KCU/04/Tan's Clan
Topic 10: Why did Jesus have to die?Question: Based on what you know from the Bible & other sources (including the Theology Matters readings), why do you think Jesus had to die? (Be sure to do more research into the issue. If the group cannot come to a consensus, feel free to have different group members each express their own opinions.)
Jesus Had to die for us. We needed him to die for us. In this paper i will discuss some different reasons why we needed God to send his only son, Jesus, to die for us.
Since Jesus died for our sins, we can be saved. Because of him, we are new creations, free from the bondage to guilt, sin, and death. Three basic theories on how we have been saved through Jesus' death. A first theory emphasizes rescue and deliverance from the grasp of the "principalities and powers" of evil (Eph. 6:12). Iranaues, a second century theologian, argued that since the power that has entrapped humans is a personified and deceptive Satan, God's reasonable response was to redeem us by the real, human jesus, offering him to the devil. On the cross jesus "gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:6). This view often is termed the "christ as victor" theory. Gregory of Nyssa, a fouth-century church leader compared satan to a greedy fish that had taken the bait (Jesus) and had thereby been "hooked" by God's divine plan to redeem sinners from their captivity. The Christ as Substitute theory stresses that we are saved not through some kind of deal or trick made with satan, but instead because Jesus has satisfied the necessary demands of the justice of God. To be sure, a price is paid for our sinfulness; however, it is paid not to the devil but to God. In our sins, we fail to meet the ethical and spiritual demands of a holy, just and honorable God. A breach has developed, and no human endeavor can repair it. Yet neither can any sort of cheap grace; God's own identity and justice make such an "easy forgiveness" impossible. The only sufficient satisfaction would be one who was both God and man. Thus Jesus becomes "a curse for us" (Gal 3:13), dying in our place for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:21). The Third theory, Christ as Example, answers positively, but with radically different perspective. Both ransom and substitutionary theories emphasize what occured for us; they are identified as "objective views". The third model stresses what happens to us when we understand the atonement: when we see what great love God has for us- that christ would die for us- we become comepelled to imitate this love. Because of the radical nature of this love, we receive the power to follow Christ. Jesus by his very example, saves us from such impotence and ignorance. He provides us an example, a way of salvation that has very real and immediate practical implications. Thus, our redemption through Christ's suffering not only frees us from slavery to sin, but also wins for us the true liberty of the sons of God, so that we do all things out of love rather than fear. What does it mean to confess that "Christ died for our sins"? Four Points summarize its meaning. First, God himself removed sin from his people through Jesus Christ. This is the basic idea of atonement. The death of Jesus removed sin. It took away sin. As a result of his death, sin no longer exists as a barrier between God and humanity. God reconciled himself to sinful humanity by removing sin. Second, God identified himself with sinners in Jesus Christ. God did not distance himself from his fallen, sinful people. Rather , he came near. He joined them in their falleness. The holy God entered the falled world and shared its shame, pain and death. Third, God substituted himself for sinners in Jesus Christ. The Cross is not fundamentally a human sacrifice. It is God in the flesh sacrificing himself for humanity.Fourth, God satisfied himself in Jesus Christ. We do not satisfy God. We do not live up to his holiness and emulate his character. We are unworthy servants even if we are obedient. We cannot pay the ransom for our own iniquities. Only God could pay it.Jesus had an amazingly productive ministry, teaching and healing thousands. He attracted large crowds and had potential for much more. He could have healed thousands more by traveling to the Jews and gentiles who lived in other areas. (Theology Matters)
But Jesus allowed this work to come to a sudden end. He could have avoided arrest, but he chose to die instead of expanding his ministry. Although his teachings were important, he had come not just to teach, but also to die — and he accomplished more in his death than in his life.
Death was Jesus’ most important ministry. This is the way we remember him, through the cross as a symbol of Christianity or through the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. Our Savior is a Savior who died.
Born to die
The Old Testament tells us that God appeared as a human being on several occasions. If Jesus wanted only to heal and teach, he could have simply appeared. But he did more: he became a human. Why? So he could die. To understand Jesus, we need to understand his death. His death is a crucial part of the gospel and something all Christians should know.
Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). He came to give his life, to die, and his death would purchase salvation for others. This was the primary reason he came to earth. His blood was poured out for others (Matthew 26:28).
Jesus warned his disciples that he would suffer and die, but they didn’t seem to believe it. “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:21-22).
Jesus knew that he must die, because the Scriptures said so. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?” (Mark 9:12; 9:31; 10:33-34). “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself…. ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day’” (Luke 24:26-27, 46).
It had all been according to God’s plan: Herod and Pilate did only what God “had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:28). In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked if there might be some other way, but there was none (Luke 22:42). His death was necessary for our salvation.(101)
The suffering servant
Where was it written? Isaiah 53 is the clearest prophecy. Jesus quoted Isaiah 53:12 when he said: “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment” (Luke 22:37). Jesus, although without sin, was to be counted among sinners. Notice what else is written in Isaiah 53:
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
For the transgression of my people he was stricken.... Though he had done no violence ... it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer ... the Lord makes his life a guilt offering.... He will bear their iniquities.... He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (verses 4-12).
Isaiah describes a man who suffers not for his own sins, but for the sins of others. And though this man would be “cut off from the land of the living” (verse 8), that would not be the end of the story. “He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.... He will see his offspring and prolong his days” (verses 11, 10).
What Isaiah wrote, Jesus fulfilled. He laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:15). In his death, he carried our sins and suffered for our transgressions; he was punished so that we might have peace with God. Through his suffering and death, our spiritual illness is healed; we are justified—our sins are taken away.
These truths are developed in more detail in the New Testament. (101)
Dying an accursed death
“Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse,” says Deuteronomy 21:23. Because of this verse, Jews considered any crucified person to be condemned by God. As Isaiah wrote, people would consider him “stricken by God.”
The Jewish leaders probably thought that Jesus’ disciples would give up after their leader was killed. And it happened just as they hoped — the crucifixion shattered the disciples’ hopes. They were dejected and said, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). But their hopes were dramatically restored when Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection, and at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled them with new conviction to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ. They had unshakable faith in the least likely hero: a crucified Messiah.
Peter told the Jewish leaders, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 5:30). By using the word tree, Peter reminded the leaders of the curse of crucifixion. But the shame was not on Jesus, he said—it was on the people who crucified him. God had blessed him because he did not deserve the curse he suffered. God had reversed the stigma.
Paul referred to the same curse in Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” Jesus became a curse on our behalf so we could escape the curse of the law. He became something he was not, so that we could become something we were not. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor¬inthians 5:21).
He became sin for us, so that we might be declared righteous through him. Because he suffered what we deserved, he redeemed us from the curse or penalty of the law. “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” Because he suffered the penalty, we can enjoy peace with God. (101)
Message of the cross
The disciples never forgot the shameful way that Jesus died. Indeed, sometimes that was the focus of the message: “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor¬inthians 1:23). Paul even called the gospel “the message of the cross” (verse 18). Paul reminded the Galatians that “before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (Galatians 3:1). That was how he summarized the gospel.
Why is the cross good news? Because on the cross we were redeemed, and our sins received the penalty they deserved. Paul focused on the cross because it is the key to Jesus being good news for us. We will not be raised into glory unless our sins are removed from the record, unless in Christ we are made “the righteousness of God.” Only then can we join Jesus in his glory. The crucifixion makes it possible.
Paul says that Jesus died “for us” (Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:10); he also says that he died “for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3; Gal. 1:4). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Paul also says that we died with Christ (Romans 6:3-8). Through faith in him, we participate in his death.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, his death counts as ours; our sins are counted as his, and his death pays the penalty of those sins. It is as if we were on the cross, receiving the curse that our sins deserved. But he did it for us, and because he did it, we can be justified, or counted as righteous. He takes our sin and death; he gives us righteousness and life. The prince became a pauper, so that we paupers might become princes.
Although Jesus used the word ransom to describe our rescue, the ransom wasn’t paid to anyone in particular—this is a figure of speech to indicate that it cost Jesus an enormous amount to set us free. In the same way, Paul talks about Jesus redeeming us, buying our freedom, but he didn’t pay anyone.
Some have said that Jesus died to pay the legal demands of his Father—but it can also be said that the Father himself is the one who paid the price, by sending his Son for this very purpose (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). In Christ God absorbed the penalty himself, so that we did not have to. “By the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). (Chrisitianity 101)
Avoiding God’s wrath
God loves people—but he hates sin, because sin hurts people. Therefore, there will be a “day of God’s wrath” when he judges the world (Romans 1:18; 2:5). People who reject the truth will be punished (verse 8). If they reject the truth of God’s grace, they will experience another side of God, his anger. God wants everyone to repent (2 Peter 3:9), but those who don’t will suffer the result of their sin.
In the death of Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and through his death, we escape the wrath of God, the punishment of sin. But this does not mean that a loving Jesus appeased or “paid off” an angry God. The Father is just as merciful as Jesus is, and Jesus is just as angry about sin as the Father is. He is angry at sin because sin hurts the people he loves. Jesus is the Judge who condemns (Matthew 25:31-46), as well as the Judge who loves sinners so much that he pays the penalty for them.
When God forgives us, he does not simply wipe away sin and pretend it never existed. He teaches us throughout the New Testament that sins are taken care of through the death of Jesus. Sins have serious consequences—consequences we can see in the cross of Christ. It cost Jesus pain and shame and death. He bore the punishment we deserved.
The gospel reveals that God acts righteously in forgiving us (Romans 1:17). He does not ignore our sins, but takes care of them in Jesus Christ. God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for our forgiveness. “He did this to demonstrate his justice” (Romans 3:25). The cross reveals that God is just; it shows that sin is too serious to be ignored. It is appropriate for sin to be punished, and Jesus volunteered to suffer the punishment on our behalf. The cross demonstrates God’s love as well as his justice (Romans 5:8).
As Isaiah says, we have peace with God because Christ was punished. We were once enemies of God, but through Christ we have been brought near (Ephesians 2:13). In other words, we have been reconciled to God through the cross (verse 16). It is a basic Christian belief that our relationship with God depends on the death of Jesus Christ.
Christianity is not a list of things to do—it is faith that Christ has done everything we need to be right with God—and he did it on the cross. “When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). God reconciled the universe through Christ, “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). If we are reconciled through him, all our sins are forgiven (verse 22)—reconciliation, forgiveness and justifica¬tion all mean the same thing: peace with God. (101)
Victory!
Paul uses an interesting image of salvation when he writes that Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities” by making “a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). He uses the word for a military parade: the winning general brings captured enemy soldiers in a victory parade at home. They are disarmed, humiliated, put on display. Paul’s point here is that Jesus did this on the cross.
What looked like a shameful death for Jesus was actually a glorious triumph for God’s plan, because it is through the cross that Jesus won victory over enemy powers, including Satan, sin and death. Their claim on us has been fully satisfied in the death of the innocent victim. They cannot demand any more than what he has already paid. They have nothing further to threaten us with.
“By his death,” we are told, Jesus was able to “destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). Victory was won on the cross.(101)
Sacrifice
Jesus’ death is also described as a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice draws on the rich imagery of Old Testament sacrifices. Isaiah 53:10 calls our Savior a “guilt offering.” John the Baptist calls him the Lamb “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Paul calls him a “sacrifice of atonement,” a “sin offering,” a “Passover lamb,” a “fragrant offering” (Romans 3:25; 8:3; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2). Hebrews 10:12 calls him a “sacrifice for sins.” John calls him “the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
Several terms are used to describe what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Different New Testament authors use different words or images to convey the idea. The exact terminology or mechanism is not essential. What is important is simply that we are saved through the death of Jesus. “By his wounds we are healed.” He died to set us free, to remove our sins, to suffer our punishment, to purchase our salvation. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).(101)
Most effective people, and all great leaders, have a clear life purpose, and pay a price to achieve it. The suffering of Jesus takes our breath away. Why did He undergo so much pain?
The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus ignored the pain, and disregarded the shame, "for the joy that was set before him." In Isaiah's prophecy of his Passion we read, "He shall see the trouble of his soul, and be satisfied." To Jesus, all the pain was worth it. Why?
Now that the suffering is over, what great joys does Jesus look forward to?
For Bible-believing Christians, who love and seek fellowship with Evangelicals of across denominational barriers, the truth of the basic message of Christianity is "the most important thing." Yes, Jesus died "to save sinners" so that "whosever believes in him may not perish, but have everlasting life". Surely all Christians agree with the book of Acts that aside from Jesus, "there is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Many thinking Christians, however, have questions about the broad vision of Christianity as THE hope for the world... compared to the small footprint Churchianity has been able to leave on the world system. When we're honest with ourselves, it is a shrinking impact, which like a footprint in the sand, is being washed away by internal conflict and external challenges in this post-Christian, post-modern world. Jesus' own question looms before us: "When the Son of Man comes (again), will he find the Faith in the the earth?" At its best, Christianity is a powerful and transformative force in the lives of its authentic adherents -- but the experience of the most sober and realistic disciples has been that "the saints among us" as George Barna calls them, are scattered and in a geopolitical sense, insignificant -- a "little flock".
Meanwhile the claims and traditions of orthodox Christianity undergo increasing scrutiny, not only from hostile sources but also by millions of seekers and thinkers around the world. The person of Jesus continues to attract attention, excite inquiry, draw followers. But the commonly held explanations of what he accomplished, and what he will yet accomplish, leave many honest inquirers with unanswered questions, and nagging doubts that will not go away.
People ask questions like, "Why did the angels sing about Good Tidings of Great Joy which shall be to All people?" All people have great Sorrow, and most people in the world have never experienced any Great Joy. Most never meet Jesus, either. Our fellow-Christians call this "The problem of evil", but they never really point to a solution -- they just remind us that God is Sovereign, God is good, God knows.
Yes, we agree with that, but we believe that Jesus taught us all to keep asking, keep seeking -- until we all find the adequate answers to valid questions.
Questions like: "Does God really expect all people to come to Christ in this life?" "Has God called ALL people into the body or church of Christ?" "Does God really expect humans to pay for crucifying Christ, or for not accepting Him?" "Does God really intend to send most human beings into an eternally painful experience, without hope of repentance?" "Does God blame us for Adam's fall? How fair is that?" "Did Jesus expect his followers to be hypocritical" (claiming to follow a high moral standard, but in every major poll indistinguishable from non-Christians)
What is atonement?
Atonement is like debt payment. Though most Christians like to talk about debt forgiveness, what God does is more like debt payment.
If you are in debt, and can't pay, you have 2 choices: get someone else to pay, or get the bank or other person that is owed to forgive the debt.
The way God forgives our debts, is by arranging for their payment -- by applying the value of his Son's sacrifice on their behalf. In this way, the Bible teaches that God "can be just -- and yet the justifier of those who come to Him by Jesus."
The Bible is clear that certain conditions must be met before he will apply Jesus' blood to any individual person. The first condition that must be met is that they admit they owe the money, so to speak. We must acknowledge that there is a right and a wrong, and that we are hopelessly guilty of wrong.
The second requirement is that we accept Christ as the payment for us. You might say Christ is the only "money" that God accepts.
The third requirement is stated in many places, perhaps clearest in 1 John. If we are going to come to God through Christ, we must continue at the beginning, and throughout our lives, to strive diligently to be righteous in our thoughts and actions. This is not to say we will be righteous. We won't. We will never even come close to being viewed as righteous by God. Christ is our righteousness. Still, the paradox of 1 John is that we cannot claim to be in the light if we do not seek the light.
Bottom line: Atonement is the process of being made right with God, by the process of having one righteous person (Christ) pay for the sins of each of us.
What is the penalty of sin?
Lots of the confusion in Christian circles comes from disagreeing about the penalty. We submit that if you carefully read the Bible, the penalty is clear: death. "The wages (payment) of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)
What is death?
The opposite of life, an unconscious state in which all activity has ceased.The Bible talks about 2 deaths, really. The first death is called "sleep", because an awakening or resurrection for all is promised. The second death is also the end of life, but it is permanent. There is no resurrection from the "second death".
The question of penalty is important, because whoever redeems the world must pay the price that justice calls for. If justice calls for an eternity of torture, than suffering on the cross wasn't enough. The redeemer would need to pay the full price, and the full price according to the eternal torment view would be endless, conscious suffering in hell.
But if the penalty of sin is simply death, then the death of the innocent man Christ Jesus fully settles that account.
What was the exchange?
Now that we know the penalty, it's easy to piece together what the "exchange" or ransom was: a perfect human life for a perfect human life. Christ paid the full price. He died as a substitute for the man who brought death into the world. That gives him the right to bring life to who? The same folks who died in Adam.
The powerful motions of sin Most people are prevented from accepting Christ as savior by simple circumstances. They are aborted while a fetus, or they are stillborn, or they die in infancy, or they are born with mental defects, or their parents are atheists, or they are born into a Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, or Pagan family, or their dad is a Pastor who is unloving and hypocrical at home and they grow up resenting Christianity, or they are exposed to pornography and sexual abuse from the time they are toddlers, or they were born addicted to drugs or damaged by alcohol, etc.
Are we exaggerating? Or is it not true that 2 out of 3 people grow up without any clear presentation of what Peter called "the only name given among men, whereby we must be saved." And is it not true that of the 1/3 born in so-called "Christian countries", the vast majority grow up in damaged surroundings, surrounded by many false ideas and seductive temptations to sin?
The Bible says that God wills that all mankind will be saved, and come to an accurate knowledge of the truth. We are not Universalists, but we believe precisely what that verse says.
Jesus said, "My flesh I give for the life of the world." We believe that means the world will gain life.
Paul said that Jesus was indeed "a ransom for all", to be "testified in due time."
We believe that "all" means "all", and that "in due time" means that when God is ready to do the testifying to all, it will happen.
Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world John said in his first epistle that Christ died, not for our sins only, (the sins of believers who follow Christ), but for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
That's what true atonement is: the entire world being reconciled to God through a legal payment of their sins.
That means the penalty of their sins is paid, and Jesus does more than open the door for us to walk through. He dies "the Just for the Unjust, to BRING us to God." (1 Peter 3:18) In many cases, the amazing grace of Christ will drag us, kicking and screaming, to the point where we learn our need of Him and listen to the message of God's love.
If we're going to believe the Bible is true, we've got to believe that it means exactly what it says. The sins of the whole world includes the sins of Nero, and Hitler, and Stalin, and Saddam. If Christ's tremendous Passion -- "the travail of His soul" (Isaiah 53:11) -- satisfied Him, it must be because there is a way for that painful death to compensate for all the sins of the world.
Works Cited
The Holy Bible: The New International Version. Colorado Springs: The International Bible Society, 1984.
Halloway, Gary, Randall J. Harris, Mark C. Black Theology Matters. Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing Company, 1998.
"Time Magazine." "Why did Jesus Die?" http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040412/
Christianity 101 "Why did Jesus have to die?" http://www.wcg.org/lit/disc/07whydie.htm