Jesus’ early followers describe his death with different emphases and nuances. If you gather a list, you’ll notice a diversity of summary statements (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 5:6-8; 1 John 2:1-2; Heb. 2:9), and you will also notice the use of a common phrase in all of these biblical passages, “Jesus died for us.”

That seems simple enough, but it can still leave us to wonder, “For us, how?”

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In the New Testament, the phrase “for us” employs one of two Greek words. The first, huper (ὑπὲρ), is generally translated with the English word “for.” But huper can convey several nuances of meaning, including “for the benefit of,” “in place of/instead of,” “as a representative of,” or “because of, for the reason of.”

The New Testament authors also use the Greek word peri (περὶ) to say “for.” And peri also conveys multiple meanings, such as “for, around, about,” “the reason of,” “on account of,” “concerning,” and “in regard to.”

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When these writers say that Jesus died for us by using one of these two Greek words, do they mean that Jesus died for the benefit of human beings? Or that he died in the place of humans, which suggests that he died as a substitute? Or are they saying that he died because of human beings—because of what we have done or what we did to him? Or is it because of his love for humans? Is it possibly all of the above? Perhaps he died for us in all of these ways and a whole lot more.

The Apostle Paul helps to narrow our focus when he says in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins, “according to the Scriptures.” He’s referring to a biblical backstory. And because the collected New Testament didn’t exist in Paul’s day (it was in the process of being written), we know he’s talking about the Hebrew Scriptures.

Let’s look at a few key moments in the biblical story that help us see how Jesus died “according to the Scriptures,” starting with the Eden story and its foundational description of human death. We will have a hard time understanding Jesus’ death if we don’t think about why we ourselves die.

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY