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Ask an Evangelical: Why did God send Jesus Christ to die for us?
Commentary by Cassy Benefield | FāVS News
This is a great question and at the heart of Christianity. In simplest terms, Jesus’ death provided everyone in the world and throughout history the way to be reconciled to God. We call this atonement.
Many hold different definitions of just how exactly that atonement was accomplished. If you’re curious to know how, this online article explores six of those historical theories.
To keep it simple, I would like to share with you the why with Bible passages I think explain at least some of what God’s purpose was in sending his son Jesus to die on that cross. Because God is infinite, and humans are finite, our understanding will be imperfect and never complete. So my answer at best is limited.
I do believe God has given us enough guidance and instruction in the scriptures to help us understand what each of us needs to comprehend to receive this miraculous gift.
One of the most famous verses in all of scripture for the evangelical — because it summarizes what we understand as the reason behind salvation — is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
This verse says the purpose of Jesus’ coming was because God, his father, who is spirit (John 4:24), loved the world and wanted to give humans eternal life. The way he did that was through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible of the invisible God or God in human flesh (Colossians 1:15). Humanity only needs to believe in Jesus in order to attain that salvation, which is eternal life, the opposite of “perishing.”
What’s interesting — and what I think a lot of evangelicals fail to show in their posture toward others — are the two verses after it (v. 17,18). They simply say, God did not send his son into the world to condemn people. Why? Because we are all condemned already. That part has already taken place. We all stand condemned.
But, God sent Jesus into the world to save us from that condemnation. This statement is verified by Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
To summarize, in our condemnation, we are all lost. God sent his son to “find” us. When we trust Christ and his mission to “save” us, to set right our condemnation, we are now reconciled eternally to God. In that reconciliation, we will live with him forever.
The way my mind pictures this scenario is Christ stands with his arms open wide with each person passing before him. As they do, his voice pleads, not in desperation, but in perfect love, “Come unto me. Just believe.” Some respond. Others don’t.
But what do evangelicals believe happens if we are not reconciled to God, if we don’t respond? Well, eternal death in hell. However, again, Christians of all stripes differ on what this means. You can explore more with this outline on four different theories and in this PDF version of the 1996 edition of the book “The Four Views of Hell,” which has since been updated.
Suffice it to say, hell — in whatever form — will include separation from God forever because we rejected his offer of reconciliation. We would do this by not believing the gospel, that his son is God in the flesh who came to die for all our sins and who rose from the dead. Because the Bible says “God is love” (1 John 4:8), I cannot imagine a darker, more painfully agonizing state than to be separated from this perfect and life-giving love.
Now we ask, why was Jesus’ life and death necessary?
The Old Testament helps clarify this mission. God established a sacrificial system to teach his people what sin is. The sacrificial system was bloody and quite disgusting to our modern sensibilities, but it painted a picture of the destruction of sin in the interior and exterior lives of the Israelites.
The use of an unblemished lamb represented how only a spotless sacrifice could atone for sin and reconcile the Israelites back to God. We then can understand the symbolism when John the Baptist announces to the crowd when he sees Jesus in John 1:29: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
As the Lamb of God, Jesus was the final unblemished sacrifice given to God on behalf of the whole world, and not to just those under the Law. By being without sin, Jesus was able, once and for all, to give his body and his blood on behalf of those God loved — all people of every race, tribe and tongue.
Both God and Jesus had a part in this sacrifice. God gave his son. Jesus gave his life. Because of this, evangelicals believe we now have full access to God after we put our trust in Jesus, that he died for us to reconcile us to his father.
One final note. Jesus is known as the “Lamb that was slain” or “Lamb” in the book of Revelation to John. In the final chapter of this final book of the Bible, a river of life flows from the throne of God and “the Lamb.” This river nourishes the tree of life, whose leaves heal the nations.
Whether “nations” means people or nation-states throughout history or both, I can’t think of anything better we need in our world today.
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Here’s an excellent explainer by the Bible Project of the purpose of the Old Testament sacrificial system understood by most evangelicals and many other Christian denominations. We believe this Old Testament system was a shadow of things to come, one of those being Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on the cross for the covering of our sins once and for all. (Hebrews 10:1-18)
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
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Thank you, Cassy, for this Sunday morning discussion on Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross .I think believing in Jesus means following his his way, which includes being willing to challenge the authorities that oppress people, in his day and in ours. Jesus was crucified by the Romans because he defied the empire’s view that the Emperor was God. I’m expressing my evangelical view here….it’s important to acknowledge that there is more than one kind of evangelical.
Amen Walter! I cannot disagree.
I’ve been chewing on something lately about power, especially in the political context and if the God of Jewish and Christian scriptures – at least – established this kind of political governance in Creation. And if he ordered this kind of system in Israel’s theocracy under the Law. I have to say no, he did not! He never wanted people to rule over other people. Israel was the one who wanted that kind of “power over” structure of men ruling over men that the nations around them had. God was the one who ruled man. We see this in 1 Samuel 8, when God said to Samuel, Israel isn’t rejecting you, but me, when they asked for a king.
I would argue the judges and the prophets and the high priests were God’s ministers on behalf of the people. Servants not rulers. It wasn’t until they had a king that men ruled over men within their culture.
The verse that started this thought was Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, “Let us make mankind (adam) in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures (haremes) that move along the ground.” I remember looking at that verse recently and for the first time noticing … hey, nowhere does this say “so that they may rule over mankind or each other.”
So, I’ve been chewing on this ever since, especially in the context of Christian nationalism down through the centuries and definitely in my own lifetime.
Check out my response to Walter.
The issue of confronting governing bodies is something that I take issue with. It is not the Roman government that Christ confronted, but the theocratic establishment of His own church. It was HIS church’s leadership that arrested, illegally tried, and brought Him to Rome (Roman authority) for capital punishment. It was the church of the dark ages that enlisted the kings and their armies to enforce their dogma.
This is the stance of dominionism, Christian nationalism. We will force the world to act like Christians without changing hearts; just like the RCC did with the inquisition of the dark ages. The results was unconverted “Christians” killing God’s true children.
God told the Christian church to make disciples, make individuals Christ followers, not make nations of the world a theocracy. That, to me, making disciples, is what Jesus, Paul, and the disciples did. Did Joseph try to change Egypt? Did Daniel try to change Babylon? or did they demonstrate what a Christian is?
Yes, they, and we will be called on the carpet for disrupting the status quo, the economy of those profiting as Paul was in Ephesus. But it is our job to reconcile those individuals with God. Not to, as Cassy pointed out, condemn them.
Rather than trying to force the world to become something it is not, why not make disciples for the Kingdom, grow God’s church into a body that the world can see reflects the character of God, of Jesus?
And why is the church today so ineffective at making disciples? 1 Cor 1:23, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness”.
The cross is to be taken up by us; self is to be crucified. A stumbling block and foolishness to all that refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, the One that owns them.