Was Christ Still "God" When He Died?
Let's attempt to answer this question by first asking a series of other questions. My suggested answers are beneath each question, and a fuller discussion of these issues follows after that.
Did God die on the cross?
- Yes & No.
- God in totality did not die.
- The Son died and was raised by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The human who was a manifestation of God (but still God) died.
What was Christ’s relationship to God?
- There is only one God.
- Christ is called God.
- Christ is also called the Son of God.
- Christ is differentiated from God.
Was Christ still God when He died?
- Yes.
How could Christ, the fulness of God, die? How could this same being be said to have been raised by God?
- Christ was a limited manifestation of God while on earth.
So, did God die on the cross?
- Yes & No.
- God in totality did not die.
- The Son died and was raised by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The human who was a manifestation of God (but still God) died.
Let's now explore some of these questions in more detail. Philippians 2:7 is a good basis for our discussion of these things.
Did God die on the cross?
- Yes & No.
- God in totality did not die.
- The Son died and was raised by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The human who was a manifestation of God (but still God) died.
What was Christ’s relationship to God?
- There is only one God.
- Christ is called God.
- Christ is also called the Son of God.
- Christ is differentiated from God.
Was Christ still God when He died?
- Yes.
How could Christ, the fulness of God, die? How could this same being be said to have been raised by God?
- Christ was a limited manifestation of God while on earth.
So, did God die on the cross?
- Yes & No.
- God in totality did not die.
- The Son died and was raised by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The human who was a manifestation of God (but still God) died.
Let's now explore some of these questions in more detail. Philippians 2:7 is a good basis for our discussion of these things.
Philippians 2:7 – Christ Jesus –
“[He] made Himself of no reputation …”
“[He] made Himself nothing …”
“[He] emptied Himself …”
The “emptying” of Himself and “making Himself nothing”, referred to in Philippians 2:7, is sometimes suggested to teach that Christ shed His deity (or "God-ness)" when He died. In addition, there is the thought that God couldn't possibly be dead at any time.
Below are a number of reasons why I believe Christ could still actually be said to be "God in the flesh" when He died....
(a) The entire passage of Philippians 2:3-8 is about humility. It was not written as a creed about the deity or humanity of Christ. Statements concerning His being are mentioned, but they are mentioned in the context of Paul giving the reader an example of humility - namely, Christ, Who had a right to all the privileges of being God, but laid aside the privileges, not His deity.
(b) The statement in that passage about “emptying Himself” is spoken of in the context of what Christ gave up in becoming human, not what He gave up at His death.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-7)
(c) Acts 20:28 speaks of “the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood”. This was God’s own blood that was sacrificed on the cross – otherwise we are speaking of the blood of a man only. This verse supports the idea that Christ retained His deity on the cross.
(d) Philippians 2:5-11 echoes Isaiah 45:21-24, which is printed below. It reinforces that it was Christ as both God and man Who died on the cross, not just a perfect man. Notice a few points - (i) the repetition of the term “God” in this passage; (ii) how "God" is linked with the terms “Saviour” and “saved”; (iii) how these phrases are connected to the One to whom "every should bow and tongue confess".
There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Saviour;
There is none besides Me.
Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue take an oath.
He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength’.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. (Isaiah 45:21-24)
(e) God alone is the saviour of mankind, not a mere man who acts only on behalf of men. Several statements in Isaiah chs 40-48 speak of God being the only Saviour of Israel. Isaiah 45:22 extends this to include “the ends of the earth”. The language is deliberate, and the principle appears to be the same, whether it is Israel being saved from the invading nations, or mankind in general being offered salvation from sin …
(f) If Christ laid aside His deity somehow before His death, it raises a number of questions:
· When exactly was His deity shed? If it was shed, it must have been only a moment before His death, as His last words were, “Father, into your hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). He still was able to call upon “the Father”, and this was quite some time after He had cried out “why have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
· If He shed His deity, at what point did His deity rejoin Him – upon resurrection, or some time after resurrection?
(g) We could also ask this question - Before He died, did He at some time remove that part of His DNA on the cross, which He had received when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35)? To suggest such a thing is to suggest something quite contrary to truly human makeup, whereupon we cannot simply remove part of ourselves inherited by one of our parents. Christ was fully human, and if His DNA was a completely different type to ours, then He wasn't really human after all. As a human, He was our perfect substitute; not other animal or "half-man" would truly be able to die in our place.
(h) On the cross, God in essence did not die – He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:1). However, the one Who was both God and Man in essence died, and rose again, because He was granted the power to do so (John 10:18).
Those are the main reasons why I believe Christ could still actually be said to be "God in the flesh" when He died.
“[He] made Himself of no reputation …”
“[He] made Himself nothing …”
“[He] emptied Himself …”
The “emptying” of Himself and “making Himself nothing”, referred to in Philippians 2:7, is sometimes suggested to teach that Christ shed His deity (or "God-ness)" when He died. In addition, there is the thought that God couldn't possibly be dead at any time.
Below are a number of reasons why I believe Christ could still actually be said to be "God in the flesh" when He died....
(a) The entire passage of Philippians 2:3-8 is about humility. It was not written as a creed about the deity or humanity of Christ. Statements concerning His being are mentioned, but they are mentioned in the context of Paul giving the reader an example of humility - namely, Christ, Who had a right to all the privileges of being God, but laid aside the privileges, not His deity.
(b) The statement in that passage about “emptying Himself” is spoken of in the context of what Christ gave up in becoming human, not what He gave up at His death.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-7)
(c) Acts 20:28 speaks of “the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood”. This was God’s own blood that was sacrificed on the cross – otherwise we are speaking of the blood of a man only. This verse supports the idea that Christ retained His deity on the cross.
(d) Philippians 2:5-11 echoes Isaiah 45:21-24, which is printed below. It reinforces that it was Christ as both God and man Who died on the cross, not just a perfect man. Notice a few points - (i) the repetition of the term “God” in this passage; (ii) how "God" is linked with the terms “Saviour” and “saved”; (iii) how these phrases are connected to the One to whom "every should bow and tongue confess".
There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Saviour;
There is none besides Me.
Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue take an oath.
He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength’.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. (Isaiah 45:21-24)
(e) God alone is the saviour of mankind, not a mere man who acts only on behalf of men. Several statements in Isaiah chs 40-48 speak of God being the only Saviour of Israel. Isaiah 45:22 extends this to include “the ends of the earth”. The language is deliberate, and the principle appears to be the same, whether it is Israel being saved from the invading nations, or mankind in general being offered salvation from sin …
- If Christ wasn’t fully man, then we don’t have a Saviour.
- If Christ wasn’t fully God upon His death, we still don’t have a Saviour, because it is God who is mankind’s Saviour – a role that has been reserved for God only, and not a mere man, not even a perfect one.
(f) If Christ laid aside His deity somehow before His death, it raises a number of questions:
· When exactly was His deity shed? If it was shed, it must have been only a moment before His death, as His last words were, “Father, into your hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). He still was able to call upon “the Father”, and this was quite some time after He had cried out “why have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
· If He shed His deity, at what point did His deity rejoin Him – upon resurrection, or some time after resurrection?
(g) We could also ask this question - Before He died, did He at some time remove that part of His DNA on the cross, which He had received when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35)? To suggest such a thing is to suggest something quite contrary to truly human makeup, whereupon we cannot simply remove part of ourselves inherited by one of our parents. Christ was fully human, and if His DNA was a completely different type to ours, then He wasn't really human after all. As a human, He was our perfect substitute; not other animal or "half-man" would truly be able to die in our place.
(h) On the cross, God in essence did not die – He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:1). However, the one Who was both God and Man in essence died, and rose again, because He was granted the power to do so (John 10:18).
Those are the main reasons why I believe Christ could still actually be said to be "God in the flesh" when He died.
