I will pick up today where we left off in Part 2 of Notes on Alexander MacLaren’s sermon “The Cross the Proof” – Learning to Live by Faith. Here is a link to the full sermon: The Cross the Proof by Alexander Maclaren | SermonIndex
The Death That Does Prove the Love
MacLaren says that love is proven by actions. He says, “How do we know, in our own happy experiences, that love toward us exists in another heart? Surely, by act. Words are well (and words are acts, of a sort); but we want something more. Paul thinks that – mightier than all demonstrations of a verbal kind – in order to establish the fact of love in the Divine heart to men, there must be some conspicuous and unmistakable act that is the outcome of that love. So mark that, when he wants to enforce this great truth – the shining climax of all the gospel revelation of the love of God – he does not go back to Christ’s gentle words, nor to His teaching of God as the Father. Paul does not point to anything that Christ says, but he points to one thing that He did, and he says, ‘There! that cross is the demonstration’.”
MacLaren is explaining that when the apostle Paul wanted to give a demonstration that would establish the fact of God’s love to men, he does not reference Christ’s gentle words and teachings. Instead, Paul references Christ’s death on the cross. When Jesus was on earth, people were struck both by the gentleness of His demeanor and the authority in His voice when He preached from the Scriptures. They had never heard anyone talk like Him. So, Jesus’ demeanor and His teachings are a very important part of His ministry. I think what MacLaren is saying is that the ultimate proof of God’s love to us was given in Jesus’ death on the cross. MacLaren says, “You have not got within sight of the secret of Jesus, nor come near tapping the sources of His power if you confine yourselves to His words and His teaching, or even to the lower acts of His gentle life. You must go to the cross……Words, however eloquent, however true, are not enough for the soul to rest its weight upon. We must have deeds, and these are all summed in ‘Christ died for us’.”
MacLaren makes 2 points about this great proof of the love of God in act:
1. Christ’s death proves God’s love, because Christ is Divine. MacLaren says, “How else do you account for that extraordinary shifting of the persons in my text? ‘God proves His love because Christ died?’ How so?” MacLaren asks if it would have proven God’s love if a human being had died on behalf of another human being. He asks, “…God proved His love because some man sprang into the sea and rescued a drowning woman, at the cost of his own life? Would such talk hold?” No. God proved His love because He sent His one and only Son to die for us.
John 1:14 NIV says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Here are some quotes from the Berean Study Bible’s notes on this verse that will help explain that Jesus is Divine:
‘The Word became flesh.’ This phrase signifies the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, taking on human nature. It fulfills Old Testament prophecies such as Isaiah 7:14, which speaks of a virgin bearing a son called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” … By becoming flesh, Jesus bridged the divine and human, emphasizing His role as the mediator between God and humanity.
‘and made His dwelling among us.’ The term “dwelling” is reminiscent of the Old Testament tabernacle, where God’s presence resided among the Israelites (Exodus 25:8-9). This suggests that Jesus is the new tabernacle, the place where God’s presence is fully realized. The Greek word used here, “skenoo,” implies pitching a tent, indicating a temporary but significant presence. This highlights the historical reality of Jesus’ life on earth and His intimate involvement with humanity.
“the glory of the one and only Son from the Father,” This phrase emphasizes the unique relationship between Jesus and God the Father. The term “one and only” (Greek: “monogenes”) indicates Jesus’ unique status as the only begotten Son, distinct from all creation. This relationship is central to understanding the Trinity, where Jesus shares the same divine essence as the Father. The Father-Son relationship is foundational to the Gospel message, as seen in passages like John 3:16.
Jesus, “the divine Word, became fully human while remaining fully divine.”
In plain terms: the eternal Son did not merely seem human; He actually became human while never ceasing to be God.
• Exodus 25:8 records God’s desire: “Have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them.” In Jesus, that longing finds its fullest expression.
• Leviticus 26:11–12 speaks of God walking among His people; in Christ He literally does.
He pitched His tent in our neighborhood, sharing daily life, laughter, tears, and trials—proving that God is not distant but profoundly present.
No angel, prophet, or teacher fits that description; only Jesus shares in the very glory of the Father. John 1 Berean Study Bible
And the Pulpit Commentary says:
The Logos which was in the beginning has now become; the Logos which was God became flesh; the Logos that was with God has set up his tabernacle among us. John 1 Pulpit Commentary
When I was reading these study notes, I thought of the hymn “And Can It Be?” by Charles Wesley – Learning to Live by Faith. The chorus says, “Amazing love! how can it be, that Thou, my God, should die for me!” This would be a good hymn to use in your meditation time. The words can help you contemplate with awe and wonder that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, knowing that He would die on the cross for us.
MacLaren says, “Unless we believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of the Father, whom the Father sent, and who willingly came for us men and for our redemption; unless we believe that, as He Himself said, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:9); unless we believe that His death was the act, the consequence, and the revelation of the love of God, who dwelt in Him as in none other of the sons of men, [we would] venture to think that Paul is talking nonsense in my text, and that his argument is not worth a straw. You must come to the full-toned belief which, as I think, permeates and binds together every page of the New Testament – God so loved the world, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins; that Son who in the beginning was with God, and was God; and then a flood of light is poured on the words of my text, and we can adoringly bow the head and say, ‘Amen! God hath, to my understanding, and to my heart, proved and commended His love, in that Christ died for us!’”
2. Christ’s death proves God’s love because it is a death for us. MacLaren says the phrase “for us” implies two things:
- The voluntary act of God in Christ in giving Himself up to the death.
- The beneficial effect of that death. It was on our behalf. Therefore, it was the spontaneous outgush of an infinite love. It was for us in that it brought an infinite benefit. And so it was a token and a manifestation of the love of God such as nothing else could be.
MacLaren says, “Now, I wish to ask a question very earnestly: In what conceivable way can Christ’s death be a real benefit to me? How can it do me any good? A sweet, a tender, an unexampled, beautiful story of innocence and meekness and martyrdom which will shine in the memory of the world, and on the pages of history, as long as the world shall last. It is all that; but what good does it do me? Where does the benefit to me individually come in? There is only one answer, and I urge you to ask yourselves if, in plain, sober, common sense, the death of Jesus Christ means anything at all to anybody, more than other martyrdoms and beautiful deaths, except upon one supposition, that He died for us, because He died instead of us. The two things are not necessarily identical, but, as I believe, and venture to press upon you, in this case they are identical. I do not know where you will find any justification for the rapturous language of the whole New Testament about the death of Christ and its benefits flowing to the whole world, unless you take the Master’s own words, “The Son of Man came to minister, and to give His life a ransom instead of many” (Mark 10:45).
Ah, dear friends, there we touch the bedrock. That is the truth that flashes up the cross into luster before which the sun’s light is but darkness. He who bore it died for the whole world and was the eternal Son of the Father. If we believe that, then we can understand how Paul here blends together the heart of God and the heart of Christ, and sets high above nature and her ambiguous oracles, high above providence and its many perplexities, and in face of all the shrinkings and fears of a reasonably alarmed conscience, the one truth, “God hath proved His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Is that your faith, your notion of Christ’s death and of its relation to the love of God?”
So, to summarize, MacLaren says that Jesus’ death on the cross proved God’s love for us because Jesus was Divine and He died for us. The words “for us” indicate a voluntary act of God sending Jesus to die on the cross. They also indicate the beneficial effect of His death. “And so [Jesus’ death] was a token and a manifestation of the love of God such as nothing else could be.”
I will stop here for today and continue going through MacLaren’s sermon in my next post where he will talk about The Love Which is Proved by the Death.
Learning to Live by Faith 
Leave a comment