How could Jesus die for sins which had not yet been committed at the time of his crucifixion?
Questions:
Dr. John, I would love to hear your insights on the following questions:
1. How could Jesus die for the future sins of people who hadn’t even been born at the time of His crucifixion? We can easily understand the ransom being paid for all the past and present sins.
But how could we understand the ransom being paid in advance? Is that not illogical?
2. Did Jesus die only for the sins committed up to the point of His death on the cross?
3. Since the letters and Gospels were originally written for specific people in the first century, do we have any logical basis to apply them to ourselves today? Thanks.
Answers:
I suppose from a human perspective your first question seems a logical one. However, we should look at this question from the viewpoint of God. God is omniscient and omnipresent. God sees all time as one, and exists outside of time. For God, there is no logical problem at all with the idea of the sacrifice of Jesus applying to past, present and future. If God says that the sacrifice of sins applies to ones already committed and ones yet to be committed, he is God and he can do whatever he likes. If this seems difficult to swallow, logically, to us time-limited humans, this shows our weakness. Besides, even in human terms, if a person were to agree that one with whom they have a contract for that contract to apply into the future, why is that a problem. If I agree to rent my home to another person, then the agreement applies to events which have not yet happened.
On the second question, I believe that this one has already been answered. In fact, we can read in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus is “a lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.” From a human perspective this does not really make a lot of sense, but from God’s perspective, it is as if Jesus was sacrificed for our sins from the very beginning. There is a sense, biblically, that the sacrifice of Jesus is a timeless thing. There are many other passages which prove that the sacrifice of Jesus is for sins committed after his death. For example, there is 1 John 2:2 which says that “He [Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” If Jesus’ sacrifice did not include sins committed after Jesus’ death, then the entire New Testament, and, indeed, Christianity itself makes no sense.
It is the assumption of both Jews and Christians that the writings of the Old and New Testament have application for both peoples and times outside the original context. Many Scriptures make this clear. For example, in 2 Tim 3:16 we have, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This passage is obviously intended to apply to all those who read 2 Timothy, including both Jewish and Gentile Christians then and now. Most of the Old and New Testaments are what is known as “occasional letters.” In other words, they were written to a specific occasion or situation, but are intended, by God, to be a timeless message to all people.
John Oakes
