Christ died for us

In Romans 5:8, the Apostle Paul wrote: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

How we understand the little word "for" in Bible passages like this makes a huge difference. Does "for" mean "on our behalf" or "in our place"? If all that it means is "on our behalf" then we might be mistaken about the significance of Christ's death in relation to our eternal well-being. In other words, just because someone dies on our behalf doesn't mean they took our place and became our legal substitute. A courageous scientist, for example, might die conducting an experiment on something that would save lives if it works without being thought as having died in anyone's place.

It's another story to say that someone died "in the place" of others; that is, as their substitute. Still, in the case, of Jesus, this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans 5:8: "Christ died for us."

Realizing that Paul meant to indicate that Jesus died as our substitute raises a couple of other interesting questions. If God says that everyone is under the sentence of death because of sin, how could the death of one person serve as substitution for all? Keep in mind that the penalty of sin is eternal death. So how could the death of someone for three days be equal to eternal death for even one other person, much less equal to the eternal deaths of multitudes of people?

It's true that the death God demands as a penalty for sin is eternal death. It's also true that Jesus' death lasted only for three days. So what gives?

First, the most important thing to remember about eternal death is not related to how long someone stays dead. Rather, eternal death is a kind of death, a quality of death, if you please. The Bible refers to three types of death: physical, spiritual, and eternal. All three types involve some kind of separation. Spiritual death is separation from responsiveness to God prior to salvation. Physical death is separation of the immaterial being from the material body. Eternal death is separation of the whole person from God.

Jesus' died physically, but he also suffered eternal death. In other words, Jesus experienced separation of the whole person from the Father. Remember some of his last words on the Cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

The reason Jesus' experience for a short period of time could be equivalent to what was demanded as payment for us, separation from God for eternity, is because Jesus was and is an infinite, eternal person. In other words, the significance of Jesus' death was not bound by time.

Similarly, the death of Jesus also was not bound by limits on the number of people he could die for. An infinite eternal death has no limits on the amount of sin for which it can atone. The only stipulation biblically is that a person must place faith in Christ in order to have him wash their sins away. Theologians sometimes express all this thought by saying: The death of Christ is sufficient for all, but efficient only for those who believe.

On Good Friday, our thoughts naturally turn to the death of our Savior for us. Here's what Peter wrote about this very subject: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."

May the One Who laid down his life for us be uppermost in our hearts and minds on this special day!