It is the central theme of our faith, and without it, Christianity doesn’t exist. Our God sent His one and only Son into the world to save us. But what does the Bible say about how and why we are saved, and what are we saved from?
Where Does the Bible Say Jesus Died for Our Sins?
To know anything about Jesus, we must go back to the beginning. The Apostle John opened his gospel by writing, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He spoke of Jesus, indicating that Jesus was with God the Father from before the creation of everything.
When God decided to form the earth for His pleasure and glory, He also created human beings who had free will and reason, unlike the flora and fauna He designed. He didn’t need humans. He wanted to share the overflow of His love with man and woman.
He put these two in the middle of the Garden of Eden, where they could live a perfect life if they followed one rule: not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them they would die if they did. That would be considered a sin against God, separating them from their perfect relationship with Him.
When God took another creature’s life and made clothing to cover Adam and Eve’s bodies, sacrifice for sin also entered the world. A life for a life. No reason to question it; this was man’s doing. God offered them perfection, and they turned away, thinking they could be like their creator.
From the time of Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses and onward, humanity became “corrupt to the core,” as Christianity.com writer Britt Mooney puts it. God ordered certain animals to be used for sin offerings. But when God decided to save His people from slavery in Egypt, He specifically ordered a lamb to be used during the Passover to save God’s people from the angel of death. The lamb’s blood on their doorposts meant they were God’s people to be saved (the firstborn of all their people).
Fast forward hundreds of years later, but still centuries before Jesus’ birth, when Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would intercede for transgressors, bearing many people’s sins. To accomplish this, the Messiah would have to pour his life out and become “like a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). And when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized, John called Him out as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus died for our sins to fulfill the law of sin and death.
Why Was it Necessary That Jesus Died for Our Sins?
Much of the Old Testament tells of how God’s chosen people were taught how to follow God, but they would repeatedly sin—which would require the sacrifice of a life to atone for their transgressions. Because they couldn’t keep from sinning, humans could never return to the Garden and recreate its innocence.
Then God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to be a “one-and-for-all” sacrifice for sins. John 3:16 says it was because of God’s love for the world that He gave His Son so anyone who believed in Jesus would have everlasting life. Faith in Jesus’s sacrifice would reconcile the individual to God just as if that person never sinned.
But like the unblemished lamb in that first Passover, Jesus could only make atonement for others’ sins if He was sinless–and He was for His entire 33 years on earth. When He gave up His life on the cross, Jesus had supernaturally taken the sins of everyone on Himself. God turned His face away because He couldn’t have anything to do with sin. Therefore Jesus not only suffered the horror of physical crucifixion but for the first time, He was separated from His Father. It must have been the worst kind of agony imaginable. His final words were, “It is finished” because the sacrifice for sin was complete in Him.
“Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins,” said pastor and theologian Tim Keller. “That was an infinite sentence, but He must have satisfied it fully, because on Easter Sunday He walked out free. The resurrection was God’s way of stamping PAID IN FULL right across history so that nobody could miss it.”
Did Jesus Tell People He Was Going to Die for Humanity’s Sins?
As we read through the early gospels, we see Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God being at hand and calling people to repent. He proves His authority to forgive sin and offers miraculous healing. He speaks about being the Son of God and fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah. He preaches the Sermon on the Mount. He travels to towns and territories, offering God’s love and forgiveness through repentance. He also says that whoever believes in him will have eternal life (John 5:24-25).
Unfortunately, most people missed the full measure of what He was offering. They thought he was a great healer, teacher, and prophet, but they saw the Messiah as offering a political solution. They hoped He would save them from Roman occupation, not the consequences of their sins. They still had animal sacrifices for that. They were preoccupied with escaping Roman rule, not their sins.
Later, when Peter is the first disciple to call Jesus “Messiah” or Savior, Jesus starts talking about going to suffer and “be killed and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). Peter says they will never let that happen to Him, at which time Jesus rebukes Him.
As detailed in Matthew 20:17-19, as Jesus was heading up to Jerusalem for the last time, He said He would be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, who would condemn Him to death. They would give Him to the Gentiles, who would mock and flog and crucify Him. Then He would be raised on the third day (still no mention of dying for the sins of the world).
But it was at the Passover meal that the symbolism of the spotless lamb sacrifice came to fruition. In Matthew 26:27-29, it says that Jesus took the cup of wine and gave it to the disciples and told them this was the blood of a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins. No longer would personal or corporate atonement be necessary to be made right with God, just faith in Christ and His sacrifice. No doubt, these words were hard to hear and understand. After the resurrection, all became clear.
Did Jesus Know He Was Dying for Our Sins?
Did Jesus understand that as He was being led to the cross, He was dying in our place?
Greg Laurie summarizes how Jesus’ death was the plan from the start:
“If you have ever lost anyone suddenly, unexpectedly, you know exactly how devastating it is. It tears you up inside. You don’t even know if you will be able to survive it. It can seem like a fate worse than death.
This is how the followers of Jesus felt when He was taken from them and murdered in cold blood before their very eyes. We have the advantage of knowing the whole story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But these first-century followers of Jesus were living it in real time. It was their hope that Jesus would establish His kingdom on earth, and they would rule and reign with Him. He was their Lord. He was their Master. He was their everything. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, without understanding why, He was betrayed by one of their own. And when Jesus said on the cross, ‘It is finished!’ that is how they felt. It was finished. The dream was over. The end had come. But really it was just the beginning.
Everything was going according to plan—God’s plan. The incarnation was for the purpose of the atonement. Jesus was born to die so that we might live. When the wise men came and brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the child Jesus, each one of those gifts had significance. They brought gold because He was a King. They brought frankincense, or incense, because He would be our high priest, representing us to God. And finally, myrrh was an element used in embalming, because Jesus was coming to die for the sins of the world.
Much has been said about who was responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. But it was the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God for Jesus to die—and to rise again.”
(Taken from “God’s Deliberate Plan” by Harvest Ministries, used by permission).
What Else Did Jesus’ Death Accomplish?
Jesus died for our sins to also accomplish the following:
- Fulfilled the curse of the law. Sin’s wages are death Romans 6:23), but God’s gift is eternal life—we never need to fear that we will experience what Jesus went through on the cross.
- We would be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who would come once He returned to heaven to be our comforter and guide
- We receive not only eternal life but a new life through our faith in this one and only true God
- Gives us hope during our darkest days–if Jesus can endure the cross and wait for us on the other side, we can have hope when things seem unbearable.
- We are made sons and daughters with Christ, who leads the way before us into eternal life.
- To display His grace and magnify His Son. A.W. Pink observes that this action made it possible for God to go one step further in creating children in His image and glory—when we are saved, we are brought back to Him.
- No need to measure our good works to earn our salvation.
Did Jesus Have to Rise Again After Dying for Our Sins?
While Jesus dying for our sins accomplished something life-changing, it wasn’t the end of the story.
Without the resurrection, you have a dead preacher. With the resurrection, you have a God who has the power of life over death. He is the one to follow.
No other religious leader or guru in history has laid down his life for the sins of others only to rise again to new life and promise to return to restore the world to its original beauty and innocence.
Jesus rose again on the third day and visited with the disciples for 40 days, giving further instructions before ascending to heaven in the same way he will return. His resurrection was a testament to hundreds of people who then took this miraculous message throughout the world: the One who made you offers you eternal life with Him because He has conquered death and the grave.
Photo Credit: © Unsplash/Alicia Quan
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
