The Justice and The Mercy of God: Foundation of Redemption in Christ Jesus

 

God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. And His justice requires (as He hath revealed Himself in His Word) that our sins committed against His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with temporal, but with eternal punishment, both in body and soul; which we cannot escape unless satisfaction be made to the justice of God.
Canons of Dordrecht, II.1

This article lays down the fundamental theological principle that God is supremely just. This principle may not be ignored, denied, or contradicted when speaking of any of God's dealings with sinful men. The reason is that God does not ignore, deny, or contradict this principle. He never acts contrary to His being. 

The fathers not only lay down a fundamental principle, but they delineate the consequences of it for the sinner. The consequences are that man's sins against God's infinite majesty must be punished with temporal and eternal punishment, both in body and soul. Punishment can be escaped only by satisfaction of the supreme justice of God.

It is noteworthy that the fathers do not speak in this article of the death of Christ and the redemption of men thereby, but they first lay a foundation for the Reformed doctrine of redemption in God's mercy and infinitely perfect justice. The method of the fathers is undoubtedly correct because the foundation determines the size, shape, and soundness of the whole structure. The historical reason for their method was the Remonstrants' attack upon the foundation of the truth of redemption and their attempt to destroy it by removing one of the piers of the foundation fastened in the bedrock of the divine being, so that the truth of redemption rested on only one pillar, the mercy of God. The trouble is that when one foundation stone is removed, what is left is not a partial foundation, but no foundation whatsoever, because the foundation is one.

The Reformed fathers insist on the fundamentals, on the foundation stones, before they rear up the structure of the truth of redemption. They use the theological method of beginning with the truth concerning God Himself. Their supposition is that one cannot say anything about redemption without first saying something about the redeemer God; one's conception of God determines his conception of redemption. This is to say that all doctrine is in principle theology- doctrine of God.

The historical reason for using this method was the Arminians' adoption of a theological starting place. They emphasize God's love and mercy to the exclusion of His righteousness and justice. Accordingly, they enjoy accusing the Reformed of having a hard and cold conception of God as an inexorably severe and just God ,a judge who knows no mercy. To this accusation concerning their God the defenders of the faith must first give answer. Both the Reformed and the Arminians concede that theology determines Christology. If there is disagreement on theology, there will be disagreement on Christology. 

The Arminians posit a conflict in God between His justice and His mercy, a conflict in which divine mercy is victorious and overcomes divine justice. According to His mercy God yearns for the happiness of the sinner and cannot cause suffering and misery to him. Although His justice requires the sinner to be stricken with the curse and to be killed, God cannot exercise His justice without doing violence to His mercy. His mercy prevails. He denies His justice, and without the satisfaction of His justice He bestows upon the sinner forgiveness and eternal life.

The fundamental error in this conception is the denial of the unity and simplicity of God and the essential unity of His attributes. It separates between God's attributes; it posits a schism in God. 

We must not imagine that the fathers in Dordrecht go to the opposite extreme and maintain God's justice in preference to His mercy. Not at all; they maintain both divine justice and divine mercy in essential unity, not in irreconcilable conflict.

God's justice is the attribute of His goodness according to which He maintains Himself as the only good, the infinitely perfect God, and according to which, with reference to His moral creatures, He rewards the good with good and the evil with evil.

God's mercy is the attribute of His goodness according to which He is in Himself blessed as the infinitely good God and according to which, with reference to creatures, He is the sole fount of all blessing and therefore delivers them from all misery and fills them with life and joy.

As God is one, so His mercy and justice are one in Him. God is His attributes. His mercy is His justice, and His justice is His mercy. Never is there in God unjust mercy or unmerciful justice. His justice never functions without His mercy, and His mercy never operates apart from His justice. There is no conflict in God. Such is the fundamental truth of this article.

The conclusion is, first, that divine justice requires the punishment of sin, a requirement that divine mercy cannot overlook. Second, divine justice requires exact punishment of sin, punishment equal to the sin. Sin against the infinite majesty of God requires infinite punishment, that is, not only temporal, but also eternal punishment in body and soul. Third, divine mercy cannot operate toward the sinner except on the basis of the complete payment of the debt of sin. God's justice must be satisfied. Upon no other basis can the sinner ever taste the mercy of God. God, who is really God, cannot deny Himself.

This is the position of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Is not God then also merciful?

God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore His justice requires that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul. (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 11)

At the time of the Synod of Dordrecht it was sufficient in Reformed circles to cite the Heidelberg Catechism as the norm of Reformed doctrine. The Arminians knew this instruction of the Catechism. Along with their fellows in the Reformed churches they had accepted this teaching as scriptural, but the Arminians wanted to overthrow it.

Although this is the plain scriptural teaching in many places, the fathers do not furnish scriptural references, but only mention this fundamental principle as taught in the Catechism.

This is the foundation of the scriptural and Reformed doctrine of redemption in Christ Jesus.


Homer C. Hoeksema 
The Voice of our Fathers, pp. 175-178
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