Expert: Dean Gade - 7/23/2007

Question
QUESTION: Why did Jesus have to die for our sins?  Why couldn't God have done something different, used something else?  Why did He have to DIE....not just go through pain?

ANSWER: There is no quick, easy answer to your question.  It has to do with both the sovereignty of God and with perfect justice.  We live in a world where neither of these subjects mean much and where they are accepted even less.

"Justice" is easier to us because we can conceive of it even though it is practiced less and less in our judicial system.   Today we like to talk about "fair" and "circumstance" rather than justice. We use the premise that we are all imperfect and therefore delve into "degrees" of guilt and punishment.

God is PERFECT in all things including righteousness.  Anyone who is UNrighteous cannot be a part of Him.  After the time of Adam and Eve's sin, no unrighteous (sinner, Lawbreaker) could even look at God face to face.....and live!.  
So it is, that anyone who breaks any part of God's Law (The Ten Commandments which include "loving God above all things") is a Lawbreaker and cannot by their nature be with God in eternity.  That's what He means when He says that "the wages of sin is death".

This deserved death by all sinners brings God's righteous wrath on all people who are not perfect as God is perfect. For God to say "Oh, forget about it" is completely contrary to His being Just.   What would you think of a judge who told every murderer, rapist, and evil person who came before them to "forget it.  Go free".  They would be an UNjust judge with no respect.

His plan to SAVE US FROM WHAT WE DESERVED was to send a deliverer.  The deliverer had to be PERFECT and so had to have a full divine nature.  But the deliver also had to be a descendent of man (Adam and Eve) with a complete human nature.  This was the Messiah (Hebrew) the Christ (Greek) who is the Son of God and the child of Mary with both natures intact.

He could and did take our sin and guilt upon Himself, died in our place with all the punishment of our sins on Himself and rose again to give us His PERFECTION (earned) righteousness.

From the promise to Adam and Eve about one of their "seed" who would crush the head of the devil..throughout the OT with all the promises and prophecies, the pictures in animal sacrifices, the "types of Christ" seen in the chosen leaders and even in the nation itself    God gave us this message of how much He loves us that even though we were His enemies because of sin,  HE SAVED US BY THE BLOOD OF HIS VERY OWN SON.

I hope this helps, although I know that we would rather have another way -  there is no other way which could satisfy God.



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

QUESTION: I understand most of what you're saying, but the question still remains....why did he have to die?  Why couldn't He have taken our sin and guilt on Himself without dying?

Answer
The answer is simple.....but not at all simple to understand:      The penalty for sinning against God is death.

God made this very clear to Adam when He gave him the command to NOT EAT of this tree:

Gen 2:15-17

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
(from New International Version)

The penalty still exists for all who have a sin (a transgression of God's command, a failure to do or not to do as God commands, be less than perfect). This "death" was and is separation from God  and if not paid for by the death of Jesus would lead to eternal separation from God = eternal death, ie hell).
This death Jesus took on Himself while on the cross as He cried out:  "My God, my God why have your forsaken me?"

The exception are those whose sin has been taken by Jesus Who died in our place for all and any sin of our lives.

There is no human wisdom or logic which can fully understand how the sin of mankind could be transferred to Jesus Christ, but the "good news"(gospel) for us in that Jesus did this out of love for us who receive Him as our savior and lord.

There are many other passages like the following, but these show that this was the plan of God to redeem those who turn to Him.   He spoke of it in the OT and even gave His people "pictures" of it in the blood sacrifices where the sins of the people were "ceremonially" put on the sheep offerings and the (scape)goat.

Rom 5:6-12
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-
(from New International Version)


Mark 8:31-33

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
(from New International Version)


John 3:10-21

10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man.   14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.   

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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."   
(from New International Version)

But as I said earlier, this was God's plan and though we might ask "why" it had to happen in this way,  no wise man or theologian has ever come up with an alternate plan which would satisfy God's righteous wrath against all sin.