Other New Testament Teaching on the Death of Christ

Now that we’ve looked at what Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews say about the death of Christ, it’s time to compare that with what Christ Himself says about His death in the four Gospels.

One of the most striking moments in the Synoptic Gospels appears in the account found in Matthew 16:13–28, Mark 8:27–9:1, and Luke 9:18–27. Jesus takes His disciples away from the busy centers of life — to the remote regions near Hermon — so He can share deeper truths with them. But before introducing anything new, He checks what they’ve already understood. He asks, “ Whom do men say that I am?” Peter speaks for the group: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Immediately after this, Jesus begins to reveal something new and profound. He tells them that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise again on the third day. And He adds that anyone who wants to follow Him must take up their own cross and follow Him.

This is a remarkable moment. Here is a young man, at the height of His strength, openly predicting His own violent death — and not trying to avoid it. In fact, He is deliberately heading toward it. He leaves Galilee, where He has support, and goes straight to Jerusalem, where He knows His enemies are strongest. When He had told His disciples earlier to flee persecution, He clearly did not intend that rule to apply to Himself. Instead, He insists, “He must needs go away to Jerusalem . . . and be killed.”

This insistence can’t be explained simply by foresight. If He wanted to avoid death, He could have stayed away. But He chooses to go. That means His death is not accidental — it is deliberate. And just as importantly, He consistently connects His death with resurrection. Taken together, this shows that both His death and His resurrection are part of a purposeful plan leading to something beyond them.

This teaching isn’t mentioned just once — it’s repeated again and again. In multiple places (Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9; Matthew 20; Mark 10; Luke 18), Jesus predicts His suffering, death, and resurrection. The repetition makes it impossible to miss: His death is central to His mission. What makes this even more striking is that, at that stage, there was no overwhelming external pressure forcing Him into it. Yet He speaks as if His death is inevitable.

Jesus also makes His purpose explicit when He says that the Son of Man came “...to give His life a ransom for many.” The idea of a ransom implies substitution — one life given in place of others. The language He uses is very strong: one life standing in for many. In this, we hear the same core idea that appears in Paul’s teaching — that Christ dies on behalf of humanity.

Another key moment comes during the Last Supper. In all the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus connects the bread and the cup to His coming death. He says, “This is My blood which is being shed on behalf of many, for forgiveness of sins ” and, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood.” These words clearly show that He understands His death as bringing forgiveness and establishing a new relationship between God and humanity.

What’s especially striking is that Jesus establishes a memorial meal before His death, fully aware of what is about to happen. Instead of avoiding danger, He walks straight into it. That tells us His death is not just something He expects—it is something He intends, for a specific and meaningful purpose.

Even the cry from the cross — “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” — points in the same direction. These are words of deep suffering, and we must be cautious in interpreting them. Still, they suggest a moment of profound separation or burden. At the very moment when one might expect the closest union between God and a faithful servant, Jesus speaks of abandonment. This calls for explanation — and the explanation fits with the broader teaching of the New Testament: that He is bearing something not His own, the weight of human sin.

The Gospel of John reinforces these ideas in its own way. John the Baptist calls Jesus “the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world,” echoing the Passover lamb that died so others might live. Later, Jesus says, “the bread which I will give is My flesh on behalf of the life of the world.” The imagery suggests that His death is not incidental but necessary — forgiveness and purity for others comes through His giving Himself.

Similarly, Jesus says, “I lay down My life on behalf of the sheep. ... I lay down My life that I may take it again.” He compares Himself to a grain of wheat: “ except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone : but if it die it bears much fruit.” The meaning is clear — His death is the condition for growth, for the gathering of many others into life.

He also says, “and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to Myself,” referring specifically to the manner of His death. And He reminds His disciples that “greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life on behalf of his friends.”

Taken together, the Gospels consistently present Jesus’ death as purposeful, necessary, and central to His mission. While Paul explains this teaching in greater detail, its foundation clearly comes from Jesus Himself.

The same ideas appear elsewhere in the New Testament. In the First Epistle of John, we read that “ the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin,” and that Christ is “a sacrifice for our sins . . . and for all the world.” These statements closely parallel Paul’s teaching and show that different strands of early Christian thought share the same core belief.

The Book of Acts focuses more on the resurrection, but it still presents Jesus’ death as part of God’s plan. Peter declares that Jesus was “delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” making it clear that the crucifixion was not a tragic accident but a purposeful act.

First Peter also emphasizes that Christ’s death is a kind of redemption — “not with perishable things, silver or gold, were ye redeemed . . . but with precious blood,” and that “Christ once died for sins, a just one for unjust ones, in order that He might bring us to God.”

The Book of Revelation reinforces the same theme: Christ “loosed us from our sins in His own blood,” and through His death people are “ purchased . . . for God.” The imagery of the slain Lamb underscores the idea that His death is the means by which salvation is accomplished.

When we step back and look at the whole New Testament, the picture is remarkably consistent. Across different writers, styles, and contexts, the same central idea appears again and again: the death of Christ is the means of salvation. It is not secondary to His teaching or His life — it is central. It is deliberate. It is necessary. And the reason for this necessity lies in human sin.

Paul goes one step further by tying this need not only to human sin but also to the justice of God. He argues that God gave Christ to die so that He could remain just while still forgiving those who believe. This development grows naturally out of the shared belief that sin creates a real problem that must be dealt with — and that Christ’s death is the solution.

The strong agreement among all these writers points to a common source. These ideas don’t arise independently — they go back to Jesus Himself. The consistent testimony of the New Testament leads us to conclude that Jesus taught that forgiveness would come through His death, and that He willingly, deliberately gave His life for that purpose.

That conclusion now stands before us. The next step is to consider how this fact fits with what we know about God’s nature and the way God governs the world.

 

 

 

 

 

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This post is based upon Lecture XXI 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.