On Friday, March 14, 2008, I published a blog titled "Judas Died For Your Sins" as a controversial title to address the issue of Islam's belief that Judas somehow shape-shifted into Jesus and died in His place. Wacky, huh? Interestingly enough, someone (they posted as Anonymous) left a comment. I decided it was a great comment and wanted to turn the comment into a main blog title. So, here it is!This is the original comment, grammatical and capitalization errors and all: "If jesus was god in the flesh. How could he die ? to save humanity from the wrath of himself? just curious please comment back"
I'm not sure when the comment was made because the comment only had a time stamp and not a date stamp. I hope that I have answered in a timely fashion. I also pray that "anonymous" is truly desiring to learn the truth and not just attempting to play "stump-the-chump".
This question opens a huge can of theological worms and can, at first, seem very perplexing. It may even allow some Atheists (who typically pose questions like these) to think that they have caught the Bible in some sort of quagmire. I do not consider myself a theologian, although I have studied a great deal.
For me, this question easily falls into a category with many supernatural, mind-blowing situations like:
- Genesis 1:26 - God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." WHAT?
- The virgin birth - How was God in the flesh in Mary's womb and still on the throne? Um, wait...how is a virgin birth even possible. HUH!?!
- Jesus' baptism - How was the Son baptized, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and God says from above, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased?" Yikes!
- Jesus' resurrection - Paul said that the Father would raise Jesus. Jesus said that He would raise his own body and Paul later says that through the Holy Spirit, God raised up Christ from the dead. But then Paul really says something unusual in Acts 17:30-31, when he proclaims that God raised Christ from the dead.
I'm not dodging the question here, but simply laying the groundwork to answer the question the best way my theologically incompetent mind can answer it. Do you notice what all of the above bullet points allude to? Yes, the doctrine of the Trinity. A word never mentioned in the Bible, but pointed out over and over again in the Scriptures. A doctrine that many would say is fundamental and deem a necissity in order to lay claim to true Christianity.
The Trinity is still a great mystery to me (and to anyone else who's honest) and I must admit that it is hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept. However, that doesn't change the fact that the Bible clearly supports it...even if I can't wrap it up in a nice comprehensive package and put a "logical bow" on top.
To get back to the focus of the original question, yes, Jesus did in fact die on the cross. He did not simply faint, but he actually died. Jesus was 100% man and 100% human. This is sometimes referred to by many theologians as the "hypostatic union". NOTE: The table provided at the link provides the Scriptures to validate both the human and divine nature of Jesus so that you see that this is not simply based upon opinion, but upon Scripture.
My simple answer is that Jesus, in human form died, but his divinity did not. God is immutable (absolute and unchangeable) and omnipresent (everywhere present). I think it all ties back to the Trinity and the human and divine nature of Jesus.
Here's a paragraph taken from the CARM website:
"It is true that God cannot die. It is also true that man can die. But we see that Jesus has two natures, not one. It was the human part of Jesus that died on the cross, not the divine. But, because He is both God and man in one person, and because He was sinless, His sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of the world." (source)
I hope that my attempt to answer the question was sufficient, but pray that you examine the Scriptures and then examine yourself. Are you a good person? Thanks for giving me the opportunity to provide an answer!
