If you believe in theistic evolution, then God didn’t have to send Jesus to earth to die.
Let me explain.
Theistic evolution is when you accept science that supports the Theory of Evolution. You accept the millions of years it took for humanity to evolve and you agree on fossil records and the dating methods.
However, since you’re a Christian, you need to have God in there somewhere. So what you say is that God ordained, arranged, oversaw and possibly intervened throughout the process of evolution. Along with this, the Genesis account of the Fall is only a spiritual Fall, not a physical Fall that included death.
This is theistic evolution in a nutshell: God used evolution to bring about the living organism.
If you believe this, then you have to know that this does not support or allow for Jesus to die for our sins.
Say Reginald is a theistic evolutionist. This implies he accepts the fossil records of millions of years. This means he recognizes death was present and thriving for millions of years before the Genesis Fall, which he believes is only spiritual. If our friend Reggie acknowledges death before the Fall, his faith falls apart.
In Romans, Paul says “For the wages of sin is death”. This is seen throughout the Bible. The Old Testament is filled with accounts and regulations regarding offering sacrifices for sin. A life was required in order to be forgiven of sin. Christ was crucified because He loves us and wants to save us. After Jesus took all our sins away, He became the sacrifice of the forever present. His life was the atonement for our sin. According to the Bible, sin requires death. It is unnatural. There is no getting around that.
However, if the Genesis Fall was only spiritual and not all encompassing, then death is no longer unnatural. Instead, it is natural and a way of life. It is no longer a consequence of sin. If sin doesn’t bring death, then all the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were useless and wasted. Even more so, the death of Jesus wasn’t necessary. He could have saved us some other way. It’s not like Jesus wanted to die, He asked the Father to take “the cup” away from Him. But He knew dying was the only way He could remedy us. He knew it was required.
If Reginald believes in theistic evolution, he accepts the existence death before the Fall. If he accepts death before the fall, then he accepts death is not a consequence of sin. If death is not a consequence of sin, then Jesus did not have to die. Therefore, you cannot believe in Jesus as a Savior who died for us and also in theistic evolution.
Here it is in a logical arrangement.
Premises:
A=Belief in theistic evolution
B=Accepts death before Fall
C=Death consequence of sin
D=Jesus’ required to die
~ = not or negative (opposite of premise)
(a) A -> B
(b) B -> ~C
(c) ~C -> ~D
(d) D = ~A
This can be condensed into an easier arrangement.
Combine premises (a) and (b) into A -> ~C, cancelling out the identical [B]s. This is now called (e). Now you have:
(e) A -> ~C
(c) ~C -> ~D
(d) D = ~A
To go one more step, combine (e) and (c) into A -> ~D, cancelling out the identical [~C]s calling it (f). Finally, the result is
(f) A -> ~D
(d) D = ~A
To clarify, (f) means that believing in theistic evolution leads to believing Jesus was not required to die for our sins. (Remember that the symbol [~] means not, negative, or the opposite.) So the concluding (d) simply means that believing Jesus died for our sins leads to disbelief in theistic evolution. It is the reversal of (f), but they mean the same thing.
This is a logical arrangement of the last paragraph about Reggie. Yes, I know just because something is logical doesn’t make it valid, or true. But a logical statement is true if all of the premises are true, and they are, as I’ve explained.
In closing, I strongly believe and argue that someone cannot to claim believe in theistic evolution and still believe that Jesus was required to die for our sins. Christ died for our sins because the Genesis Fall was the beginning of sin, and thus death. Since God loved us, He decided to send His Son Jesus to take our place. In this awesome act of grace, we are able to be saved from eternal death.
