Jesus Paid It All?

Tough Question for Christians #2—Crimes of Mankind
Tough Question #2


AZ says he understands that Jesus paid the debt of our sins, so the punishment is paid. So why, he says, should anyone go to hell? The payment is done, whether we accept Jesus or not, so why should anyone pay it again?

I actually held off from commenting on this until after my discussion on the atonement, because it relates to that. This is the result of the analogy of seeing Jesus’ death as paying off the sentence of sin. If Jesus paid a debt, debts are either paid or not paid, not related to some other condition.

But Jesus’ death actually opened up a kingdom. This kingdom runs different than any other kingdom on earth, and the laws are different. In the rest of the world—including Moses’ law—if you acted in rebellion or killed then you would die or be imprisoned or banished. But in Jesus’ kingdom, if you repented—truly changed—then you can receive forgiveness. In the kingdom of the world there is no possibility of forgiveness “You do the crime, you do the time.” In Jesus’ kingdom, the opportunity for forgiveness exists.

Thus, Jesus’ death is less a payment, as an opportunity to immigrate to a new kingdom. Before Jesus’ death that kingdom didn’t exist. Now it does. Thus, the opportunity for forgiveness didn’t exist then. Now it does. In Jesus, we get a clean slate and an opportunity for a new life and forgiveness for sins. Strictly speaking, it isn’t a payment for sins.