• Title Page
• Introduction
• The Nature of God
• The Nature of Moral Being
• The Nature of Sin
• The Nature of Moral Government
• The Nature of Justice
• The Nature of Mercy
• The Nature of Substitution
• The Nature of Grace
• The Nature of Salvation

The Nature of God

Chapter I

The entrance of sin into the universe of a holy and sin-hating God is a mystery that no man can fathom. He has not seen fit to reveal to man how sin could get into the domain of such a God, and it is folly for man to speculate. There is sure to come a time, in the Ages to come, when the wisdom and purpose of God in relation to the coming in of sin will be fully understood, but meantime we must wait.

On one thing, however, there is no need for a revelation: sin is here. Both the internal consciousness and the external evidence of its tragic and universal presence in the human race, prove the fact of sin beyond the power of every human desire and all human philosophy to overthrow. The central and awful fact of all history is that the whole race from the beginning has been, and still is, in the grip of sin, and that this slavery dates, for each individual, from birth.

Another thing is beyond denial: sin must be dealt with. No moral intelligence, sinner though he may be, can get away from the ever-present consciousness of that unquenchable demand, lying back in the nature of things, that something must be done with sin.

And one more thing is beyond question: God must deal with sin. For the universe belongs to Him who created it, not to His creatures. The responsibility is therefore His to handle everything that enters His universe, and certainly such a tragic and destructive thing as sin.