Offenders and offended

God abhors evil (wrongdoing) because he loves those it harms. He hates precisely because He loves first. 

This same love moves God to be patient with us in our wrongdoing and the harm we cause others - i.e. He is longsuffering. He does not delight in our harm or perishing no more then he delights in our harming and sometimes even destroying others. He equally values all who are created in his image.

So it appears God has a dilemma. He loves both the offender and the offended.

How did God resolve this?

Because of our brokenness, spiritual bankruptcy and inability to operate as He desires - i.e. to love others as we were designed to - and because of his infinite love for us and complete hatred for the wrongdoing that entangles and destroys us all - he provided the solution himself. God sent ¹someone else -- who came willingly out of love for him and love for us -- to remedy this dilemma by having this other person (willingly) suffer the consequences of our ²rebellion, in our place, as well as assigning his perfect faithfulness and trust of the Father (i.e. his righteousness) to us in place of our unrighteousness. 

He did this so both those who harm (offend) and those who are harmed (offended) might not have to reap long-term destruction for the harm caused by or to others - i.e. so they wouldn't be liable for their indebtedness to restore the loss or harm they caused others... someone else paid it for them.

We are all offenders and offended.

To provide a solution Christ, who did no wrong and did not deserve the consequences of wrongdoing, took all of this and deliberately put it on himself instead of onto us, who do deserve the consequences. He sent Jesus (who willingly came), the eternal, faultless Son of God. He now invites you to accept his gift and experience the fullness of his love that moved him to offer it.

This is why it's called amazing grace!!

Psa_85:10  Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Isa 53:3  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

*Evil - רַע   (pronounced ra) (948c) in the Old Testament Hebrew; from the same as H7455; evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity: 

— adversity (7), calamity (4), disaster (2), evil (94), harm (2), harmful (1), hurt (1),ruin (3), surely (1), trouble (2), unpleasant (1), wickedly (1), wickedness (1).

For a further discussion regarding evil click here.  

For a further discussion on "playing" the victim click here

For a further discussion on being a victim vs an offender click here

For a further discussion of the nature of our rebellion click here

For a further discussion on what drives good behavior click here and here 

For a discussion on how to overcome our brokenness click here 

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¹Someone who did no true harm or offense -- except calling out others (i.e. self-righteous religious "leaders") on their arrogance...which of course they found offensive. 

In order for someone else to credit us with righteousness (God-honoring living) and bear the consequences of our unrighteousness (rebellious unbelief leading to God-dishonoring living), they could have none of their own unrighteousness (rebellious unbelief) and had to live fully for the glory of God (be righteous). The only sacrifice that could meet this was a "lamb without spot and blemish" (no flaws, sins i.e. no unfaithfulness in living for God's honor but total faithfulness. Someone who loved God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and their neighbor as themselves to the point of giving up their very own life for the benefit of another, not their own benefit. Who would do this?!). The only person to do this was the eternal Son of God and Son of man, Jesus Christ. 

²Why don't I say "mistreatment of others" instead of "rebellion" here?  Because our mistreatment of others is rooted in our rebellious distrust of God i.e. our unbelief that we were created and called to love God and our neighbor. Mistreatment of our neighbor is rooted in our unbelief and rejection of God.