THE NATURE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

THE NATURE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

In what precisely did His death consist?

Question: What is "Death"?

The word "Death", when applied to human beings in the Bible, bears the idea of separation. The word in this sense is applied to two distinct experiences.

• Separation from God - Gen. 2:17; 3:6, 22-24
• Separation of spirit and body - Gen. 35:18-19
• The latter is the result of the former.
• The Death of Christ involved both of these experiences:

Separation from God - Matt. 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

There is much of mystery here that no man can fathom. How the Eternal Son, one with the Father, could be forsaken by the Father is beyond our under­standing. But we know this much; He took our place, and bore our sins, and entered into our doom. Hence, He must go into the darkness alone, forsaken of God.

Should guard against error here:

• Not a metaphysical separation of two persons of the Godhead. This is impossible, for God is one essence.
• Not a personal separation of the divine from the human nature of Christ.
• Not a moral separation between the Father and the Son. The Father never loved His Son more than when He died at Calvary. "The Father loveth me, because I lay down my life." John 10:17

Therefore it was a spiritual separation of the Son from the Father, accomplished judicially (2 Cor. 5:21). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Separation of spirit and body - Matt. 27:50 "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."

The death of Christ was accompanied by the pouring out of His blood:
John 19:33-34 - Demonstrates the certainty of death. "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."

Notice the order of these experiences: First, forsaken of God. Then, physical death. The physical death was ultimately the result of His abandonment by the Father. Having voluntarily assumed the burden of human sin, He was forsaken by God, and physical death soon followed.

Whatever may have been the physical cause of Christ's death (ruptured heart, etc.), the spiritual cause was the main factor -----  the awful experience of being forsaken by God the Father, Christ was a sinless man. Therefore, to Him death could not have come from what we call natural causes. Only after God the Father abandoned Him did physical death come.

After death, Jesus entered Hades to announce His victory (1 Peter 3:18), and one who was there to hear the proclamation was Judas, while His body was supernaturally kept from decomposition (Acts 2:31). "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
"He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."

THE NECESSITY FOR THE DEATH OF CHRIST

THE NECESSITY FOR THE DEATH OF CHRIST

Was it necessary for Him to die? If so, why?

Our Lord declared that He "must die."

Matt. 16:21 - "dei" - the strongest Greek word to express necessity. "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."

Cf. Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22 "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."
"Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day."

How do we interpret this declaration?

Why did Christ feel that He must die? Two erroneous views:

• He sensed the growing opposition of the Jews, and began to feel that He could not escape their hatred. Therefore, He accepted what seemed inevitable, and began to prepare His disciples for it.
• He manipulated people and events to fulfill Old Testament prophecies of a Messiah, by getting some conspirators to give Him a drug so He could feign death on the cross, then recover and reveal Himself as "resurrected" after three days. But the plot failed because Jesus received a spear wound on the cross and couldn't be revived. (Hugh J. Schonfield, a Jewish historian from Britain, in The Passover Plot, reviewed by Yamauchi in Christianity Today, March 17, 1967, p. 38).

The necessity of Christ's death was voluntarily self-imposed.

It was not a necessity imposed upon Him by fate or circumstance.
John 10:14-18 - "I lay it down of Myself."
Eph. 5:2 - "Gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice."
Phil. 2:8 - "He humbled Himself.. .unto death, even the death of the cross."

Several reasons are given by our  Lord for the necessity of His death.

He must die to accomplish His own eternal purpose.

• John 12:27 - "But for this cause came I unto this hour."
• Rev. 13:8 - "He is the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
• 1 Pet. 1:19-20 "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,"

He must die to obey the will of His Father.

• Matt. 26:38-39 - "not as I will, but as thou wilt"
• 42 - "thy will be done"
• 44 - "the same words"

• John 10:18 - "this commandment have I received of my Father"
• Phil. 2:8 - "becoming obedient even unto death"
• Heb. 10:7 - "I am come. . .to do thy will, O God"

He must die to fulfill prophecy.

Matt. 26:52-54 - "How then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be."
Luke 24:44-46 - "All things must needs be fulfilled."

He must die in order to share His Own eternal life with sinful men.

John 3:14-15 - "even so must. . .eternal life."
John 12:24 - "if it die, it beareth much fruit."

Note: Some say we are saved by the life of Christ. And in a sense that is true, cf. Rom. 5:10. But don't forget that it took the death of Christ to make His life available to sinners!

MEANING & PURPOSE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

The Death of Christ was the First Truth in Apostolic Preaching

 

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;"

1 Cor. 15:1-3 - "First of all" - what?

Note solemnity of introduction.

Paul did not start with the law or the second coming (cf. Acts 17:3). "Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ."

The foundation of Paul's Gospel was the death of Christ (Gal. 1:6-9). "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

The Death of Christ was the Heart of the Church's Sacraments

Baptism Introduced the Convert into the Local Church
This rite spoke to him of the death of Christ. Romans 6:3-4 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Communion was Central in the Church's Worship
This rite reminded the worshipper of the death of his Lord.
1 Cor. 11:26 "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come."

 

The Death of Christ was the Guarantee of Every Blessing

Many passages later. One here -- Romans 8:31-32 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
Men saw in giving of God's Son to death for them the supreme outflowing of God's love, and rightly argued that if God could thus give, nothing else would be too great for God to give.

The Death of Christ was the Foundation and Source of all True Christian Living

Romans 6:1-11 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 8:3-4 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

The Death of Christ was the Great Object of Interest to the Heavenly World

To righteous men. Luke 9:30-31 "And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."
To angels. 1 Peter 1:11-12 "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into."

The Death of Christ is the Song of the Redeemed in Heaven

Rev. 5:8-10 "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

The Death of Christ will be Remembered as an Everlasting Monument of God's Love and Grace

Rev. 21 and 22. The eternal state - new heavens and earth.
The prominent figure is Who? - Christ.
And by what name is He called? the Lamb
Rev. 21:9 - Husband of the Bride is the Lamb.
Rev. 21:14 - Names on foundation of the city are the apostles of the Lamb.
Rev. 21:22 - Temple of the city is the Lamb.
Rev. 21:23 - The lamp of the city is the Lamb.
Rev. 21:27 - Only those written in book of life can enter. And this book belongs to the Lamb.
Rev. 22:1 - A river of life flows from the throne of the Lamb.
Rev. 22:3 - On the throne of the city sits the Lamb.

This name throughout eternity will be a memorial of His death.

Conclusion: What Does all this Mean?

It means that the "Cross of Christ is the moral and spiritual center of the Universe. An eternity past knew no other future, and an eternity to come will know no other past."

THE DEATH OF CHRIST

THE DEATH OF CHRIST

INTRODUCTION

The death of Christ is spoken of in the Bible under a large number of terms such as: "Death", "Die", "Blood", "Cross", "Slain", "Baptism", "Cup", "Delivered up", "Offered up", "Gave Himself up", etc.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

The Death of Christ is the Central Theme of Scripture

These articles deal with over 100 passages in the New Testament alone

In Old Testament Prophecy (Best known texts only)

Gen. 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Psa. 22:1-31
Psa. 69:1-21
Isa. 52:13 - 53:12
Dan. 9:24-26 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."
Zech. 12:10; 13:1,7 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

John the Baptist
John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

In the Baptism of Christ

Matt. 3:13-17 cf. Isa. 42:1 -- Suffering Servant "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles."

In the Teaching of Christ Himself

Some say Christ had little to say about death.
The answer is that Christ came, not so much to preach the Gospel of His Own death, but in order that there might be such a Gospel to preach! But our Lord did speak of His death:

Matt. 16:21 - note "began" "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
John 6:51-56 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

In the Epistles

Very Numerous References, Especially in Paul's Letters

Romans               Colossians

1 Cor.               Hebrews

Galatians            1 Peter

Ephesians            1 John

In Old  Testament Sacrificial System

An immense field. Recall that the early preachers had only the Old Testament. Cf. Heb. 9:1-10:10

THE PRACTICAL VALUES OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S PERSON

THE PRACTICAL VALUES OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S PERSON

It Demonstrates That There is no Unbridgeable Antagonism Between God and Human Nature

• In Christ both the Divine and Human dwelt together in perfect harmony
• The unbridgeable antagonism is between God and sinful human nature

The Doctrine of Christ's Person Provides an Endless Field for Reverent Study and Contemplation

The mystery and the problem have fascinated the greatest Christian minds, and we venture to suggest, that it will always be so. We shall make progress in our knowledge of His Blessed Person, but, we shall never reach the end of the mystery.

This Doctrine Teaches Intellectual Humility to the Christian Thinker

There are some matters that are beyond us. After we have searched to the limits of our finite understanding under the guidance of the Spirit of God, we must at last fall upon our faces before the mystery of God in Christ and confess humbly that we cannot explain Him. But thank God, we can know Him, which is far better than mere explanation.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST

Phil 2:5-8  "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

One determining factor in various interpretations of Philippians 2:5-8 has been the central problem of the Incarnation, namely, What is the relation of the divine to the human in the historic Christ? The Apostle Paul certainly must have known that his statement would raise this problem but, like other New Testament writers, makes no attempt to solve it. In the main, the writers of Scripture are content to assert the reality of the two natures in Christ, without attempting a rationalization of their doctrine. Perhaps it is wisdom to leave the matter as they have left it. One hesitates to enter a field of controversy where so many well-intentioned men have slipped into errors ranging from an Apollinarian denial of any human mind in the Saviour to the Nestorian doctrine of two minds -- in fact, two persons. But the church has been compelled to enter this field by reason of the deviations of those who oftentimes were numbered among her own sons At Chalcedon (451) the church declared that in the Saviour there are two natures, one divine and the other human. These two natures are perfectly and organically united in one Person, yet they remain distinct, each retaining its complete integrity. We must neither "confound the natures, nor divide the Person." The seat of personality in this Person is the Logos, the eternal Son.
The main criticism of this formula, from the standpoint of psychology, was how Christ could have but one personality, if in Him there were two distinct natures, namely, the human soul and the Logos-spirit. Did not the soul of a man consti­tute a personality in itself? The ancient church never wholly succeeded in answering this rather formidable objection, but nevertheless wisely refused to alter the formula. Her position is now being vindicated, we believe, by modern psychology. The personality -- also the mind -- we are told, is not metaphysical, but is built up by the interaction constantly taking place between the living organism and its environment. We cannot, of course, accept this statement in total. There is certainly a metaphysical basis for both mind and personality. But with this reservation, the account seems to be true, and may be of service in aiding us toward an understanding of the Person of Christ. The Logos, in becoming flesh, was united with a true human soul or spirit in the body conceived within the Virgin Mary. This soul on the human side provided a basis for the possible building  up of a human mind and personality, and the building up process was perfectly normal in all respects, except that it took place around and in vital union with the Logos-spirit now emptied of His divine form.

The word in the Philippian letter which appears today as an abstract noun in our translation is, as many of you know full well, a verb. “Have this mind in you” might be rendered, "Be thus minded," which means, Let your habit of mental activity be that of the Christ. The word there refers to an exercise of mind, an emotional exercise, and, consequently, an inspirational exercise, creating an activity: the mind of Christ, that emotional activity which was the inspiration of His self-emptying, His descent to the human level, and His final ascent to the throne of universal empire.

THE UNION OF THE TWO NATURES IN CHRIST

THE UNION OF THE TWO NATURES IN CHRIST

-      How there can be such a union, we cannot explain.

-      But we can observe a few things about it:

The two natures, although united in one person, remain distinct from each  other. There is no confusion.

Rom. 1:3-4 "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:"
Rom. 9:5 "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."

By this Union, the Divine Nature Imparts its Powers and Values to the Human Nature

Luke 5:24 "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house."
John 2:19-21 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body."
John 6:51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

By This Union Certain Human Experiences are Made Possible for the Divine Person - God is able to die

Heb. 2:14 "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"
1 Cor. 2:8 "Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

This Union Made it Possible for One Person to be the Mediator Between  God and Man

Job 9:32-33 (ASV) "For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
33  Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." Heb. 4:14-15 "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

This Union is Permanent and Everlasting

Heb. 7:24-25 "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

WRONG THEORIES OF CHRIST'S PERSON

Dividing the Person: Nestorianism (5th century)

In the churches of the western Roman empire, the cult of Mariolatry was beginning to take root, and Mary was being called "the God-bearer" (theotokos). In one sense, this was valid, for as God-Man Jesus could be called "God". But in another sense this was dangerous, for Mary was in no way the mother of the divine nature of the God-Man. Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, went to an extreme in reacting against this false emphasis, and taught that the divine nature did not associate with the human nature until birth. This sharp separation of the two natures virtually resolved Christ into two persons, both God and man, a God-indwelt  man, rather than the unified God-Man.

Confusing the Two  Natures: Eutychianism (5th century).
In reaction against Nestorianism, Eutyches (a disciple of Cyril of Alexandria) so stressed the unity of Christ's Person that he lost sight of the two distinct natures, teaching that the human nature was wholly absorbed  into the divine nature, producing a composite nature that was, apparently, neither completely human nor divine. Thus, his followers became known as monophysites ("one-nature").

The entire controversy was threshed out at the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.), where a remarkable statement was formulated which guarded against both errors:
"He is one Christ, existing in two natures without mixture, without division, without separation; the diversity of the natures not being destroyed by their union in the one person; but the peculiar properties of each. nature being preserved and concurring to the One Person."

The brief historic formula of orthodoxy became this: "We must neither divide the person, nor confound the natures." If we remember this, we are preserved from serious heresy in Christology, even though the mystery of it all can never be resolved by the mind of man.

Pressured by the orthodox decision of the Council of Chalcedon, some Eutychians accepted the two natures of Christ (verbally at least), but retained their monophysite position to the extent of insisting that Christ had only one will. The monothelite ("one-will") controversy was not officially settled until 680 A.D. at the 6th Ecumenical Council of Constantinople:
"Jesus Christ had two distinct and inseparable wills...a human will and a divine will, working in harmony, the human in subordination to the divine: the will being regarded as an attribute of His nature rather than His person."

The following books provide much help in understanding these Christological controversies:
F. F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame (Eerdmans, 1958), pp. 245-60; 302-15.
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian. Church (Eerdmans, 1950), III, 705-783.
Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, Vol. II.
William G. T. Shedd, A History of Christian Doctrine (Scribner's, 1895), 2 volumes.