If Jesus had not been crucified

[HomeschoolDad]

This is as purely hypothetical as hypothetical gets…

Let’s say that Jesus had never been crucified. Would He have lived out a normal human life span and died naturally of old age? And if He had, would this experiencing mortal death have been sufficient to redeem us?

To anticipate the most obvious objection, if He had never been crucified, the Scriptures that describe the suffering of the Redeemer would not have been fulfilled.

 

[EloyCraft]

He would have ended His earthly life by being translated body and soul to eternal life in Heaven.

 

[Dougbro1]

I must say it’s hard to answer a hypothetical question like this if we’re thinking of a situation where Jesus did not do the most important thing He came to do.

 

[De_Maria]

This is as purely hypothetical as hypothetical gets…

Let’s say that Jesus had never been crucified.

If Jesus had never been crucified, that means two things,

a. The Jews recognized that He is divine.
b. The Gentiles also recognized His divinity.

Ipso facto, the entire world would begin to worship Jesus Christ. Whether He would have a Church to communicate His Teachings, is debatable since the current Jewish authorities would have accepted His Teachings and could therefore continue to Teach His Word, but
this time, infallibly. Of course, Gentiles would now be accepted in the ministry.

Another thing, the Jews who had sinned in the Old Testament era, would have to be released from the Limbo of the Fathers. So, He would have laid His life down, without any violence, like the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and “descended to the dead” in order to lead them into Heaven.

As a Priest in the line of Melchizedek, He would have re-established the Toda Sacrifice but this time with an efficacious dispensing of Sanctifying grace. Whether the other Sacraments would be identical to those we have now, is a good question.

Would He have lived out a normal human life span and died naturally of old age?

What is a “normal” human life span?

And if He had, would this experiencing mortal death have been sufficient to redeem us?

As the Saints have said, “even a drop of His blood is sufficient to redeem the entire world.”

To anticipate the most obvious objection, if He had never been crucified, the Scriptures that describe the suffering of the Redeemer would not have been fulfilled.

Prophecy is of a nature which can be discerned from the events of Jonah’s announcement to Nineveh. The Jews and Gentiles were like the Ninevites. If they had responded to Jesus’ visitation the way that the Ninevites had responded to Jonah’s warnings, their end would have been much different.

Luke 19:43 For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. 44 They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Would He have lived out a normal human life span and died naturally of old age?

I had in mind 70-90 years, maybe more in that Jesus had a perfectly idealized human body. Maybe a lifespan more like the Old Testament figures (500-1000 years), which would underscore that he was no mere man? Imagine Jesus being alive through the time of Constantine and Charlemagne!

 

[De_Maria]

That’s possible. But I think He wanted to get the OT Saints into heaven, toot sweet! Of course, He probably did not need to die to do so. But that is what is revealed.

 

[Wesrock]

I know it’s just a fun hypothetical, but I can’t keep from my mind that God eternally planned our redemption through the crucifixion and resurrection, and all of salvation is written around that. And it’s not something that could have failed to happen. The only way it wouldn’t have happened is if God’s eternal plan was something else instead, which also seems to mean different stuff “in between” the beginning and when our redemption occurred.

 

[De_Maria]

I know it’s just a fun hypothetical, but I can’t keep from my mind that God eternally planned our redemption through the crucifixion and resurrection, and all of salvation is written around that. And it’s not something that could have failed to happen. The only way it wouldn’t have happened is if God’s eternal plan was something else instead, which also seems to mean different stuff “in between” the beginning and when our redemption occurred.

I can’t believe that. That would mean that it was God’s eternal plan that Adam would commit sin. If that’s the case, then we might as well be Calvinists.

 

[BartholomewB]

This is the subject of a “what if?” novel published in the sixties, in which Pilate, at the crucial moment, realizes that Jesus is innocent of the charges against him and acquits him. How does the story end? Well, that would be a spoiler.
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripboo...ch-Books-Submit.y=4&unfiltered=1&ref=sr_adv_b

 

[mythbuster1]

If He had not been crucified, it would not have been prophesied that He would be.

 

[Wm777]

This is as purely hypothetical as hypothetical gets…

Let’s say that Jesus had never been crucified. Would He have lived out a normal human life span and died naturally of old age? And if He had, would this experiencing mortal death have been sufficient to redeem us?

To anticipate the most obvious objection, if He had never been crucified, the Scriptures that describe the suffering of the Redeemer would not have been fulfilled.

Not sure, but he probably wouldn’t have gone into politics…

 

[Wm777]

It seems easier to speculate on things he wouldn’t have done…

 

[Vico]

This is as purely hypothetical as hypothetical gets…

Let’s say that Jesus had never been crucified. Would He have lived out a normal human life span and died naturally of old age? And if He had, would this experiencing mortal death have been sufficient to redeem us?

To anticipate the most obvious objection, if He had never been crucified, the Scriptures that describe the suffering of the Redeemer would not have been fulfilled.

Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life.

How would those that love their father the devil tolerate the truth brought by the Word, other than to kill the bearer?

 

[HomeschoolDad]

He was never going to live a life and just be assumed into heaven and if he did there would have been no atonement for our sins and we would still be chained to the old law and gentiles never would have gotten to come to know the Gospel.

As I said, would the mere fact of Our Lord dying of natural causes at the end of a long life have been enough to redeem us? At the very least you could say that God suffered death, which He would not have had to do, if we had not sinned against Him. Then, it might be possible that Christ would have gone down into hell to release the virtuous souls that were there, then returned to His Body to ascend body and soul into heaven. But then there would be no resurrection — or would there? Christ could have said “I have conquered death and opened heaven to the souls of men, and now I return to My Father”.

Again, it’s all hypothetical — it didn’t happen that way, and it was prophesied to happen in exactly the way it did.

 

[EloyCraft]

I believe that Jesus is the only human who had a life to give. We are all going to die anyway due to our fallen state. We can only decide when if we are on the road to martyrdom. For Jesus it was whether or not to die. This is part of His agony in the Garden and part of the reason He could ask His Father for an alternative.

 

[Ccarnahan]

Then you would not be saved. Everyone that died would be in Sheol. America would have faced the same end as Sodom and Gemoa. He would not have died for death came to us via original sin. At best God would have had Him to return to heaven. But actually he would never have been born as the only reason He was born was to redeem mankind.

 

[BartholomewB]

there would have been no atonement for our sins

Exactly. With all that that entails.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

there would have been no atonement for our sins

There would have been no atonement until Jesus had actually died, assuming He did eventually die. It’s entirely possible that He would never have died, in that He was the perfect man, over Whom sin had no power, and that He would still be with us in the flesh today. (In the Eucharist, for that matter, He still is.)

Again, it’s a hypothetical. The fact is that He did die, in the most painful manner possible, and thus atoned for our sins.