We encounter the simplicity of God at the cross. Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way, p. 229: “Simplicity reminds us that God is never self-conflicted. In God’s eternal decree, even in the most obvious example of possible inner conflict (namely, the cross), justice and mercy, righteous wrath and gracious love, embrace…. At the place where the outpouring of his wrath is concentrated, so too is his love.”

How can God be loving if he sent his Son to die on a cross for the sins of others? Why couldn’t he just forgive everyone instead of putting his Son through all that suffering? The answer is that God can never deny himself; therefore, he must uphold all of his attributes. And we find no clearer evidence of this than at the cross.
Because he is spirit, God is always purely all of his attributes in complete perfection and unity. It is impossible for God’s mercy to override his justice. His holiness never conflicts with his love. Here are eight attributes of God we encounter at the cross, along with related Scripture passages and helpful quotes from respected theologians:
1. We encounter the holiness of God at the cross.
R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, p. 38: “When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be ‘other,’ to be different in a special way.”
Related Bible Verses:

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3)
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:25)
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. (Heb. 7:26)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:9)

2. We encounter the righteousness of God at the cross.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 74: “The fundamental idea of righteousness is that of strict adherence to the law. Among men it presupposes that there is a law to which they must conform…. [and] though there is no law above God, there is certainly a law in the very nature of God, and this is the highest possible standard, by which all other laws are judged.”
Related Bible Verses:

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. (Ps. 7:11)
For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (Ps. 11:7)
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Rom. 3:23-25)

3. We encounter the justice of God at the cross.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.17.4: “It is especially worth-while to ponder the analogy set forth by Paul: ‘Christ…became a curse for us,’ etc. [Gal. 3:13]. It was superfluous, even absurd, for Christ to be burdened with a curse, unless it was to acquire righteousness for others by paying what they owed. Isaiah’s testimony is also clear: ‘The chastisement of our peace was laid upon Christ, and with his stripes healing has come to us’ [Isa. 53:5]. For unless Christ had made satisfaction for our sins, it would not have been said that he appeased God by taking upon himself the penalty to which we were subject.”
Related Bible Verses:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous. (Isa. 53:10-11)

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In the earliest days of the PCA, college ministry was not uniformly viewed as a crucial pillar of outreach for the young denomination: parachurch organizations such as InterVarsity Fellowship and Campus Crusade already occupied much of that sphere. Yet recognizing the need for sound biblical teaching on campus, Lowrey put forth a vision of ordained ministers whose primary concerns were the discipleship of believing students, the evangelism of seekers and skeptics, and the sustained spiritual care of covenant children. It was not enough to simply bring students to church, Lowrey believed: the church should seek the students out itself.

Mark Lowrey, founder of Reformed University Fellowship and former head of Great Commission Publications, has died. He was 78. For several months he had battled an aggressive cancer that had spread to several abdominal organs.
Lowrey was a minister whose flock was never just one congregation, but was instead countless numbers of students in a lasting network of campus ministries that stretches from coast to coast and beyond. He was the quiet yet driving force behind one of the most visible and effective Christian fellowships today.
Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1945, Mark Lowrey came of age during the Vietnam era, and served one tour overseas in Saigon with the Army before returning home and enrolling at RTS in Jackson, graduating and becoming ordained in 1978. After only his first year of coursework, however, Lowrey was called by the PCA churches in his hometown to lead the campus fellowship at the University of Southern Mississippi. From this mustard seed of faith would eventually sprout a national network known as Reformed University Fellowship (RUF).
In the earliest days of the PCA, college ministry was not uniformly viewed as a crucial pillar of outreach for the young denomination: parachurch organizations such as InterVarsity Fellowship and Campus Crusade already occupied much of that sphere. Yet recognizing the need for sound biblical teaching on campus, Lowrey put forth a vision of ordained ministers whose primary concerns were the discipleship of believing students, the evangelism of seekers and skeptics, and the sustained spiritual care of covenant children. It was not enough to simply bring students to church, Lowrey believed: the church should seek the students out itself.
This vision proved both persuasive and successful, partly due to Lowrey’s gifts as a strategist. “Mark was equal parts a vision person and a detail person,” recalled Ruling Elder James (‘Bebo’) Elkin, who served alongside Lowrey in Mississippi in its earliest years. “He was skilled at putting together a coalition: he wasn’t just a master of facts and figures, he also prioritized relationships with people, and could get them involved in key ways.”
After a decade serving in his home state, Lowrey and his family moved to Atlanta in 1983, to PCA headquarters. From there Lowrey could better facilitate the growth of RUF, overseeing the training of new campus ministers and interns not just across the South but across the country. Lowrey describes this growth elsewhere in this volume; but worth noting here are four main factors: (1) establishing a firm financial footing for presbyteries to call new ministers, ensuring greater longevity at their posts; (2) a focus on training both men and women in ministry, raising up a generation of servant-leaders who could respond to the unique spiritual needs of different students; and (3) an ambitious national and international vision, inspired by Lowrey’s own overseas service; and (4) the harmonious integration of RUF with the other arms of the PCA, such as Mission to North America, under which it stood in the early days.
After 25 years at the helm of RUF, a new chapter for Lowrey began in 1996. In need of new resources for K-12 students, Great Commission Publishing, a joint venture of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the PCA, recruited Lowrey to use the skills he had developed working on behalf of college students for a younger demographic, primarily elementary and middle-school students. Central to this new curriculum would be its Christocentric focus: drawing on the work of scholars such as Edmund Clowney, whom seminarians had been reading and preaching from for decades, GCP updated its materials to show even the youngest believers from the earliest possible opportunity how all of Scripture points to the hope of and fulfillment in Christ.
Today, as the denominational curriculum of record, GCP serves over one thousand churches in the PCA and other denominations, but the need for fresh approaches to ancient verities remains. Lowrey served GCP in different capacities over his 30 years with the company; he became its executive director in 2021.
He is survived by his wife Priscilla, whom he met and married while she was working for InterVarsity Fellowship in the early 1970s; two children: Leonard and Elizabeth.
He was a faithful, committed servant whose work seldom bore his name, but whose fifty-year career is a direct fulfillment of Moses’ plea in Psalm 90:
“Let your work be shown to your servants,and your glorious power to their children.Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,and establish the work of our hands upon us;yes, establish the work of our hands!”
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Praise God for His expansive vision of the covenant of grace. Praise God there is one hope, one faith, one baptism, one Lord and Savior of all – Jesus Christ. There is one flock and one shepherd. One pasture and one Pastor. The gospel is highly offensive but broadly applicable to all people everywhere.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. – John 10:16
This past week we had a missionary come visit our congregation. What was amazing was the rabbit trail he sent me down. Do you know how many different types of sheep there are? There are more than 200 distinct breeds of sheep! There are skinny sheep. Fluffy sheep. Hairy sheep. Sheep with horns. Sheep with nubs. There are black sheep, white sheep, brown sheep, spotted sheep, and straight down the middle half-colored sheep. There are short-tailed sheep and there are fat-tailed sheep.
The point this missionary was making was that Jesus had other sheep. They didn’t sound like the Jewish sheep. They may not have looked like the Jewish sheep. They may not have been the same color as the Jewish sheep. But, they were Jesus’s sheep and he was bound and determined to save them. Jesus would call and they would answer.
The Great Commission
It took some time for the Apostles to understand this but eventually they got it.
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