“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Why did Christ die for us? Yes, He died because we needed to be saved. But even more glorious is that He died to demonstrate God’s love in saving us. Our salvation is not a disinterested, detached act of God. On the contrary, it is an act of compassionate, saving love. Christ died to show the all-surpassing, incomparable height, depth, width, and length of God’s love for us.
Tina Turner once asked the question, “What’s love got to do with it?” Again, Paul would answer by saying, “Everything!” At the heart of our salvation is the love of God. We are not redeemed without it. This redeeming love is threefold. It is the love the Son shows for the Father in submitting to the will of God in the redemption of His people. It is the love the Father shows for the Son in redeeming a people who will ultimately be conformed to the image of the Son. It is the love the Father and the Son show for God’s people in redeeming us at all cost (John 3:16; Gal 2:20). It’s a love triangle. But unlike the love triangles we know, this one works, bringing joy and delight to all. The songwriter captured it well:
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His son to win.
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
The Puritans would say, ‘God’s love is an ocean without floor and without shore.’ This is the height, depth, width, and length of God’s love: Christ died for us.
—Anthony Carter