1) If Christ's death was not both the necessary and sufficient means for the atonement of human sin, then God who sent him to this death is in no sense a loving Father. Rather, God would be a sadist and be guilty of child abuse. But precisely because his death is such an atoning sacrifice, it becomes the most loving act that has ever happen on earth.

2) Atonement involves substitution. Great divine love is demonstrated in that Christ died in our place.

"Some people say, 'Why couldn't God just forgive sin without this elaborate sacrifice?' But that is the equivalent of asking God to cease being just, fair, righteous, holy-something God neither can nor will do." -- Ben Witherington

3) There is also the issue of propitiation, the satisfaction of God's just demands in regard to sins. The wrath of God against sin is assuaged or removed by the atoning death of Jesus. When I speak of God's wrath, I am not talking about an irrational passion or fit of rage. I am talking about God's proper righteous anger and indignation against evil, sin, wickedess—things that destroy the very creatures God loves and sent his Son to save. God's wrath is against sin, not against the sinner, whom he loves. Like a parent who loves a child but hates the cancer that is destroying the child, God resolved to act to rescue the child from its disease, and its self-destroying behavior as well.

Some people say, "Why couldn't God just forgive sin without this elaborate sacrifice?" But that is the equivalent of asking God to cease being just, fair, righteous, holy— something God neither can nor will do. Forgiveness is not a matter of passing on justice or righteousness or holiness, it is a matter of finding another way to resolve the matter, a way in which both justice and mercy, both love and righteousness, both compassion and fairness are served. It involves a way in which the sinner is spared and redeemed but the price is still paid, and the ransom is still wrought. Frankly, I do not want to live in a world without a just as well as loving God. I do not want to live in a world in which wrongs will not ultimately be righted.

God is not like an infinitely indulgent parent who never holds anyone accountable for the sins and transgressions. Were God like that, then God would not be righteous, fair, or just. But since the dominant trait in the divine character is love, God has made a way where there seemed to be no way: he has provided his Son as the Lamb of God to take our place on the cross. Jn. 3.16 is not just a cliché— it is a profound window on the divine character. God so loved that he gave his Son....even unto death on the cross.

Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences to sin. It does mean that God no longer exacts the payment or penalty or consequences on us, for Jesus paid the price. Forgiveness is based on the sacrifice of Christ, and that sacrifice is the means by which God can be just and at the same time the justifier of sinful humanity.

In trying to understand the deep roots of what Mel Gibson is trying to get at in this movie, I suspect, though I do not know, that there is more entailed than just some sort of passion mysticism, or romanticizing of suffering, though that appears to be a part of what is driving this train. I suspect that Gibson wishes to get at the profound price that Jesus paid to atone for our sins. And what he is hoping to inculcate in the audience is the sort of awe and wonder and gratitude expressed for example in Isaac Watts' powerful hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." Two verses of this hymn say: "When I survey the wondrous cross/ On which the prince of glory died/ My richest gain I count but loss/ and pour contempt on all my pride. / Were the whole realm of nature mine/ that were an offering far too small/ Love so amazing, so divine/ demands my self, my life, my all."