But I had a little trouble with the idea in Chapter 7 that it is crucial to believe that Jesus died in expiation for our sins (just as goats did in the Old Testament). It seems to me that it is not the Cross alone that is the ultimate example of Jesus' teaching. The Cross must be paired with His Resurrection, which demonstrates the healing power of the kind of deep love intended on the Cross, the ultimate example of suffering and sacrifice, and proved at His Resurrection. Even in the Old Testament, Hosea warns that God does not want sacrifice; He wants love and forgiveness. Isaiah teaches that sins are in fact forgotten by God, so that there is no need for Jesus to be a scapegoat. Without the Resurrection, the Pharisees (who could not witness it because they did not love) would aver that Jesus died for His own sin (blasphemy), stuck in the old paradigm that sin must be expiated through suffering. Upon the Resurrection, those who know and love Jesus were witnesses to the Resurrection and knew that Jesus was wrongfully crucified and could see Him after the Resurrection until His Ascension. By the time of Pentecost, His disciples had the strength and courage of that love to spread it "to the ends of the earth" without fear. So, the way I would express the thought instead is that Jesus died BECAUSE of our sin (our finitude, our inability to fully see as God sees, and the wrongful actions we take based on our faulty judgments) and because of His healing love for all of us. It is His Resurrection that interprets His life and death as absolute love; it is the Resurrection that makes God's intent on the Cross intelligible. Jesus showed us by His life, death, and Resurrection that eternal life is engendered by healing others as we can. to elicit their best potentials. Eternal life requires our growth in love (metanoia).
But I had a little trouble with the idea in Chapter 7 that it is crucial to believe that Jesus died in expiation for our sins (just as goats did in the Old Testament). It seems to me that it is not the Cross alone that is the ultimate example of Jesus' teaching. The Cross must be paired with His Resurrection, which demonstrates the healing power of the kind of deep love intended on the Cross, the ultimate example of suffering and sacrifice, and proved at His Resurrection. Even in the Old Testament, Hosea warns that God does not want sacrifice; He wants love and forgiveness. Isaiah teaches that sins are in fact forgotten by God, so that there is no need for Jesus to be a scapegoat. Without the Resurrection, the Pharisees (who could not witness it because they did not love) would aver that Jesus died for His own sin (blasphemy), stuck in the old paradigm that sin must be expiated through suffering. Upon the Resurrection, those who know and love Jesus were witnesses to the Resurrection and knew that Jesus was wrongfully crucified and could see Him after the Resurrection until His Ascension. By the time of Pentecost, His disciples had the strength and courage of that love to spread it "to the ends of the earth" without fear. So, the way I would express the thought instead is that Jesus died BECAUSE of our sin (our finitude, our inability to fully see as God sees, and the wrongful actions we take based on our faulty judgments) and because of His healing love for all of us. It is His Resurrection that interprets His life and death as absolute love; it is the Resurrection that makes God's intent on the Cross intelligible. Jesus showed us by His life, death, and Resurrection that eternal life is engendered by healing others as we can. to elicit their best potentials. Eternal life requires our growth in love (metanoia).