Why did Jesus have to die?

Scripture answers this question by starting with the problem of sin. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and sin separates people from a holy God: "your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Isaiah 59:2). Its consequence is serious, for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Through the sacrificial system, God taught Israel that forgiveness comes at the cost of a life, "for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11), and "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). Those sacrifices pointed forward to a greater one. Isaiah foretold a servant who "was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities," adding that "the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6). The New Testament proclaims Jesus as that sacrifice: "he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus said he came "to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45), and he went to the cross willingly: "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18). His death also broke the power of evil, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14). Above all, the cross reveals love: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Theologians describe the meaning of the cross with several images, including substitution, ransom, victory, and reconciliation, and most Christian traditions see these as complementary. His resurrection on the third day confirmed that his sacrifice was accepted and that death had been overcome.

Key Passages