Jesus Did Not Die for Our Sins



I have several of New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman's books. Now that he is retired, he does podcasts instead of longer lectures and his prominence seems to grow rather than fade. 

In these podcasts, he passes along what he has learned over a lifetime of academic work. One topic that fascinated me was his review of the bonkers idea some Christians have that Jesus died as a sacrifice for all of our sins. I've wondered who could believe such a thing? 

In this podcast, he explains why this peculiar notion that Jesus "died for our sins" is not a tenet of Christianity. The claim Jesus said such a thing before he died is in a couple of the Gospels but not in all. No one was present who later wrote he said this. Instead, it somehow got imbedded in the folklore of the next decades and was written later by someone(s) who heard the tale but did not hear it from Jesus himself.

Ehrman makes the case, and some others agree, that the book of Luke and later writing by Paul (Ehrman is certain the writer know under the name of "Paul" wrote the book of Luke) does not make the claim Jesus died for our sins. These parts of the Bible say sins are wiped away by asking God for forgiveness. Forgiveness is always given, according to the Bible. Jesus died for claiming to be the King of the Jews. Rome killed those who made such claims. 

What would happen in Christianity if it became widely accepted that Jesus did not die for our sins? If Jesus died simply because he broke the civil law of the time, the cross has no meaning at all. The gazillion art pieces showing Jesus hanging on a cross will be meaningless because he did not "suffer and die for our sins." No crosses anywhere. 

The Apostle's Creed has a bit on Jesus suffering on the cross. Mel Gibson is making a sequel to his blockbuster movie, The Passion of the Christ which had ten minutes of Jesus being whipped. That scene will not work either.  

The Hobby Lobby chain of stores will be hurt by this. I once tried to count the number of crosses for sale in one of those stores. It was about 30. 

 

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