Mini-Lecture: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Sometimes my mind seeks complicated answers to obvious questions. This is one of those. I’ve known almost all of my life why Jesus died. Every kid worth his squirmy energy, if he went to church or heard some TV preaching, could tell you in his own words what the Apostle Paul succinctly stated, “Christ died for our sins,” (1 Corinthians 15:3). But, like I said, sometimes, when a creak catches my attention, my mind drifts, and I think harder about simple subjects.

When someone offends me, I often simply forgive the person. Notice I didn’t say “always,” but I’m working on that. That leads to the natural question, though: Why can’t God do that? Are people better than him? Am I? Jesus' death is the center of Christian faith, so we ought to know a little about why it happened, and that answer ought to have a little more teeth than a trite (but true), "He died to forgive sins." Why Jesus? Why death?

In pursuit of answers and to help others whose minds have drifted down that path, we did a mini-lecture titled, “Why Did Jesus Have to Die (Couldn’t God Just Forgive)?” You can listen to it and take notes, but I hope you will figure it out. If discussing it could help, then make some comments below and we (many all of us) can talk. Do you know why JESUS HAD to DIE?

 

 

Comments

[Dean W. Parker]

A long time ago, I heard a pastor give insight into Jesus' death on our behalf and I have always remembered this with a great emotional response. The passage about this he mentioned was from Romans 5:6-8.

God did what was not at all logical from our perspective. Rarely, this passage says, will someone even die for a righteous man, but it may happen possibly. But (and that is one of the most important words in these three verses), God demonstrates His love for us in this, while we were still SINNERS Christ died for us.

He went on the say that Jesus' death would not be allowed in our court system in the United States. Here was his example. Let's say you have a close friend who committed a crime that was worthy of Capital Punishment. But, you and your friend agreed that you would take his place in jail and die for him, so this friend could go free. Even if you agreed to that and stood before a judge and told him of this plan and agreement, the judge would not even hear that with any merit.

That is because in our court system, the innocent can not pay for the crimes of the guilty. The guilty have to pay for their own crimes.

Praise God, He did exactly the opposite of that. On the cross, Jesus became the guilty for us, even though he was innocent. The guilty became the innocent, so that we might have right standing with God.

What happened on the cross defies both logic and what would be tolerated and accepted in our court system. That is truly what Grace is all about!!