Did Jesus die for my sins?

Some Christians love to say that Jesus died on the cross “for my sins” or even “because of my sins”.

We should be careful with this formulation because people can get it wrong. I have heard children understand it as “When I lie to my parents or steal something, then Jesus is going to die on the cross”. Ouch, that’s obviously not what the Gospel tells us!

Yes, of course also my sins have been atoned. It would be ridiculous to believe that I would have committed some especially detestable sin that would exclude me from God’s forgiveness.

Christian authors use such formulations in order to express that God’s forgiveness is not limited to an abstract theological idea or the collective sins of a whole people. The Gospel is indeed something personal, something that happens between God and me.

Brother Pierre-Yves from Taizé sheds a reconciling light unto this expression: Death: What enables us to say that Jesus died “for us”?