Advertorial | Did God require the death of the sinner?

There is a most fundamental question that many persons who are exposed to Christianity seem to gloss over, and yet their answer to it, if they should consider it, reveals a lot about their concept of the God of the Bible, whether they perceive God to be loving or cruel. 

The question is: Did God require the death of the sinner or someone to die in place of the sinner before He would forgive?  I ask that we consider this question.  In doing so, we should bear in mind that we tend to emulate the God we consider supreme, so this question has a lot to do with the making and shaping of our own characters.

Before we go directly to the question, a few things need to be established.  The first thing to establish is that the Bible is to be taken literally, so the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis is actual history and not merely a story conceived in someone's mind to teach a lesson.  How can we confirm that it is intended to be taken as historical fact?  The genealogy of Jesus in the New Testament traces Jesus' ancestry back to Adam.  It starts by saying that Jesus was “(as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,” and ends as follows: “Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” (Luke 3:23, 38).  Luke's gospel places Jesus as starting His ministry at about age thirty, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1).  So, we are not talking fables here.

The second thing to be established is that Satan, also called the Devil is an actual angel, originally named Lucifer, who lived in heaven and was expelled from heaven because he rebelled against God (Isa. 14:12-15; Rev. 12:7-9).  Having been expelled from heaven, Lucifer came to earth and while he was not allowed to trail Adam and Eve up and down in their paradise home to tempt them and mar the peace and tranquillity of their lives, he was not prevented from giving his side of the story.  However, he was only allowed to meet Adam and Eve at one place called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Adam and Eve were told not to go there, for their own safety, so as not to be exposed to the Devil and his deceptive powers (Gen. 2:16, 17; Eze.  28:12-15). 

Adam and Eve disobeyed; they were deceived by Satan (who appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent) and since then, Satan and his host of fallen angels gained full access to this earth.  So, they are here with us, and by virtue of their superior intelligence, have taken away from humans the dominion over this territory that God originally gave to Adam.  But they are operating in the background.  God still restricts them from taking over fully and has put in motion a plan to rescue humanity from their influence.  They will be destroyed, and this earth will be restored fully to those humans who love God and would have rejected Satan and his fallen companions. 

That is what the plan of salvation is all about – “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”  (Heb. 2:6-10). 

Back to the beginning

So, let us go back to the beginning.  Did God tell Adam and Eve that He would kill them if they sinned?  Here is what God said: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.” (Gen. 2:16, 17).  In the margin of the King James Version of the Bible, there is a note that gives the literal translation of the Hebrew original, for the last part.  It says: “dying, thou shalt die”.  In other words, a process would start that would end in death.

This is consistent with what God said to Adam after he sinned: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19).  Adam would continue living, bearing the consequences of sin, and eventually die.  Elsewhere, this is stated as: “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).  Death is a consequence of cutting oneself off from the source of life. It is like turning off a fan, thus cutting off the life or electricity from it.  It continues to spin for a time until it stops.  Adam's life force was strong because he had only recently come from the hand of the Creator.  So, he lived over nine hundred years before he died.

But Christ did something.  He stepped in as a surety for humanity, pledging Himself to stand in man's place.  What was that all about and why was that necessary?  This takes us back to our main question.  How did the death of Christ help us?  And did God require it to forgive humanity?  Let us see.

Satan and his host gained full access to the human domain because Adam obeyed him – “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16).  For Satan and his host to be expelled from our domain, we must reject him.  But he is a liar and a deceiver (John 8:44).  We won't reject him if we believe his story.  His story is that God is the wicked and unreasonable one.  That is the story that he sold to our first parents, Adam, and Eve.  He said: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5).

Negative representation of God

If we continue to believe Satan's negative representation of God, we will never love God and we will always find ways to go around doing what God says, because we will think God is not working in our interest.  The consequence of our rebellion will be misery and death.  That is the nature of the sin problem.  Unless we understand that, we will not be able to appreciate the solution.  So, sin is not a body condition – something in our DNA.  If it were, Christ would have had it since he had human ancestry and DNA.  It is a mind condition.  Therefore, the ultimate remedy for sin is a remedy for the mind – “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:2).  The gift of the Holy Spirit facilitates that transformation (Eze. 36:26, 27).  God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13).  But there is a legal aspect to it as well.  And that is where the death of Christ comes in.  Let us examine that.

Did God sentence the sinner to eternal death and apply the sentence to someone else, Jesus Christ, instead of us?  If that were so, Jesus would die eternally.  But He is alive now and will remain alive forever.  His Father raised Him from the dead (Gal.1:1).  So, Jesus did not die an eternal death. And if He paid that penalty for all of us, we all would be free and would be given eternal life.  But clearly, the Bible says that many will not get eternal life, even some who would have asked for it – “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 7:21-23).  So, it is not even just a matter of one's willingness to accept a gift.  Further, is it just and right to punish the innocent in place of the guilty?  One would hardly think so.  The Bible says that Jesus stood as surety for us – “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” (Heb. 7:22).  What does that mean?  Let us consider the concept of surety.

A surety for us

The concept of surety is illustrated by what Judah did for his brother Benjamin.  The Israelite brothers went into Egypt to buy corn and they were accused of being spies.  The Egyptian ruler told them that they had to bring their younger brother Benjamin to prove that they were who they said they were.  Surely, they could take Benjamin along and prove themselves.  But their aged father, Jacob, feared losing his youngest son Benjamin and did not want to send him to Egypt with his older brothers.  Judah said, he would stand as surety for Benjamin – “I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever” (Gen. 43:9).  Jesus did something similar for humanity. 

There was a point to prove and life itself depended on it – God is love, while Satan is a liar and a murderer.  Unless that point could be proved, Satan could always skillfully make God out to be the wicked one, thus keeping humanity on his side and in rebellion against God, resulting in the perpetuation of sin and ultimately eternal death that sin causes.  Could that point be proved? Yes! And only one person could prove it – the only begotten Son of God, the only Being in the universe that is exactly like God in character, Jesus Christ.  Before considering how Jesus would prove the point, let us establish briefly who Jesus really is.

When Jesus asked Peter, “whom say ye that I am?”, the following ensued: “Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:15-17).  Jesus is described as the “express image” of God's person (Heb. 1:3).  That is why He is called Michael – He who is like God.  It is like the status that Joseph was given in Egypt.  Joseph was given power over all of Egypt by Pharaoh.  He was not Pharaoh, but like Pharaoh – “Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. . . And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41:41-44).  Likewise, Jesus says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18).

The death of Jesus

It was through His death that Jesus proved the extent that God was willing to suffer because of His love for us and prove Satan a liar and a murderer.  God sent His Son into the world, but He did not tell anyone to kill Him – “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).  By shedding the blood of the innocent Son of God, Satan exposed himself to the entire universe, thus condemning himself – “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).  Speaking of Jesus' death, we are told: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:15).

By sending His only begotten Son into the world, knowing what would have been done to Him, God made the ultimate sacrifice.  God had to bear the pain of seeing the most terrible crime committed against His Son.  To get an idea of what God suffered, consider David's response when he heard that his son Absalom was killed: “And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 18:33). It continues to say: “But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 19:4).  At the death of His Son, God had to turn away (Matt. 27:46).

For us, the death of Christ is the ultimate that God could do to change our minds – “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9).  It signals that God will not withhold anything good from us – “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

And yet, God did not require the death of His Son to forgive us.  He forgives freely (Ps. 107:1).  We are the ones who needed the death of Christ to convince us – and some are still not convinced.  What more can God do?  Calvary has produced the irrefutable evidence that condemns Satan and should convince us that God loves us.  That evidence must now be presented and examined in the heavenly court before the angels; and your case and mine must be examined to exonerate us as true converts whose minds have been changed.  That is happening now.  As our Advocate and High Priest, Jesus Christ is presenting our cases before God – “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” (Rev. 3:5). 

Based on our repentance of our sins, when we behold Calvary, and our righteous living through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ can advocate on our behalf.  Such is the Biblical concept behind us being saved by the death of Christ.  The pagan concept of salvation is that a displeased god requires the death of the sinner or someone in place of the sinner before he can forgive.  God hates such misrepresentation of His character.  The question is: Are we Biblical Christians or pagans? Which?

God sent His Son into the world but did not require His death in place of the sinner.  Death is a consequence of sin – “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” (Rom. 5:12).  It was sinners who killed Christ; and sin will destroy those who cling to it.  But those who are converted will be saved.  We should therefore avoid embracing a perverted gospel that makes God look bad.  May God help us to know the true God and His Son, Jesus Christ, as Jesus prayed, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

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