Jesus' death on the cross

What is the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross?

1. Jesus' answer:

The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10).

Question: Is Jesus' answer compatible with Paul's answer?

2. Paul's answer:

Jesus was the sacrificial lamb whose death redeemed sinners. Explanation: When Adam and Eve sinned, humankind became the prisoner of the devil. There is "no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood." God's mercy could not flow until his justice was satisfied. He could not open the gates of mercy until "the price had been paid." Only a perfect person's sacrifice could atone for the sin of Adam and Eve. Jesus' death on the cross is what God required in order for mercy to flow. Now faith in Jesus is the door to eternal life.

Question: Is Paul's answer--and the atonement doctrine as developed by theologians and preached today--consistent with the goodness of a God who is just? Would God condemn a person's soul because of the guilt of his ancestors? Did Jesus die to appease the wrath of God? Had humankind come under the control of the Devil? Does somebody have to be punished for wrongdoing to be made right? (See Stephen Finlan, Problems with Atonement, for a developed critique.)

3. Some scholars' answer:

Jesus' alternative gospel and his attractive, wonder-working personality threatened the people's loyalty to the established religion. Jesus' cleansing of the temple (overturning the tables of the money changers and liberating the animals from their pens) threatened material interests of the religious establishment. Jesus' kingly leadership threatened the Roman occupier. So they killed him.

Question: Does an explanation of the motives of whose who sought Jesus' death say enough about the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross?