one sees that it could not have been any other way: “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The necessity for atonement roots therefore in two things: our bondage and alienation, our unwillingness to be reconciled, and God’s decision to be true to himself, to be a God of steadfast mercy nevertheless. The cross and the resurrection are God’s own solution to the problem we have with God; they are the outcome of God’s resolve.