Christian Belief About Suffering, Death and Resurrection

Christian Belief About Suffering, Death and Resurrection

Mark's gospel has been described as a 'Passion narrative with an

introduction' because it emphasises the suffering and death of Jesus

at the hands of both the Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate.

In the following essay will explore what Christians believe about the

death of Jesus Christ.

Most Christians believe that Jesus sacrificed his life for us. This

means that Jesus died for a reason and that was to free us from sin.

In the Old Testament animals are sacrificed to God. The Passover lamb

was sacrificed in order to escape from the plague that killed the

oldest sons in each family. A goat is killed on the Day of Atonement.

It has a red ribbon tied around its middle and is then thrown off the

edge of a cliff or driven into the desert. The goat carried away the

sins of the Jews.

Jesus died to free people from slavery. His death is similar to that

of the pass over lamb and the goat. Also Christians believe that Jesus

died in order to bring about a new agreement between god and his

people. This new agreement was called a 'covenant'. In the Old

Testament covenants were sealed with the killing of a bird. The people

would then walk in the middle of the bird that had been cut into two

pieces. The Ten Commandments is an example of a covenant.

Christians believe that Jesus died in order to bring about a new

agreement, which involved people acting in a loving way. The word for

this is 'agape' which is Greek. This new covenant was not meant to be

written on tablets of stone, but on the hearts of people.

Jesus' death showed Christians that he was a man. This is because

there were gentiles called docetics who believed that the body was

evil and after death the soul could escape from the body and join with

god. If the body was so bad, then how could god become a man? They

thought it was impossible and thereby Jesus must have been a spirit.