The True Story of the Cross

Many people ask the questions, "Why did Jesus have to die?  Couldn't God just forgive us?"  Let's look at these questions and see if we can find a way out for Christ.

Start by thinking about when you have done wrong or someone has done wrong against you.  In each of these cases, whether physical or emotional, there is a price to be paid for the wrong.  Let's take a physical example.  If you loan someone your car to run an errand and that person wrecks your car, there is a price to be paid.  That price can be paid in one of two ways.

First, you, the owner of the vehicle, can hold the driver responsible for the damage done and insist that they make retribution for the cost of the vehicle.  This is understandable and fully within your rights.  Or, secondly, you could excuse the mistake of the driver and show them grace and forgiveness.  This person is indebted to you but you may choose to free the driver of the debt.  Again, fully within your rights.  I want you to see, however, that either way there is a price to be paid and it doesn't just go away with forgiveness.

The same is true with us and our sin.  It has been totally forgiven and it is completely taken away but that is not possible without the cross on which Christ died.  Timothy Keller understands this concept in Reason for God when he writes "There was a debt to be paid - God Himself paid it.  There was a penalty to be born - God Himself bore it.  Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering."  There is no free way out of debt.  Many people in financial debt have tried to find it and have come up empty.  The same is true of spiritual debt...it must be paid for.

I'll leave you with one more thought on this by John Scott in The Cross of Christ; "The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us.  We...put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God...puts Himself where we deserve to be."

This is true forgiveness and true grace.  So to answer the questions directly; no, Jesus did not have to die, but someone did, because there was a price to be paid.  And, no, God couldn't just forgive us.  While he is all-powerful and full of mercy he is also just.