{"id":9060,"date":"2023-06-27T05:21:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T12:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9060"},"modified":"2023-06-27T06:12:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T13:12:46","slug":"why-did-christ-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9060","title":{"rendered":"
Why did Christ die?<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon on Romans 5:12-15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this season of Pentecost we\u2019ve been asking: What is the problem? And then the two answers people give which are not answers; they are one: \u201cGood works,\u201d and two: \u201cEverybody is saved anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Romans 5:12 we have the basic text: \u201cAll have sinned.\u201d This is used for the basic understanding of how we are all caught in sin. With that comes in verse 15 the contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam, between those who are caught and lost and those who are in him. That verse as well as the following which says: \u201cAs in one all are lost, much more in Christ are they saved.\u201d That is the basic message: That we are caught in sin, but we are raised up through this second Adam. It is meant in a strong, decisive way. They understood that Adam is the big person, the head of the race, and in Ephesians 2:20 he is the cornerstone, the keystone.  Ephesians 1:10 is even more dramatic: \u201c. . . a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.\u201d He \u201crecapitulates,\u201d he \u201creunites.\u201d Both of these are weak translations because it really means: \u201cHe puts a new head on the top of things.\u201d He is the new Adam, the new head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the cross? Luther is famous for having said: \u201cThe cross alone is our theology.\u201d He is really paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 2:2: \u201cFor I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the four Gospels we have the story of Jesus but the main thing is his passion, the cross. A New Testament scholar named Lohmyer pointed out that the Gospels are like tadpoles. A tadpole has a big head and then there is a tiny tail reaching back. The Gospels have a long tail that leads to the head: the passion story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we go around proclaiming \u201cthe cross, the cross, the cross,\u201d is that what it is about? What is the cross about? There are all kinds of things that are attached, that people think about. It becomes a slogan; it can even become a fetish. There are, of course, places around the world where people claim to have a piece of the true cross, a relic. In fact there are more pieces of the true cross than there possibly could be. There are those who call themselves \u201cThe Society of the Holy Cross,\u201d and there is \u201cthe perpetual adoration of the Holy Cross.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally Catholics have had a cross with a body on it and Protestants have not. Some Christians today wear a cross on a chain around their necks as a piece of jewelry. Some years ago in Vermont a man wanted John 3:16 on his license plate. The State of Vermont argued that the license plate was inappropriate because it constituted government endorsement of religion. But a federal appeals court ruled that an individual has the right to use license plates to express religious beliefs even on license plates that are government issued. What does \u201cthe cross\u201d mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the movie, \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d Jesus receives 39 lashes because the maximum punishment at that time was 40 lashes minus one. The movie focused on the terrible pain and agony of the crucifixion as if to say: \u201cThat\u2019s what is about, a terrible death. That\u2019s what it was really like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, of course, there are worse deaths, like being skinned alive. Basically crucifixion was dying by asphyxiation and thirst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, is that what it is all about? What kind of a God would require that? That is the question that has been asked for two thousand years. What kind of a God is this? Hebrews 9:22 states: \u201c. . . without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.\u201d Is this a God who is bound by such a rule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of history people have struggled with all this. Some feminists have argued that the cross is child abuse. When the movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe <\/em>came out, a British reporter said that the death of Aslan, the Christ figure, was a form of animal abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a graffito in Rome from the Second Century that shows a cross and hanging on the cross is a donkey because in the eyes of the world the cross ridiculous and stupid. What is this about? Over the years there has been a lot of literature asking: How do we sort it out? Is there a way of saying: \u201cThis is what it means\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the 1930\u2019s a Swedish theologian, Gustav Aulen, wrote a book called, Christus Victor.<\/em> He said there are three ways the cross is looked at. One way is sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22). The second is Christ as the example (1 Peter 2:21). In the third way, he is the victor, the conqueror (Luke 10:18; 20:43; Philippians 2:11). \u201cChristus Victor\u201d is seen especially in the Gospel of Mark where it says he is the one who conquers the evil one. He is the Victor, as we find again and again in Mark and Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1954 F. W. Dillestone wrote a book in which he describes twenty different interpretations of the cross in the New Testament. Finally at the end of the book there is an appendix in which he says: Really all you can do is throw up your hands and listen to Bach\u2019s Mass in B Minor. Or turn to Negro Spirituals because we can\u2019t analyze or understand the cross so we can explain it and say this is why it was. There are many different ways, many different metaphors in the Scriptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there then no explanation? No way of sorting it out? Some people say there had to be a payment and a substitution for others. The problem is: To whom was the payment made? How does this work? It\u2019s God against God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difficulty with all the explanations is that we put something above God and say: \u201cHe had to do it this way, and we can explain him.\u201d At that point he is no longer Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we learn from the New Testament about this? It is fascinating as we see it in various places. First of all, in Romans 3:24-25: \u201c. . . they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood . . .\u201d In these two verses there are three of the basic doctrines or metaphors: He is our justification. He is our redemption. He is our expiation (which is a big word for sacrifice). The metaphors are all tumbled together in two verses, not sorted out at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said in a different way in 1 Cor 1:22-24: \u201cJews seek miracles (We\u2019re like that.) and Greeks seek wisdom (We\u2019re like that, too.), but we preach Christ crucified, a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are being saved, Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God.\u201d For the weakness of God is stronger than men and the foolishness of God is wiser than men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is summed up in two verses (and they are not based on saying: We\u2019ve got an explanation of why this had to be, and this is what it is about). The first one is 2 Cor 5:21: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who know no sin, so that in him we might become the holiness of God.\u201d That is not an explanation. That is not a metaphor. It is simply saying he took our sin; we take his holiness. It is the best deal there ever was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, in Romans 8:34 Paul writes and puts it in the form of several questions the answer to which is \u201cYes!\u201d: \u201cIs it Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead (Yes!), who is at the right hand of God (Yes!), who indeed intercedes for us? (Yes!)\u201d Not only did he change everything by what he did to conquer sin and death, but he continues to intercede for us and is not long ago and far away. For that reason we have confidence. (If we pretend to understand it, we\u2019ve got it wrong.) But there it is. The key, the center, the basis for our faith. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Romans 5:12-15 is not in the current lectionary; we offer this in place of the assigned text, Romans 6:12-23.)<\/p>\n

A sermon on Romans 5:12-15<\/p>\n

In this season of Pentecost we\u2019ve been asking: What is the problem? And then the two answers people give which are not answers; they are one: \u201cGood works,\u201d and two: \u201cEverybody is saved anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9060"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9067,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060\/revisions\/9067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}