t: According to Asle Eikrem’s book “God as Sacrificial love”, the
concept of the Christian God as a God of love is not coherent with the
claim that Jesus was sacrificed on the cross for the redemption of human sins. Eikrem’s conclusion builds on a conceptual framework that
describes the crucifixion as a self-sacrifice. His argument makes Jesus
co-responsible, thus sanctioning the violent action. This way, evil becomes instrumental which is inconsistent with the notion of God as
love. It is the intention of this article to show that (at least) one alternative conceptual framework makes it possible to maintain the view
that the crucifixion was necessary for Jesus’ redemptive mission. The
crucifixion is thus not inconsistent with, but rather a consequence of
the conception of God as love. For Jesus to realize God’s incarnational
intention of establishing a living fellowship with humanity is for him
to realize a fellowship of experienced damnation followed by a truly
redemptive resurrection.