DID JESUS DIE SPIRITUALLY ?
Exposing the JDS Heresy
POINT 7
PHYSICAL, OR SPIRITUAL DEATH AT CALVARY?
Again, in teaching that Jesus died spiritually, as well as physically, in order to have Jesus identify with sinners who are spiritually dead, we find that the JDS position is out of line with the Word of God.
The Bible again and again states that Jesus offered up His BODY as a sacrifice for our sins, and that He was put to death "IN THE FLESH."
Not once do the Scriptures state that Jesus died IN HIS SPIRIT. On the contrary, note the following passages which declare that Jesus, like the Old Testament type, offered His BODY as a sacrifice:
Who his own self bare our sins IN HIS OWN BODY on the tree... (I Peter 2:24).
...being put to death IN THE FLESH, and quickened by the Spirit [i.e., as in Romans 8:11 raised from the dead by the Spirit] (I Peter 3:18).
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us IN THE FLESH... (I Peter 4:1).
And you...hath he reconciled IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH through death... (Colossians 1:21-22).
I am the living bread which came down from heaven...and the bread that I will give is MY FLESH, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51).
...we are sanctified through the offering of the BODY OF JESUS once for all (Hebrews 10:10).
Having abolished IN HIS FLESH the enmity, even the law of commandments... (Ephesians 2:15).
In addition to these clear texts which indicate that the sacrifice of Jesus constituted the offering up of HIS BODY OF FLESH, there are others. When Jesus said to the opposing religious leaders, "Destroy this temple, and in three day I will raise it up," we are informed that "...he spake of the TEMPLE OF HIS BODY" (John 2:19-21). When Jesus spoke of His approaching death it was always with reference to the offering of His BODY not His SPIRIT. This is clear from John chapter 6 where Jesus spoke of giving HIS FLESH to provide life for the world, and again when He introduced the communion of the bread and cup just before His death, He likewise described His death as an offering up of His BODY. He took the bread at the last supper and gave it unto His disciples, saying, "This is my BODY which is given for you" (Luke 22:19; read also I Corinthians 10:16; 11:24-29; Ephesians 2:15; Romans 7:4; Hebrews 10:19-20).
The Scriptures intentionally stress repeatedly that Jesus offered up His BODY and His FLESH as a sacrifice for sin -- not once is it said that He died in His spirit. The JDS teachers willfully ignore this clear fact of Scripture. Why? Because to say what the Bible says about the nature of Christ's death would discredit and disprove their erroneous theory.
God cannot die spiritually; this is why the scriptures state that the Son of God needed a body of flesh so that He could die physically on behalf of sinners like the Old Testament type. This necessity for the incarnation of the Son of God is clearly set forth in passages such as Hebrews 2; Philippians 2; Galatians 4:4-5; John 1, 3, and Colossians 1, 2. The JDS view is that if Jesus only died physically, and that if the physical death of Jesus paid the penalty of sin, then every man could have died for himself.
Such a position on the Atonement reveals a total lack of comprehension of the meaning and nature of the Old Testament sacrifices. As it has been shown previously, the sin-offering remained even in death MOST HOLY to God. Moreover, to say that if the physical death of Jesus (with our His spiritual death also) paid the penalty for sin, then every man could have died for his own sins, overlooks the fact that the essential requirement in the sin-offering was that it had to be pure and sinless in order for God to accept it as a suitable substitute. This was typified in the requirement that the Old Testament type had to be spotless and without blemish; and it was literally fulfilled in the case of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 1:18-19).
The JDS teachers so demean the physical death of Jesus and the shedding of His blood that they make His death on the cross almost insignificant. If, as one JDS minister said, "when His blood poured out, it did not atone," then why the need of the cross at all" If redemption is provided by Jesus identifying with sinners through His "spiritual death," and not by the shedding of His blood as the Atonement, then Jesus could merely have committed some act of sin, by submitting to some temptation as the first Adam did, whereupon He would have then died spiritually as the first Adam did without the need of death by crucifixion.
The low view of Jesus' physical death and the blood of His cross is reflected in the teaching of one expounder of the JDS error who advises us that Jesus bled just a few drops. He contends that most people who sing about the blood of Jesus do not know what they are talking about, for they think that Jesus bled all over the place! In the Old Testament the shedding of the blood of the animal typified the spiritual death of Jesus; it was his spiritual death, like Adam which proved redemption. The physical death was only for the purpose of the resurrection -- so that Jesus could be the "firstfruits from the dead" (I Corinthians 15:20-23). The blood of Jesus was still in His body when He died; he bled only a few drops from His wounds for the blood almost immediately coagulated and he stopped bleeding. Jesus died by an act of his own will when he wanted to, with respect to his physical death.
There is no need to reply to such an attack upon the biblical view of the physical death of Jesus and the blood of His cross for such contemptible teaching condemns itself. However, it should be noted that it is obvious to all that this individual was not present at the crucifixion to know just to what extent Jesus bled, and, moreover, the efficacy of the Atonement did not depend upon how much blood was shed on the cross. The Atonement's validity depended only on the fact that the Son of God shed His spotless blood and died on our behalf. The Old Testament animal type did not bleed to death on the altar; only a few drops of blood were sprinkled on the altar as an atonement (Leviticus 1:5); or, in the case of the sin-offering, the priest merely dipped his finger in the blood and applied it to the horns of the altar (Leviticus 4:25).
Those who demean the significance of the Blood Atonement, as the JDS teachers do, need to be warned that the Scriptures declare that"...without shedding of blood [there] is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22), and that anyone who perverts the Doctrine of Christ in any way has the spirit of antichrist (II John 7-11).
Therefore, this is precisely why the physical death of Jesus was absolutely essential; so that Jesus could bear the punishment for our guilt IN HIS BODY (I Peter 2:24), when He was put to death IN THE FLESH (I Peter 3:18). We are told that we were redeemed, not by His spiritual death, which never occurred, "but with the precious BLOOD of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (I Peter 1:19). The Bible states that Christ's physical death was necessary to provide the blood for the Atonement. 1
Note: One "spiritual-death" teacher
quotes Jesus in the Garden when He said, "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:38), as
meaning He was expressing His awareness that He must die spiritually!
On the contrary, Jesus has no reference here to His
spirit dying, but speaks of the travail of His soul due to deep
grief He is suffering. Such usage is common in Hebrew: Job 30:25,
"was not my soul grieved?"; "my soul shall
weep" (Jeremiah 13:17); "bitterness of soul" (Proverbs
31:6; KJV, "heavy hearts"); and Hezekiah speaks of the
"bitterness of my soul" in reference to the physical
death he almost experienced (Isaiah 38:15).
Bitterness of soul in
such instances expresses the deep emotions of sadness, grief,
travail, etc., since the soul is the "seat" of the
emotions.
Furthermore, the soul often signifies the person
himself in Hebrew thought and usage, and is often so translated.
Jesus is saying in essence, "I am exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death." The term "soul" is often translated
as "I" or "me," and signifies the person
himself. In Judges 16:30, Samson said, "Let me die with the
Philistines." The literal Hebrew is: "Let my soul
die." In Jeremiah 37:9, "deceive not yourselves"
is literally "deceive not your souls." Any Hebrew
lexicon will give many examples of such usage, indicating Jesus'
statement did not have any reference to spiritual death.
It should be kept in mind, as pointed out earlier, that even when the JDS supporters use biblical terminology, such as "blood of Jesus," "the cross," "the atonement," and so on, it is obvious that they do not always mean by such terminology what the Scriptures do.