What Does It Mean That Christ Died For Our Sins? By Babatunde Olugboji
Having a clear understanding of the answer to this question is absolutely important in this Easter season and this is our focus this week.
The quick answer is that Christ died on the cross to provide the way for us to receive forgiveness from our sins. Scripture provides considerable details in respect of the sacrifice of Jesus for us. He put Himself through excruciating pain, insult, humiliation and ridicule, for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins.
When we refer to Jesus dying for our sins, what we mean is that Christ died because of our sins. Note that sin leads to death (Romans 6:23), implying that we were sinners condemned to death, with no way of escaping from the rot. 
Jesus entered our world and lived a perfect life, so death had no hold on Him. Yet because of God’s mercies, Jesus chose to die on our behalf. He took the punishment meant for us. He died for our sins, as our replacement, praying that we would be forgiven.
His resurrection proved the sufficiency of His sacrifice, that He is who He claimed, fully God and fully human, our only Savior who combined divinity with humanity, conquering sin and death. So, since Jesus has paid the penalty, God will forgive all who put their trust in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17–21; Ephesians 2:1–10)
The death and resurrection of Christ means that those who have put their faith in Him have access to God. The Bible records Jesus saying in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Sin had separated us from God, but, at the moment of Christ’s death, the veil in the temple, separating the priests from the presence of God, was ripped in two. (Mark 15:38) Today, we all have direct access to Jesus.
The death and resurrection of Jesus mean that the sacrifices of the Old Testament law are no longer needed. In previous times, various offerings were required by the law as atonement for sin. Yet these sacrifices were only temporary.
The sacrifice of Jesus was a perfect, one-time atonement from sin (Hebrew 10:10). As followers of Christ, we are no longer under the law, but under grace. This was brought about by the death and resurrection of Christ.
His death and resurrection mean that we are guaranteed forgiveness of sin when we accept Jesus as Lord. Galatians 3:22 says, “the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” Jesus purchased our salvation on the cross by becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is, He became the guilty one on our behalf.
In this season of Easter, remember that salvation is by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). It is made possible through the cross. “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
Based on the foregoing, our perfect response should be to rejoice in the love of Christ by walking in His ways. His death has set us free, and as Apostle Paul admonished, “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Have a great week.
Kingdom Dynamics, a weekly column written by Dr. Babatunde Olugboji, the President, Kingdom House, a non-profit organization in New Jersey, USA.
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