I would be plagiarizing to claim these following “six things the cross of Christ is not” my own.  I have been blessed reading the book, “The Cross of Christ” by John Stott and I find these on page 158-159. They are not styled in list format in the book.  I have only added them here as such to go along with the theme of the previous entry on the false gospel, “six things the gospel is not”

So here they are, “Six Things the Cross of Christ is not:”

1. The cross was not a commercial bargain with the devil, let alone one that tricked and trapped him;
2. nor an exact equivalent, a quid pro quo to satisfy a code of honor or technical point of law;
3. nor a compulsory submission by God to some moral authority above him from which he could not otherwise escape;
4. nor a punishment of a meek Christ by a harsh and punitive Father;
5. nor a procurement of salvation by a loving Christ from a mean and reluctant Father;
6. nor an action of the Father which bypassed Christ as Mediator.

Instead, the righteous, loving Father humbled himself to become in and through his only Son flesh, sin and a curse for us, in order to redeem us without compromising his own character.

Stott points out that these six excuses are given for the cross of Christ in order to pacify our proud hearts which rebel against the “scandal,”or stumbling block, of the cross (pg 160).  We cannot bear to acknowledge either the seriousness of our sin and guilt or our utter indebtedness to the cross.