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Jesus taught that his death would serve as a ransom for human sin, achieving what humans could
not (Mk. 10:26-27; 10:45). Then at the Last Supper, Jesus specified that his blood would be shed
for many (14:22-25, especially v. 24; cf. Matt. 26:8).
This message is definitely a central and favorite theme in early pre-Pauline creeds and
other early traditions. For example, in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, which came “from the Lord,”
both Jesus’ body as well as his blood were singled out as his sacrifice. Two other early creedal
texts are Romans 5:8, indicating that Christ died for sinners, and Romans 4:24-25, basing a
believer’s delivery from sin on the death of the Lord, and their justification on his resurrection.
Many other traditional statements follow closely these same ideas, both in Paul’s works that
critical scholars view as the minimal number of “authentic” Pauline epistles, 73 as well as in other
epistles. 74
The sermon summaries in Acts also contain texts that highlight the prominent theme
of Jesus Christ’s death. 75
But it needs to be remembered that most of these texts predate the
epistles in which they appear, as well as Acts, and were composed originally by others.
Thus, the message that Jesus Christ died and that he did so specifically for human sin was
a central, indispensable part of the early Christian’s Gospel teaching and preaching. It was
taught by Jesus and mentioned in literally dozens of early creedal passages located throughout
the New Testament epistles, as well as many of the sermon summaries in Acts. Many of these
are typically dated in the 30s AD.
73 See Gal. 2:20-21; 3:13; Phil. 1:29; 2:8; 1 Thes. 1:9-10; 4:14; 5:10.
74 See Eph. 2:5; 5:2; 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 2 Tim. 2:11-13; Heb. 2:9; 10:12; 12:2; 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:21, 2:24; 3:18; 4:1.
75 See Acts 2:23; 3:13-16; 4:10; 10:39, 43; 13:28-29; 17:3.
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