I've read and thought about this question quite a lot and tbh I'm nowhere near understanding it. As I understand it, the Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. My understanding of sin is that it is a missing of the mark of our true humanness which is to be image bearers of God and this comes about because we worship idols rather than God. By that I mean we worship created things such as money, sex or power rather than the Creator and so come to reflect those things instead of God.
But how exactly (or even inexactly!) did Jesus' death achieve this? Why was it needed? Couldn't God have achieved this in another way, simply by declaring the forgiveness of sins for example? I'd appreciate anyone's thought on this because I do struggle with it
One of the elements of Christ's atoning work is our forgiveness, this is true. The exact "mechanism" of this has been described in a number of ways throughout the history of the Church, so attempting to nail down the precise mechanism and the precise details in a nice, clean way is always going to be at least slightly controversial.
But as far as this goes, here is how Lutherans understand that:
Human beings are inherently sinful on account of original sin, indeed so deep and penetrating is the problem of sin in our humanity that it can be described as a total depravity. Now this term "total depravity" tends to conjure certain ideas for some people, but its meaning is actually pretty simple. The word depravity comes from the Latin, depravus, meaning "bent" or "crooked" and the "total" here simply indicates the totality of our humanity, rather than only a part of our humanity. In other words, every dimension of our humanity has been bent and broken by sin, even our human will.
Therefore, since the totality of our humanity is broken, or as Lutherans would say we are homo incurvatus in se, or "humanity curved inward", that is, bent or curved inward upon ourselves so that the natural instincts, desires, and drives--everything from the natural appetites to our emotions, our thoughts, our will, all of it--is bent and broken, curved inward toward ourselves, to seek ourselves. From which springs forth pride, greed, envy, malice, hatred, and every other evil and vice there is.
Therefore, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23), and indeed "no one is righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10).
So man in this condition is estranged from God, out of communion with God, in fact we are in our fallen human nature the enemies of God. Not that God is our enemy, but that we are God's enmity, we are hostile toward God, we despise the good God. So it is therefore impossible for man to be just by his own power, everything we do is distorted, twisted, and misshapen. Even in our most noble of works we are sinners. Therefore the condemnation of the Law is upon us.
What is the condemnation of the Law? It's very simple: The Law is holy and good, and commands that which is good, holy, right, and just. So it is written, "Love your neighbor as yourself" and "You shall have no other gods before Me" and also "bless and do not curse". But what happens when we encounter the Law? Do we do what the Law commands? No, we don't, we fail to do what the Law commands. So we see the Law say to love our neighbors, and we do not love our neighbors. The Law acts like a mirror, revealing us in our sin, as naked and bare before God in His supreme justice and goodness. This is the wrath of God, not that God is up in heaven fuming in anger toward us; but rather that as sinners we behold the holiness and justice of God through His Law, and what we ought to be and that we are not. I am not holy, I am not righteous, I am not good, I am not loving before and under the Law. Under the Law I find in myself only wretchedness, wickedness, despair, and vainglory.
So who then can be saved?
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With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." - Matthew 19:26
So since I am not righteous, I am in need of a righteousness that is outside of myself. And God has supplied that righteousness.
Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, is that righteousness. For where Adam--and indeed all of us who are in Adam--has failed, sinned, being disobedient, Christ is righteous, being obedient even to the point of death. So that Christ, the Just One, by His righteous obedience, even to the point of death on the cross, is given to me as pure gift, pure grace, which God appropriates to me through faith.
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But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an atonement by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:21-26
Thus Christ, by His righteous obedience, His suffering and death, provides the only merit of value before God, that is true righteousness. And this was for you, for me, for all sinners everywhere. That God is just, and justifies the unjust by His grace. Giving us the righteousness of Jesus Christ as pure grace, pure gift.
There is, therefore, forgiveness of our sins; not because God couldn't just forgive (because of course He can). Rather, more than forgiveness, we have obtained mercy. I am not just forgiven, I am cleansed of all unrighteousness, I have a righteousness before God that is mine through faith, by the grace of God--the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
In fact, we have been clothed with Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:27).
Even still we have been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and so we have been
raised with Christ. And therefore participate in His life, even in the deathliness of these mortal bodies and the sin that infects all of our members. We are alive, for Christ makes us a live. We were dead in our trespasses, but God made us alive together with Christ, so that we are alive to God (Ephesians 2:4-6).
And thus we have peace with God. No longer strangers and enemies, but friends and children. God has taken us into His House, washed us and clothed us with His righteousness, seated us at His table, and adopted us as His sons and daughters.
This, of course, isn't everything. There is so much more to what Christ did. But this, this is the forgiveness of our sins, the end of hostilities between God and man, the
shalom of God which is between God and man in Jesus Christ.
You are forgiven, your sins are cleansed, washed away, you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is by grace through faith. That makes you just before God. Therefore before God you are found blameless on account of Christ. Does that mean that you can live however you want, or that good works don't matter, or that there shouldn't be repentance, or that there is no daily struggle against the old man and toward the new obedience? Of course not. But you are justified by these things, you are justified by the grace of God; who and what you are in Christ is what matters before God. Now, on account of these things, go and love your neighbor, now go and feed the hungry, now go and give drink to the thirsty. As the Lord has said, "Go and do likewise."
-CryptoLutheran
