Sacrifice

[MMA2010]

Good afternoon all,

I have a question that I was stumped on.

In Christianity Jesus is God. The second person according to most Christians.

How was the crucifixtion a sacrifice? I was stumped because a man can not make up for the sins of mankind. Additionally, God can not die so how was it a sacrifice.

Jusus was crucified, died and rose again. Since he came back and told everyone he would rise again how was this a sacrifice??

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I had the question posed to me and I was stumped. Thanks and have a great day.

Tony

 

[bona_fides_1]

Good afternoon all,

I have a question that I was stumped on.

In Christianity Jesus is God. The second person according to most Christians.

How was the crucifixtion a sacrifice? I was stumped because a man can not make up for the sins of mankind. Additionally, God can not die so how was it a sacrifice.

Jusus was crucified, died and rose again. Since he came back and told everyone he would rise again how was this a sacrifice??

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I had the question posed to me and I was stumped. Thanks and have a great day.

Tony

Recall the story of Abraham who was asked to sacrifice his son Issac. It is the same concept - laying down one’s life for God even when one loves that life so well. God gives life and it is the most that any person can give since it is our greatest gift that we possess.

Jesus was true God and true man. While it is true that God can not die, that is, Jesus could not die in his Divinity, it is also true that Jesus could die in his humanity. Since He was sinless His sacrifice was the most pure and holy. And because He is the Son of God who is supernaturally loved and is Divine then the sacrifice has eternal merit that far exceeds anything an ordinary sinful man could give to God. It is because God became flesh and choose to lower himself to our estate and suffer fully (in fact perfectly) without drawing upon His divinity to save Himself from that severe pain and agony that the merit is infinitely pleasing to God the Father. It’s unthinkable that God would suffer for a created creature as He did - yet He did so to demonstrate His love for His creatures.

How is it a sacrifice when He told us He would rise again? I don’t see how you would not think it was not given that the passion was severe and took a lot of courage. Jesus was true man and had to deal with all his own doubts and fears as a man. On the cross He said “my God my God why did you forsake me!”. God never departed from Him but God let Him suffer fully as a man and have all the same emotions any man would have.Just because Jesus had the faith that He would rise again does not mean that he did not suffer severe anxieties about what He had to endure as any man would. In fact Jesus asked God if possible if He would not have to suffer on the cross - but God elected to let him suffer and die.

Hope this helps some,
BF

 

[Scoobyshme]

We get into problems when we try to separate Christ’s humanity and His divinity. He was both 100% human and 100% divine, at the same time, in the one person.

In the first 500 years of the Church, the general theme of heresies that arose were christological heresies. Who was Christ? What was His nature, etc. Each time, the Church formalized the doctrines that defined the truth of these matters.

Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, is one person with two natures: one human, one divine. Since He had two natures, he had two wills, one human and one Divine.

From a logical standpoint, it all makes sense. How? When Adam and Eve sinned and were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, they were finite creatures sinning against an infinite God. They, therefore, commited an infinite sin. A finite creature, however, cannot atone for an infinite sin. Therefore, only an infinite creature (God) can atone for an infinite sin. Hence, Jesus Christ. Yet, in order to have the link back to the human, Jesus, Who was God for all eternity anyway, took on a human nature, fuzed with His Divine nature. Then, the requirements of justice were met. An infinite sin created by a finite creature could be atoned for, at least vicariously, by a Creature (Jesus) who was BOTH human and divine.

 

[MMA2010]

Peace and thanks for the helpful feedback. You Rock!! Have a great day.

Tony