Is it possible that the idea Jesus died for our sins was not really an integral part of His message but rather an emphasis of someone else's interpretation of Jesus' message? Did Jesus ever really say those words? Could a person simply have highlighted certain parts of His message in a way that promoted the popular Roman belief that a man could become a God and the Jewish belief in sacrifice? If we just read the four gospels by themselves would we have the same view of the story of Jesus? Would we be influenced by the rest of it and encouraged to remember another person's explanation or what someone else wanted us to remember, even a person who really did not know Jesus while he was alive?
Good questions which answer themselves in light of what became of the gospel.
If the Jews were receptive to the original gospel of Jesus, they would be teaching that today from Jerusalem......but they rejected that Gospel and killed the Son!.......however the Pagan world was found to be receptive to the new, post cross gospel of human sacrifice for sins (a much easier theory that requires only historical belief) plus the Pagans already had that theory in their primitive religious beliefs. So, Christianity was born out of a marriage of sorts, a compromise made between the remnants of the original but rejected Gospel and the new remixed to bring the Pagans in-gospel. It worked! And the Father was behind the scenes working it all out by necessity, the Jews were un-chosen.
The original gospel of Jesus was lost and replaced with a religion about Jesus.