TO DIE OR NOT TO DIE?

We have just look at John 1:16 regarding the use of the greek word αντι in the previous post below. So why not have a look at it a little further?

Verses concerned: Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, Hebrews 12:2.

I

So it is that Christ died for us. We read this statement in Matthew 20:28: 'even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
And in Mark 10:45: 'For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

We looked in our analyses that the word here translated as 'for', should in fact be translated as 'instead of' or 'in place of'. This is very significant for those two verses quoted above. Did Jesus died FOR us, or did he died INSTEAD of us?

I believe he died instead of us, paying our dept for our sins, and since we deserve death, as prescribed both by the Law and the righteousness of God, Jesus dying on our behalf, not just for us, has now released us, not just from the deserving penalty, but more importantly from death itself. What do you think?

II

The other point is a little more pertinent:

In Hebrews 12:2 we read: 'looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God'.

To read it so, as most do, it implies that Jesus endured the cross so that He could have joy, which was set before Him, and most commentaries of that verse seem to point to that direction.

However, we have seen that the Greek word αντι translated as 'for' is a little inaccurate.

This is what other commentators have said:

Wuest's Word Studies:
This interpretation is based upon an erroneous use of the preposition "for." The Greek preposition is anti, the predominant use of which in the first century was "instead of." It is so used in Luke 11:11 where we have, "If he asked a fish, will he for (anti, instead of) a fish give him a serpent?" The word "set" is the translation of prokeimenes literally "lying before."

Vincent Word Studies:
Ἁντὶ in its usual sense, in exchange for. Προκειμένης lying before, present. The joy was the full, divine beatitude of his preincarnate life in the bosom of the Father; the glory which he had with God before the world was. In exchange for this he accepted the cross and the blame. The contrast is designed between the struggle which, for the present, is alone set before the readers (Heb_12:1), and the joy which was already present to Christ. The heroic character of his faith appears in his renouncing a joy already in possession in exchange for shame and death. The passage thus falls in with Phi_2:6-8.

John Gill's Full Exposition:
The word αντι, rendered "for"; sometimes signifies, in the room, or stead of, as in Mat_2:22 and is so rendered here in the Syriac and Arabic versions; and then the sense is, that Christ instead of being in the bosom of the Father, came into this world; instead of being in the form of God, he appeared in the form of a servant; instead of the glory which he had with his Father from eternity, he suffered shame and disgrace; instead of living a joyful and comfortable life on earth, he suffered a shameful and an accursed death.

III

What could be significant for me and you, is that instead of enjoying His usual confort and pleasures and glory, Christ Jesus disrobed Himself of these, and came to die in our stead. Sobering though, wouldn't you say?