The Teaching of Paul on the Death of Christ

Another major strand of New Testament teaching — one that Paul closely connects with his central doctrine of justification by faith — now calls for our attention. This teaching helps address a serious moral problem: how God can pardon guilty people while remaining righteous. Both Christ and His apostles proclaim forgiveness, but Paul presses us to see how this forgiveness is grounded in something much deeper.

After announcing in Romans 3:21–22 a “righteousness … through faith in Christ for all who believe,” Paul continues in verse 24 by saying that believers are “justified … through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” He immediately expands on this idea of redemption by adding that God put Christ forward “as a propitiation through faith, in His blood.” These words clearly highlight the violent death of Christ as a central element of the redemption accomplished in Him.
Paul explains the ultimate purpose of this act: it served as a demonstration of God’s righteousness, so that God might remain righteous while also justifying those who have faith in Jesus. In short, God gave Christ over to death in order to bring human justification into harmony with His own righteous character.

The same emphasis appears powerfully again in Romans 5:6–10, where the death of Christ becomes both the foundation of Paul’s argument and the basis of Christian hope. Christ, Paul says, died for the ungodly and on our behalf. We are justified by His blood and reconciled to God through the death of His Son. In Romans 6, Paul pushes the point further: those baptized into Christ are baptized into His death, and their “old self” is crucified with Him. He also refers again to Christ’s death in chapters 8, 14, and 15. All of this shows that the crucifixion is not an incidental detail, but a vital link in the chain of salvation.

Paul makes the same point in 1 Corinthians. He says he deliberately avoids polished rhetoric so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its power. The gospel itself is described as “the word of the cross,” and Paul openly proclaims “Christ crucified,” resolving to know nothing else. When he calls Christ “our Passover” who has been sacrificed, he compares Christ’s death to the paschal lamb whose death saved the firstborn.

Paul’s reference to a “sharing in the blood of Christ” unmistakably means that believers participate in the benefits earned through that blood. The same phrase, taken negatively, could describe those who took part in Christ’s execution. Paul also recalls Jesus’ own words at the Last Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.” These words clearly point to a new divine commitment to humanity — one that is inseparable from Christ’s impending violent death.

In Galatians 3:13, Paul writes that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse on our behalf — a statement explained by the curse associated with crucifixion itself. Later in the same letter, Paul notes that false teachers attempt to avoid persecution connected with preaching the cross, showing just how controversial teaching about Christ’s death had become. Paul, by contrast, declares that through the cross he has died to the world and the world to him. Once again, the death of Christ is presented as a genuine means of salvation.

The same pattern appears in Ephesians and Colossians. We have redemption and forgiveness through Christ’s blood; we are brought near by His blood; Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to God through the cross. Peace is made through the blood of Christ’s cross, believers are reconciled through His death, and the legal claims against them are abolished by being nailed to the cross.

Paul reinforces the point by repeatedly stating that Christ was “given up” or “gave Himself up” for the salvation of humanity. These phrases clearly refer to Christ’s surrender to death by both the Father and the Son. As Paul bluntly argues, if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ’s death would have been pointless — which it was not.

All of this makes one conclusion unavoidable: human salvation comes through the death of Christ. This belief dominates Paul’s thinking and teaching. Any explanation of early Christianity that ignores this central feature of Paul’s message fails to account for the teachings of Christianity’s most influential early preacher.

Paul is equally clear that Christ’s death was not an accident or a tragedy that simply produced good results afterward. It was a deliberate act, freely undertaken by Christ and willed by God. Christ died “on behalf of” others — that is, for their benefit. Paul explicitly says that Christ died and lived again for the purpose of becoming Lord of both the dead and the living. Christ died so that those who live might no longer live for themselves. He gave Himself to rescue humanity, to sanctify the Church, and to redeem people from lawlessness. This intentional purpose sets Christ’s death apart from even the most noble martyrdom.

Paul also teaches that God Himself intended this outcome. God “set forth” Christ in His blood and “gave Him up” for us all. The cross, then, stands at the center of God’s saving plan.

This raises a crucial question: why was such a costly method necessary? Why could God not save humanity without the death of Christ? The answer is implied in the sacrifice itself. Had a less costly way been possible, God would not have given His Son to die. The magnitude of the sacrifice points directly to the depth of the necessity behind it.

Paul’s answer is clear: the need arose from human sin. Christ was given up because of our trespasses; He died for our sins; He gave Himself for our sins. Human sin made justification by works impossible and made necessary a justification through faith grounded in Christ’s death.

This need requires further examination. But even at this point, we can say with confidence that Paul taught three essential truths: 

• salvation comes through the death of Christ; 
• Christ freely and deliberately laid down His life in accordance with God’s will; and 
• the necessity for this great sacrifice lay squarely in the reality of human sin.

 

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This post is based upon Lecture XVI from J. A. Beet's book Through Christ to God: A Study in Scientific Theology (1893), re-written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original text may be found at the Internet Archive here: Through Christ to God.