In Church today I found myself asking “why did Jesus have to die?” This is an incredibly important question central to Christianity. I know I should have been listening to the sermon, but to be truthful I often do not find our rector’s sermons particularly interesting or thought provoking.
After some some internet searching I came up with the following answers.
Romans 5:12
12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (KJV)
God’s holiness and justice demand that sin and rebellion be punished. The only penalty or payment for sin is eternal death.
Romans 6:23
23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (KJV)
Our death is not sufficient to atone for sin because atonement requires a perfect, spotless sacrifice, offered in just the right way. Jesus, the one perfect God-man, came to offer the pure, complete and everlasting sacrifice to remove, atone, and make eternal payment for our sin.
1 Peter 1:18-19
18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (KJV)
Then the question arises did Christ die for all peoples of this world? The internet is truly a rewarding place to search for answers. I found the Catholic Church teaches that Christ indeed died for all of us sinners. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.”62 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.
Makes sense to me, “Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…” Calvin
Eric C. Bow 