In his excellent work, The Cross of Christ, John Stott writes the following about the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in the fourfold aspects of justification, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption:
“Each [image] highlights a different aspect of our human need. Propitiation underscores the wrath of God upon us, redemption our captivity to sin, justification our guilt, and reconciliation our enmity against God and alienation from him. These metaphors do not flatter us. They expose the magnitude of our need” (p. 199).
And God, in the great love with which He loved us:
“All four images emphasize that the saving initiative was taken by God in his love… all four images plainly teach that God’s saving work was achieved through the bloodshedding, that is, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ” (p. 199).
What sinners we are. What a Savior He is.
“Man of sorrows, what a name, for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim! Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood, sealed pardon with His blood; Hallelujah, what a Savior!” (Philip P. Bliss, Baptist Hymnal no. 175).
