THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

Jesus Christ did not come into the world to die in order to save us; rather, he came to save us despite knowing we would persecute and kill him.

Traditional Christianity claims that “the Father sent Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins.” Paul uses empty words to downplay and even justify Jesus’ gruesome murder. He states that Jesus died for our sins “once for all” and describes his murder as the “ultimate and final blood sacrifice” mandated by Jehovah to present us holy, blameless, and irreproachable before him.” [Romans 6:10; Colossians 1:22] These claims are both misleading and factually incorrect.

Paul’s assertions suggest that those who murdered Jesus were ‘righteous murderers’ fulfilling the will of the Father. In contrast, Jesus Christ describes them as the gravest of criminals, saying, “[Although] the Son of man goes as it is written [predicted] of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” [Matthew 26:24]

Jesus Christ did not come into the world to die in order to save us; rather, he came to save us even though he knew we would persecute and kill him. It’s like arguing that a fireman entered a burning house to be burned in order to save the children trapped inside, rather than saying he went in to save the children, even though he knew he could be burned. The fireman was burned in the burning house because that’s what fire does. In the same way, we murdered Jesus, our loving heavenly Messiah, because we are evil spirits dwelling in the sinful world of murderers.

The Father did not send his Son into the world to be molested and killed; rather, he sent him to save and grant us spiritual rebirth. The Bible clearly states, “The Father so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The Father’s will is not that whoever kills his Son will have eternal life, but that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Nowhere in Scripture is the Father’s will said to include the gruesome murder of his Son, especially when the Law of God explicitly says, “Thou shalt not kill!” [John 3:16]

It's not Jesus' physical death but his compassionate act of willingly laying down his heavenly life and temporarily entering our realm of dead spirits to extend the Father’s offer of spiritual rebirth to us.

Jesus Christ personally clarifies the purpose of his arrival in the world, and it sharply contrasts with Paul’s unfounded claims. He explains, “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” [John 6:40] He also adds, “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth [concerning the divine will of the Father]. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” [John 18:37]

Those who celebrate the gruesome crucifixion of Jesus as an inevitable blood sacrifice that reconciles them to Jehovah are utterly misguided. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, which saves us from our sinful world, is purely spiritual. It is not his physical death but his compassionate act of willingly laying down his heavenly life and temporarily entering our realm of dead spirits to extend the Father’s offer of spiritual rebirth to us.

While the kindhearted fireman saved innocent people trapped in a burning building, Jesus Christ willingly entered a world of destruction we created for ourselves to save a people who are most undeserving. Christ’s sacrificial death should be understood in this spiritual and compassionate context.

He says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.” [John 10:17] This is the greatest selfless sacrifice ever made for the spiritual well-being of undeserving, sinful spirits in the Outer darkness. This is why the Messiah rightly says to us, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” [John 15:13]