Two weeks ago, I taught on why I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable with what is known as the penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). It is ONE theory that seeks to explain why Jesus died. I encourage you to watch or listen to the sermon online.
To summarise PSA, God killed Jesus for our benefit.
And so, if penal substitutionary atonement is not the best explanation for Jesus death, why did Jesus die? I don’t believe there is one, simple answer to that question. In the rest of this series I’ll offer some reasons.
1. To demonstrate God’s extravagant Love.
Text: 1 John 4:7-19
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
There’s so much we can take away from this text.
• Everything to do with Jesus and the Father is motivated by love.
• God IS love.
• God sending his Son into the world is an act of love.
(10) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
I.e. it was God’s love, not his wrath, that was the motivating force for the plan of salvation.
atoning sacrifice (Gk. hilasmos) is only used twice in the New Testament and both times by John in this letter.
1 John 2:2, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
It’s this word (hilasmos) that is used by supporters of PSA as proof of their belief. Consider the Amplified Bible’s translation of 1 John 4:10, In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].
Q. Does hilasmos really infer God’s wrath?
I don’t believe it does, and here’s why.
In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) hilasmos is used in relation to the Sabbath and Jubilee years (every 7th and 50th years) spoken of in Leviticus 25.
Sabbath years: the land was rested.
Jubilee years: the nation reset. It was an economic, cultural, environmental and communal reset, when the land and people rest, and all those who are in slavery are set free to return to their communities. All debt was cancelled.
That is a stunning picture of what Jesus achieved on the cross.
Jesus proclaimed this as his purpose right at the start of his ministry:
Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
On the cross, Jesus started a permanent amnesty on sin. We can hand our sins in anytime without a harsh word or punishment. Just like the prodigal son when he returned to the loving father. There was no anger to appease. The entire motivation of the cross was LOVE.
John wrote, we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 *If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. *
He continues, *there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. *
Love was the motivating force for the cross, not wrath.
2. To identify with human misery.
The most often-asked question about the Christian faith is this: “If there’s a loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world”? The answer to the question is The Cross.
The greatest answer to the problem of human suffering is not a philosophical argument, but the cross of Jesus Christ.
Let’s read the Scriptures on this:
Matthew 16:21, From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Hebrews 4:14-16, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus is our Saviour who completely identifies with human misery. He’s suffered. He’s been tempted. During his crucifixion, he felt the severest pain a person can feel. He also experienced intense shame of being crucified naked in a public place. He’s been abandoned by friends. Rejected by family. Misunderstood, maligned, and mocked. He felt hunger, thirst, weariness, and sleeplessness.
In Jesus, God knows what every human condition is like. Whatever you’re facing now or in the future you have a Saviour, a champion, who has felt the very depths of your pain and is present in the middle of the storm with you. So, approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, [to] receive mercy and find grace to help [you] in your time of need.
3. To put an end to blood Sacrifice.
Consider Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22.
Human sacrifice Animal Sacrifice
Then, the prophets start giving insight to the fact that God didn’t want animal sacrifices:
Hosea 6:6, I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
Jeremiah 7:21-23, This is what the LORD…says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’
In Hebrews 10 the author discusses these things at length:
(4) it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
(5) Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired.
(6) In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
(10) We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Sanctified = made holy, cleansed, and dedicated to God)
(12) But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
(14) For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And so, one of the things that Jesus did on the cross was put an end to blood sacrifice. Aren’t you glad?
Arc of Scripture: Human sacrifice Animal Sacrifice Jesus’ sacrifice
Many ancient religions consisted of the offering of blood sacrifices to a saviour-god. Contrast that with the Christian gospel ~ a Saviour-God who became the sacrifice that ended blood sacrifice forever.
Q. Why did Jesus die?
1. To demonstrate God’s extravagant Love.
2. To identify with human misery.
3. To put an end to blood Sacrifice.
…. / To be continued
Discussion Questions
With your combined knowledge of the New Testament Scriptures, discuss other reasons that come to mind as to why Jesus died on a cross.
Read and reflect on 1 John 4:7-19. What stands out to you in these verses?
Discuss the concept of an amnesty. Jesus ushered in the year of the Lord’s favour. This is not a 365-day year. It marks the start of a perpetual season in which we can hand over our sins to God at any time with no questions asked. How can this impact you daily?
Discuss: “The greatest answer to the problem of human suffering is not a philosophical argument, but the cross of Jesus Christ.”
What does it mean to you that Jesus empathise[s] with our weaknesses?
One of the things that Jesus did on the cross was put an end to blood sacrifice. Aren’t you glad?