Scriptures are quoted from the New International Version Bible, unless otherwise noted.
First, consider Jesus' relationship to God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, "His only begotten Son" (John 3:16 NASB). Jesus was with God before coming to earth. Jesus said, "I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am… going back to the Father" (John 16:28).
Jesus never said He was God. We read in Philippians 2;5-8, "…Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God [as a spirit being in His pre-human existence] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…being made in the likeness of men…He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (NASB). Whereas Jehovah God cannot die, "the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!" (I Chronicles 16:36).
Love for God and mankind motivated Jesus to "ransom" Adam and his descendants by dying on the cross. Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree (the cross). (See also Deuteronomy 21:23.) He said, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). Verse 18 reads, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord."
Isaiah 53: 5-6 (KJV) teaches,"He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities… and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 50:6 prophesied Messiah would be abused and insulted. "I offered my back to those who beat me… I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting." Jesus knew he would have to suffer, and it was "for the joy set before him" that he endured. (Hebrews 12:2)
Jesus proved His complete loyalty to God and His worthiness to ransom Adam. In Hebrews 10:12, 13, we read that when Jesus "had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he awaits for his enemies to be made his footstool." "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). However, God Himself will always be superior to Jesus Christ, His Son. Although God puts all things under Christ, "…it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all," I Corinthians 15:27,28.