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Q&A

Why Did the Father Require the Son to Die?

Tom Nash

Question:

If God is love (1 John, 4:8) and the Lord of life (CCC, 2258), how could God require the life of his own son, Jesus, to be destroyed?

Answer:

In short, our heavenly Father did so out of love for us (John 3:16-17), to redeem us from sin and death. And the passion and death of his Son, Jesus, was a fitting way to show us God’s great love for us as well as the ugliness of sin. Jesus, the incarnate Word and thus God-man, loves his Father and loves us, and so he was obedient to his Father’s salvific plan for humanity. Jesus teaches us that there is no greater love than to lay one’s life for another (John 15:13). And then he perfectly exemplified it on behalf of all of us.

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