Christianity Today

The Cross reveals multiple realities in the Trinitarian relations. I find Hsu's article both helpful and simplistic. Surely God is One through mutual indwelling and in some essential way. Just as surely the Son is the Lamb slain from before the world, and his preeminent title in Revelation is "the Lamb." Jesus' relationship with the Father is reflected in his prayers before (Jn 17!) and on the Cross ("Into your hands…" Lk 23:46). The Godhead does everything in deliberate harmony, one might say in three wills and one will. Ps 22:1 does open the psalm as pointing to the Son's sacrifice and vindication. Yet to reduce Jesus' cry of "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me" to a cipher for his vindication is to miss the deep substitution of our Lord in bearing not only our physical death but our alienation from God. In the mystery of the kenosis and the Trinity's revelation at the Cross, too much is present to deny some element of separation of the Son from the Father. In love.

The "Jesus and God were separated on the cross" belief is wrong on so many levels, and the author did a good job on just one of them. Just another quick hit - as he died he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Now, was his Father there to receive it or not?? If God could not be in the presence of a sinful Son, his back was still turned at the moment of death and Jesus' spirit fell to the earth with a thud. However, if God was there for Jesus as he breathed his last, then somehow Jesus must have paid for the sins of mankind in his suffering, but short of his death. The inescapable conclusion is that the death of Jesus was then unnecessary. There is more to this than 1,000 characters will allow, but the "God abandoned Jesus" concept is just bad theology all the way around. Bottom line, as a sermon this author nailed it!

Have to agree with Ben. I love the perspective of the article overall and was ready to share on FB, but the part about divorce/church discipline does, at least, two things: it conflates the notion of being a sinner (which we all are) and repentance (what we must do when we sin), and the Scriptures are clear that repentance must be a factor in forgiveness. There's no mention of whether the divorce was on biblical grounds and whether the the offender was seeking restoration or genuinely repentant of what occurred. There was also no mention of the scriptural context for church discipline when warranted based on Mt 18, 1 Cor 5, et al. - I hope the author takes as much time to work these things out as he did, thoughtfully, on Psalm 22. Blessings!