Since the Penalty for Sin is Eternal Death, Didn't Jesus Need to Stay Dead in Order to Pay our Debt?

It's true that the penalty for sin is eternal death. Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is death. However, Jesus wasn't paying that penalty as a guilty sinner. He wasn't paying that penalty on behalf of His own sins, as He had never sinned. Instead He was paying the penalty vicariously for the sins of others. He was the atoning sacrifice. Our sins were attributed to Him, and He carried our sins and was treated as though He were a sinner, however He was not actually a sinner, and this is an important distinction.

Notice the biblical language in the following verses. It described Jesus as taking our sins upon Himself, but it never says He performed or did sin...Sin is defined as a 'transgression', therefore carrying a person's transgressions does not fit the definition of sin. Jesus carried our sins, but He never transgressed!

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

"This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

Matthew 8:17

"God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:21

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

Galatians 3:13

Jesus is described as carrying our sins, becoming sin for us, and even becoming a curse for us, but He is never described as being a sinner and of having sinned and transgressed. These verses are careful to remind us that it was "He who knew no sin" who became sin on our behalf.

This becoming sin on our behalf is referring to how Jesus is our atoning sacrifice.

Impossible For Death to Keep its Hold On Him

The Bible actually tells us that unlike those of us who choose to pay the penalty for our own sins and be destroyed in the Judgment, and stay dead for all eternity, with Christ it was actually impossible for death to keep its hold on Him!

"God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

Acts 2:24

Death only has a hold on a sinner, not on the Atoning Sacrifice.

"For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."

Romans 6:9-10

Jesus Conquered Death!

Colossians shows us that Jesus was a conqueror on Calvary. He was not a guilty offender who must remain in the grave for His own sins. He was an innocent conqueror whom the grave could not hold, due to His innocence.

The Bible says that through Jesus' life and death, He won the keys of death and of Hades. The grave cannot hold someone who triumphed over death as an innocent conqueror.

"I am the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

Revelation 1:18

Here's another verse about Jesus triumphing over death and abolishing death.

"And which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,"

2 Timothy 1:10

Jesus was the spotless, sinless Lamb. He was the Savior. This meant that while taking on our sins and being treating as though He were a sinner, He wasn't actually a sinner, and there was no actual guilt in Him. Thus the grave could not hold Him; it had no rights to Him.

"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Isaiah 53:12

Notice the verse here in Isaiah. Jesus is numbered among the transgressors. He is treated as a transgressor, but He himself never transgresses. And what is the result of having done this? He is given a portion among the great. He is given the spoils of war, having triumphed over Satan and death through the cross.

The grave can only hold those who are sinful and have broken the law. It can't hold an innocent Savior. He wasn't dying the same way a guilty person would, a guilty offender who had no right to life. He was dying as an atoning sacrifice. He was bearing the sins; He wasn't the one who had sinned.

He was dying to defeat death for all time, and come out a conqueror over it, thus death having been defeated, could not hold Him as He triumphed over it.

Jesus Had to Become a Man

Jesus had to become a man in order to be able to die. The Bible says God is eternal, and that God cannot die. He calls Himself the 'I Am'. 'I Am' means always was, always will be, and that there's never a time when He hasn't existed. Not only this but He cannot even grow weak.

"Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding."

Isaiah 40:28 NLT

He cannot tire. He does not need sleep (Psalm 121:4).

And He cannot even be tempted!

"...God cannot be tempted with evil."

James 1:13

It makes sense if you think about it. God isn't a person like us. He's an indestructible, invincible, unerring, almighty, divine Person. Thus in His divinity He could never be overcome, can never suffer weariness of any kind, or even experience temptation, because one must have an ability to err in order to be tempted, and God is infallible.

Jesus had to become a man in order to be able to experience temptation and be tempted of the devil, and overcome these temptations for our sakes, so He could transfer His perfect life to our account.

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

Hebrews 2:14

If Satan had endeavored to tempt Jesus when Jesus had no human nature, there would be no possibility of being overcome and of giving in to Satan's temptations, thus no victory over temptation could be gained on our behalf. In order to pass a test or trial, one must have the capacity to fail. If it's not possible to fail, it's also not possible to pass.

"For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people."

Hebrews 2:14-15, 17

Notice that everything in this passage is about how to become the atoning sacrifice for our sins, Jesus had to be a man. Jesus could not have overcome sin on our behalf if He was not a man who could be tempted, and He could not have died on our behalf if He was not a man and thus capable of death. If He had only had His divine nature, and had no human nature, none of this could have been done.

Jesus' Human Nature Died

It was Jesus' human nature that died on the cross. His divine nature is the 'I Am', indestructible, invincible, and eternal, as well as omnipresent. Jesus' divine nature is not confined to space and time and to a physical body as ours is His divine nature exists outside of time, as time is a created thing. Thus if His human body died, this would do nothing to His divinity which is indestructible and invincible. His human body could die and His divine nature which is omnipresent and outside of any created thing like space, matter, or time, would continue to live on.

As a man, He was tempted in every point, the same way we are in our human nature. And He overcame each and every one of these temptations.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin."

Hebrews 4:15

Through His life and death He condemned sin in the flesh, by becoming a man and living a perfect life on our behalf and dying on our behalf. This made it possible for us to overcome sin and part with it in our hearts - in our flesh. Before He came to this world, the law was holy, just, and good, and sin was illegal and wrong, BUT there was no way to condemn sin. The devil and rebellious people had set up a kingdom here that ran counter to God's law, and would have continued forever in suffering and pain and wickedness, if Jesus had not come and put an end to rebellion and sin.

Isaiah describing this scene says that "justice is turned away backward" and "truth is fallen in the streets". (Isaiah 59:14). This state of rebellion and misery stirred up God's anger and sympathy, and He purposed to come and die to bring back justice, and to save the lost. His death defeated Satan, and brought back justice, making it possible to judge Satan with death and end his reign of tyranny on the earth.

Jesus' life and death also made it possible for sin to be defeated in our own flesh - in our hearts. Because Jesus had overcome on our behalf and died as our substitute and condemned sin in our flesh, it made it possible for us to die to sin and to part with it.(Romans 6:11).

"For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Romans 8:3-4

Where Did Jesus Go From Here?

From victor over Satan and death on earth, Jesus went to heaven to sit at the right hand of God and reign victoriously. Not only this, but He entered His high priestly ministry in heaven where He presents Himself to the Father on behalf of each of us who repent and follow Him.

Here again we see evidence of Him being victor, not a guilty sinner who "lost" the battle. The fact that He can officiate as High Priest and offer His sacrifice on our behalf when we sin and repent, is evidence that He really did triumph over sin, death, and Satan, as He has the qualifications and credentials needed to officiate in that office.