A MORE COMPLETE EXPLANATION...

The Christian understanding is that the one they think to be the messiah, Jesus, died for the sins of the people. The messiah is supposed to be the blood sacrifice necessary for the forgiveness of sin (a human sacrifice, see the essay on Gd’s view of human sacrifices.

However we are taught quite clearly and consistently in our Bible that no one can die for the sins of another, that one person’s guilt cannot be forgiven because of another person’s death.

In Exodus 32:30-35, Moses tries to offer himself as an atonement for the sins of the people. To be written out of Gd's book, means to be written out of the Book of Life, which means Moses was asking to die for the sins of the People. Gd's response was that it does not work that way, each man dies for his own sin:

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Eternal; perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Eternal, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Eternal said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Eternal plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. [Exodus 32:30-35]

Please note that the text tells us that whoever sins is the one who gets the punishment of being written out of Gd’s book, presumably Gd’s Book Of Life.

In Deuteronomy 24:16 it specifically says that no one can die for the sins of another:

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the father. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. [Deuteronomy 24:16]

The whole of chapter 18 of the book of Ezekiel is about this idea, that no one can die for someone else's sin. Further, this chapter of Ezekiel teaches us that all we have to do for Gd's forgiveness is to stop doing the Bad and start doing the Good, and Gd will forgive us. Nowhere in this chapter does it say that we have to have a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. (But more on this in another essay.)

The word of the Eternal came unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Eternal Gd, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Eternal Gd: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. [Ezekiel 18:1-4; 20-24; 26-27]

And once again, the idea that one person cannot die for the sins of another, is repeated in the Book of Jeremiah. (See the section of this website regarding Jeremiah 31:31) In the 31st chapter, Gd is telling of a time in the future when no one will continue to believe in this nonsense.

In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. [Jeremiah 31:29-30]

The simple, literal meaning of the Biblical text needs no interpretation to understand. It is clear and it is consistent, no one can die for the sins of another. This means that Jesus cannot die for your sins.

Christians might choose to interpret other verses in the Bible to indicate the opposite, that one can die for the sins of another, but this would mean that Gd changed His mind, or that He did not mean what He said, when he said, “Every man shall be put to death for his own sin,” in Deuteronomy 24:16.