This one is from Patrick.
“What does it mean when people say Jesus died for our sins? I know this is super basic and fundamental, but I've never really understood what that means. What sins? Original sin? Thanks!”
You say basic and fundamental. This is actually the hardest one so far. This concept is at the very heart of Christianity, but the exact meaning, what actually happened at that moment, is not entirely known.
I’ll do what I can to point you in the right direction. Keep in mind none of my answers are perfect, they come from lots of study and thought on the meaning of these things. As I study and think more, my thoughts change.
So let’s start with sin itself. If you ask anyone for a quick definition of sin, they will likely boil it down to “doing something bad.” That is not necessarily a bad definition, but it doesn’t encompass enough. The Hebrew word that we most commonly translate as sin is cheit. It is an archery term that means missing the mark. Sin is not merely doing something bad. Sin is a failure to meet a set standard.
Let’s look at it with an academic example. Say you need a 75% to pass the test. That 75% is the mark. You could take the test, and get a 70%. You missed the mark. It wasn’t because you did something bad, it was just you failed to meet the standard. On the other hand, you could cheat and get a 100%, but in this case the teacher knows you cheated. You still missed the mark because you tried to reach the standard by the wrong means. In both cases you sinned.
Back to God and his standard. God will not hold you to a standard that he has not told you about first. Adam and Eve were told not to eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was the standard they were being measured against at the time. They failed to meet that standard. This failure was original sin. We have inherited the results of this sin.
Adam and Eve had a perfect connection with God. As the bible says, the wages of sin is death. A death is the only way to pay the price for sin. In Adam and Eve’s case, God killed an animal right after they sinned and used it to make clothing for them. This is the first instance of a literal death mentioned in the bible. This is the precursor to all animal sacrifices.
Death has two parts, physical and spiritual. When they sinned Adam and Eve died spiritually, they were spiritually separated from God. It took many years before they died physically. Our spiritual separation can be healed up until the point where we physically die. If our spiritual separation is healed before we die, then we spend eternity with God. If our spiritual separation is not healed before we die, then we spend eternity away from God. That is literally what hell is. Animal sacrifices are like putting a band aide on our spiritual separation. They don’t heal it, but they cover it. I’ll go more into that in a bit.
So back to original sin. Parents cannot pass onto their offspring something that they do not have themselves. Adam and Eve were spiritually dead before they had any children. Adam as the first human is a representative of all mankind. His spiritual death passes on to all of his descendants. We are all born with that spiritual separation from God. That is our sin nature. Even if we could somehow live without ever doing anything else wrong, we are already spiritually separated form God when we are born. That separation must be healed.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Romans 5:12
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God reveals more and more of his standards, he also lays down various types of sacrifices and offerings. All of these are in some way representative of what is coming. The basic requirement for an offering is that whatever animal is offered must be without spot or blemish (perfect), food is often offered out of the first harvest because we are supposed to think of God first. There are many regulations about what can and cannot be used as an offering. These regulations server to further illustrate just how bad sin is. Atoning for sin is a difficult process, and it is imperfect. This is why sacrifices are annual, or after certain incidents. No one animal can fully cover for the life of a human.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:8-9
This is where Jesus comes in. There are two big reasons that an animal cannot pay the price for a person’s sin, and only serves as a temporary bandage. The first is that a true payment has to be of the correct type. Think of it like trying to buy 2 for $2 candy at the gas station, but you only have $2 Canadian. They are close, but they are not the same. The payment for a human can only be paid by a human.
The second issue is that the payment has to be sufficient. No human can pay the price for another human’s sin because they still have to pay the price for their own sin as well. You can’t spend the same dollar twice.
Christ had to accomplish both of these things. He had to be fully human to be able to pay the price for a human’s life, and he had to be perfect so that he didn’t have his own sin to pay for. Christ’s death acted as the final sacrifice. It fulfilled what all of the previous sacrifices were hinting at. No other sacrifices are needed, and no other sacrifices are accepted anymore. However, we still have to accept the sacrifice and what it means. You could think of it like his death creating a bank account with unlimited funds. Those funds are sufficient to pay the debts, to pay for the cost of sin, of every person who has lived and ever will live. However we have to make the withdrawal ourselves. If we do that, it permanently heals the spiritual rift between us and God instead of slapping a band aide on it like past sacrifices. We can still bruise that bond by sinning, but the bond will be there.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans 10:9-10
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13
About the Author:
Stephen Mayo lives in Montana with his wife, daughter, corgi, and three cats.
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