In this week’s Life of Jesus class, somebody posed a superb question I had never heard before. If Jesus died to pay for our sin, then didn’t his resurrection from the dead somehow “undo” that atonement for sin?
Romans 6:9 tells us that the power of death no longer holds any power over Jesus:
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, was the only one who could atone for the sin of the human race. Having done that, God then raised him up, breaking the stranglehold of death forever.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)
Jesus’ resurrection is the means of eternal life for every believer:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Christians demonstrate their unity with Jesus in baptism, which represents death, and, likewise, will be raised to eternal life, like Jesus was raised:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5)
The message of the New Testament depicts the resurrection not as an “undoing” of Jesus’ atonement. It is, rather, a completion of that saving act. Not merely a ransom payment, Jesus death and resurrection were a game-changing combination that forever altered how people could relate to their God.
What happened in the time between Jesus’ death, and his resurrection? S. Michael Houdmann writes:
Did Jesus go to sheol/hades? Yes, according to Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:18-20…Jesus’ body was in the tomb; His soul/spirit went to the “paradise” side of sheol/hades. He then removed all the righteous dead from paradise and took them with Him to heaven… It was the death of Jesus on the cross and His suffering in our place that sufficiently provided for our redemption. It was His shed blood that effected our own cleansing from sin (1 John 1:7-9). As He hung there on the cross, He took the sin burden of the whole human race upon Himself. He became sin for us: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
…When Jesus cried upon the cross, “Oh, Father, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), it was then that He was separated from the Father because of the sin poured out upon Him. As He gave up His spirit, He said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). His suffering in our place was completed. His soul/spirit went to the paradise side of hades. Jesus did not go to hell. Jesus’ suffering ended the moment He died. The payment for sin was paid. He then awaited the resurrection of His body and His return to glory in His ascension.