Jennifer Rothnie Supporter Housewife, Artist, Perpetually Curious

Jesus died for the sake of creating a covenant between God and man that man could keep (though this is a gross oversimplification). God recognized that there was no way that man could achieve salvation by his own merit or by following the law. So the Father sent Yehoshua to die, so that Yehoshua might become the mediator between God and man. God wanted a covenant with man. He did not die "for Himself" in the sense of God having any need or debt. He did choose to die because he wished for man to have a covenant relationship with Him. God did not have to do this - but out of love, he chose to and desired to. As such, Jesus's death was not "for" God but for the sake of man, that mankind could have a relationship with God.

"It was for me the day of vengeance;
the year for me to redeem had come.
I looked, but there was no one to help,
I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
and my own wrath sustained me." Isaiah 63:4-5 (This whole chapter is pertinent)

Jesus's name (Yehoshua) actually means "Yahweh brings salvation" or "salvation comes from Yahweh".

Jesus willingly submitted to the authority of His Father. He became the instrument of power not only in watching over Israel in the old testament, but in redeeming mankind in the new.

Yehoshua then emptied Himself and took the form of a man. While He still had the spirit of God and was one with His father, He had taken an earthly body. When He died, His Father turned His back on Him until it was finished.

Because Jesus was both our kinsmen (being human) and our redeemer (his sinless blood paying the price), God could then offer a new covenant with man. Jesus would be the mediator, and Christ's death/blood would allow it to be enforced.

"For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

"In the case of a will it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood...In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Heb 9: 15-18, 22

(Galatians 3:15-23 also discusses this).

As to the why?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:14

Every verse about the 'why' tells us it is for our benefit. Certainly, God hates sin, and we could not stand before him otherwise. But, this is not a deficiency in His character that He needed to die to address or fix. Rather, because He is both Just and loving, the choice to send Jesus to die in our place allowed justice to be upheld while costing humans nothing. It upheld His promises, His justice, and His mercy. Jesus did die for God too- but it was for the sake of God's glory.

October 02 2013 • 6 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Al Mari Supporter Private practice as a cardiovascular & thoracic surgeon

Sam, thanks for your question that I can understand to be having disharmony with the truth because of the question itself.

As to "Jesus died on the cross to take our sins", actually and strictly speaking Jesus did not die to "take our sins". Rather, he died for the consequence of our sins imputed from the day of Adam's sin which was counted as all mankind's sin, so that the death of Jesus would then be counted also for all. We are still sinners but the Father through the death of Jesus, reckoned us, as dead and therefore, in a way of speaking "our sins were taken away".

And yes, "we would appear sinless in front of God the Father",because of Jesus' giving up and substituting his life for us.

As to the question, "does it mean that God died for God?", we need to backtrack and recollect how Jesus came to be.

The Creator God/Logos incarnated willingly and became man-Jesus. As such, Jesus was fully man yet still retained his identity as that I AM (Ex. 3:14; Ps 46:10; John 8:58; John 10:30-33; John 11:25; John 14:6), the Creator God/YHVH/Logos.

Now back to your question, "does it mean that God died for God?", the answer is No, in the context of man-Jesus/God died "for mankind."

But in the context of man-Jesus following willfully the Father God's wish, then Yes, man-Jesus/God died "for God, the Father".

May 17 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Danny Hickman Supporter Believer in The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

This question reminds me of some of the questions asked in political polling. The way in which a question is fashioned has much to say about how it is answered. 

"If your spoiled rotten children were more disciplined, do you think they'd do better in school?" 

First: there's nothing "was" about Jesus. "If Jesus was God..." 
No one has seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known (John 1:18). Jesus IS at the Father's side, not WAS at his side. There's no WAS in Jesus! 

So let's phrase this polling question better: If Jesus IS God, does it mean that he sacrificed himself for himself? 

Jesus did sacrifice himself, but he didn't do it to save God.. God hadn't sinned and needed a sin substitute. 
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son... (pause) God sent his ONE OF A KIND SON (continuing) that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

God doesn't need a sacrifice for sin or anything else.

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son (1 John 5:11). 

God gives life. The life he gives is in the Son that he gave. 

Now the really critical part of the question: "did God die for God?" 

The Son of God, a man, (in the form of a man only, took the form of a servant, emptied himself and was born in the likeness of men) died on a cross. (Phil 2) He became humanity. He took the sins of humanity on himself. 

Here it is: no one can die in place of himself... for himself... 

The premise of the question is built on sand. 

Jesus is the Son of God the Father. He IS the sacrifice for sin. His shed blood still cleanses us of our sins. The Son of God died and was resurrected back to life. God the Father did not die. The Son of God who was 'in his glory in the presence of the Father before the world existed' (John 17:5) didn't die. The Son of God who 'emptied himself of the glory he had with the Father' and came to us in human form, the man Jesus, the Son of Man Jesus died. 

And he did it for "the world."

December 26 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report