Introduction
“Why did Jesus need to die on the cross?” This question asked as Sunday school was about to dismiss left me speechless by the realization of the complexity of this foundational Christian doctrine. I had no idea how to answer something so complex in just two or three sentences. This brief blog is my answer and will give you, the reader, a thumbnail description of the necessity for the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that you will have at least a working understanding of the terrible consequences of even minor sins and the price a loving God was willing to pay for our redemption.
The eternal decree
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.[1] This verse sets a dividing line: we will serve one of two masters, Satan and his system, or be redeemed by the Lamb. Furthermore, this has been from Adam through all time. God does not live in time and space, nor is he constrained by either one. This means that not only did God know from before he created Adam that Adam would rebel, but the path to restoration had also already been opened. knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you[2] The cross was not an afterthought; it was always God’s plan. All the covenants, dispensations, messianic prophesies and promises, as well as the entire sacrificial system, were progressive revelations for our benefit of a work already accomplished by Yahweh. They were meant to demonstrate to us that there was no other way to God’s presence. It is impossible for man to reach God’s standard.
The Problem: Man’s Sin
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[3] To understand why an infinite, sinless being was the only solution to our sin, we need to understand how God sees that little white lie you just told. In the garden, eating the forbidden fruit was a minor transgression, but the motive behind the action was an attitude on the level of Satan’s rebellion against God.
That first sin corrupted all of humanity. Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us that we are spiritually dead by nature. Our trespasses and sins have removed us from the face of God. We walked according to Satan’s worldly system, and we lived for self-gratification. Worse yet, instead of freedom, it sold us into slavery to our fleshly desires. Our eyes were closed to spiritual enlightenment, and all we could be in fellowship with God. Instead, our eyes became focused on our faults, failures, and sins.
Adam’s sin had two consequences for himself and the rest of us as well. First is relational. Our sins have hidden God’s face from us so that he will not hear us. This has been true from the beginning when Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God. The second consequence is judicial. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, and Ezek. 18:20 says the soul that sins will die. This isn’t just physical death; it means spiritual death in that we have been cut off from the source of life itself. More than that, the wrath of God abides on us.
We cannot solve this through our own moral effort. Isaiah 64:6 says all our righteousness are as filthy, literally bloody rags. James 2:10 says that even if we keep the whole law, yet break it in one point, we are guilty of all of it. Let me ask you, how many cars do you have to steal to be a car thief? How many lies do you need to tell to be a liar? It took only a single act of disobedience to make Adam a transgressor of God’s law, and that single act of disobedience changed all human nature. And so, through one man’s action, we have all been condemned because we all sin. The standard is perfection, and we cannot achieve perfection. Even after his conversion, the Apostle Paul summed up the believer’s frustration in Romans 7:14-15, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If we can’t meet our own standards, how in the world can we ever measure up to a holy God? We can’t.
God’s Holiness is expressed in Righteousness
If we are going to understand why we fall short, we must understand something about God and his holiness. In our quest to present a God of love to the world, we have left out his holiness, and this is a critical oversight. There are two words concerning God’s divine perfection we must understand and a third word that gets misused as a result. When we say God is holy, we are talking about his inward perfection. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he?[4] God is the standard of all physical, and moral purity, and it encompasses the expression of all his other attributes. He is not only without any corruption; it is impossible for him to be corrupted.
This divine perfection isn’t passive, and that brings us to another term we throw around without ever considering what it really means: righteousness. Righteousness is the outward expression of God’s holiness. It demands justice, and that means someone must pay for man’s unrighteousness. Divine justice cannot simply excuse or ignore sin; to do so isn’t mercy, it’s license and would make God an accessory to sinful behavior. If you want to look at our sin in a legal style context, the first three chapters of Romans lay out an indictment of all humanity. First, nature demonstrates a creator of holiness and order, which we have violated his commands. In fact, Paul writes that when we knew God we didn’t worship him as God, but made our own idols to worship and worshipped the creation rather than the creator, so God left us alone to do our own thing, the result was total depravity. Those who live by their conscience are condemned by their own standard since they can’t perfectly meet the law they have devised and finally, those under the Mosaic Law are condemned because they couldn’t perfectly keep that law. No matter who you are, in your heart you know you stand condemned by a holy judge. All that is left for humanity is judgement and condemnation. John 3:36 tells us that if we don’t accept God’s free gift of salvation expressed earlier in the chapter that we stand condemned because we have rejected the Son. It is only by God’s mercy that we are granted a space for repentance.[5]
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.[6] We cannot live righteously; God’s righteousness must be imputed to us by God through the cross.
The Cross-The only answer
Our sin has many consequences. We are sinners who have transgressed God’s law; we are slaves to sin and the god of this world; we deserve eternal punishment for our sin and stand guilty before a holy judge. More than that, death reigns over us as well as evil. The cross is the answer to all of these.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[7] Jesus died for us while we were enemies and sinners. Ultimately, all sin is rebellion against God and deserves the death penalty. The garden shows us the consequences of sin. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, it was an act of disobedience that immediately caused separation between God and man, which is spiritual death, and eventually resulted in physical death as cessation of life. The only way to repair this rift was through the death of an infinite, holy, and innocent being. Thus, while the Father calls us, the Son redeems us. I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention that the Spirit seals us. The Old Testament sacrifices were only a physical picture of the spiritual work accomplished on the cross. First, the lamb had to be without blemish; thus, the sinless life of Jesus is crucial. The penitent would lay their hands on the head of the lamb. This was done when Jesus appeared before the High Priest and Sanhedrin, then before Pilate. Each declaring Jesus to be who he said he was. He was crucified outside the camp, his blood applied to the four corners of the cross. Finally, when he declares, “It is finished.” His blood was poured out at the base of the cross, signifying the fulfillment of all sacrifices when the soldier pierced the side of the Savior. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.[8] We now can enter boldly the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. We have been sanctified, set apart, made complete and restored forever to fellowship with our creator and redeemer.
More than that, when Jesus rose on the third day, he declared victory over sin, death and the grave. So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.[9] When Jesus came out of that grave, his victory wasn’t his alone; it was ours as well. Through Jesus we have victory over sin, over death, and we don’t fear, nor do we sorrow as others, for we know there is a future. Thanks to Calvary, I am saved from the penalty of sin; I can have victory over the power of sin, and someday I will be removed from the very presence of sin.
Study Questions
- Why is the question, “Why did Jesus have to die, so important?”
- Why is the cross not an afterthought to God?
- Why is it important that Jesus as the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world?
- What were the two deaths that resulted from Adam’s sin?
- How are holiness, righteousness and justice related?
- Why can’t God simply ignore sin?
- When Jesus cried out “It is finished.” What was finished?
- What did Jesus resurrection conquer?
- What is the relationship between God’s love, justice and mercy?
- What are the three stages of salvation?
- Can you now answer the question of why Jesus had to die on the cross?
Bibliography
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Brown, C., Link, H.-G., and Vorländer, H. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Vol. 3, pp. 145–76.
Childs, B. S. Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Minneapolis and London, 1992, 1996.
Dale, R. W. The Atonement. London, 1894.
Denney, J. The Death of Christ. Edited by R. V. G. Tasker. London, 1951.
Dodd, C. H. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans. London, 1932.
Elwell, W. Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. pp. 98–100.
Franks, R. S. A History of the Doctrine of the Work of Christ. London, 1918.
Godet, F., Harnack, A., Sabatier, A., et al. The Atonement in Modern Religious Thought: A Theological Symposium. New York, 1902.
Goldingay, J. E. (ed.). Atonement Today. London, 1995.
Green, E. M. B. The Empty Cross of Jesus. London, 1984.
Hengel, M. The Atonement: The Origins of Doctrine in the New Testament. ET, London, 1981.
Hill, C. E., and James III, F. A. The Glory of the Atonement. Downers Grove, 2004.
Jeffery, S., Ovey, M., and Sach, A. Pierced for Our Transgressions. Nottingham, 2007.
Marshall, I. H. Jesus the Saviour. Downers Grove, 1990.
McDonald, H. D. The Atonement of the Death of Christ. Grand Rapids, 1985.
Mozley, J. K. The Doctrine of the Atonement. London, 1915.
Morris, L. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. London, 3rd ed., 1965.
Morris, L. The Cross in the New Testament. London, 1965.
Stott, J. R. W. The Cross of Christ. Leicester, 1986.
Taylor, V. The Atonement in New Testament Preaching. London, 1940.
Trotter Jr., A. H. “Atonement.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996.
Wells, P. Cross Words: The Biblical Doctrine of the Atonement. Fearn, 2006.
Winter, M. The Atonement. London and Collegeville, 1994, 1995.
[1] Revelation 13:8 (NKJV)
[2] 1 Peter 1:18–20 (NKJV)
[3] Romans 3:10–18 (NKJV)
[4] Habakkuk 1:13 (NKJV)
[5] Hebrews 9:27
[6] Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
[7] Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
[8] Hebrews 10:11–14 (NKJV)
[9] 1 Corinthians 15:54–57 (NKJV)
Leave a Reply