The death of Jesus

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures:

1 Corinthians 15:3 (KJV)

Paul calls this the first thing, the matter of first importance: Christ died for our sins. Every word counts. It was Christ who died, the sinless Son of God. And He died for our sins, carrying what we could not carry.

The wages of sin is death, and Jesus paid that wage for us. Isaiah saw it hundreds of years before it happened: he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

The cross also shows us what God is like. God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He did not wait for us to improve. He loved us at our worst and paid in full.