Is It Just That Jesus Died for Sinners?

“But is this just?” That’s the question our Muslim friends ask when they hear the news that Jesus died in the place of sinners. It’s not good news to them because they think it’s not just for an innocent man to die in the place of the guilty.

Of course, Muslims are not the first to raise this objection. Six hundred years before Muhammad was born, many Jewish persons questioned whether the Christian view of atonement was just. That seemed to be part of the background conflict the apostle Paul addressed when he wrote to the church in Rome. Some of the Christians were struggling to understand how grace and justice could be reconciled. Some even went so far as to accuse Paul of teaching that the more unrighteously a person lived, the more God’s righteousness was revealed, and that God would be unjust to show wrath (Rom. 3:5). The apostle and his colleagues were being slandered with such mockeries of their teaching and of God’s glory (Rom. 3:7–8). So the apostle flatly denied these misrepresentations and errors.

To answer the objections of his opponents, the apostle Paul made this stunning claim: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (vv. 25–26, italics added).

We know that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the sinner’s behalf because God raised Jesus from the dead

Do you see what Paul says here? He argues that God intentionally presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement to demonstrate His justice. Jesus’ sacrifice does not call God’s justice into question; it demonstrates it! The cross is not a “problem” for the Christian; the cross solves the charge that God is unfair!

By Jesus’ sacrifice, God reveals and defends His justice in two ways. First, Jesus’ suffering for the sins of His people means that any sins unpunished beforehand are now fully punished in Christ. God leaves no sin unpunished. Mercy and grace do not come at the expense of justice. Second, because the sins of the faithful are fully punished in Jesus, God may justly declare righteous those who have faith in Jesus. That’s what it means to be justified in God’s sight—to be declared righteous by faith in Jesus. The cross, rightly understood, is God’s own answer to any objection that He is unfair to substitute Jesus for the unrighteous.

We know that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the sinner’s behalf because God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection demonstrates that sin and death have been defeated at the cross.

The Lamb of God was slain but also raised to life so those who believe in Him would live. Jesus puts it this way in John 11:25–26: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

The pivotal question in our evangelism is the one Jesus asked in John 11:26: “Do you believe this?” Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that all who believe on Him will live forever? Do you believe that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice by raising Him from the dead and that all who believe in Him are brought into His life?

If you do, then you know an essential truth for sharing the gospel with your Muslim friends and associates. With confidence share this wonderful news with all your neighbors and friends! The Lord God Almighty has come, and He has sacrificed Himself and risen from the dead so that sinners may live!