“Why did Jesus die on the cross?”
Whole books have been written on that question. My goal here though is to answer it in about 5 minutes.
I pray the excerpt below gives you the understanding you need, but if you have more questions, feel free to ask away.
Why Did Jesus Die? Understanding Salvation
To know why Jesus died on the cross, we need to understand salvation.
Christians everywhere talk about being saved, but why do you need to be saved? And what exactly are you being saved from?
The best way to answer these questions is to use a courtroom analogy.
The Bible describes God as Judge over all creation (Ps. 50:6), so He’s the judge in this scenario. And unfortunately for you and me, we are both guilty defendants facing a death sentence.
Why is that you ask?
It’s because all of humanity has one big problem: sin.
Defining Sin and Its Effects
Sin is any form of rebellion against God and any action that falls short of His character (1 John 3:4).
Our Judge can only accept perfection, but we are all tainted by three types of sin:
- Imputed sin
- Inherited sin
- Personal sin
Imputed sin is the guilt credited to us due to Adam’s choice in the Garden of Eden. (When I say “guilt” by the way, I still mean in a legal sense, not the emotional kind.)
As the first male in human history, the Bible describes Adam as a representative for humanity. Scripture views the human race as a unit, and since this unit came from Adam, his sin doomed us all (Rom. 5:12, Rom. 5:14 ESV).
Now some may claim this is unfair since none of us ate the fruit, but again, we were all represented by Adam.
A common way to explain this is to use the president-nation example. If the president of the U.S. declared war on a foreign country, all of America would be at war. This would include everyone from the president to a farmer in Nebraska, even though the latter didn’t make that choice.
When Adam sinned, he declared war, or rebellion, against God. And as our representative, he dragged us all into a fight we never chose.
Inherited sin is what I call “the sin nature”.
Before Adam’s sin in the garden, God told him that He would die if he ate the fruit (Gen. 2:17), but Adam actually lived many years afterward.
So did God lie to Adam?
Of course not.
Adam did die that day. He died a spiritual death.
Adam’s sinless nature was corrupted and his relationship with God was broken.
This moral corruption is handed down to all of Adam’s descendants too. That means every human is born spiritually dead and has an inclination to sin (Jer. 17:9 NASB, Ps. 51:5, Eph. 2:1 NIV).
The immoral acts we commit do not make us sinners. Rather, our sinful nature makes us do those acts (John 8:34 ESV).
Now this doesn’t mean people can’t do good from a human perspective. Nor does it mean every person is as evil as he or she could be. But like a glass of water with one drop of poison, this corruption makes us all unacceptable (Is. 64:6).
Personal sin is the most tangible of the three.
These are immoral acts and attitudes we know all too well (Gal. 5:19-21).
Stealing, lying, murder, selfishness, pride, racism, jealousy, abuse, etc. These aren’t just wrongs against other people; they’re crimes against our Creator.
Even if you object to the other forms of sin here, no one can deny that they have sinned personally (Ecc. 7:20, 1 John 1:8).
The Second Adam: Why Jesus Died on the Cross
Now that we know why we’re guilty, we need to understand the punishment.
I mentioned a death sentence earlier because “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). And the ultimate death in this case is separation from God’s goodness into conscious, eternal suffering (2 Thess. 1:9).
You’ll often hear people ask, “Why would a loving God punish you eternally for lying?” But people who ask questions like this don’t understand the fullness of sin or the nature of God.
For one, we just saw how everyone is guilty of much more than one personal sin. But second, God has more attributes than love.
Contrary to most modern teaching, God is also just, He is also righteous, He is also holy. And He cannot accept anything less than His nature—that is, perfection.
But since this is the case, how can anyone be saved from God’s wrath?
That’s where Jesus comes in (John 3:16-17, Rom. 5:8-9 NIV).
Jesus is God in the flesh who was born of God’s Spirit through a virgin. Because of this miraculous birth, Jesus became the only sinless Man in history.
Neither imputed nor inherited sin came to Jesus because He wasn’t born of Adam (i.e. from a human father). And Jesus’ divine nature kept Him from committing personal sin (1 Pet. 2:22).
Now what does all this have to do with salvation?
It means Jesus was the only One who could take God’s punishment on our behalf (Heb. 2:17 NIV).
His sinless nature let Him meet God’s perfect requirement, and His humanity let’s Him represent all who believe (1 Cor. 15:22).
This is why Scripture calls Jesus “the second Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45, 1 Cor. 15:47). Trust in Him affects all the sin the original brought upon us.
Imputed sin: Remember how Adam’s choice was like a president dragging a country to war? Well, trusting in Christ is like defecting to another nation—or Kingdom (see Col 1:13 NLT). Jesus is a Representative who paid the debt for sin and is an ally of God. So those who trust in Him are credited with His righteousness and are not legally guilty (Rom. 5:19, Rom. 8:1, 2 Cor. 5:21).
Inherited sin: Faith in Christ also addresses the moral corruption we received from Adam. Yes, believers still keep their sin nature, but they gain both the will and the strength to live as a new creation (Rom. 6:6-7, 2 Cor. 5:17).
Personal sin: Since believers are no longer slaves to sin, the number of personal sins they commit is reduced (Heb. 9:14). The new nature Christians have won’t let them live sinful lifestyles (1 John 3:9 ESV). And as believers mature, their personal sins lessen even more.
This salvation is why Jesus died on the cross. Those who trust in His sacrifice are saved from sin’s punishment, and from the power of sin itself.
The excerpt above is from the in-depth article, How You Really Become a Christian: Destiny’s Role Explained. That article explains the details of salvation and so much more.
-Drew
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