Did Jesus die because we are sinners?
In my last post, I mentioned a quote from Dan Mohler who says “Jesus did not die on the cross because you were sinners. He had to die because you sinned. He died to save what was lost.” It’s one of those lines that doesn’t seem to make sense at first, but makes complete sense. As I understand it, he’s basically saying that because man sinned, Christ’s death was the necessary thing to restore us. That is what was needed, but it wasn’t the reason. The reason he died was to restore, save, redeem, free, and heal that which had been damaged, lost, sold-out, enslaved, and diseased. And to take it one more step, I would say that the reason he wanted to save, redeem, etc is because of His love for us. He never lost sight of how he made us and our created value and destiny and intended relationship.
I’ll try out the reasoning in another context. A mother does not change her baby boy’s diaper because he is a pooper. She has to change it because he pooped. Yes, the baby pooped, so a diaper change is what is needed to make him clean again. But the mother could choose to not clean him up. And even if she chooses to clean him up, there are different reasons the mother could choose to do it. The “why” is very important. The greatest reason for her to clean him up is because she loves him. She could also do it because he stinks and she’s tired of smelling it. She could do it because other people would think she’s a bad mother if she didn’t. But love for him and his well being is the greater reason. The other reasons are ultimately selfish, even if the baby still benefits. If the mother doesn’t love her child, doesn’t mind the smell, and doesn’t care what others think, she may very well just decide not to clean him up. He can deal with it.
So here we can see that it’s not that the baby pooped that the mother cleans him. It’s either that she cleaned him for ultimately selfish reasons, or for ultimately selfless reasons. Love lays down it’s life for another. This is ultimate selflessness. This is love. With regard to Jesus, I’m thinking that he died because he loves us, not because he’s selfish and finally just got tired of all the sin.
