Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 11/16/2007

Question
QUESTION: Christians always say "Christ paid the price for our sin." But what price did Jesus pay the price for our sins?  It can't be physical death and suffering, since we all still physically die, and many suffer for months and years (not just days like Jesus) before doing so.  It can't be eternal torment or even eternal separation from God, since Jesus spent at most a few days in Hades (if that). So again, what price did he pay for our sins that we do not still have to pay--unless the penalty for sin is a few days in Hell, which is not the usual Christian concept of Hell. Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Greg,

Thank you for this great question.  The point is that Jesus tasted of death both physical death, and Hell, but conquered both.  

Isaiah 25:8
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Pastor Don,
Thanks very much for your reply, but you did not address the central point of my question. I didn't ask how Christ "tasted death" or experienced hell for a couple days (if that) but how he paid the _full penalty_ for our sin, which is what many Christians claim. If he didn't suffer for all eternity, then evidently he either didn't pay anything close to the full price, or else the penalty is not eternal suffering (and many scholars make a case that Hell as a place of eternal suffering is not logical, Biblical, or consistent with a loving God. It is frustrating as a struggling Christian that when I ask a specific question of a pastor or church leader, often I get a response that doesn't address the crux of the question. Can you try again?
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Greg,

I will try again, I am sorry that I was not clear.  

1.  Let us see exactly what the payment for sin is:

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Genesis 2:17
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 5:12
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  Is there anything written about the length of time that one must be dead in order for it to be true death?  NO!  Dead is dead.  No one but God could come back from the dead so a length of time would be irrelivant to what constitutes death.

3.  God's word says that Jesus' suffering and death was enough to satisfy God's righteousness.

Isaiah 53:10-11
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

This is the best I can do.  Some things can be a mystery, but we still can know that they are true, if the Bible teaches that they are.  I hope that this helps.

In Christ
Pastor Don