Why Did Jesus Die?
Austin and I recently spent a week vacationing in Mexico City for a friend's wedding. While there we visited The Teotihuacan Pyramids. They were built 2000 years ago. That means while Jesus was walking the earth, on the other side of the globe, the Teotihuacan people were constructing some of the largest pyramids in the world. While touring the outside of the Temple and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, our guide shared that archeologists had recently discovered a sinkhole that led them to a passageway inside the temple. Inside, they found the remains of 200 human sacrifices that were chained up inside as offerings to the Gods.
Austin was a bit taken aback by the human offerings piece, while I as someone who has human sacrifice normalized in his religion, felt more curious than anything else. My mind was racing as I considered how human and normal it was for people groups all around the world, who had never spoken, to have come to the self-revelation that there
a). Must be a god(s)
b). That god(s) would require a sacrifice in order to send rain, grow crops, birth offspring, and have protection from their enemies.
It seemed to me that there was something in our collective human consciousness that we recognize our helplessness in controlling the elements of the world around us. Perhaps in our vulnerability, we feel powerless and assume that something more powerful than us requires displays of devotion in order to deserve God’s love and favor.
Historically the human species has moved from human sacrifice to animal sacrifice to various modes of self-sacrifice, usually involving the body. We did and still do this with the belief that by sacrificing something, God will be moved to bless or accept us. But I want to invite you to wonder with me about what Jesus' death on the cross might have been trying to accomplish and why we often assign more meaning to his death than we do his life…
What if Jesus' death was simply a result of the life he lived?? Jesus/God in flesh enters the world at a time in history when it was believed by both Jews and Romans and by many other religions of the world, that God was angry, and displeased, needed to be appeased, and most of all God was the cause of suffering and the giver of blessings. Into this world, Jesus is claiming to be God, yet he displays none of the characteristics of how they have come to see, imagine or experience God.
Have you ever done online dating? I remember AIM when I was a kid. Many of us have since graduated to apps like Tinder, Grindr, OkCupid, farmersonly.com, christianmingle, or hinge. You may know what it's like to talk to someone on these apps as you start to get an image in your mind of what their voice sounds like, how tall they are, and how their personality and energy will come off in person. But what happens when you finally meet that person and they aren’t what you imagined in your head? It can be hard to accept or embrace your feelings for who this person really is… because you’ve already attached yourself to who you thought they were.
I often think this was much of Jesus' lived experience. He shows up and all of these people having an image in their mind of who God is are like, “Wow bro, you’re not what I thought you were.” And for those who did think that perhaps Jesus could be God, they are shaken at their core when he is killed. They are all left trying to figure out why Jesus died and was resurrected in the first place. And so for the last 2000 years of Christian history, many theories have developed, attempting to assign meaning to Christ's death.
The most common belief is that “Jesus died for our sins”. This is of course a very natural conclusion in a world where it was believed God was angry and needed to be appeased… people offered sacrifices to appease. But I want to invite you to wonder and question with me… did all of the early church fathers and authors of Scripture, have everything understood and explained about the mysteries of our faith? Or were they growing and learning and trying to assign meaning to these stories of our faith just as we still are today? Throughout our history, several theories developed as to why Jesus died and I’d love to share the SparkNotes of them…
1st Century Christus Victor Unknown Defeats Evil
This theory believes that the cross defeated evil thereby setting the human race free from sin, death, and the devil. At the same time this theory is growing in prominence, our next theory develops.
1st Century Ransom Anselm of Canterbury Debt to God
3rd Century Ransom Origen Debt to Devil
Anselem who solidified Ransom Theory lived in the 2nd Century but was simply borrowing ideas that were starting to develop in the 1st century. By the 3rd century, Origen remixed this ransom theory and proposed that it wasn’t God who needed paying off but the Devil. This theory remained very popular through the 11th Century.
Theology Philospher, Robin Collins describes this theory best, “Essentially, this theory claimed that Adam and Eve sold humanity over to the devil at the time of the Fall’ hence, justice required that God pay the Devil a ransom, for the Devil did not realize that Christ could not be held in the bonds of death. Once the Devil accepted Christ’s death as a ransom, this theory concluded, justice was satisfied and God was able to free us from Satan’s grip.”
In my opinion, this theory is a projection of how people viewed God at the time vs. the lived reality of who God presented Godself to be in Jesus. In the fourth century, Augustine argues the idea that Jesus’ death was to influence positive and moral change in humanity.
4th Century Moral Influence Augustine Positive change to humanity
“This theory focuses on not just the death of Jesus Christ, but on His entire life. The cross is merely a ramification of the moral life of Jesus. He is crucified as a martyr due to the radical nature of His moral example. Within this theory the death of Christ is understood as a catalyst to reform society, inspiring people to follow His example and live good moral lives of love. In this theory, the Holy Spirit comes to help Christians produce this moral change.” - Stephen D. Morrison
This theory causes me to ask, What if our sin wasn’t the motive for Jesus coming in the flesh; rather, God’s motivation was to show infinite divine love and lead us to self-reflection?
Father Richard Rohr proposes, “Jesus did not come to change God's mind about humanity. Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God. Jesus was meant to be a game changer for religion and the human psyche.”
In a world that has historically believed the god(s) needed offerings and sacrifices in order to find favor and avoid suffering, Jesus comes and says, I don’t expect offerings nor cause suffering but instead I suffer with you and I even suffer at your hands. Nonetheless, I still love you, even when you don't know what you do or why you do it.
The theories don’t end there… in the 1st Century, another popular belief was the Satisfaction Theory.
1st Century The Satisfaction Theory Anselm Pay Back Injustice
Jesus Christ died in order to pay back the injustice of human sin and to satisfy the justice of God. It is believed that Anselem comes up with this theory because he thinks a price needs to be paid but God can’t pay Godself back, nor does God owe anything to the devil, so naturally it's just for fairness that someone has to pay a price for sin.
Later during the Protestant Reformation Calvin & Luther begin to teach that Jesus Christ died to satisfy God’s wrath against human sin. Jesus is punished (penal) in the place of sinners (substitution) in order to satisfy the justice of God.
16th Century Substitutionary Theory Calvin & Luther Punished Instead of Us
So what do we do with all these historical Christian theories around the meaning of Jesus’ death? Well, I think that these different theories met many different needs and made sense to many different people throughout the last 2000-plus years. At the same time, I think some of these theories have caused great harm and provided an unfortunate distraction from Jesus' purposeful visitation. When it comes to Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection, I am more interested in asking good questions than having all the right answers. I have come to see the meaning of Jesus' death and life differently than how I was raised and I assume I will continue to find new meanings and understandings that help me grow in my love for God, self, and others.
And so I hope the same for you… I hope you will take the journey over this series Communion & The Cross, for personal study or group study to not just believe whatever theory you were taught about Jesus' death but to realize that all throughout Christian history there have been leaders and followers in the church who dared to question or reimagine why this divine man named Jesus lived and died and resurrected …
Rev. Josh RaderLee (he/him)
Co-Pastor
Teaching & Community
Rev. Josh RaderLee is one of the Co-Pastors at Forefront whose focus is Teaching & Community. His experiences have exposed him to a wide spectrum of thought, that compelled him to create greater unity among diversity. He has served as an Associate Pastor in the Assemblies of God & United Methodist Church, Youth Director in the American Baptist Church, Senior Pastor at an Independent Christian Church, and most recently as Co-Pastor at an Inter-denominational Church. Throughout his career and education, he has lived at the intersectionality of both the Christian and LGBTQIA+ communities, instilling him with empathy to love God and people without exception.
Josh earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies from Moody Bible Institute and his Master of Divinity from Garrett Theological Seminary and is ordained in the United Church of Christ. He also serves on staff at Q Christian Fellowship as the Development Manager.
At Forefront, Josh preaches regularly, while also helping newcomers assimilate, providing pastoral care, marketing, and opportunities for growth, and connection by working with our deacons in the areas of Preaching Bootcamp, Virtual Ministry, Podcast, Connection, and Justice.