What Did Jesus’ Death Accomplish?

Tim Davis

What problem does the cross solve? 

Remember those w.w.j.d bracelets? “What would Jesus do?” It’s a great question. It’s a reminder to look at Jesus’ life and sacrificial death as an example to follow. Jesus gave himself sacrificially for the sake of others. So let’s follow his lead.

However, the cross is much more than an example to follow. In fact, if we stop there, we suppose “that a sincere suicide was God’s answer to the evils of this world.”[1]

So let’s turn to the New Testament. How did the early Jesus community talk about Jesus’ death upon the cross? We’ll consider two ways. 

THE VICTORY OF CHRIST

First, Jesus’ death on the cross demonstrated his victory over dark cosmic powers. Jesus definitively defeated death, sin and the devil.

For examples, the gospels depict Jesus’ ministry as a battle against Satan. In fact, Jesus doesn’t begin his ministry before resisting the devil’s tests in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13). On another occasion, Jesus sent out 72 followers into nearby cities. They returned amazed that demons were subject to Jesus’ name. Jesus went on to say, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Lk. 10:18). 

What’s more, the Apostle Paul portrays Jesus as a “Cosmic Messiah”. In Colossians 2:15, he writes, “He [Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Moreover, Paul wraps up his letter to the Corinthians with these words, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?... Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

Jesus allowed the dark powers to do their worst to him. By doing so—and subsequently by rising from death—he defeated the powers upon the cross.

This is the victory of Christ.

PENAL SUBSTITUTION

As wonderful as our previous meditation is, it leaves us wondering, “how”… how does Jesus’ death not only defeat the dark powers but also cancel our sin?

This question leads us to another way our New Testament writers talk about Jesus’ work on the cross—namely, penal substitution.  

Let’s begin by defining our terms. The word “penal” refers to prescribing punishment against offenders. “Substitution” implies that Jesus stood in our place. Put both of these words together…

Penal substitution means that Jesus’ death on the cross was a voluntary act of self-sacrifice—he stood in our place (as our representative) taking the punishment for sin that we committed. 

Let’s look at some texts. 

For starters, Jesus’ death is presented in line with the Old Testament sacrificial system. This is why, for example, Jesus refers to the “blood of the covenant” in Matthew 28:28. Along similar lines, the Apostle Paul writes that Jesus “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Rom. 3:25). Most explicitly, Paul links Jesus’ sacrificial death to the Passover celebration (1 Cor. 5:7). 

Next, our New Testament writers make it clear that Jesus took divine judgment upon himself in our place. Here are three texts. In Romans 8:3, Paul writes, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” Elsewhere, Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). Lastly, Peter writes, “He [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24). 

WORSHIP: THE PROPER RESPONSE

Imagine following Jesus in the first century under Roman rule. 

Their worship set them apart. Ceasar was Lord, right? No. Jesus was (and still is) Lord over the cosmos. And how did he achieve this? Answer: through death. Can you imagine how perplexing this would have been for the neighbors of the early church? 

What a remarkable thing to celebrate. Jesus defeated the dark powers by standing in our place. Therefore…

“God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9).   

Amen and amen.