Eternal Security by Election of a (fictional) divine decree, since "neither righteousness nor punishment may now be required of the believer" by this kind of Atonement, Calvinists say.   Then, no Holiness and righteousness is required, nor even an intention by the believer during his life.   It is an external righteousness that immutably saves, regardless of whatever we do or believe, they say.   From this, we have the fully matured great "grace" regardless Dispensational apostasy today.   ]]

Neither the Scriptures nor any system of justice support one being good for another, or one being punished for another!   These are issues of morality and justice on a pagan level.   These involve moral issues that are non transferable; corruption, not justice; unbelief, not grace; issues that are not in conformity with civilized reasoning much less theology.

All these terms are fictitious coinage to usurp the lofty place of Priestly-Sacrificial Atonement-Christ died in our behalf, offered Himself.  The Person, Christ, was involved in Atonement.   But Divinity cannot be punished; punishment then cannot be beneficial to Divinity for Atonement"  (last three quoted paragraphs from ATONEMENT TERMS IN USE © Malcolm L. Lavender, Litt.D., The Call to Reform website.  See our Recommended Links. )

Conclusion of Details

Christ's Atonement, achieves reconciliation of the dead to full fellowship/relationship to God's Being, Attributes, to be acceptable in His Presence.   Any Moral administration and operation of God deals with sinners in both of two ways, called Retributive or Public Justice, described above.   Christ accomplished our Atonement by Himself vicariously dying, taking our death, already separation from God for our sin natures and sins, not by any means taking penal substitutionary punishment in the place of us. Then He gives us His indwelling resurrection Life, His Mind (faith) to which we are to be obedient NOW and throughout Eternity.

This is a very important distinction which the Calvinists and apostate "grace" regardless and "word of faith" Charismatics fail to understand.   Additionally, the rest of this Atonement is His resurrection, to restore us to an indwelling Presence of Christ Himself, to Live by His direction, teaching, gifting, and empowerment.  This is something both the Calvinist doctrines and "grace" regardless apostate doctrines completely ignore, an obligation of obedience to His Spirit within us, being led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14). 

Rom 6:16-18 says, (written to Christians) "16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."

1. The criminals nature to commit crime is not appropriately removed or even remotely removed..
2. The criminal's future crimes not adequately provided, as OT type, for appropriate removal nor future prevention.
3. Even if criminal's crimes and future crimes could be vicariously taken upon Christ as Himself the sin and sinner, the criminal still has no means of being right-related to God's Being, attributes, in his living. No relationship/fellowship provided
4. Such a Substitutionary Punishment, which they say is once and for all time for the individual, can only imply a License to criminal acts (sinning) in future living, while impugning the Majesty and Holy Attributes of God.   Also, this teaching removes forever any Retributive Punishment for choosing evil living, which is totally abhorrent to the Eternal Attributes of God's Being.
5. God could not be just, impartial, and righteous (right-related) even to Himself if He would allow such Atonement as Calvinists and the apostate "grace" regardless teach.   He cannot deny Himself, Who He is, Holiness is purity and Glory (Spiritual Perfection).