Why did Jesus die for humanity?

Atonement is important to Christians because it explains why Jesus died.

If you break the word up, you can see ‘at one’ at the start. Like this: ‘at-one-ment’. This is very fitting, because Christians believe that when Jesus died on the cross, they could become close, or ‘at one’ with God.

This is what Christians celebrate every year at Easter and at church each week.

But why were people far from God?

There is a big story in the Bible called the ‘salvation story’. The Bible begins with Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lived there. God told them not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, but they disobeyed Him. This led to the Fall, where Adam and Eve's relationship with God was spoiled, leaving them far from God.

People have been disobeying God ever since.

In summary:

• God made the world.
• He made people to be in relationship with Him.
• He wanted people to be friends and be kind to each other, to follow His Laws.
• But people didn’t do as they were told. This is called sin.
• Sin puts people far from God.

What does Jesus' death have to do with this?

Christians believe that God sent Jesus - the Messiah - to die on the cross so that they didn't get punished for their sins. Instead, Jesus was punished in their place.

This meant that they could be close to God again; Jesus paid the price for the sins humans committed, even though he was innocent of any wrongdoing himself. This was a 'once and forever' event; so Christians believe that through Jesus' death everyone can experience forgiveness if they choose to accept Jesus.

This is atonement: people were once far from God but are now close to Him because Jesus died in humanity's place.

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