Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God just forgive?
Question 7099
This question gets to the heart of the Gospel. If God is all-powerful and merciful, why couldn’t He simply forgive our sins without requiring the death of His Son? Couldn’t an omnipotent God just declare us forgiven and be done with it? The cross seems so brutal, so extreme. Was it really necessary? Understanding why Jesus had to die reveals both the seriousness of our sin and the wonder of God’s love.
The Nature of God’s Forgiveness
The question assumes that forgiveness is a simple matter of overlooking an offense. In human relationships, we sometimes do this. Someone wrongs us, and we choose to let it go. No payment is required. We absorb the cost and move on. Why couldn’t God do the same?
The answer lies in who God is. God is not merely powerful; He is holy, righteous and just. His holiness means He is utterly separate from sin and cannot tolerate it in His presence. His righteousness means He always does what is right according to His perfect standard. His justice means He cannot simply ignore wrongdoing as if it did not matter. To do so would make Him unjust, and an unjust God would not be God at all.
Scripture is clear: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). These are not arbitrary rules that God could have made differently. They flow from His very nature. Sin is an offense against the infinite God, and therefore it demands an infinite penalty. That penalty is death, not merely physical but spiritual, eternal separation from God.
The Problem with “Just Forgive”
Imagine a judge whose daughter is murdered. The murderer is brought before him. The evidence is overwhelming. The judge looks at the murderer and says, “I forgive you. You are free to go.” Would we call that judge good? Would we say he had done what was right? Of course not. We would be outraged. Justice would have been trampled. The victim’s death would have been treated as worthless.
Now magnify this infinitely. Every sin is ultimately against God. David, after committing adultery and murder, confessed: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). Sin is cosmic treason against the Creator of the universe. If God simply overlooked it, He would be denying His own justice. He would be saying that sin does not really matter, that His holiness is not really offended, that His law is not really binding. He would cease to be God.
As your Soteriology notes put it: “Every part of God’s character has to be satisfied with you.” God’s love wants to save us. But God’s justice demands that sin be punished. God’s holiness cannot tolerate evil. God’s righteousness requires that right be done. If any attribute of God is compromised, God is no longer perfectly God. The cross is where all of God’s attributes meet in perfect harmony.
The Barrier Between God and Man
Your notes describe six barriers between God and humanity: sin, the penalty of sin, physical birth (spiritual death), God’s character, man’s good deeds (which are filthy rags), and temporal life. Not one of these could be overcome by humanity. We could not remove our own sin. We could not pay our own penalty. We could not regenerate our own spirits. We could not satisfy God’s character. Our best efforts are worthless. And we certainly could not give ourselves eternal life.
God could not simply declare these barriers non-existent. Sin is real. Death is real. Our spiritual condition is real. God cannot lie. He cannot say something is when it is not. For God to “just forgive” without dealing with these realities would be for God to deny reality, to live in pretence. But God is truth. He deals with things as they actually are.
The Genius of the Cross
The cross is God’s answer to an impossible problem. How can God be just and yet justify sinners? How can He punish sin and yet pardon sinners? How can He uphold His law and yet show mercy to law-breakers?
Romans 3:25-26 explains: God put Jesus forward “as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
At the cross, God’s justice was fully satisfied. The penalty for sin was paid in full. Death came. Wrath was poured out. The law’s demands were met. But they were met by a substitute. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, took our place. He bore our sins in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). He became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This is why Jesus had to be both God and man. Only a man could represent humanity. Only God could bear infinite wrath. Only the God-man could stand in our place, take what we deserved, and offer us what He deserved. As your notes explain regarding the virgin birth: “Sin nature comes through the Father. Jesus had to be born without a human father otherwise he would have had a sin nature.” He had to be sinless to be our substitute. He had to be divine for His sacrifice to have infinite value.
Why Blood?
The shedding of blood strikes modern ears as primitive and violent. But blood represents life (Leviticus 17:11). The penalty for sin is death, and death involves the outpouring of life. When Jesus shed His blood, He was giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He was paying the price that we owed but could never pay.
The entire Old Testament sacrificial system pointed forward to this. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, and God killed animals to clothe them (Genesis 3:21), the principle was established: sin requires death. The blood of bulls and goats could never actually take away sin (Hebrews 10:4), but they pointed to the One whose blood could and would. Every Passover lamb, every Day of Atonement sacrifice, every guilt offering was a signpost pointing to Calvary.
Love and Justice Meet
The cross does not show God’s love at the expense of His justice or His justice at the expense of His love. It shows both in their fullest expression. God’s justice is fully satisfied because sin is fully punished. God’s love is fully displayed because He Himself bears that punishment in our place.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He did not wait for us to clean ourselves up. He did not offer forgiveness on the condition that we first make ourselves worthy. He came to us in our sin, took our sin upon Himself, and paid its penalty so that we might be forgiven.
John 3:16 puts it simply: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The giving of the Son was the expression of the love. The cross was not God taking out His anger on an innocent third party. The Son willingly gave Himself. The Father and Son acted together in perfect unity. God did not send someone else to pay; He came Himself.
Conclusion
God could not “just forgive” because that would violate His justice, deny His holiness, and make a mockery of His law. But God could, and did, provide a way for sin to be fully punished and sinners to be fully forgiven. That way is the cross. Jesus died because sin demands death. Jesus died in our place because we could never pay our own debt. Jesus died and rose again because He is the eternal God who swallowed up death in victory.
The cross is not Plan B. It was planned from eternity (Revelation 13:8). It is not a grudging concession but the glorious display of God’s wisdom and love. Far from being an obstacle to forgiveness, the cross is the only possible ground for forgiveness. And because Jesus paid it all, we can receive it all by simple faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
Bibliography
- Stott, John R.W. The Cross of Christ. IVP, 1986.
- Morris, Leon. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. Eerdmans, 1965.
- Packer, J.I. Knowing God. IVP, 1973.
- Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Victor Books, 1986.
- Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology, Vol. 3. Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.
- MacArthur, John. The Gospel According to Jesus. Zondervan, 1988.
- Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things Which Become Sound Doctrine. Kregel, 1965.
- Murray, John. Redemption Accomplished and Applied. Eerdmans, 1955.
