The Death Of Christ
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
The sacrifice of Christ consummated the great redemptive plan and purpose of God in the earth. Our redemption in Christ is not by example, moral influence, or ethical living, but by our Redeemer's blood and death. The death of Christ was necessary to satisfy divine justice. In Athanasius' book, On the Incarnation, his views are in harmony with Scripture, that it was essential for Christ to die a public death, in order that one might believe and be redeemed.
On page 51 of his book, Athanasius states the reason Christ had to die a public death. He says, "If He had died quietly in His bed like other men it would have looked as if He did so in accordance with His nature, and as though He was indeed no more than other men." Christ's death had to be public for this reason. If He was to die just like any other man, of a disease or something natural, one would not believe in His sovereignty as God. In Romans 5:10, Paul says "we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." God was angry at His people because of their sins, but the Mediator removed God's wrath by suffering unto death. Being that the penalty of sin is death, no degree of suffering would have been sufficient as atonement for the sins of His people without the actual death of the sacrifice. Our Lord came to be "Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death."
By His death on the cross Jesus destroyed the prince of darkness and death, the devil. Hebrews 2:14-15, says "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Christ had to die on the cross to remove Satan of his power. Athanasius states that "He assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in...
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