EGW SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7A

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XIV. Atonement Result of Divine Love

The atonement of Christ was not made in order to induce God to love those whom He otherwise hated; and it was not made to produce a love that was not in existence; but it was made as a manifestation of the love that was already in God's heart, an exponent of the divine favor in the sight of heavenly intelligences, in the sight of worlds unfallen, and in the sight of a fallen race.... We are not to entertain the idea that God loves us because Christ has died for us, but that He so loved us that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for us.—The Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895. 7ABC 472.3

As the Saviour is lifted up before the people, they will see His humiliation, His self-denial, His self-sacrifice, His goodness, His tender compassion, His sufferings to save fallen man, and will realize that the atonement of Christ was not the cause of God's love, but the result of that love. Jesus died because God loved the world.—The Review and Herald, September 2, 1890. 7ABC 472.4

The Father loves us, not because of the great propitiation, but He provided the propitiation because He loves us. Christ was the medium through which He could pour out His infinite love upon a fallen world. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” God suffered with His Son, in the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary; the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption—The Home Missionary, April 1893, reprinted from Steps to Christ, 13, 14. 7ABC 472.5