True or False — “Christ Died for My Sins”

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

True enough, but what does it mean? Why did it have to happen? How does it work?

The early church fathers believed in the  Ransom Theory of salvation. Christ had to die to pay the penalty owed Satan because of our sin. In the first century, it was common to “redeem” someone from a death penalty by buying back his/her life, so this model made sense. We have all been sentenced to death but, in the words of the gospel song, “Jesus paid it all.”

Anselm (1033-1109), a Benedictine monk and archbishop of Canterbury, got Satan out of the picture by proposing that Jesus’ death satisfied God’s own need for justice. His theory came to be called the Satisfaction Theory. It was consistent with the system of feudalism, in which the lord of the estate had to be paid (satisfied)  for any damage to the estate. Without this law, feudalism would have collapsed. So the model made sense in feudal times. And it is the model by which a large chunk of Christianity operates today.

But there were still questions about how salvation actually work. For example, did the divine part of Jesus die, or just the human part? (The early fathers said, only the human part.)

Modern theologians have suggested that this kind of “divine infanticide” (God murdering his own Son) is counter to the nature of God. While there are plenty of examples of an angry, vengeful God in the Hebrew scriptures, Jesus suggests a different God — God is “daddy,” a loving father. The Gospel of John says God is Love itself.

If the Satisfaction Theory no longer satisfies, does Jesus’ crucifixion have any other meaning for modern Christians?

 Jesus gives us an answer, if we look with open hearts. He never said, “worship me” or, “thank me for what I did for you.” What he did say, many times, was, “take up your cross, and follow me.”

In other words, the Way of the Cross needs to be our way if we are to enter the process of spiritual transformation. (John Wesley called it sanctification, or “moving towards perfection.”)

The Way of the Cross is, for me, the same thing as spiritual transformation. Wesley suggests the following pathways for transformation (He called them the “means of grace.”): worship, the sacraments, prayer, service to others (especially the poor) bible study and meeting with others for mutual encouragement (He called this “holy conversation.”)

So for me “Jesus died for my sins” became, “Take up your cross. My yolk is easy and my burden is light.” I can attest to this: the Way of the Cross includes suffering as we confront our own egos. But the Way of the Cross is a way of freedom and wholeness, and even lightness of being.