Did Jesus Die Spiritually?

by Joe R. Price

II Corinthians 5:21, “Him who knew no sin he made (to be) sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

This question causes some brethren to pause and ponder. Some have evidently concluded that yes, Jesus did die spiritually. We cannot entertain this, much less affirm such a conclusion.

The Bible does not teach that our Lord died spiritually. The implications of such a premise are too awful to contemplate. Some of these implications would include the following:

1. If Jesus experienced spiritual death, it means that Jesus was a sinner (Ephesians 2:1).
2. Jesus would not be our redeemer, for one sinner cannot redeem another (Romans 5:8; Revelation 5:9).
3. Jesus would have to have a redeemer (Ephesians 1:7). If Jesus died spiritually, whose blood redeemed His soul from eternal death (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 10:22)?
4. We need and must look for another Savior, not Jesus (Acts 4:12).
5. Jesus is now, at best, a glorified sinner, saved from spiritual death by the Father (John 17:1-5).
6. God is a sinner, since “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” through Christ (II Corinthians 5:18-19).

Spiritual death never had dominion over our Lord. In Romans 6:9-10, Paul said, “knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God” speaking of the death of Jesus on the cross, not of His spiritual death. It is His death on the tree, inflicted by “stripes” which heals us from our sins, from which Jesus was raised by God’s power and glory (I Peter 2:24; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). Jesus was never raised from spiritual death, because He never died spiritually. (If Jesus did die spiritually, what constituted His spiritual resurrection from that death?)

When Jesus died on the cross, He committed His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46). Yet, the spirit of one who is spiritually dead is committed to torments (Luke 16:22-23). The very reason it was impossible for death to hold (restrain, have power over) Jesus is because He was (and is) the sinless Son of God (Acts 2:24)! Sinners, the spiritually dead, fear death and are held captive by that fear. The death of Jesus destroyed the power of sin, and His resurrection destroyed the power of death – the very tools used by Satan to hold sinners captive (Hebrews 2:14-15; I Corinthians 15:55-57). Thus, Jesus was “delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

God’s eternal plan for the redemption of sinners is stated in II Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This passage has been the source of trouble for some, but it need not be the case. First, since Jesus “knew no sin” He was indeed sinless – spiritually alive – not spiritually dead. God made Him to “be sin” does not mean that Jesus was made a sinner. It means that Jesus bore the punishment due our sins (death) when He died on the cross (I Peter 2:24 – His stripes heal us; Hebrews 9:22 – the shedding of blood is the redemption price for sins). Isaiah 53 makes it abundantly clear that the Messiah’s death on the cross is the death by which He bore our iniquities (Isaiah 53:4-8, 10-11).

Thus, II Corinthians 5:21 teaches that the sinless Son of God bore the penalty of our sins (see I Peter 2:24, where this truth is confirmed). He bore the stroke we were due (Isaiah 53:5). By His death He “made intercession” for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12) – not by becoming a sinner (dying spiritually), but by bearing the penalty of sin (death). His death on the cross was the “cup” He drank in fulfillment of the Father’s will (Matthew 26:36-44; Hebrews 5:7-8; Isaiah 53:10-12).

Please recall I Peter 1:18-19, which teaches we have been redeemed from our sins by “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” If Jesus died spiritually, He was not like an unblemished lamb and therefore could not enter the Most Holy Place (heaven) to offer Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world (Hebrews 9:26-28; 10:10-12, 19-20).

Some appeal to Matthew 27:46 as proof that Jesus died spiritually. We have already adequately shown the folly of that thought. Since God’s word harmonizes, there must be (and is) an explanation of this passage that does not contradict God’s word in other places. Like David (Psalms 22), who endured suffering at the hands of his enemies, Jesus suffered at the hands of His enemies. And, like David, although God allowed the suffering to occur, He did not let the sinners go unpunished. His cry in the moment of agony (“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me”), like the cry of David, evinces His desire for the nearness of the Father who, though with great love for His Son, must allow Him to suffer even to the point of death on the cross. But, God did not abandon Christ. He was “heard because of his godly fear” and by death He was perfected as an offering for sin and became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-8; Hebrews 12:2-3; Psalms 22:21, 24). Jesus did not become a sinner on the cross. He bore the penalty of our sins on the cross and became “a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:6; Matthew 20:28).

What about I Peter 3:18? Well, it plainly says “the just for the unjust,” not “the just became unjust.” The death Jesus “suffered once for sins” that by it “he might bring us to God” was “in the flesh” – it was not a “spiritual” death. In His death that shed His blood he “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). On the cross He suffered the penalty of death “for the transgressions of My people He was stricken” (Isaiah 53:8). His bodily resurrection is then referred to inasmuch as He was “made alive by the Spirit.” Jesus was resurrected from physical death, not spiritual death. His body was not left in the grave, nor did He remain in Paradise where the thief was with him after death (Luke 23:43; Acts 2:24-31).

The Scriptures affirm that Jesus Christ bore the penalty of our sins on the cross. By His death we have redemption. The Scriptures do not attribute the condition of spiritual death to Jesus Christ.