God—our nagging sense of unworthiness and guilt finally finds a real source and object. Only real sins can be really forgiven. We cannot forgive ourselves. Even the forgiveness of other people cannot erase the debt and give us a righteous status. Only if our sins are first of all offenses against God can they be objectively, fully, and finally forgiven. There is no way of avoiding the biblical insistence that God’s wrath is real and is being stored up for judgment day. At the heart of Christ’s work
Page 51