Why Did Jesus Have to Die? – The Cross in the Light of Scripture and the Theologia Crucis

But we preach the crucified Christ (1 Cor 1:23)

Good Friday forces us to pause. No colorful lights, no happiness, no Easter joy, at least, not yet. Only the cross. Only suffering. Only the darkness of Golgotha. And above all this is the burning question: Why did Jesus have to die? Was that really necessary? Couldn't God have forgiven people in other ways? Hasn't the idea of a "bloody cross" long since become obsolete in our enlightened age?

Photo by Francesco Alberti on Unsplash

But those who ask this question have not yet heard the Gospel itself. Because the cross is not one option among many. It is the only way to salvation that God Himself has chosen and prepared. It is the path on which divine justice and mercy meet, without compromise. And it is the place where the true glory of God is revealed: hidden in suffering.

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Christ as the curse bearer – "Cursed is he who hangs on the tree"

In Galatians 3:13, the Apostle Paul quotes a passage from the Book of Deuteronomy: "Cursed is he who hangs on the tree" (Deuteronomy 21:23). He writes: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, because it became a curse for us." These words are outrageous. They turn upside down everything we would humanly expect from God. The holy Son of God hangs on the cross and bears the curse. Not symbolically, not metaphorically, but really. He takes our guilt upon himself. He lets himself be judged, even though he is the judge. The pure becomes the bearer of sin, the blessed one the cursed, so that we may receive the blessing (cf. Gal 3:14). The cross is therefore not an accident, not a failure, not a tragic hero's death. It is the divinely planned and promised center of salvation history. Already in the Garden of Eden, the "seed of the woman" is announced, which will crush the serpent's head, but not without being wounded himself (Gen 3:15). In the sacrificial lamb of Passover, in the blood of the covenant, in the sacrifices of the temple, in the suffering Psalms – everywhere the old covenant points to what happened on Good Friday: the innocent substitute dies for us sinners.

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The Necessity of Death on the Cross – Not a Cheap Mercy

The question of whether Jesus really had to die often betrays a false image of God. Many people today think: "God is love. So why do we need a cross?" But this question decouples love from justice. It makes God's grace cheap. Simply to a mere toleration of evil. But God is not a God who simply overlooks sin. His grace does not consist in renouncing righteousness, but in providing justice Himself—through the sacrifice of His Son. The necessity of his death arises from God's own nature: he is love but also light. He is merciful but also just. And only in the cross of Christ, in vicarious suffering and death, do both sides of God remain fully preserved.

The Hidden Majesty – Luther's Theologia Crucis

It is precisely in the cross that God reveals himself. But not in the way the world expects. This is the central idea of the Lutheran theologia crucis, the "theology of the cross". Luther writes in the Heidelberg Disputation (1518): "The true theologian is he who recognizes what is visible of God through the cross and suffering." God does not show himself in splendor and power, but in weakness and shame. Not on the throne, but on the cross. Not in victory, but in apparent defeat. This is the great paradox of the Gospel: it is precisely where Christ appears most despised that he works most powerfully. The Theologia Crucis teaches us that all human reason is shattered by the folly of the cross. And that's exactly why it saves. For God has chosen the foolishness of the world to put the wise to shame (1 Corinthians 1:27). Only in faith can man recognize that this bloody, shameful cross is the place of the greatest glory.

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The Cross as the Source of All Grace

The judgment was pronounced on the cross. About our sin. But this is precisely what made grace possible, because the judgment was not carried out on us, but on Christ. The death of Jesus was necessary because our guilt is real. The death of Jesus was effective because he himself was without guilt. And the death of Jesus was final because it was unique and perfect. That is why Good Friday is not a day of mere mourning. It is the day the world was saved. A dark day, imbued with hope. Because the cross is not the end. But it is the only way to resurrection. Rejoice, you Christians!

Redeemed from the curse. Justified by the cross. Loved by the Crucified One.
That is our hope – yesterday, today and forever. Amen.