How Does 'Dying For Our Sins' Work?

[Macs Son]

How Does 'Dying For Our Sins' Work?

I've always thought of it as "Love triumphs over all". That may sound simplistic but I came to the Lord on that message and I believe the early Christians also did. I can almost hear Cornelius and his household after hearing Peter, "O the love of God that He would do this for us!"

We had only found hours earlier that our tour of duty aboard the USS Intrepid had been extended when our Chaplain invited us together that night. Like everyone else, I guess I was feeling sorry for myself wanting to get back to the states and back home to my family. He showed a Billy Graham Gospel address to us and then He preached on Matthew 27 and the meaning of sacrifice. He then told all of us how he had heard the president had awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to a young man who had covered his body over a grenade to save his buddies. His family accepted the award for him as he didn't make it. I don't remember everything he said word for word but words and phrases like "honor", "love" and "standing in the gap for your brothers" hit home for me as well as many others. Here I was feeling sorry that I'd miss out on another seven months at home with my family when this young man would never be returning to his earthly home. ere all recurrent themes. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." One man's love saved three that day and I'm sure those three men will never forget that act that preserved them so they could get to go home. The challenge to us was, "Why then O man do you not consider what Jesus did on that cross for you in the shedding of His blood and taking your sins, which will cause your death, upon Himself in His selfless act of love above all loves? He has done the work for you and given His life that you may live to God instead of dying in your sin. We know freedom is costly and we look upon others who gave their last breath for their friends and country we understand and honor, knowing that without that sacrifice we would be ruled by tyrants in this life. But what of Jesus? Did He not do this and so much more to enable us to live not just this life but eternally in the fullness of God's love? Did He not defeat both sin and death by His sacrifice? Did He who was sinless not stand in the gap for sinners such as ourselves. Truth and Love broke my heart that night and I was led to Christ. We can never fully express the love of God but we always need to put the Gospel and our Lord's sacrifice in the context of His Great Great love for us. Of this I'm sure seeing the truth in the love of God brings us to the very foot of the cross and into the presence of Jesus, where He will lead us into such depths of love we cannot even conceive of.

In Christ, Pat

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Old School

       I did not take the time to read everyone's posts but just glancing over & reading your OP I guess I am a very simple gal........

I think this verse of Scripture really speaks for itself .......................

Who Himself bore our sins in His very own sinless body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

                                                                                                                                                     1 Peter 2:24

 

 

     Paul uses the Greek word translated "likeness" (Romans 6:5)in comparing Christ's death and resurrection with our spiritual death and resurrection to new life.. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection"

      According to this Scripture, we are in some way to be united with Christ in His death and resurrection. This does not mean that we die as Christ died or are resurrected here as Christ was. Christ's death was unique. By it He atoned for our sins, for which we cannot atone either by dying to self or by dying literally. So Paul is emphasizing our spiritual union with Jesus, which comes as a result of our death to self-will and resurrection to new spiritual life from God. This likeness with Christ is also symbolized by baptism (Rom. 6:3, 4). While Christ's death and resurrection were actual literal events, our death to sin and resurrection to spiritual life are spiritual, not physical or literal.

.      God freely gives  His Grace to who, in humility and total dependence, look entirely to Christ. We cannot claim to depend on Christ's righteousness while at the same time we put trust in our own. He bore our sins in His own sinless Body on the cross, not His own. He made His sinless Body an offering for our sin. He bore our guilt, not any guilt of His own, on the cross. His only shame was the shame of our sinfulness, not His own.  Faith appropriates His righteousness. When we surrender to Christ,submitting all without reservation we are dying to Christ, not in ourselves but in Him.                                             With love-in Christ,Kwik

[Paradox]

by Brian Zahnd

"When we say 'Jesus died for our sins,' what does that mean? It’s undeniably an essential confession of Christian faith, but how does it work? ..."

 

 

Because we imagine that we are separate from the Life which flows from God, we don't see any consequence to whether we sin or not. We tell ourselves that He ought to get over it and chill out.

 

But in fact we are created by Christ and maintained in Life, by His own Life, which He shares with us. We cannot live unless Christ is Living.

 

Whatever Life flows from God comes back to Him. Isaiah 55:11

The Word of Life does not return to God empty. It causes creation and flows back to God, immediately and continuously. 

 

Now if death enters that cycle of Life - who gets the death if it is not carried out on the cause of it?

 

Because God cannot die, He suffers a living death - if He chooses not to annihilate the cause of death - immediately.

 

However, if He can become the cause of sin and death, absorb all its malfunctions and disgrace, and die, then it will die with Him.

And the creature suffering from the disease called sin and death, will not die.

 

"Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world"

Edited July 14, 2014 by Paradox

[Jzyehoshua]

Because of our sins, we were under the fear of death and power of Satan before Jesus freed us.

 

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

 

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

 

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

[CurtisCWilson]

That is such a huge question to answer, and I think eventually every born again Christian wants to know that answer. I can not say I know all the answers for sure, but I can say that it could only have be done by a spiritual being who is all knowing, and has the Wisdom to foresee all that would happen before it happens. There are so many things that the Lord accomplished through the death, burial and resurrection of his Son that it is hard to comprehend it's grandeur, and scope in how he acquired salvation for his Church.

I think the first thing to know is that Jesus died on the cross not just for us, but that we would die in him, so the demands of God's own laws would be satisfied.

The Lord God can never go against his own Word or laws. If the scripture says, "the soul that sinneth must die" there is no getting out of that. There is no get out of death free card anywhere in scripture. We had to die. Since the Devil knew that from the beginning he thought that there was no way God was going to be able to save his man because all of mankind was now tainted by his first man Adam. All of Adam's offspring would also be tainted by sin. What the Devil did not know was God knew Adam would fall, so, God moved in advance to save his man, even before the foundation of the world. This was a mystery hidden in God and he was not telling anyone what he had done until after he secured salvation for his man. I think the very first hint we find is before creation when God the Father turned to his Son and told him, "Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance....."

 

Psa 2:6  "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain." 

Psa 2:7  I will proclaim the LORD's decree: He said to me, "You are my son; today I have become your father. 

Psa 2:8  Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 

 

This is when God the Father brought forth Wisdom which is Jesus, and through him create all things visible and invisible.

The word "Nations" refers to nations of people and different tongues. So we find the Father telling Jesus to ask him for these nations and people, and I will give them to you. We know Jesus asked God the Father for these, and received them because we find this scripture in the Book of Revelations......

 

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 

 

I wonder if anybody ever wondered when we the Church were placed in Christ. I don't think we think about those things too much as we just by faith believe, and accept we are there some how. I am not one of those kind of people as I want to know how salvation works. When Jesus said.....

.

Joh 6:39  And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 

 

I had always thought, "wait a minute, when did God the Father give me to Jesus?" I had always thought I am placed in Christ as one comes to faith.

The truth is God already knew from the beginning all who would come to Jesus as their savior before creation according to his foreknowledge.

God the Father preempted saving his Church before Adam ever sinned by placing them in Christ before the foundations of the world. We see this in several scriptures in the New Testament.

 

2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

 

We were given salvation and life before the world began!!

We did not know we were saved back then, we had no clue to this knowledge. Nobody knew this as it was hidden by God until the time came for it to be disclosed. God kept it a secret so the Devil would not know. We were kept in death by not knowing the Gospel. Knowing truth is every thing. You can not have or experience what you do not know you have. Remember Jesus said, " and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free..." It is not until we know the truth before it sets us free.Notice how Jesus destroyed death for us.....

 

2Ti 1:10  But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 

 

Jesus destroyed death by bringing the life that was already given to us from the beginning through the Gospel!! Notice, the Gospel does not give life, it brings life.

Not knowing what the Lord God had done for us and given us from the beginning is abiding in death. This scripture gives us another clue....

 

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

 

Not knowing is death. Man is not capable of receiving revelation from God because he is spiritual dead. Paul the Apostle wrote this verse, but he did not quote all of it for some unknown reason. I can only figure, it would only be revealed to those looking for it by the Holy Spirit. Here is the complete quote.

 

Isa 64:4  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 

 

When Adam and Eve sinned this revelation of what God had given, and prepared for his man was lost forever. Now being born again, and mans spirit restored to where it can now receive these things by the spirit of God, death can now be destroyed and man can now begin to believe and experience what his God and saviour had already given and prepared for him from the beginning! Notice the next verse.....

 

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

 

The only way for man to die and yet live again would be by being in Christ when he came, and so in his death we die with him in him, (I am crucified with Christ...) satisfying the claims of God Word, and still live again because Jesus rose again from the dead also making us alive again in him. There was no other way of acquiring salvation for man. Satan had no idea what the Lord had done by placing his man in his Son Jesus Christ in the beginning, for had he known he would have never crucified the Lord of Glory.

 

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 

1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

 

One other point. In the Gospel of John we read this, but I don't think we really understood it as we just read over it without seeing this.....

 

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God. 

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 

 

This is taking about in the beginning. The Word was in the beginning and then it says in the word there was life, and then it tells us exactly what the life was.

".... the life was the light of men" I did not say the life was the light of God as God is light and life. It said the life was the light of men. Men were living in the Word (Jesus Christ) in the beginning!!!

That was God's Church which he foreknew before the world came into existence!!!  

 

[a-seeker]

by Brian Zahnd

"When we say 'Jesus died for our sins,' what does that mean? It’s undeniably an essential confession of Christian faith, but how does it work? This much I’m sure of, it’s not reducible to just one thing. I’ve just finished preaching eight sermons on 'The Crucified God' and I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the cross means. To try to reduce the death of Jesus to a single meaning is an impoverished approach to the mystery of the cross. I’m especially talking about those tidy explanations of the cross known as “atonement theories.” I find most of them inadequate; others I find repellent. Particularly abhorrent are those theories that portray the Father of Jesus as a pagan deity who can only be placated by the barbarism of child sacrifice. The god who is mollified by throwing a virgin into a volcano or by nailing his son to a tree is not the Abba of Jesus! ..."

http://brianzahnd.com/2014/04/dying-sins-work/

IMO, the rest is well worth reading.

My own view, it is not substitutionary atonement.  That makes no sense to me rationally, and most of Scripture points to something else: Participation.  There is a mystical participation in the death and life of Jesus Christ upon faith.  He submits to the Father; the Father raises Him: this process he enacts in and with us--like a man who has already stood against the current of a mighty river, then gives his hand to those too weak to do the same on their own.

 

clb

[He giveth more grace]

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.  Leviticus 17:

I give you 100 rep points for using that verse.

[Floatingaxe]

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

 

 

Simply put, Jesus died in our place, paying that hefty price for our sin. His payment is a free gift to us of life. It needs no further explanation. He stood in our place on that cross.

[JohnD]

I gather the OP is wanting to know more about the mechanics of sacrificial death...

 

The Lord wanted this great sacrifice understood, which is why innocent animals were slaughtered for human sin in the Old Covenant prefiguring the ultimate sacrifice of the ultimate innocence. This same innocence is Creator and in taking upon himself human nature and laying that life down for human beings, he is taking responsibility for creation that fell at the hand of man. The fact that he is Creator God incarnate makes the one sacrifice for all mankind who believe. And of course being human makes him our kinsman redeemer.

[He giveth more grace]

That good John, try this.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Leviticus 17:11

You hit on it, it is the innocent, precisely, the innocent soul contained in the blood. It was a type and looked forward when the pure Son of God who was given a body, he came by a woman, to offer his soul for atonement.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11

I am going out on a limb here and don't think me a heretic: It's not the red and white corpuscles, it' not the blood plasma of Christ that atones, but it is the soul of Christ that atones. The life (i.e. soul) of The Lord that atones for our sins. The Father saw the travail of Christ's soul = life = blood.

Blasphemy right.