Jesus died for several reasons according to Ellen White: 1) To purify humanity from sin and restore our relationship with God. 2) To redeem humanity and restore us to oneness with God after the fall separated us. 3) To bring humanity back into loyalty to God and obedience to His commandments. 4) To provide sufficient grace and power for humanity to overcome our natural sinful tendencies.

1. APPENDIX J:
WHY JESUS DIED!
As we noted in Appendix H: Why Jesus Came, most problems and
divisions within the Christian Church since the 1st century A.D. have
centered on “why He came” and “why He died.’ Usually, answers to
these two questions are based on certain presuppositions that also
determine the theologian’s understanding of the gospel. If one has a
limited understanding of the gospel or of a philosophically determined
picture of God, then his understanding of why Jesus came and died is
also limited—as we have discussed in this book.
When we step back and ask these two questions first before
defining the gospel, then the gospel takes on a fresh, wide-angled
scope that embraces the purposes of God’s side of the Great
Controversy. Thus, the life and death of Jesus are means to a greater
end, and not the end itself. Here follows a brief overview of Ellen
White’s larger view of why Jesus died (abstracted from a more
extended study paper that I prepared).
• That He might purify us from all iniquity.
“Sanctification of soul, body, and spirit will surround us with the
atmosphere of heaven. If God has chosen us from eternity, it is
that we might be holy, our conscience purged from dead works
to serve the living God. We must not in any way make self our
god. God has given Himself to die for us, that He might purify us
from all iniquity. The Lord will carry on this work of perfection for
us if we will allow ourselves to be controlled by Him. He carries
on this work for our good and His own name’s glory.” —
Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 348.

2. “Christ came to our world to elevate humanity, to renew in man
the image of God, that man might become the partaker of the
divine nature. Jesus gave Himself for us that He might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith
causes us to become as a branch grafted into the true Vine. The
Majesty of heaven gave His life to make us individually His own
by bringing back the transgressor to his loyalty to God’s law, by
turning away the sinner from his iniquity. Oh, that men would
love and fear God!” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 85.
• That we may be redeemed and restored.
“As a remedy for the terrible consequences into which selfishness
led the human race, God gave His only begotten Son to die for
mankind.How could He have given more? In this gift He gave
Himself. ‘I and My Father are one,’ said Christ. By the gift of His
Son, God has made it possible for man to be redeemed, and
restored to oneness with Him.” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 7,
233.
“The precious revelation of God’s will in the Scriptures with all
their unfolding of glorious truth is only a means to an end. The
death of Jesus Christ was a means to an end. The most powerful
and efficacious provision that He could give to our world, was the
means; the end was the glory of God in the uplifting, refining,
ennobling of the human agent.” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 7,
274.
“Christ gave His life to make it possible in our humanity to meet
the conditions that will give all an entrance into that city whose
builder and maker is God.” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, 189.
“That His church will be capable of caring for others and carry
out its commission Christ has given His precious life to make it
possible to establish a church that will be capable of caring for
sorrowful, tempted, perishing souls. He has bought us with His
own life, shed His own blood in order that He might wash away

3. the stains of sin, and clothe us with the garments of salvation.”
—Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 277.
“Christ lived and suffered and died to establish a church capable
of doing this noble work. He bought her, he cleansed her with
his own blood, and clothed her with the garments of his
salvation. He laid the corner-stone upon the blood-stained rock
of Calvary. He made his church the depositary of his precious
law, and transferred into her hands in a high and holy sense the
work of carrying out his holy designs; that the church should take
the work when he left it, and carry it forward to its
consummation.” —Review and Herald, June 7, 1887.
• That we might be brought back to His loyalty and
become obedient to His commandments.
“Christ died that the transgressor of the law of God might be
brought back to His loyalty, that he might keep the
commandments of God, and His law as the apple of His eye, and
live. God cannot take rebels into His kingdom; therefore He
makes obedience to His requirements a special requirement.” —
Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 112.
“Is the matter of gaining eternal life one to be trifled with? With
His own life Christ paid the price of our redemption. He died to
secure our love and willing obedience. All the blessings we enjoy
come from Him. He calls upon us to remember that the humblest
opportunity to serve Him is a consecrated gift. You need to
become acquainted with your Bible. You will then see that age
after age Jesus has been delivering His goods to men and
women. Each generation has its special trust. Your future welfare
depends on the use you make of your entrusted talents.” —
Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 269.
• That we would have sufficient grace and power to
remove natural defects and tendencies.

4. “We hear many excuses, I cannot live up to this or that. What do
you mean by this or that? Do you mean that it was an imperfect
sacrifice that was made for the fallen race upon Calvary, that
there is not sufficient grace and power granted us that we work
away from our own natural defects and tendencies, that it was
not a whole Saviour that was given us? Or do you mean to cast
reproach upon God? Well, you say, it was Adam’s sin. You say, I
am not guilty of that, and I am not responsible for his guilt and
fall. Here all these natural tendencies are in me and I am not to
blame if I act out these natural tendencies. Who is to blame? Is
God?” —Sermon preached at Minneapolis General Conference,
Sabbath, Oct. 20, 1888, cited in A.V. Olson, Through Crisis to
Victory, 262.
“Believers are to represent in their lives, its power to sanctify and
ennoble. … They are to show forth the power of the grace that
Christ died to give men. … They are to be men of faith, men of
courage, whole-souled men, who, without questioning, trust in
God and His promises. …” —Amazing Grace, 247.
“When Christ gave His life for you, it was that He might place
you on vantage ground and impart to you moral power. By faith
you may become partakers of His divine nature, having overcome
the corruption that is in the world through lust.” —Manuscript
Releases, vol. 14, 73. “We need to be filled with all the fullness
of God, and we shall then have life, power, grace and salvation.
How shall we obtain these great blessings? Christ has died that
we might receive them by faith in His name. He has freely offered
us light and life. Then why should we persist in driving pegs on
which to hang our doubts? Why should we fill the gallery of the
mind with gloomy scenes of doubt? Why not let the bright beams
of the Sun of righteousness shine into the chambers of heart and
mind and dispel the shadows of unbelief? Turn to the Light, to
Jesus the precious Saviour.” —Mind, Character and Personality,
vol. 2, 680.

5. “He who repents of his sin and accepts the gift of the life of the
Son of God cannot be overcome. Laying hold by faith of the
divine nature, he becomes a child of God. He prays, he believes.
When tempted and tried, he claims the power that Christ died to
give, and overcomes through His grace. This every sinner needs
to understand. He must repent of his sin, he must believe in the
power of Christ, and accept that power to save and to keep him
from sin. How thankful ought we to be for the gift of Christ’s
example!” —Selected Messages, vol. 2, 224.
“How could he give you any stronger evidence of his love than
he gave when he died for you on Calvary’s cross? He died that
you might have power to break with Satan, that you might cast
off his hellish shackles, and be delivered from his power. Jesus
paid your ransom with his own blood, and shall he have died for
you in vain? How can you answer in the judgment for your
neglect of his great salvation? O that God would open your eyes,
that you might see how flimsy are the excuses you now think to
present to God! Why have you not responded to his love? Why
has he died for you in vain?” —Youth’s Instructor, March 2, 1893.
• That we could see that the law of God is
unchangeable and eternal.
“The light that I have is that God’s servants should go quietly to
work, preaching the grand, precious truths of the Bible—Christ
and Him crucified, His love and infinite sacrifice—showing that
the reason why Christ died is because the law of God is
immutable, unchangeable, eternal. The Spirit of the Lord will
awaken the conscience and the understanding of those with
whom you work, bringing the commandments of God to their
remembrance.” —Review and Herald, April 6, 1911.

6. • That the universe could view the character of God
more fully.
“What great and wonderful effects have come from the
crucifixion of Christ! What a view of the character of God [and]
His sacrifice has opened to the universe! His love for man, far
surpassing all human love, has lifted the law of God to its own
eternal dignity. The attributes of God have been revealed, and
the holy requirements of His law have been vindicated. The
effects of the sacrifice on the cross are still felt; but all who would
be saved must themselves have an interest in the crucified One.”
—Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 73.
“The Lord our Redeemer had not yet demonstrated fully that love to
its completeness. After His condemnation in the judgment hall, His
crucifixion on the cross, when He cried out in a clear, loud voice, ‘It
is finished,’ that love stands forth as an exhibition of a new love—’as
I have loved you’—is demonstrated. Can the human mind take this
in? Can we obey the commandment given?” —Manuscript Releases,
vol. 16, 190.
• That His death would atone and “pay” for our sins.
“Christ died because there was no other hope for the
transgressor. He might try to keep God’s law in the future; but
the debt which he had incurred in the past remained, and the
law must condemn him to death. Christ came to pay that debt
for the sinner which it was impossible for him to pay for himself.
Thus, through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, sinful man was
granted another trial.” —Faith and Works, 30.
“Such is the value of men for whom Christ died that the Father
is satisfied with the infinite price which He pays for the salvation
of man in yielding up His own Son to die for their redemption.
What wisdom, mercy, and love in its fullness are here
manifested! The worth of man is known only by going to Calvary.

7. In the mystery of the cross of Christ we can place an estimate
upon man.” —Amazing Grace, 175.
• That His life may be lived in us.
“It is your privilege to become meek and lowly in heart; then
angels of God will co-operate with efforts. Christ died that His life
might be lived in you, and in all who make Him their example. In
the strength of your Redeemer you can reveal the character of
Christ, and you can work in wisdom and in power to make the
crooked places straight.” —Gospel Workers, 164.
“As a divine Saviour, Jesus died for us that we might live His life
of purity, truth, and righteousness. He teaches us how to live.
Our prayer should be, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and
renew a right spirit within me.’” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 18,
277.
• That the moral image of God should be restored.
“All heaven is interested in the restoration of the moral image of
God in man. All heaven is working to this end. God and the holy
angels have an intense desire that human beings shall reach the
standard of perfection which Christ died to make it possible for
them to reach.” —In Heavenly Places, 286.
“Christ died that the moral image of God might be restored in
humanity, that men and women might be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. We are to use no power of our being for
selfish gratification; for all our powers belong to Him, and are
to be used to His glory.” —Reflecting Christ, 165. “Christ has
died that the moral image of God might be restored in our souls
and might be reflected to those around us.” —Faith and Works,
61.
• That we could reach our personal potential.

8. “But men have been satisfied with small attainments. They have
not sought with all their might to rise in mental, moral, and
physical capabilities. They have not felt that God required this of
them, they have not realized that Christ died that they might do
this very work. As the result they are far behind what they might
be in intelligence and in the ability to think and plan.” —
Testimonies, vol. 5, 554.
“By the sacrifice of Christ every provision has been made for
believers to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness.
God calls upon us to reach the highest standard of glory and
virtue. The perfection of Christ’s character makes it possible for
us to gain perfection.” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 351.
• That we may see the sinfulness of sin.
“He died that you might be led to see the sinfulness of sin and
come unto Him that you might have life.” —Manuscript Releases,
vol. 17, 49.
• That He might reclaim the kingdom that Satan has
claimed since Eden.
“It was to make an inroad on the territory of Satan, and dispute
his usurped authority, and reclaim the kingdom unto Himself,
that Christ died. With the shout of a monarch who has clothed
himself with zeal as a cloak, will He fight His antagonist, the
prince of darkness, and win back the kingdom Satan claims as
his own rightful dominion.” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 54.
• That He might save sinners from their sins.
“Christ died to save sinners, not in their sins, but from their sins
(Matthew 1:21).” —Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 182.