He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that
He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that
He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His
identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because
of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience
to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we
have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the
death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to
reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says
that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the
revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been
introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to
Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a
stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He
who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am
completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is
taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)—
not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can
be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me.
The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am
determined to have Christ formed in me
Galatians 4:19
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until
Christ is formed in you,
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