The Cost of Salvation [closed]

Question

My question is, did Jesus have to die for our sins? If no, then how would we have obtained salvation. If yes, if Jesus did in fact have to die for our sins, I do not understand this.

Why would God make our salvation only possible through the death and torture of His son? Why would the gates of heaven opening be contingent upon a select group of humans committing atrocities (i.e. torture, murder). This seems problematic in regard to christian ethics. In the process of bringing us salvation a few had to commit great sin, is this true?

Answer 1

Universal Laws according to the Bible:

1. All who sin must die.

   For the wages of sin is death... (Romans 6:23)

2. Sin can be washed only by an innocent blood

   In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)

3. The blood of animal cannot take away sins.

   It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)

Universal Truths according to Bible:

1. All are sinners.

   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

2. All must go to Hell.

   Death in Biblical context refers to Spiritual Death, which is separation from God or living in Hell. Therefore, since all are sinners, all must die and all must go to Hell.

God gave His one and only Son to die for us:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Jesus Christ sacrificed his blood: Since all humans are sinners and animal blood cannot take away sins permanently, only the the blood of the Jesus Christ the sinless one can take away our sins. Jesus sacrificed himself for us by dying on the cross, by pouring out all his blood and taking all our punishments on him.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Anyone who believes Jesus Christ will not be condemned:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering (Romans 8:1-3)

Philosophical explanation of how the whole thing works (source):

We can no more defy this law and live than we can defy the law of gravity by jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. The end result will be death unless—unless we apply another law, the law of aerodynamics. This law makes it possible for an airplane to fly and a parachute to lower us to the earth gradually and thereby save us.

There is another universal law that we cannot defy and live. It is "the law of sin and death," which means that the judgment and penalty of all sin is death and eternal separation from God. That is, unless we apply a higher law which is "the law of the Spirit of Life," which is a God-given "spiritual parachute" to save us from eternal death. God provided this law through the death of Jesus who died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin.

Furthermore, because God is also a God of absolute holiness, no sin or unforgiven sinners can survive in his presence. As some bacteria are not able to survive in the light and die if they are exposed to it, so it is with us. In our sinful state if we were exposed to God and his incredible light, we would be destroyed instantaneously. And herein lies our dilemma.

However, God's answer to our dilemma lies in the fact that God is not only a God of infinite justice and absolute holiness, but also a God of eternal love. Because of his love, God gave his very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins to meet the automatic demands of his (God's) justice and holiness. Christ's death made possible God's "law of the Spirit of Life"—our God-given "spiritual parachute"—to save us from eternal death.

(All verses in New International Version)

Answer 2

Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, Paul said this. There is and was no man that was without sin other than Christ. So He was the only one who could redeem all of mankind and the earth from satan's authority. The first thing Christ did when Adam and Eve sinned was shedding blood of an animal to cover their sins so they could have fellowship with God again. He was fulfilling His duties as High Priest. This is why God said Adam where art thou. Adam separated himself from God, which is life, when he sinned. No one has fellowship with God if they cherish any sin within their heart.

God's commandments are for all of mankind. If you want fellowship with God then you cannot have sin. God's law is eternal and all who comes before God must not have any sin other wise God must judge you of your sins. The penalty for any sin is death. Amos said can two walk together except they be agreed. God is without sin how can He agree with one that is with sin? Walking in sin is walking in darkness.

Only becoming a disciple of Christ puts away our sins. He gave us a few conditions to become His disciple. Pick up your cross (crucify your flesh) and die daily (deny yourself daily) would be the only way to become born again. Man thinks he can be born again by believing Christ was the Son of God. James was perfectly clear on this. James 2:19 Thou believes that there is one God; thou does well: the devils also believe, and tremble. The best example of being born again is with Jacob when he was wrestling with the angle. Hosea tells us how he over came the angle. Hosea 12:3-4 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;

When Christ died on the cross everything became His again. When He was on the cross and was raised from the dead it would be anointing of a new king David. Right now we are in the age where David was truly anointed as king but Saul was still in charge of the kingdom for a season.

Also man was the one who tortured Him not God. God only allowed man to express his free will towards Himself.

Answer 3

In one sense, your question could be subject to endless speculation. Could God have come up with some other plan of salvation? If God is infinitely wise and knowledgeable, one could theorize that he could have devised an infinite number of plans of salvation. On the other hand one could say that some problems just have one possible answer. Knowing more doesn't mean you can think of more possible answers; it just means that you are more certain that there are no other answers. To take a trivial case: How much is 2 + 2? The most brilliant mathematician in the world cannot give an answer other than 4. He could probably give you extensive logical proofs why that is the only possible right answer that the ignorant person could not give or would not understand. (I'm assuming here that we're not going to play games with definitions to turn this into a different problem, like using an alternate base or using an alternative definition of "plus", etc.)

I think it's fair to say that if there was some alternative to Christ dying on the cross, that alternative would have to have been at least as horrible or God would not have chosen the plan he did.

To say that some people had to commit terrible sins for salvation to be possible. Well, yes. Jesus said exactly that about Judas: Matthew 26:24 "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” It was God's plan for Jesus to be betrayed and crucified, and God used Judas as part of this plan. But Judas was responsible for his own actions. I take this to mean that God did not force Judas to betray Christ, but simply used Judas's actions to further his plan. As God is generally understood to be a smart guy, he could presumably figure out how to do this.