Why did Christ allow Himself to be crucified?

 Pavlos Klimatsakis, Doctor of Philosophy | April 26, 2026

 

 

Christ did not “undergo” the Cross, but, on the contrary, permitted it voluntarily, at every step of His Passion. Neither God the Father, nor the devil, nor any necessity compelled Him. The God-man Himself said “Yes” to the crucifixion and the Passion. This voluntary sacrifice is the center of the Orthodox understanding of the Cross, which Saint Maximus the Confessor analyzes with respect to its ontological and ethical depth.

1. The Cross as the Culmination of the Incarnation

For Saint Maximus, the Incarnation and the Cross are not two separate events. They are one and the same mystery of the economy, which is ultimately led to its fulfillment in Christ’s Ascension. The Word of God became man, not only in order to teach or to work miracles, but in order to heal the whole of human nature and its deepest wound, death, which entered the world through sin. Christ had to reach the ultimate point of the postlapsarian human condition, so that He might take upon Himself the entire tragedy of fallen humanity. Saint Maximus says that the Word “always and in all things” wills to accomplish the mystery of His embodiment. The Cross is the most radical embodiment: God descended not only as far as the manger, but as far as the Cross and death.

2. The Voluntary Humility of Christ as the Healing of the Human Will

Christ, like every man, had and has a full human will, but one that is absolutely pure, that is, without any inclination toward sin. In the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ says: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,” through obedience to the will of the Father, Christ heals the human will, showing that true freedom is not to do whatever we want, but freely to conform our will to the will of the Father. Through His voluntary obedience unto death, and indeed the most dishonorable death, Christ nails self-love to the Cross: that radical egoism of ours which is the source of all the passions. He does not conquer death by violence, but by humility. Death, which was the weapon of the devil, becomes the weapon of Christ: “trampling down death by death.”

3. The Cross as Cosmic Recapitulation

The Cross is not simply a sacrifice for humanity, but is at the same time a cosmic event; it is the culmination of the divine plan for the whole of creation. Saint Maximus describes five great ontological divisions that exist in creation and which man cannot transcend without divine grace:

1. Uncreated – Created

2. Intelligible – Sensible

3. Heaven – Earth

4. Paradise – Inhabited World

5. Male – Female, in man

In his primordial state, man was created as a “natural bond” and mediator, with the purpose of uniting all these extremes and leading them back to God. But he failed. Christ, as the new Adam and the God-man, takes up this cosmic work and brings it to completion through the Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, by which He ultimately leads human nature before the Father, uniting the uncreated with the created.

Saint Maximus emphasizes that Christ “makes the natures new.” The Cross thus becomes the central event on the basis of which the whole of creation is reunited. For this reason Saint Maximus says that “he who knows the mystery of the Cross and the tomb also knows the principles of beings.” The Cross reveals the deeper divine purposes behind every creature. It is not an “unfortunate episode” in history and in the divine economy, but the culmination of the divine plan for the salvation of man. In this way, cosmic recapitulation is shown to be the ontological union of things divided, accomplished within the one hypostasis of the Word.

Saint John Damascene on the Condescension of the Word

Saint John Damascene, in An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, emphasizes that the kenosis of the Word and His humility are an act of the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. The Word assumes the whole of human nature, with all its natural properties, including death, without losing anything of His divinity.

On the basis of the concept of the communication of properties, according to which human nature receives the divine properties, such as incorruption and omnipotence, and the divine nature receives the human things, such as hunger, thirst, and death, within the unity of the one hypostasis, Damascene explains that the Cross is not an act of the man Jesus alone, but an act of the God-man. He also emphasizes that this humility is indeed complete, but without confusion or alteration of the natures. Christ truly dies as man, but His death is life-giving, because it is the death of God.

5. Daily Crucifixion with Christ

Christ permitted His Cross not only as a historical event of salvation, but also as a way of life for every believer. Saint Maximus points out: “Either we are crucified together with Him, or we crucify Him.” There is no neutral stance. Every day, with every decision of ours, we are either with Him on the Cross, or on the side of those who crucify Him through our indifference, sin, and pride. Crucifixion with Christ is neither theoretical nor limited to Great Week. It is a daily spiritual struggle that unfolds in three interconnected stages, according to the mystical interpretation of Saint Maximus:

First, we put the passions to death. The passions — self-love, anger, pleasure, envy, vainglory — are the “nails” that keep Christ crucified within us. We do not destroy them, but transform them. Desire becomes longing for God, anger becomes zeal against the devil, sorrow is changed into compunction and repentance. This is the “inactivity” of the passions taught by Saint Maximus: we nail them to the Cross, so that their movements contrary to nature may be rendered inactive.

Second, we bury the thoughts. Thoughts are the roots and seeds of the passions. Saint Maximus emphasizes that we must “bury” them immediately, without dialogue, without analysis, without feeding them. Burial is an act of silence and of guarding the nous. When a thought is “crucified” and “buried,” then space is freed within us for the presence of Christ.

Third, we raise the Word within us. When we have put the passions to death and buried the thoughts, then Christ rises within our heart as a living presence. This is not an emotional experience, but a real participation in the Resurrection already from this life. The Grace of Baptism, which may have been buried beneath the passions, is rekindled, and man begins to live according to the saying of Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

Saint Maximus warns that without this participation, even the deepest theology becomes “demonic.” The demons know the doctrines perfectly, but they have no repentance, they have no cross, they have no love. For this reason, one can speak correctly about the Cross and yet live far from it. True knowledge of the Cross is the fruit of daily crucifixion with Christ, not mere intellectual understanding.

This daily crucifixion with Christ is accomplished chiefly within the Church: through prayer, humble confession, self-restraint, obedience, almsgiving, and above all through participation in the Mysteries. Every Divine Liturgy is an extension of the Cross and the Resurrection. Every time we receive Communion, we receive within ourselves the Crucified and Risen Christ, who continues to call us near to Him.

Thus, the Cross which Christ permitted becomes for us a path of life and a gate of theosis. It is not only the means of our salvation, but also the way in which we are called to live every day, until we reach the fullness of resurrectional joy.

6. Conclusion

Christ permitted them to crucify Him because only in this way could the mystery of His love and of the divine economy be completed. He was not obligated. He did it because He is love, and love reaches to the uttermost point. By His Cross, Christ abolishes death through death, heals human nature, restores creation to its original harmony, and opens the path of theosis for every man who wishes to follow Him.

The saints of the Church show us that the Cross is not only a historical event, but also a mode of existence for the whole of creation and for each one of us. The more we are crucified together with Christ daily, the more we are raised together with Him. And only in this way do we understand why He permitted them to crucify Him: so that He might give us the possibility of becoming crucified together with Him and glorified together with Him, in the eternal life of the Holy Trinity.

 

Greek source:

https://orthodoxostypos.gr/%ce%b4%ce%b9%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%af-%e1%bd%81-%cf%87%cf%81%ce%b9%cf%83%cf%84%e1%bd%b8%cf%82-%e1%bc%90%cf%80%ce%ad%cf%84%cf%81%ce%b5%cf%88%ce%b5-%ce%bd%e1%bd%b0-%cf%84%e1%bd%b8%ce%bd-%cf%83%cf%84%ce%b1/