Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
At the center of the Gospel stands a cross. Paul delivered first of all that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). Sooner or later every Christian asks why. If God is love, why could He not simply forgive? Why did His Son have to bleed and die?
The answer lies in who God is and what sin is. God is holy and just, so He cannot pretend sin away. God is love, so He does not want to condemn us. At the cross His justice and His love meet, so that He can be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Romans 3:26).
We believe that Jesus, after a perfect and sinless life, offered Himself for all mankind as a substitute for man's sin. His sacrifice was a just payment to God, so that sin can be forgiven. He made that payment by His death, shedding His blood on the cross, and God showed that He accepted it by raising Him from the dead.
The biblical teaching that Christ, in the place of sinners, bore the penalty their sins deserved, satisfying God's justice and turning away His wrath, so that God can forgive and justify everyone who believes.
The cross is not a way for unholy people to reach up to a holy God. It is the way a holy God can receive unholy people and still be holy.
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For Deeper Study
- The Cross of ChristAmazon John R. W. StottAn evangelical Anglican classic that sets substitution at the heart of the cross and explains propitiation, redemption, justification, and reconciliation.
- The Atonement: Its Meaning and SignificanceAmazon Leon MorrisA readable study of the Bible's key words for the cross, including the Day of Atonement, Passover, redemption, and propitiation.
- The Extent of the Atonement: A Historical and Critical ReviewAmazon David L. AllenA non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholar makes the biblical and historical case that Christ died for all. Long and detailed.
- The Nature of the Atonement: Four ViewsAmazon James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, eds.Penal substitution, Christus Victor, and two other views argued by their own advocates, each answered by the others.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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One Person, Two Natures
Christ is fully God and fully man in one person, without the natures being mixed, changed, divided, or separated.
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