Welcome back to week 11. Lord willing, for this week and next we will be briefly considering the topic of Christology and how it relates to biblical counseling theory and practice. As is our habit, let’s first make sure we understand our terms. Before we talk about Christology, we want to know exactly what it means. Simply put, Christology is the study of the second Person of the Trinity; Christ. In a broad sense, Christology attempts to answer the question Jesus poses to his disciples in Mark 8:27–29: “Who do people say that I am?”^[1]

The topic of Christology has had volumes upon volumes of great works exploring the answer to this question, and more. As it should be, this topic is huge. However, the nature and point of this blog series will not allow plumbing the depths of this topic nor an in-depth survey of its breadth. Instead we will focus on two areas; two questions within a larger topic.

The first question we will seek to answer is this week. We will ask: Why did Christ die? The second is planned for next week when we will seek to answer the question: What does it mean that He was “tempted in all things as we are” (Heb. 4:15). Afterward, we will give the “so what,” or how all this relates to biblical counseling.    

Thus, let us begin with the question of Christ’s death. Why did Christ need to die? In week seven it was established that God is perfectly holy, and a perfect righteous judge. Since God is perfectly holy, He expects us to be too (Matt. 5:48). Since God is a righteous judge it is axiomatic that He will punish sinners (Rom. 1:18; 2:1-11). A good and perfect judge does not pardon lawbreakers. Law breakers are those who do not follow God’s law perfectly (James. 2:10). 

In week nine it was established that man, although created without sin, chose to embrace sin and rebel against God. It was also established that Adam’s sin nature was transferred to all of mankind (Rom. 3:23). Because no one on this earth, except Christ, has, or ever will be perfectly capable of keeping the Creator’s standards (i.e., His law) we are all in danger of His wrath (James. 2:10; Rom. 2:5-6).

Due to his sin nature, the compass of man’s heart is permanently pointing toward rebellion against God (Jer. 17:9). There is nothing man can do, nor is there anything he wants to do on his own to please God (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 3:9-18; 8:8). Man has a big problem because he has, through his sin nature and outflowing of sinful thoughts and acts, offended an eternal God. Since God is eternal and thus eternally offended by man’s sin, He requires an eternal punishment (Prov. 6:16-19; Matt. 25:41). Mankind desperately needs someone sinless, a substitute Sufferer, some kind of perfect Advocate, to help him do what he cannot on his own –be in right standing with God.

This is why Christ had to die. He had to die to redeem, to buy, to save, His people from that which they could not save themselves; God’s judgment, sin, and death. He had to sacrificially shed His blood for His people to save them. God requires death for sin (Ezk.18:4; Rom. 6:23a). 

Glory be to our great God that He has provided His Son Jesus Christ to accomplish this humanly impossible task (Matt. 1:21; Jn. 3:16-18; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 2:1). Since Jesus is God, man, and sinless, He was both willing and able to serve as the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for His people’s sin (Col. 2:9; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 26:39). Jesus Christ, the perfect One, took the punishment of God’s wrath, in His people’s place, so that His helpless hopeless people would be saved from their sin and God’s wrath once and for all (Isa. 53:10; Col. 2:13; 1 Pet. 3:18). Because He was forsaken on the cross we are forgiven of our sin (Rom. 5:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 2; Phil. 2:7-9). Jesus had to die for His people because no amount of our death would satisfy our sin debt to God. Without Jesus’ substitutionary death and supernatural resurrection there would be no salvation for His people promised before the foundation of the world. 

Furthermore, there would be no indwelling Holy Spirit Who enables us to greater sanctification as we work out our salvation (Phil. 2:12-13). Then, if Christ didn’t die and rise again, God’s glory seen through His grace would not be demonstrable. Lastly, as Paul says, believers in Christ would be pitiful and foolish for their belief (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Where is the hope in that? If Christ did not die and rise again then, just like the world, we would have no real hope to offer someone who really needs it. Just crack open a six pack, find the bottom of a pill bottle, and live wild because there would be no real hope and help without Christ.

Christ did have to die. His death was the Trinitarian plan. He fulfilled it perfectly and rose three days later. Thanks to His death and resurrection we have a sure salvific foundation. We also have the truth about our eternal Hope, revealed in His Word to us, to which we can direct others and go to ourselves when we are hurting and struggling. Christ’s necessary death, and subsequent resurrection, gives the biblical counselor true hope to disseminate to others which no worldly system, drug, or philosophy owns. Praise the Lord that He completed the plan of salvation for His people! 

We hope our short time considering Christology this week was helpful. Lord willing, next week, we will consider how He was tempted in all things as we are and how that relates to counseling. Until then may the Lord bless you and keep you.

^[1] Carrigan, H. L., Jr. (2000). Christology. In D. N. Freedman, A. C. Myers, & A. B. Beck (Eds.), Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (p. 240). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.