In a theological context this question is considered to be the heart of the Christian message. What did Jesus mean when he asked while on the cross: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Much later on Saint Anselm asked the question in his famous book: “Cur Deus Homo?” (Why did God become human?”) The first traditional explanation is that God had seen to it that Jesus died as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of humanity, from Adam and Eve all the way to the here and now, including you and me. This is what the Christian church, especially theologically “born again” conservative Christians, teaches.
Theologically this is called the “Penal satisfaction” theory of the Atonement, when Jesus atoned for our sins. Bluntly it teaches that since we are all sinners someone must pay for our sinfulness with a death. Thus, God sent his only Son Jesus to die and make this payment. Two related questions most often get overlooked here. One, to whom is the payment made? Who demands this payment? It seems that it must be God himself, although some early thinkers suggested that the payment was made to Satan, but why would God have to pay off Satan?
The remaining, key, question is: why would God himself require the death of His only son? Why would this satisfy or please him? What goes unanswered is the question: How did this whole issue of payment ever come up? Why Does God require a sacrifice at all? What kind of God are we dealing with here? It would seem to be some sort of pagan notion of Divinity that is driving this theory. In Jesus’ own words:” My God, (my own Father) why have you forsaken me (your own Son?)”
In modern times some Christian theologians have suggested that God sent Jesus to die in order to provide an example of the Divine love, to show what extremes God will go to in order to save humankind. This has been called liberal “Moral Influence” theory of the atonement. But it still remains that God seems to be killing his own Son in order to impress humanity. It’s almost as if God is “Showing off”.
Biblical scholars have pointed out that when he asked, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was actually quoting the first verse of Psalm 22, something traditional Jews often did at the time of their death. Moreover, the Psalm goes on to declare that God has not, in fact, forsaken them, but everything depends on which preposition is used. By and large the preposition used in the New Testament is that of uper meaning “on behalf of”, not, anti “instead of”. Thus, Jesus died on our behalf not instead of us. His death was not a substitute for ours, but a signal to humanity of God’s great love for us. Neither we nor God have to pay anything to anyone. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.”
There are two important books to read if one is interested in pursuing this issue further. The classic background volume is God Was In Christ by Donald Bailie. Bailie argues that the key verse here is the one that states that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” God sought to bring us back to himself , not payoff some ambiguous debt to Satan, let alone to himself. The book which best presents what I take to be the best approach is Christus Victor by Gustaf Aulen. The latter explains more fully how Jesus’ death should be understood, not as a payment to God on our behalf, but as an act of God which shows the extreme character and depth of God’s love for humanity to free us from our selfishness.