The only hope for such a debt is for it to be forgiven, but as any good economist would tell you, “Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Our forgiveness was costly, as someone had to “eat the cost” of our sins. God must judge sin, and the wages of sin is death. This is why Christ’s death is spoken of as a ransom, a payment made on our behalf which satisfies the justice and mercy of God. When we think of Christ’s merit, we must take from our minds the Catholic notion that Mary and the saints have some too which, all told, can get us across the finish line to heaven. Rather, all our human “merit” is itself tainted by evil. Christ alone is able to pay the debt we owe, and by faith in Him He freely applies His righteousness to our account.
The Debt We Owe
[epq-quote align=”align-right”]Every time we sin we are breaking a part of His creation[/epq-quote]He declared His creation “good”, and thus, every time we sin we are breaking a part of His creation. It’s like the fellow who recently went into an Apple store with a rock and smashed up thousands of dollars of merchandise. But imagine him doing this daily, and as a result, the debt he would be racking up in lost merchandise. His income would certainly never allow for him to pay off his obligation to make restitution with Apple!
