Your Bible Lesson For The Day
Why Did The Savior Jesus Have To Be God To Save Us?
When you have a job that must be done and you cannot do it yourself, you call on someone who can, correct? For example, if your car has broken down, you call on a mechanic to fix it. If your basement walls leak, you call on a contractor to fix them. In a similar fashion we all had a problem that we could not fix ourselves. We had a sin-problem. We were guilty of sins and subject to eternal punishment in hell with no way to save ourselves from it.
We needed help to save us. But who? No one on earth could save us, for no one could pay for our sins and the cost for our soul. Psalm 49:7, 8 make this clear: "In no way can a man redeem a brother; He cannot give to God a ransom for him. For the price of redeeming his soul is costly, And he must give it up forever."
Since no one could save us, God sent his Son Jesus to do what we human beings could not do for ourselves. Galatians 4:4, 5 state: "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
To do what we could not do and to save us, Jesus needed to be God. He had to be true God for several reasons. He needed to be holy, righteous, and without sin, in order to offer up himself in our place as the sinless, appeasing sacrifice to satisfy God's righteous justice. 1 John 2:1,2 says, "if someone does sin, we have One who pleads our case with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. And he himself is the appeasing sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."
To save us it was also necessary for Jesus to be true God so that the blood that he shed and the life that he gave on the cross would be so precious that they could pay for the sins of all people, as 1 John 2:1,2 states above. The apostle Peter also told us in 1 Peter 1:19 that we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless. Jesus' blood was precious, because it was the blood of the Son of God. It was God's blood that was shed to pay for the sins of the world.
What is more, to save us it was necessary for Jesus to be true God so his perfect, divine righteousness could be credited to us who believe in him, as Romans 3:21, 22 tell us, "But now a righteousness of God apart from law has been made known, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, that is a righteousness of God by means of faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe."
And now you know why Jesus had to be God to save us. He had to do what we could not do for ourselves.
We needed help to save us. But who? No one on earth could save us, for no one could pay for our sins and the cost for our soul. Psalm 49:7, 8 make this clear: "In no way can a man redeem a brother; He cannot give to God a ransom for him. For the price of redeeming his soul is costly, And he must give it up forever."
Since no one could save us, God sent his Son Jesus to do what we human beings could not do for ourselves. Galatians 4:4, 5 state: "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
To do what we could not do and to save us, Jesus needed to be God. He had to be true God for several reasons. He needed to be holy, righteous, and without sin, in order to offer up himself in our place as the sinless, appeasing sacrifice to satisfy God's righteous justice. 1 John 2:1,2 says, "if someone does sin, we have One who pleads our case with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. And he himself is the appeasing sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."
To save us it was also necessary for Jesus to be true God so that the blood that he shed and the life that he gave on the cross would be so precious that they could pay for the sins of all people, as 1 John 2:1,2 states above. The apostle Peter also told us in 1 Peter 1:19 that we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless. Jesus' blood was precious, because it was the blood of the Son of God. It was God's blood that was shed to pay for the sins of the world.
What is more, to save us it was necessary for Jesus to be true God so his perfect, divine righteousness could be credited to us who believe in him, as Romans 3:21, 22 tell us, "But now a righteousness of God apart from law has been made known, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, that is a righteousness of God by means of faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe."
And now you know why Jesus had to be God to save us. He had to do what we could not do for ourselves.