Jesus died to pay for our sins. A debt we couldn’t pay. A transaction demanded by divine justice. A sacrifice required by a wrathful God.
But what if we’ve misunderstood the crucifixion entirely?
What if Jesus didn’t die as payment—but as demonstration?
The pattern reveals itself.
The transaction model dominates Christian thought:
A perfect sacrifice. A substitutionary death. A payment for humanity’s debt.
But this creates a troubling contradiction:
If God demands payment before forgiving, is forgiveness really free? If an innocent must suffer for the guilty, is this divine justice? If love requires blood, is it truly love?
The pattern emerges: institutional religion transforms freely chosen demonstration into required payment.
Jesus’s own words tell a different story:
To the paralytic: "Your sins are forgiven." No sacrifice mentioned. No payment required. Just forgiveness—freely given.
From the cross itself: "Father, forgive them." Not "because I’m paying their debt." But forgiveness flowing directly from divine love.
The pattern reveals a different understanding: Forgiveness isn’t a transaction to be purchased. It’s a reality to be recognized.
The prodigal son returns home expecting transaction: "Make me as one of your hired servants."
But the father interrupts the transaction script: No payment plan. No probation. No sacrifice. Just open arms. Immediate restoration.
Jesus tells this parable to reveal God’s nature. No mention of blood payment. Just a father who forgives because he loves.
How did we get here?
The early church saw the cross differently.
Irenaeus: Christ crushed death’s grip. Origen: A trap for evil, sprung. Gregory: Love’s boldest lesson, lived.
Anselm changed it all. 11th century. Feudal mindset. Sin insults God’s honor. A debt only Jesus could pay. His Cur Deus Homo made love a transaction.
Calvin tightened the screws. God’s justice demands blood. Jesus takes the punishment. The cross becomes redirected wrath.
The pattern screams: Theology mirrors human power. God’s heart twisted into deals.
This transformation serves institutional purposes:
Transaction-based theology requires mediators to explain it. It needs administrators to apply its benefits. It creates dependency on the institution.
The freely given forgiveness Jesus taught creates no institutional dependency. requires no theological explanation. needs no administrative system.
Not conspiracy.
Pattern recognition.
What would change if Jesus died not to pay for sin, but to demonstrate divine love?
Not to change God’s mind about us, but to change our minds about God. Not to enable God to forgive, but to reveal God already forgives.
Not God being reconciled to the world. But the world being reconciled to God.
The cross demonstrates the lengths to which love will go—not to purchase forgiveness, but to reveal it was always available.
The demonstration model resolves the ethical contradictions:
God is not demanding suffering before forgiving. God is revealing love by suffering with us.
Salvation is not a legal transaction. It is relational restoration.
Jesus didn’t die to change God. Jesus died to change us.
Throughout history, power systems have conditioned us to think transactionally:
You get what you pay for. Nothing comes without a price. Justice requires punishment.
We project these assumptions onto God, creating a divine economy where forgiveness must be purchased and love must be earned.
But Jesus revealed a different reality:
Divine love precedes human response. Forgiveness precedes repentance. Acceptance precedes worthiness.
The cross doesn’t enable God to love. It demonstrates how far God’s love will go.
The cross wasn’t divine child abuse. It was divine self-revelation.
The revolutionary truth is simple: God has always forgiven. The cross didn’t change God’s mind. It invites us to change ours.
Thank you for reading + sharing Part 5 in this Jesusonian series.
Read Part 1: On Religious Freedom
Read Part 2: Betrayer's Spark
Read Part 3: Erasing Christ
Read Part 4: Countdown Jerusalem
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