“The unthinkable has taken place: Jesus, the preexistent Word, who had subsisted with God in the beginning; Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, who was one with
the Father and had performed many compelling signs as proof of his messianic identity; this Jesus has been put to death by sinful representatives of humanity—all of us—as the ultimate expression of God’s love (3:16; 13:1; 15:13), accomplishing what only Jesus could do: take away the sins of the world as the sacrificial Lamb provided by God. . . . At this pivotal point in salvation history, God’s pleasure rests on his beloved Son who had come down from heaven, accomplished his mission, and had now returned to the Father who sent him (13:1, 3; 16:28)."
— Andreas J. Köstenberger
