Originally posted by Askjo:
Death can't forgive us but the blood of Christ.[/qutoe]The blood and death go together. Leviticus 17:11 reminds that that the shedding of blood is good by means of the life. It is the life that is important. The word "blood" in Scripture in reference to the atonement is a synonym for death. The Rom 5:9-10 passage shows the parallelism involved where two different words means the same thing.
The KJV is correct on Romans 3:25 reflecting the "blood". The TEV is incorrect because of its controversy with the misinterpretation itself.
This is true, but you are confusing this with MacArthur and the rest of us orthodox theologians who would disagree with the TEV, but fully affirm that the "blood" means the same things as "death" does. The wages of sin is __________ (get out your KJV1611 or the KJV that you currently use and play "fill in the blank.") You will see the orthodox position.
you are right that Jesus died for us, but how would the death forgive us our sins?
It is the doctrine called "Consequent absolute necessity." It means that once God decided to save sinners, death was the only proper payment. As Bob said, it is God who decided it, not us.