How Can God Die? Christ’s Divinity Never Ceased (Short Version)

If Jesus is God and He died, then didn’t God die?

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. He had no beginning; He will have no end. Yet there was a beginning of His incarnation; His life as a man on earth (John 1:14). Even in His death as a man, His divinity never ceased. The divine aspect of Him never died. His human breath of life was taken away and He was immediately united to the Father as He was before His incarnation. Right before that happened, He had cried “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (see Luke 23:46).

Jesus had to be both God and live a perfect life as a man in order for His atonement to be sufficient to purchase redemption and make it available to people. Though He didn’t suffer in the fire of hell eternally, there was eternal value in Him so that He was actually able to provide an atonement for sin by His death which is consistent with God’s justice (see Hebrews 9:14 in relation to this). Though His divinity did not cease while He was on the cross, it was no comfort to Him then. He died as a sin offering wherein He was treated as a guilty man- yet He never sinned nor became literal sin as some teach. Neither His humanity nor His divinity were ever actually tainted with sin.

Some will ask: How can God be hungry? How can God be tired? Jesus was hungry and tired even though His divinity was never suspended during these times. His divinity was simply no special help to Him in these times.

Jesus was dead as a man between the moment He died on the cross and the moment He was raised from the dead. He was raised as a human by the power of the Holy Spirit like He was conceived in Mary’s womb as a human by the power of the Holy Spirit. He remained fully God as He ascended to heaven- yet now He is a resurrected, glorified man as well. It is mysterious and hard to fully comprehend, yet it is reality.

1 Timothy 2:5-6: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

Hebrews 10:12-13: “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”