Why did the Lord choose crucifixion as the way to die?
Crucifixion was chosen because it is a form of death a person cannot perform on himself. No one can drive the nails and raise the pole alone; it requires outside action. This pictures that being crucified with Christ is wholly God's work, not human effort.
Les explains that Romans 7:5 deals with breaking the relationship of old Adam, who has to be crucified, not by anything we do. We cannot crucify ourselves. Les suggests this is one reason the Lord chose crucifixion rather than any other form of death: it is one form of death man cannot accomplish on his own. A person cannot drive the nails into his own hands and put the pole up in the air, because that had to be done by outside action. So crucifixion was the death of choice to carry through the whole theme that as we are crucified with Christ, it is nothing we can do. It is totally, wholly, and completely a work of God on our behalf. Then Paul reviews that when we were in the flesh, under old Adam, the motions or results of sins, plural, were at work. Sin is old Adam, the fountainhead of our sins, plural, of action; old Adam is the manufacturing point, but what we do are sins, then it becomes plural.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
More Questions
Why was crucifixion chosen as the mode of Christ's death?
One reason the Lord chose crucifixion rather than another death is that crucifixion is a death man cannot accomplish on his own—it requires an outside person—picturing that being crucified with Christ is nothing we can do.