The Trinity and Salvation

Why was the death of Christ necessary for our salvation?

No, I asked you first.

I don't have an answer, but I do know that there are many theories.  You can google them if you like.  I think Adam Hamilton reviews several of them in one of his books.

I was listening to a podcast "You Made it Weird" by Pete Holmes: he was interviewing Nadia Bolz-Weber.  I liked it, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are bothered by language.  Anyway, one of them was summing up one of the theories like this: God had one son, and he loved him very much. But we are so sinful - you are so sinful - that God had to kill his son in order to forgive our sins.  

That's an exaggeration of a theory, but it does reflect some of the thought around one of the theories of atonement.

Stop for a moment and think of the trinity.  God is Jesus.  Jesus is Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is God.  Jesus was incarnated as a human - but that means that God was incarnate.  God died.  God loved us so much that God died.

When you shine the light of the Trinity on the crucifixion, it changes the understanding of it, I think.

No, I still don't have the answer.  But do think about the question.