Could the death of a perfect, sinless man atone for our sins? If Jesus was just a man, a perfect man, would?

Let's start with the principle established in Psalm 49:

"No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him - the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough - that he should live on for ever and not see decay." (vss 7-9)

This is a rebuke to fools who trust in their wealth. No amount of money or gold can redeem any life. But the Psalmist added, in faith, "But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself." (vs. 15)

This tells us what it takes to redeem a human life from the grave - only God can provide sufficient ransom! A ransom is the price paid to obtain something that was captured. Human life was captured by sin, and the price required to release humanity from slavery to sin is so great, only God can come up with the redemption cost. This must not be confused with the price individuals 'pay' for their own, personal sin. Another biblical principle is at work for that.

It is the principle of sowing and reaping. "Whatever a man is sowing, that he will also reap." (Gal. 6:7 & Prov. 22:8) Thus, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23) However, most people forget the sentence that comes before verse 23. Everyone dies because everyone sins - yes - that is the cost of sin to us - but verse 22 says, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." See the difference context makes?

Paul is not saying that once we die we have paid the cost of our own, personal sin! No! He is saying that the price we pay for our sin is our physical death, yet that does not cancel out anything. All the sin we committed remains as a huge offense against the holy God. If our death cancelled out our sins, then there was no need for Jesus to die on the cross! The context has to be taken from the start of Romans chapter 6. Paul shows that those who have been brought from death to life through faith in what Jesus accomplished, have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Such ones are no longer slaves to sin because their sinful nature has been crucified alongside Christ, and (like Christ) they have been raised by the power of the Holy Spirit to be new creatures in Christ. This is the free gift of verse 23 - no longer being slaves to sin because faith has 'transferred' the believer into new life in Christ. So although sinners have to die physically, they know their death accomplishes nothing because if they were to be resurrected the next day, they would continue to sin. Their sinful nature has not been removed until Romans 8:1 applies - "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Only after sinners have been set free from bondage to sin can they rise up and follow after Christ! That's why Charles Wesley wrote:

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

Now, this takes us back to why Jesus had to be more than 'just' a perfect man. One perfect man could choose to die in the place of a sinful person, to stand in their stead so that the sinner might live. But the Bible tells us that Jesus is "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the WORLD"! (John 1:29) This means that every sin that ever was committed, and every sin that ever will be committed, was borne by Jesus on the cross! He was able to 'cover' the legal cost of all sin - not just one person's personal life-time of sins! Only God could do that! Not even an angel could do that because an angel is a created creature. That is why Hebrews 2 says that Jesus "shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (vss. 14-15).

Only God could release humanity from the dread grip of sin and Satan. Only those who have no idea of the gravity of sin and its relentless hold on us could imagine that their own death would 'pay' for their own sin! That is why the Psalmist propheticlly said, "God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself." There is only one Redeemer in the Bible. Job knew this Redeemer would stand on the earth (Job 19:25) and Isaiah agreed, saying "The Redeemer will come to Zion" (Isa. 59:20) and this Redeemer is the Lord Almighty (Isa. 44:6).

I could not possibly add a thing to the clarity of scriptural presentation and reasoning by Broken Alabaster Flask that would give more credence to the identity of Jesus Christ as very God in the flesh, and the necessity for the Blood to be equated with the Eternal God, capable of being the ransom sacrifice.

I say of "necessity" & "capable" because any created being is corrupt by its very nature of choice, whereas with God there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning" .Jesus had to be more than just sinless & perfect as the Jehovah Witness would have it. He had to be sinless by nature, not by works.

Both Angels and Man have proved capable of being corrupt, therefore a Holy Righteous God would not entrust the weight of Salvation to be carried by a created being.

[edit] a JW poster said the following: "Christ died for our inherited sins only. Not the ones we commit on our own.".That is much the same as the LDS Blood Atonement concept , where you must atone for your own sins, and/or have someone spill it for you if necessary. No, the JW's do not go that far, yet they Do Not have assurance in this life they will be accepted at the resurrection

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Again, if the JW could see that by Jesus Christ being incarnate Deity, they would then understand why they can have assurance now in the very fact that the Blood is Gods (Acts 20:28) and has the capability of covering not only our sin nature , but ALL the very sins we have comitted ! ! !

Great Question

/dm/

Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. God provided a coat of skins to cover up the knowledge that sin brought. (Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.) The skins would have come from an animal being sacrificed (by God). This forms the basis of a blood sacrifice for the remission of sins. The Levitical Law follows this precedent, and this is the law that Jesus came to fulfill. Jesus is the only perfect sacrifice for the sin(s) of mankind. The Levitical Law also required a perfect specimen to be sacrificed.

Could the death of a perfect, sinless man atone for our sins?

yes a sinless man could

If Jesus was just a man, a perfect man, would his shed blood be sufficient to pay for the price of human sin? yes because he was perfect and never sinned

Why did God have to take on human form and die?

because no human can be perfect and live their whole life and never sin

john 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (god) a liar, and his word is not in us.

romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none (human being) righteous, no, not one:

What does the Bible say about God's requirements for paying the penalty of sin and whether a mere human could have done that?

the sin offering the lamb had to be physically perfect and have no physical blemish.

god required a pure sacrifice complete, perfect spiritually

KJV: John 1:29.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

KJV: Leviticus Chapter 4

[32] And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.

[33] And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.

[34] And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:

[35] And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

No, not just a perfect man to take away the sins of the world, past, present and future. No, not just a perfect man. There is none perfect, no not one. Jesus being born in the flesh by man (Mary) was born in the very sin nature that all of us are in, if he was just a man. If that was the case, then why couldn't just any man do? God needed someone with a "guarantee" if you will, so that his plan of salvation would do just as he intended. When you need the job done and done right, you might as well do it yourself! Taking a little bit of liberty with that one, but it gets the point across. Man had a sin nature and anyone born of man would have it also. So God took on Flesh and become a man. He paid the penalty for our sins, for the wages of sin is death. He took our place, for a mere man would have died and paid only for his own sins and he could not bring himself back to life. God gave this permission to Jesus, that he lay down his life and he could take it up again. Therefore defeating death, so death where is your sting-now! Say Jesus was just a man, how could a perfect man, a man that knew no sin but Still being born with the sin nature, cleanse our sins away with his blood. That's like cleaning dirt with dirty water. To wash away our sins, his blood had to be clean and no human had clean blood, all human blood was infested with the sin nature from the inheritance of Adam and Eve.

Many good answers here, so I tried a more simple approach. I hope the message came across clear enough.

Colossians 2: 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

Colossians 1: 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Not a mere human, but God the Son in the flesh was the only way, from the very beginning God Knew and this is the Wisdom of God from the very beginning. He knew that no man could save it had to be God. Like I stated before, a guarantee, the only way to guarantee was to do it himself. God is a trinity, so he sent his one and only begotten Son, Jesus, God the Son.

The idea the any man who was perfect could pay the price is wrong.

In the OT the price of atonement was the blood of bulls and goats. This didn't eliminate the sin, it just covered it so that the sin was not seen.

When Yahshua died He gave of Himself freely. Since He was Elohym made flesh, His blood WAS able to eliminate our sins.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his majesty, the majesty as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

It is true that the penalty for our sin is death. If we don't accept the Messiah and the sacrifice that He made for us, then we have to pay that debt on Judgment Day.

Hey there, Grey Tower!

What an awesome question! I haven't examined anyone else's answer, so if I reiterate anything, just know that it is not intentionally done. God ordained that sacrifice, the shedding of blood, had to be done to cover sin. Adam and Eve sinned, and there God sent an animal to be sacrificed. He commands in the first five books of the Bible many times to sacrifice different types of animals in different ways. However, you and I know that God's delight is not in sacrifices, but He delights in those who fear Him and keep His commands. Sacrifices mean nothing if our hearts are far from Him. Now, since we as humans are born into sin, we cannot escape it on our own. Therefore it takes a new birth to receive life. From birth we are steeped in sin, and this we live by the law, which God gave to Moses to give to Israel. However, we cannot be righteous by the law. The only way for a covenant--the covenant that we are under the law--to no longer be binding is in death. If we die, we are not bound by anything. God said that animals are not good enough to cover sins of a human since we are set higher than the animals. Plus, no animal is perfect, and their sacrifice can't cover sins. Therefore, a human has to be sacrificed, who was spotless--no exception.

This new covenant, established by Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilled so many prophecies. God's new covenant was established not on the law, but on a promise. This promise was given to Abraham: "through your seed." "Seed" is singular and it refers to Jesus who would eventually come. Because this covenant is based on a promise, and not the law, it takes faith to be redeemed by the price of death Jesus paid. A Christian is one who by grace and through faith has been redeemed by the blood shed of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, who, through his resurrection and life, can give us life free from the penalty of sin. Hope this is clear and helpful! Sorry I didn't use references. Let me know if you want them.

I really don't understand the logic of Jesus dying 2000 years earlier for the sins we ,MIGHT be or ,may not commit. If the interpreters say He died for the sins committed by people of His time that would have made some sense. Now I got an escuse. As Jesus has already repented for my sins 2000 years back I will not be /should not be punished if I commit any sins. Logicslly IAM, RIGHT. ANY COMMANDS.

It says this:

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

You do the math.

Those are great questions. The Bible answers that for us:

--Rom. 5:12: “Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”

--Galatians 4:4,5- "But when the full limit of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son, who came to be out of a woman and who came to be under law, 5 that he might release by purchase those under law, that we, in turn, might receive the adoption as sons."

It was a perfect man (Adam) that caused sin to enter into the world because of his willful disobedience. Therefore it was a perfect man that was necessary to provide his life in exchange, in order for it to be a totally equal exchange. A perfect man for a perfect man= total balance, reflecting God's perfect justice.

Since the penalty for Adam's rebellion was taking away his perfection, no human born down his line of descendants could possibly be perfect. (Think of a bread pan with a dent in it- all breads baked in that pan will have the same dent. It is the same with the imperfection that Adam passed down to us.) That is why God sent Jesus. Perfect & incorrupt & God's firstborn spirit creation, Jesus, as God's most beloved possession was sent to earth as a human to redeem that hope of everlasting life back that Adam had lost for us- perfect man's life for a perfect man's life. (John 3:16)(Phillipians 2:7,8)

Illustration: A family head may become a criminal and be sentenced to death. His children may be left destitute, hopelessly in debt. Perhaps their kindly grandfather intervenes on their behalf, making provision through a son who is living with him to pay their debts and to open up for them the possibility of a new life. Of course, to benefit, the children must accept the arrangement, and the grandfather may reasonably require certain things as assurance that the children will not imitate the course of their father.

The bible, not one single time, says God gave himself. It says God gave HIS SON.

I have no idea where you trinity believing christians get these doctrines or ideas, but it certainly isn't biblical.

A mere man's sin resulted in death for all mankind. And the bible says that through Christ, all of mankind can find forgiveness.

Was Jesus "merely" a man? Of course not. He is the messiah and Son of God. That's a big deal. But he is not "the God" as in "the Father."