Christ's Reason For Dying » Reasons for Hope* Jesus

Daily Devotions with Pastor Chuck

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From Paul’s letter to Titus we read,

“[Christ] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity; and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:14 – KJV)

The common response by someone when asked for the reason that Christ died is to say that He died to save us from our sin. And this is true for it states quite clearly in First Corinthians that,

“. . . Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3 – KJV)

But that does not cover the whole of the matter, for our text from Titus tells us there is much more to His dying than just what is in it for us. You see, He “gave Himself . . . that He might redeem us from all iniquity” and that “He might . . . purify unto Himself a peculiar people.”

So Christ did not just give “Himself” to save us from our “sins” but to “purify unto Himself a peculiar people,” a “people . . . zealous of good works.”

Paul wrote in Romans,

“For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9 – KJV)

“Christ” wants a “peculiar people” who will have Him to be “Lord” of their lives. Christ’s reason for dying was not only to “redeem” but to set apart a “people . . . unto Himself.”

“He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” (II Corinthians 5:15 – KJV)

There is more, for He . . .

“. . . bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (I Peter 2:24 – KJV)

He died . . .

“. . . that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6 – KJV)

Dr. Henry Morris has written,

“We who have been saved by the redeeming death of Christ for our sins often thank Him for what He has done for us — and we should. But we also should praise Him for what He has thereby done for Himself, and then seek always to live in such a way that His holy purpose is accomplished in our lives.”

Oh I like that . . . “praise Him for what He has” accomplished “for Himself, and then seek always to live” just as our Lord would have us do, “a peculiar people” to the world who seek to manifest in our bodies “His holy purpose,” living “unto righteousness” no longer living to “serve sin.”

Yes, there is a great deal more involved in what we should know about Christ’s reason for dying.