Did Jesus commit suicide? #Jesus #Theology #christianity

Did Jesus commit suicide? A lot of people think that he did, but he did not. Let's take a look at this article I've written on this topic. No, he did not commit suicide because he did not desire to die and intentionally perform an action upon himself that caused his death.

He did not nail himself to the cross. Nevertheless, there are those who say he willingly went there and because he could have stopped it, that therefore he committed suicide. Let's look at the definitions of suicide.

The act of killing yourself intentionally. The act or instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally. We have the intentional taking of one's life and the act of killing yourself deliberately.

From these definitions, we can see that suicide includes two elements. The intention to die and performing an action to carry out that intention. According to Scripture, this is what's really important.

Jesus did not want to die. He prayed to God, God the Father, and said, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done, Luke 22, 42. This is in the context of him getting ready to go to the cross to be killed.

If he did not have the intention, did not want to do this, then that falls outside the category and definition of what suicide is. He was living his life in such a way that he knew people would kill him for what he did, but they're the ones responsible.

We'll get to that for their own actions, not him himself. He did not perform any action that directly caused his death. He did not nail himself to the cross. However, he spoke and taught in such a way that the Jewish leaders would want to kill him.

He knew that.

You go to John 2, when he's talking to his mother Mary, and he says, what have I to do with you? Because she wanted him to change water into wine. He says, my time has not yet come. We believe that that is basically the time for his death and his crucifixion.

He knew that the unbelievers were going to kill him. It's one of the reasons he came to the world, to die for our sins. But he is not the one directly responsible for their actions. I want to take a look at something called efficient, proximate, and ultimate causation.

There are different kinds of causation. There's ultimate, proximate, and efficient. Let's get into these so you can learn why these are important in relationship to this topic. See, Adam freely ate the fruit of the tree.

No one forced him to do it. He did it of his own free will. Therefore, he is the efficient cause of his own sin. No one forced him to do it. No one forced him. But God is the proximate cause because God put the garden there with Adam and Eve in it and allowed the serpent to enter.

The serpent tempted Eve, who ate the fruit and gave it to Adam, and then he ate. So God is called the proximate cause. Or we could say the conditions, the approximate conditions. The approximate conditions are him living in the garden, him being there, God allowing the serpent to come in, the two trees, and things like that.

So the proximate cause of Adam's sin are the conditions in which he freely chose. So the proximate cause of something is the conditions that exist in which the efficient cause can occur. The efficient cause means that a person is responsible for his or her own actions, not being forced or conditioned by somebody else.

The ultimate cause is that God is the one who created the universe, the planets, etc. So nothing could occur without God being there and creating the universe. But he's not the efficient cause of Adam's sin.

So at most, when we talk about did Jesus commit suicide, we must respond and say that Jesus is the proximate cause of his own death, not the efficient cause. He spoke truthfully, performed miracles, and remained silent at his trial.

These things led to his death, which he knew would happen. But he's not the efficient cause of his death any more than God is the efficient cause of Adam's sin. Jesus did not perform the action of nailing himself to the cross, just as God did not perform the action of forcing Adam to eat the fruit.

So suicide requires intention and efficient causation to be defined as suicide, according to the four definitions listed above. So in other words, it requires a desire to die, an intention, and a direct action that brings about one's own death, the efficient cause.

But Jesus did not desire his own death, except in obedience to the will of God the Father. And he did not directly perform any action in physically causing his own death. So, did Jesus commit suicide?

The answer is simple. No, he did not.