Recalling the whole of the Jesus story (not just his death, but his life, teaching, way of dying, resurrection, ascension, and gift of his spirit to birth the church) we asked how does Jesus save us? The main points were:
His death was an innocent, in him -a forsaken outcast- God is identified with injustice: new possibilities for divine love are revealed.
The Resurrection gives us a promise of hope against fear and overturns violence with peace.
Christians have access to this promise through faith in God.
The belief in redemption through Christ has been conveyed in a large variety of ways, as the Cambridge theologian David Ford relates:
“It is as if the range of significance of the crucifixion was to be indicated by drawing on every sphere of reality to represent it. From nature there were the basic symbols of darkness and of seeds dying in the ground. From the religious cult there were sacrifice and the Temple. From history there were the Exodus and the Exile. From the law court there were judgement, punishment, and justification. From military life there were ransom, victory, and triumph. From ordinary life there were market-place metaphors of purchases and exchanges, household images of union in marriage, obedience, parent-child relationships and the redemption of slaves, landlords whose sons are killed by tenants, medical images of healing and saving, and the picture of a friend laying down his life.” (more…)