Freedom from sin

The mission of Jesus was from the same source and with the same object as the punishment of our sins. He came to work along with our punishment. He came to side with it, and set us free from our sins. -- George MacDonald, Hope of the Gospel

Why did Jesus die upon the cross? Why did he take on human form and come to earth? The common answer is that he died to accept punishment for our sins. George MacDonald, whose Hope of the Gospel I have been working through, dismisses that idea:

Unable to believe in the forgiveness of their Father in heaven, imagining him not at liberty to forgive, or incapable of forgiving forthright; not really believing him God our Saviour, but a God bound, either in his own nature or by a law above him and compulsory upon him, to exact some recompense or satisfaction for sin, a multitude of teaching men have taught their fellows that Jesus came to bear our punishment and save us from hell.

As MacDonald alludes to, this theory supposes the God was unable to forgive without extracting punishment. It forces us to accept that an innocent death can somehow replace the punishment of the guilty. What a ridiculous idea! We would not accept an innocent person's death as replacing the punishment of a murderer, even if that person gave their life voluntarily.

The opening quote from MacDonald points to a more radical explanation. Jesus did not come and die so that we could be forgiven for our sins. Jesus came and died so that we could be freed from our sins. God does not need some great sacrifice to forgive us. Rather, God needs us to renounce our sinful nature. It is not the sins that we have committed in the past that separate from God. We are separated by the nature which causes us to sin again and again.

Jesus came to reshape our nature. He came to teach us about love and hope. Jesus did not die to even out some cosmic score card. He died because his message was too radical (and still is). By living a human life, Jesus showed what no mere human can show: we can live life separate from our sinful nature. And by sending the Holy Spirit, he gave us the guidance we need to reject that sinful nature day after day.

Related posts:

• Jesus, our representative