George McDonald, one of C.S. Lewis’s favorite authors, once wrote:
“Jesus did not come to save us from our punishment;
He came to save us from our sin.”
This is a quote that I wrote down years ago because I was astonished by its simplicity and sheer brilliance.
However, I do disagree with McDonald to an extent. Jesus did come to save us from the punishment we deserved. Namely, he came to save us from the wrath of God. We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Therefore, because we have sinned against an eternal God we deserve an eternal punishment. The great news is that since Jesus died for us, we can be freed from what we should receive and instead embrace life with God here-and-now as well as in the eternal life after our physical death.
Because we have sinned against an eternal God we deserve and eternal punishment.
But George McDonald’s point is still true; we must realize that Christ came so that we can be free from the bondage of sin. Not just the bondage of the punishment we deserve, but the sin that so easily entangles us (Hebrews 12:2). His quote is brilliant because too often we focus on our freedom from hell, spiritual death, or the wrath of God. We must remember that Christ dies for much more than just our punishment. He dies to set us free here and now, as Paul said, “It is for Freedom [of sin] that Christ has set you free!” (Galatians 5:1)
