Clarification on the meaning of the Crucifixion!

[dizzy_dave]

I’m not sure I understand Jesus dying on the cross for us? He died for our sins, so why do we all still sin? , why then do we still need to be baptized? , So if we must still be Baptized, believe in Jesus and die mortal sin free to get to heaven how does Jesus dying on the cross fit into all this?

 

[Todd_Easton]

Maybe this analogy will help…
Before the Fall, mankind enjoyed an intimate union with God. Original Sin created a gulf between us and God. By being obedient onto death, Jesus created a bridge over this gulf so that we can once again be united with God. Believing in Jesus and being baptized are the means by which we access this bridge. Remaining in a state of grace is how we stay on the bridge until we finally cross over at our death and get to see God face-to-face.

 

[RobedWithLight]

dizzy_dave:

I’m not sure I understand Jesus dying on the cross for us? He died for our sins, so why do we all still sin? , why then do we still need to be baptized? , So if we must still be Baptized, believe in Jesus and die mortal sin free to get to heaven how does Jesus dying on the cross fit into all this?

The crucifixion did **not **mean man would no longer sin, but rather it provided man with a way of overcoming sin in order to reconcile himself with God, which no mere man, before the birth of Christ on earth, no matter how virtuous could do.

We are baptized because Jesus commanded it before his ascension to heaven, because all were stained by the Fall of our first parents, and needed to be cleansed of the impurity of original sin through its saving waters and mark the beginning of a new life. As Tertullian once said referring to baptism:

** “Isn’t it wonderful that sin and death is washed away by bathing”**

Yet salvation does not end with baptism. Men, being imperfect, could still be tempted, and fall. It is still up to man himself to heed Christ’s message and be redeemed, or choose the path towards his own destruction. Ultimately, It boils down to a question of free will.

The Crucufuxion offered us the right path. Yet it is still men who must decide if it is the path where he would walk.

Gerry