How did we die in Jesus?
The Cross of Christ is a joy for everyone because sinful humankind died in Jesus Christ on the cross at Golgotha as the wage for sin. “For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all died.” 2 Corinthians 5:14, NET. The phrase “Christ died for all” does not mean that he died in place of all humans. God did not endorse a substitutionary death. “Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.” Deuteronomy 24:16, NET. Humankind sinned in the Garden of Eden. Adam was the representative of the first, or old, humankind. Therefore, when he sinned, all his descendants sinned. All future human beings became natural sinners because they sinned in Adam. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23, NET. We sin because we are sinners. We do not become sinners when we commit personal sins. Our sins demonstrate that we are natural sinners. How did all die in the body of Jesus Christ?
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.” John 12:32 – 33, NET. God, at the incarnation, put a new human spirit in Jesus. After his baptism, Jesus was taken to the desert to suffer temptation by Satan. He conquered temptation, and the new human life in him became perfect. “For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.” The Greek word translated above as “pioneer” refers to a head of the family or the representative head of the family. Jesus is the representative head of the new humankind God created in Jesus at the incarnation. Jesus lived three and one-half years of a perfect life.
The perfect new human spirit, human life could not die because it is indestructible. “And this is even clearer if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life.” Hebrews 7:15 – 16, NET. On the cross, at Golgotha, the representative of the new humankind became the sacrifice for sin and the scapegoat. How?
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