“10 Symbolic Meanings and Impacts of the Death of Jesus the Divine Messiah “

Some of the Christian ideas and beliefs about the various meanings and effects of the death of Jesus make no sense to many people today, even to the people who had witnessed his death and crucifixion in the Greco-Roman society. Interestingly, it is these very complex ideas that make the Christian theology of the atonement unique and paradoxical as compared to other world religions or belief systems.

To be candid, there are many things in Christian theology that are hard to believe from a human perspective or from the use of philosophical reasoning, including the following ten symbolic meanings and contributive effects of the death and cross of Christ, what Christian theologians labelled “Theories of the Atonement”:

1. Jesus died to reverse the curse of Adam.
2. Jesus died as a ransom or atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people.
3. The death of Jesus offers liberation and freedom to those who trust in him for salvation.
4. The death of Jesus is both redemptive and salvific; in other words, there’s power and victory in the blood of Jesus.
5. Jesus died so all people could have access to God, have peace with God, be reconciled with God, and to fulfill the justice of God in the world against sinners and sins.
6. The death of Jesus brings about divine purification and spiritual cleansing to those who sin morally and transgress ethically.
7. Jesus died for sins because God loves all people and gave Jesus as a gift for all people.
8. The crucifixion of Jesus is a symbolic act of divine solidarity with “The Crucified People” or The Oppressed” of the world.
9. The death of Jesus was an existential act against the phenomenon of death itself.
10. Jesus died to destroy the work of the Devil in the world and to defeat the power and dominance of Satan and Demons in the cosmos.

These various ideas about the multiple meanings and impacts of the death of Jesus can be grasped and accepted by means of faith only, a liberating and transformative faith that is given to us freely as a gift from God. All ten points above are connected with the Christian understanding of the character of God, the meaning and identity of Jesus, the problem of sin in the world, and the need for a new creation and transformed humanity. For Christians, the death and cross of Jesus the Divine Messiah not only carries transformative value in the present and in the future; it has liberative, redemptive, salvific, existential, and eschatological meaning. In other words, it was a cosmic phenomenon that changed human history and confirmed that God is for us and he is never against his people.

Happy Good Friday, Good People!

May the love, mercy, and kindness of God in Jesus the Messiah continue to sustain you and prompt you to be compassionate, good, and empathetic toward those who are being oppressed, mistreated, and dehumanized in the world today!