12. Wasn’t God’s love balanced by His holiness at the Cross?
God’s love and holiness are neither at odds nor in tension. His self-sacrificial love is made possible by His unflagging holiness. His vigorous holiness gets expressed by acts of love, self-sacrificial giving, and miraculous outbursts of creational healing. The holiness of God’s Son was powerfully and indisputably apparent in his conciliatory behavior throughout his trial and crucifixion. His self-restraint and undiminished kindness and respectfulness in the face of incomparable sin against his person, honor, and authority awesomely displayed how genuine divine holiness behaves toward vicious sinners when push comes to shove. Thus even a battle-hardened Roman centurion was compelled to exclaim that day, “Truly this person was a son of a god!” High tribute, from a pagan! The Father’s own holiness, however, became supremely visible at the Resurrection of Jesus where He erupted into this deteriorating created order with uncreated, agelong life. They later sent Their Spirit of holiness, now augmented many fold (in accord with the surplus entailed by just restitution), into our desperate corruption in order to renew the face of the earth.
The Premial Atonement 