Here are three scriptures which tell us, in no uncertain terms, why Christ had to die for us.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27)

In Genesis 2:16-17 God told Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it YOU SHALL SURELY DIE.” This “first man” committed the “first sin” which brought death into the world as we see in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man SIN entered into the world, and DEATH THROUGH SIN, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” We see in those 3 verses quoted above that indeed “all have sinned” and that because of sin there is DEATH and JUDGMENT. A holy God cannot bypass sin; a holy God must judge sin! Therefore, ALL MEN were sentenced to “death and judgment.”

If men were to be saved from this two-fold penalty of sin, there had to be a SUBSTITUTE for them and that substitute had to be another MAN (to die in Man’s place) and he had to be HOLY (or he himself would be subject to death and judgment). In love and grace God “sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14 – KJV). John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In short, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went willingly to the cross to take our place in death and judgment so God could offer ALL MEN the gift of eternal life. No other man on earth could do this, for as we saw “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Only Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God, who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26) could be God’s sacrifice for sin. And so, “in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). On the cross He died so we might live! He has “bridged the gap that sin had made” and now any sinner can be saved from eternal death and judgment. But to claim Christ as their Savior one must admit they are a SINNER who deserves DEATH and JUDGMENT, and then BELIEVE Christ died for them. The moment they do, they are FORGIVEN, SAVED, and have ETERNAL LIFE (Acts 13:38-39; 16:31; Romans 6:23b).

We have already seen that there was no other man that could save men from “death and judgment,” so prophets, evangelists, and preachers were and are powerless to save us. This means that CHRIST HAD TO DIE FOR US, or we would all “die in our sins” (John 8:24) and be “judged forever in the Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:15). The fact is, an “evangelist/preacher is one who is called of God to “proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ” so sinners can be saved, and not one who can somehow save the sinner apart from the death of Christ. They themselves had to be saved first and then they are qualified to tell others of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross (see Galatians 1:11-16; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Corinthians 2:1-4).  (DO)  (692.3)