Apologetics for the Masses #512 - Did God Actually...Literally...Die on the Cross?

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Topic

Weighing in on a dispute from the Philippines as to whether or not it is correct to say that God literally died on the Cross.

General Comments

ANNOUNCEMENT
All of the Bible Christian Society apologetics talks - 28 in English and 6 in Spanish - are now available on a single USB flash drive in FLAC, M4A (AAC), and MP3 formats; plus lots of room to spare for your other files.

There are two different usb drives:

• 128 GB USB drive with both USB-A and USB-C ports. This drive is USB 3.0.

• 16 GB USB drive with both USB-A and Micro USB ports. This drive is USB 2.0.

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You can order them here: https://www.biblechristiansociety.com/products/complete_audio
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Introduction

In the not-too-distant past, over the course of several weeks, I received a number of emails, and posts on my Facebook page, from several different Filipinos, all of whom had questions related to whether or not God had literally died on the Cross. Apparently, there were some Catholics...or maybe former Catholics...who were causing a big stink over there by saying it was not appropriate to say that God died on the Cross because God cannot die. These folks were saying that Jesus' human nature died on the Cross, but God did not die on the Cross. The kerfuffle even rose to the level to where apparently one of the local bishops had to get involved in it. I don't know exactly how things turned out, but I haven't had any more questions along that same line so I believe things have settled down a bit; although, I doubt that the "doubters" will ever be entirely satisfied. They never are...

Anyway, among the number of questions I received, one gentlemen wrote and asked me two very specific questions which rather summed up the entire argument. I answered him, and, after that, I didn't really hear anything else about it. Below are those two questions along with my answers.

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Questions From the Philippines
1. Is it a correct understanding of the Catholic faith to say that when Jesus suffered and died that only his human nature suffered and died and not the divine person?

2. Is it a correct understanding of the teaching of the Catechism of the Council of Trent to say that the expression "God died" is not to be understood literally but figuratively (i.e., antropomorphism and/or synecdoche)?

My Response
What is going on in the Philippines in regard to this "God died" question?! I've been asked about this by a dozen or so Filipinos in the last few months.

Anyway, to answer your questions:

1) No, that is not a correct understanding of the Catholic faith. Yes, it is correct to say that His human nature suffered and died, not His divine nature. However, it is incorrect to say that the Divine Person did not die. A person died on the Cross. Jesus is a Divine Person with two natures - divine and human. He is not a human person. The Divine Person suffered and died - in His human nature. The Divine Person did not suffer and die in His divine nature. One person - Divine. Two natures - divine and human. The Divine Person suffered and died...in His human nature...not in His divine nature. How can that be? 'Tis a mystery...

2) No, it is not a correct understanding of the Catechism of the Council of Trent to understand the expression, "God died," figuratively. God died, literally...in His human nature. (See answer to #1 above.)

You need to refer to the Bible and to the Catechism of the Catholic Church :

Bible
1 Peter 3:18 - "For Christ also died..."
Matt 16:21 - "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem...and be killed."
John 19:30 - "When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, 'It is finished'; and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." [He died.]
John 18:32 - "This was to fulfill the word which Jesus had spoken to show by what death He was to die."
Romans 8:34 - "Was it Christ Jesus Who died? Yes..."
1 Thess 4:14 - "For since we believe that Jesus died..."
Rom 6:3 - "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"
Rev 1:18 - "I died and behold, I am alive evermore..."

And on and on and on I could go.

Look, for example, at Rom 6:3. If it was only Jesus' human nature that died on the Cross, and not the Divine Person of Christ in His human nature, then when we are baptized...baptized into His death...are we merely baptized into Jesus' human nature? There is nothing of the divine that we receive in and through Baptism?

Catechism of the Catholic Church
Paragraph #612 - "Above all, His human nature has been assumed by the divine Person...He accepts His death as redemptive..."
#613 - "Christ's death..."
#624 - "By the grace of God Jesus tasted death..."
#627 - "Christ's death was a real death in that it put an end to His earthly human existence. But because of the union which the person of the Son retained with His body, His was not a mortal corpse like others...and therefore 'divine power preserved Christ's body from corruption.'"
#629 - "It is truly the Son of God made man Who died and was buried."
#630 - "During Christ's period in the tomb, His divine Person continued to assume both His soul and His body, although they were separated from each other by death."

Paragraph #612 - the "He" and "His" is referring to the Divine Person of Jesus Christ. "He [the Divine Person of Christ] accepts His [the Divine Person of Christ'] death as redemptive..."

Is Jesus God...yes or no? Yes.
Did Jesus die...yes or no? Yes.
Therefore, God died. Not figuratively or symbolically or metaphorically, but literally.

Jesus' death was real. Jesus was, and is, God. So, if Jesus did in fact die, then God did in fact die. If God did not die, then Jesus did not die.

Closing Comments

I hope this offered some clarification for anyone who may have had any similar questions. Don't forget to check out the new flash drives with all 28 of our apologetics talks!

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