The 7 Whys of EasterMostra

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Think of the last sin you committed. Sin in the Bible broadly means falling short of God’s perfection—it means “missing the mark.” Think of the last time you hurt somebody, accidentally or on purpose.

Why should a holy God be so gracious to such a sinner as you? Or me?

Here’s the question behind the text of Jesus at the cross: Why did God’s Son have to die for us? Why couldn’t God simply have declared us forgiven?

If I hit your car while leaving a parking lot, I assume you can forgive me without someone having to die in my place. I have forgiven people for things they have done to me without requiring someone to die first. You probably have as well.

Since “God is love” (1 John 4:8), why couldn’t he do the same?

Here’s the problem: God is also “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3). In biblical terms, repeating it three times means he is maximally holy and entirely perfect. His heaven is perfect, a place where “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

The consequence of sin is death. That’s why the payment for sin must be death. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23; cf. Ezekiel 18:20; Genesis 2:17). This is because death separates us from the holy God, who is the source of life. It’s like cutting off a flower at the roots. It may look healthy, but it is dying and will soon be dead.

For us to be granted entrance into God’s perfect presence, our sins must first be removed. The debt we owe for our sins must be paid. How can they be paid?

In this way: “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). “At the right time” points to the specific moment in history when Jesus came. Everything was ready for his appearance (cf. Galatians 4:4): there was a universal hunger for truth, a (relatively) universal language to communicate God’s answer to that hunger, and roads to carry the first missionaries across the known world.

It’s why we cannot pay this debt for each other. Because I have committed sins, I cannot die for yours. It’s as if I owe the hundred dollars in my pocket to the bank; I cannot use it to pay your debt and mine. The only person who could pay the debt of our sins would be someone who never committed sins of his own. Only one person in all of human history has lived a sinless life.

For now, consider whether you feel like you need forgiveness. Do you think God has forgiven you? On what do you base that belief?