Muslims do not doubt the existence of the person of Jesus Christ in the Gospels as in the Quran they refer to Him as “Isa”, the son of Mariyam. However, the Quran denies the death of Jesus by crucifixion, His resurrection, and his divinity as the Son of God. The next important question is WHY did Jesus die? The Bible in Luke states that Jesus came to save the lost. But Muslims failed to understand this. Under Islamic theology, there is no need for a redeemer or a savior as each person is responsible for his/her own actions. According to the Quran, to be saved to enter paradise is about submission and obedience to Allah and doing good works to please him.
Therefore, answering the question “Why did Jesus die?” will give us the reasons which are starkly absent in the Islamic narrative. For us to understand fully, we need to understand the problem of sin, God’s revealed nature of love and righteousness and justice, his covenanted redemption initiative, and finally, the blood covenant that Jesus came to fulfill.
Death in Adam, Life in Christ - Romans 5:12-21
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Provided below are the PDF slide presentation and the five-part series on the Blood Covenant which gives us excellent teaching about the blood covenant, which in our normal bible study, has often been ignored or failed to give sufficient emphasis to contextualize it in relation to why Jesus died. Please take time to watch.
PDF slide presentation:
Further reading:
The Blood Covenant -Part 1
The Blood Covenant -Part 2
The Blood Covenant-Part 3
The Blood Covenant -Part 4
The Blood Covenant - Part 5
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