Why did Jesus have to die?
James Glass learns a lesson from his grandma in unpacking the New Testament atonement puzzle
My grandmother was an expert at building jigsaws – in fact, a jigsaw genius in the eyes of her four-year-old grandson.
Her secret was simple. Before trying to match pieces of the jigsaw to the picture on the box, she looked for all the pieces with straight edges and assembled them. When this part of the puzzle was complete, she then began to build the rest of the picture.
The straight edges effectively created a frame that became a kind of reference point when she started piecing together the rest of the puzzle.
Understanding the work of Christ on the cross – the atonement – is a bit like building a jigsaw puzzle. We have the whole picture in Good Friday’s dramatic event on Calvary, and we have pieces of the puzzle scattered throughout the Old Testament and New Testament in pictures and metaphors. When put together, those help us build a more complete picture of what God accomplished for us in Christ.
The ‘straight edges’ of our ‘atonement jigsaw’, are the multitude of Scriptures that present Christ’s death as a substitutionary atonement. This is sometimes referred to as ‘penal’ substitutionary atonement, namely that God in Christ took upon himself the penalty for our sins. These Scriptures provide a frame and reference point for everything else the Bible reveals about the saving work of Christ.
Passover symbolism
‘Typology’ is an important method of understanding the Bible, although it is a little out of vogue today. Put simply, typology recognises that certain characters and practices recorded in the Old Testament foreshadow people and events in the New Testament.
Noah, Abraham and Moses, for example, were types of Jesus.
Two of the mos t prominent types that point towards the substitutionary death of Christ are the sacrif ices associated with the Passover (Exodus 12:1-48; Leviticus 23:4-8) and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34; 23:26-32).
Sacrifice in general, and those associated with Passover and the Day of Atonement in particular, entailed an animal taking the place of an individual or a family, or even the whole nation.
Passover was instituted to save the people of Israel from the wrath of God. John’s Gospel is heavy with Passover symbolism (e.g. John 1:29, 36; 18:28, 39; 19:14).
Hebrews depicts Christ as the great high priest who enters the holiest place of all to present the perfect sacrifice, namely himself (Hebrews 9:11-12). This parallels what Israel’s high priest did on the Day of Atonement.
Talking texts
There are texts that very explicitly present the atonement in terms of a substitutionary sacrifice.
It is hard to overestimate the importance of Isaiah 53 in the New Testament understanding of the work of Christ. From the earliest days of the church, it was understood as a reference to the death of Christ. There are at least seven times in the New Testament when this passage of Scripture is explicitly quoted with reference to Christ: Matthew 8:14-17; John 12:37-41; Luke 22:35-38; 1 Peter 2:19-25; Acts 8:26-35; Romans 10:11-21.
New Testament theologian Joachim Jeremias maintained that, “No other passage from the Old Testament was as important to the church as Isaiah 53.” For example, in Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian recorded in Acts 8:30-35.
A substitutionary atonement certainly seems the most natural way to understand Isaiah 53.
The Lamb of God
When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” And when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29, 36). What exactly did John mean when he referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God? The most likely reference is to that of the Passover lamb.
Passover features prominently in John’s Gospel, where it is mentioned ten times, more than any other book in the New Testament. And right at the heart of Passover is the sacrifice of a lamb, as a reminder of how God’s wrath was averted from the people of Israel whilst the Egyptians fell under his wrath on the night Israel left Egypt. The association with Passover is not as pronounced in the other Gospels, but they all draw attention to the Last Supper as Jesus eating Passover with disciples (See Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-15).
Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7 makes the connection more explicit, directly stating that Christ, our Passover lamb, had been sacrificed.
Essential framework
Much more could be said on this subject. The sheer weight of evidence is overwhelming.
While the idea of Christ as a ‘substitute’ in our place might not be the whole story of what Jesus did for us on the cross, but it does provide us with the essential framework within which we can accurately and adequately construct a fuller picture of his perfect work of salvation on our behalf.
Terminology
Substitution underlies so much of – if not all – the terminology used to communicate New Testament teaching about the work of Christ. Consider the three terms set out below:
Propitiation
Propitiation (KJV, NKJV, ESV) or ‘atoning sacrifice’ / ‘sacrifice of atonement’ (NIV) is a key term in the New Testament revelation of salvation. It is used by Paul in Romans 3:25 and the apostle John in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10.
Propitiation carries the idea of turning away the wrath of God.
Respected theologian John Stott distinguishes three components of propitiation. Firstly, propitiation presupposes that sin arouses the wrath of God. Sin, therefore, is not just our problem, it is also God’s ‘problem’.
Secondly, God makes the propitiation, not us. This is what sets the biblical concept of propitiation apart from its pagan counterpart. In pagan religion, worshippers attempt to appease or propitiate an angry god by offering sacrifice. The Bible holds that God propitiates himself.
Thirdly, God propitiates himself by offering himself. God’s love is not secured by the cross of Christ. In fact, the love of God is the source of the cross of Christ (see Romans 5:8).
The Cup
When Jesus prays in Gethsemane, he makes reference to ‘the cup’ (Matthew 26:39-42).
The cup draws on Old Testament symbolism. It is mentioned in Jeremiah 25:15-29. God’s judgment is clearly what is in view. Further references can be found in Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17-22, Ezekiel 23:32-34.
Jesus’s request that his Father take the cup from him was not an indication that he feared the suffering that awaited him. What he recoiled from was the outpouring of God’s wrath.
A little Greek
Two Greek prepositions meaning ‘instead of’ and ‘on behalf of,’ are usually translated ‘for’ in English Bibles, and they point to substitution in a very fundamental way.
Examples include, Christ died ‘for’ us (Romans 5:8). One died ‘for’ all (2 Corinthians 5:14). Christ gave his life as a ransom ‘for’ many (Mark 10:45). Christ gave himself as a ransom ‘for’ all men (1 Timothy 2:6). Christ was made sin ‘for’ us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and was made a curse ‘for’ us (Galatians 3:13). The language clearly points to the conclusion that Christ dying ‘for’ us is equivalent to Christ dying ‘instead of’ us.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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