Dying for or instead

Tragically, the simple words “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8) have been grossly misunderstood as meaning that Christ died instead of us.

There are a number of connections between Romans 5 and 1 Cor. 15 (e.g. v. 12 = 1 Cor. 15:21; v. 17 = 1 Cor. 15:22). “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8) is matched by “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). His death was in order to make a way whereby we can gain forgiveness of our sins; it was in this sense that “Christ died for us”. The word “for” does not necessarily mean ‘instead of’; Christ died “for our sins”, not ‘instead of’ them. Because of this, Christ can “make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25) – not ‘instead of’ us. Neither does “for” mean ‘instead of’ in Heb. 10:12 and Gal. 1:4.

Jesus is Our Representative Not Our Substitute

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X5DZ9PbMMVE

– Peter Foster

+++

Related articles

• Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
• Let Us Rejoice
• Position Yourself to Receive from God
• Your Cursed Curses Are Useless
• Each gift is given by the Holy Spirit
• Diana’s Testimony
• Justification – salvation is by grace through faith – JI Packer
• Faith itself not the cause of justification – Louis Berkhof
• Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
• How exactly does Jesus pay for our sins? (if he is not God)