For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He who personally knew no sin and remained pure, spotless and perfectly obedient though taking fallen human nature and its temptations was made sin by having human guilt and iniquity laid upon Him, reckoned to His account and charged to Him as substitute and surety. He bore the full curse, condemnation and penalty of the broken law, was treated as a sinner and forsaken under the weight of wrath, though He Himself never sinned, that guilty sinners might be treated as He deserved and go free. In Him believers are made the righteousness of God by having His perfection, merits and character imputed and credited to them by faith, pardoned and accepted as if they had not sinned and clothed as with a robe covering all unworthiness. His death fully satisfied justice and vindicated the unchangeable law rather than abolishing it, so that God can be just and yet justify the sinner, while reconciliation comes as a free gift received by repentance and living faith and not by works of law. This great exchange reveals measureless love in giving all heaven for rebels while yet sinners, calls for vital union with Christ that imparts power to overcome and live in obedience, and stands as the central message of reconciliation to be proclaimed everywhere.
Christ Knew No Sin
The verse declares that Christ personally knew no sin, being guiltless, pure, spotless, holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, without even the least taint of sin in Him for the adversary to exploit. His purity was not distant or untouched, for though He took fallen human nature with its infirmities, weaknesses, degeneracy and low condition, He bore those burdens without ever participating in its sin. Tempted in all points like humanity and facing temptation as a man under the hardest conditions, He remained completely and perfectly obedient.
It was this sinlessness that fitted Him to be both Sin-bearer and Sin-pardoner, humanity's representative, substitute, surety and sacrifice. His spotless life was the only offering sufficient to atone, ransom and save, for no stain rested on Him and therefore His death fulfilled all pointed sacrifices and opened salvation to every nation and every age. Being one with and equal to the Father, above all law and of infinite value, He alone could undertake the suretyship of the fallen race, where even holy created angels bearing the yoke of duty and obedience could not make an adequate sacrifice.
Had He sinned in the least, Satan would have bruised His head, divine wrath would have come upon Him as it came upon Adam, and He Himself, the church and the whole human race would have perished without hope. Because He knew no sin, Satan could touch only His heel and could not strike His head, and that unbroken humanity vindicates God's law and settles the controversy before the universe for all time.
His sinless life in human flesh condemned sin in the flesh by obedience to every jot and tittle of the law before unfallen worlds, holy angels and the fallen world, testifying that the law can be kept in humanity. That same life reveals the Father's true character and refutes Satan's false charges against God. He met trial without using divine power to lessen it or rescue Himself, leaving a pattern of dependence on the Father and complete faith and trust in God even under severe testing for all who follow.
Made Sin for Us
To be made sin means human sins and iniquities are taken away and placed to His account, transferred to Christ, laid upon Him, reckoned to Him and charged to Him as substitute, surety and representative. All transgressions are transferred to the sinless One counted as sinful, with the sins of all who believe made liable upon Him, so that His righteousness may be imputed and credited to the believer. This is a divine exchange in which human sins are reckoned to Jesus and His righteousness is imputed to the believer for forgiveness and justification.
He bore the guilt, condemnation, curse, punishment and full penalty of the law for transgression, with the whole debt for breaking God's law demanded from Him as Mediator and suffered without abatement until justice was fully satisfied. Though guiltless and knowing no sin, He took upon Himself the guilt and punishment called for by the sins of the whole world, though that guilt was not His, and only by bearing the penalty of disobedience could He deliver from eternal death. He bore even the Father's wrath, displeasure, hiding of His face and withdrawal of the divine countenance against iniquity.
He was treated as a sinner, counted among transgressors and among the unholy, condemned though innocent, receiving the treatment sinners deserve and the curse due to sins coming upon Him. The innocent Christ was treated as guilty while through His merits guilty people are counted innocent, that guilty sinners might be treated as He deserved, justified by His righteousness, and go free. His suffering and death were theirs, while the life that was His is offered to them, and fallen people are treated not as they deserve but as He deserved.
Becoming sin did not mean He sinned or knew sin by sinning; He remained holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners while bearing its weight, with sins laid on Him, punished in Him and put away by Him although He remained perfectly sinless. He became its sin-bearer, not one who had sinned, taking human nature in its fallen condition with its infirmities and weaknesses yet not in the least participating in its sin, remaining perfectly free from sinfulness, spotless and without guile. In that holy Substitute He offered atoning sacrifice with perfect humility and perfect obedience to all requirements, condemning sin in the flesh by obeying every jot and tittle of the law.
He became the sin-offering, sacrifice, propitiation and ransom for the sins of the whole world in every age, the one means by which sinners are cleansed, giving His life for those under sentence of death. The sinless Son suffered the penalty for sin as an offering of unsurpassed value to reconcile the world, with suffering and death paying the price of redemption and restoring sinners to favor.
His anguish was soul-anguish far greater than physical pain, for the guilt of every descendant of Adam in every age pressed upon His heart and He endured judicial punishment for iniquity. The weight of sin and the Father's wrath and displeasure toward sin made His cup bitter and His suffering bitter; He felt forsaken, could not see through the darkness to resurrection or acceptance, feared sin had brought eternal separation and would shut Him out forever from the Father's love, and this broke His heart. In Gethsemane and on the cross He was bowed under the weight, cried out, and His heart broke, with earth quaking and rocks rent, His horror coming not from dread of death or bodily anguish but from sense of the malignity of sin so deeply rooted and difficult to eradicate.
This work was undertaken in heaven's council where the Son pledged Himself as surety, was assured at His baptism as man's representative giving the race a second trial, and was offered at Passover as antitype of all sacrifices. He passed over the ground where Adam fell and met the wilderness test where Adam failed on appetite, taking human nature with the infirmities, weaknesses and degeneracy of the fallen race, enduring temptation on behalf of sinful humanity and overcoming the tempter through obedience, purity and steadfast integrity. By facing a test more severe than Adam's and bearing the test Adam failed to endure, He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, humiliated Himself to the lowest depths of human woe to reach man where he was, and made His righteousness available as imputed gift by which through His name people can overcome.
As man's surety He faced the temptation to leave the human race to bear the consequences of its own guilt, standing innocent before God in its place. His innocence and willingness to bear humanity's burden reveal the terrible malignity of sin.
Become God's Righteousness
To be made the righteousness of God in Him means His righteousness, merits, perfection and virtue are imputed, reckoned and credited to those who believe, and become theirs by faith as their sins are placed to His account as substitute, surety and representative. The exchange rests on His atoning sacrifice in which sins laid upon Him were punished in Him and put away by Him while He remained perfectly sinless, and it is received through vital union with Him by living faith like sap from the vine to the branch, making believers one with Him as He is one with the Father. It is not casual or nominal profession but personal, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul, requiring transformation of character, supreme love, daily consecration, reliance, constant communion partaking of unlimited grace, and walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit. It is a free gift without money and without price to meet the sinner's one great need, by which the defiled soul is pardoned and has Christ's purity imputed, answering all claims of the law so the human agent can keep the law and stand innocent. By this faith believers are to all intents and purposes accepted in the Beloved, so that He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
God pardons the guilty, remits punishment, declares the repenting sinner sinless, innocent, uncondemned and guiltless, treats him as just as if he had not sinned, receives him into favor and accepts him in the Beloved. Because the Innocent One bore their guilt as Surety, having overcome in their behalf and lived a sinless life for them and borne the penalty of disobedience to deliver from eternal death, repentant sinners stand before God justified and accepted, the undeserving made deserving because the Deserving became undeserving. Those who believe in Him as personal Saviour and claim Him as substitute and surety, hanging helpless souls upon Him, are for His merits accounted pure from contaminating influence and can endure as seeing Him who is invisible, to whom belongs the blessing that the pure in heart shall see God. We cannot make ourselves righteous or perfectly obey the holy law, but when we give ourselves to Him and accept Him as Saviour His character stands in place of ours and we are accounted righteous and accepted as if we had not sinned. The one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself a lost sinner in need of a Saviour, does not believe in the only-begotten Son and refuses His blood, has his sin remain.
His character thus stands in place of the believer's as a woven robe, covering defilement and unworthiness, linking the finite to the Infinite and clothing with purity and glory. No one can manufacture righteousness; He has woven it in heaven and puts it upon the sinner over sins, taking away the old defiled garment, taking the sins and imputing His own righteousness and pardoning all transgressions. Those who receive Him as personal Saviour have nothing in themselves worthy of such love, yet at judgment can ask to be beheld not as sinners but in Jesus their Advocate, clothed with His righteousness. In Him believers are counted as if they themselves had suffered the penalty incurred and had obeyed with perfect obedience to the law, for He imparts His merits and righteousness and only in Him is obedience made complete, revealing the fullness in Jesus and the love with which He loved sinners. No one has righteousness of his own on which to stand, so He became their righteousness and they must be continually clothed with it, letting His tenderness into the soul and living as children of God with tender, kind, patient spirit free from selfishness and covetousness, giving as the only reason for final salvation that He died and His blood cleansed from all sin.
In Him believers enter into His rights and victories, become heirs of God and joint heirs with Him, sons of God, members of the royal family, with prayers accepted as a sweet-smelling savor in the Beloved, receiving pardon, peace, life with the life of God, restoration to favor, and the crown of life and eternal life. That communion identifies the believer with Him in feeling, interest and service and identifies His interest with the believer's before the universe. He offers Himself to the trembling sinner as propitiation, Justifier and Righteousness, calling the sinner to lean on Him and accept life through Him; those who do are clothed with the robe of His righteousness, stand justified before the Father and accepted, gain eternal life they are not worthy of, recover the blessing lost through disobedience and, by partaking of the divine nature, escape corruption through lust. Through Him the sinner can return to allegiance, receive full pardon and restoration and be accepted as a son of God, the penalty remitted even for the most guilty, by faith uniting human weakness to the source of divine strength and by obedience possessing love and peace and joy, the contrite one covered as with a spotless robe because He satisfied the demands of the law. Because He was made sin, the sons of Adam can be reconciled and through a life of obedience be finally exalted to His throne and elevated to life with Him in His mansions in glory, and the more fully the sacrifice is understood the more glorious the plan becomes, awakening love and peace and joy and praise and driving out pride and self-worship.
He interposes to pay the debt for withheld service, intercedes for transgressors, lives as Advocate, and at judgment believers plead to be beheld in Him; repentant names are recorded in the book of life and they stand complete in Him. His death for sins is central to salvation, together with His resurrection and ascension as Intercessor. He bore the sin of many, was counted among transgressors, and intercedes for them. Sinful people can be made complete in Jesus through forgiveness and His righteousness credited to them, through the spotless Lamb whose sacrifice ransoms humanity and reveals love, making possible the restored connection the repentant sinner needs. When a sinner repents, trusts in Him and obeys the law, His righteousness is credited and becomes theirs; they are counted as God's child and their name is recorded in the Lamb's book of life. The sinner has no merit and has done nothing worthy of salvation, but through His righteousness is accepted, and through obedience to the commands may find pardon and peace while He lives as Advocate.
Justice and Law Upheld
The sinless One took the sinner's place and was made sin, bearing the whole debt owed for breaking the law and suffering its full penalty as Mediator without abatement. His death made full atonement, for the God of justice did not spare His own Son but demanded from Him the extreme penalty of the law for transgression, and justice was fully satisfied. He took the punishment though undeserving so that those who deserved it could go free, was treated as a sinner so that believers might be treated as righteous, and thus God can be just and yet the justifier of the sinner. Through faith in that atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned, the fallen are uplifted from degradation, and return to allegiance and reconciliation with God is made possible, for Christ is the only hope of salvation. His mediatorial work as surety and deliverer began as soon as man became a transgressor and guilt and misery began, pardoning sins, remitting deserved punishment, and receiving the sinner into divine favor as though just and as if he had not sinned.
The law was not abolished, weakened, changed to fit fallen man, or set aside to save man and bring him into union with God, but remained in force with its authority intact, established in its immutability. His suffering and death met the law's claims rather than annulling it, satisfying justice and vindicating the honor and dignity of the law. By perfect obedience in human life He honored and exalted the law and redeemed what was lost through the fall, making it possible for men to obey it and to stand uncondemned and become holy in character through His credited righteousness. Being made sin does not remove obligation to keep all the commandments; with Christ formed within, the believer is complete in Him, while the one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself lost, refuses His blood and does not believe in the only-begotten Son, his sin remains.
Reconciliation with God and adoption as children, with righteousness itself, come as gifts through believing in Christ, not through human favors, effort, will or power. The law reveals sin and condemns transgression and points the sinner to Christ as the only hope, but it cannot pardon, save, or restore the sinner. Justification is freely given by grace through faith by imputation of Christ's righteousness, not by works, and salvation is God's gift through Jesus Christ who alone is the way to life and admission to the kingdom. Sinners must therefore exchange their sins for His righteousness, being purified and sanctified to be fitted for heaven.
The sacrifice that redeems from sin's penalty was costly, bearing guilt and even the hiding of the Father's face, and those who refuse this atonement must bear their own guilt and punishment. Refusing the atoning sacrifice leaves men without excuse and exposed to judgment, for at Calvary God declares Himself a God who will avenge and punish sin. Yet the provision laid the sins, punishment and guilt of every sinner in the world upon Jesus, who as bearer of both divine and human nature could be the sin-bearer for the race, a grand and glorious though incomprehensible mystery to be accepted. Every repentant soul finds forgiveness through His righteousness and is made righteous in Him, so that even the most guilty may be pardoned through faith, while all who do not believe in Him as personal Saviour must bear the full penalty of their own sins.
Received Through Living Faith
The great exchange becomes the sinner's own through repentance, confession, humiliation of self, and simple personal faith in Christ's blood and merits as representative, substitute, surety and sin-bearer. No one can make himself righteous or perfectly obey the holy law by works, merit, self-cleansing or casual nominal profession, but when the soul gives itself to Christ and accepts Him as Saviour, his character stands in place of the sinner's own. This is justification: God lays human iniquity upon the sinless One, punishes it in Him and puts it away, then imputes Christ's righteousness to the believing soul and declares him righteous, innocent and accepted as if he had not sinned. That righteousness is a free gift without money and without price to every defiled soul that hungers and thirsts for it, and the intensity of that hunger is itself the pledge that the coveted supply will be given and the needy shall be filled.
It is received only in vital union and intimate communion with Christ by a personal living faith that works by love and purifies the soul. That faith expresses supreme preference for God, perfect reliance, entire consecration and a will wholly yielded and hidden in God, with feelings, desires, interests and honor identified with His kingdom, nourished by daily consecration and constant partaking of unlimited grace as the branch draws sap from the vine. So united, the believer becomes one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father, is accepted in the Beloved with access to God, and Christ's interest becomes one with his before the universe. The outward sign of what has inwardly happened is baptism, death to the life of selfishness and rising to walk in newness of life by faith in the power that raised Christ, and continual feeding upon the broken body and spilled blood.
Pardon and justification are one and the same thing, the opposite of condemnation. God pardons transgressions for Christ's sake, remits the deserved punishment, receives the rebel into divine favor and treats him as though he were really just and had not sinned, because Christ as Substitute and Surety has taken guilt upon Himself and His sacrifice as propitiation fully satisfies the demands of justice. The contrite soul who discerns that atonement and accepts it as his only hope for this life and the life to come passes from child of sin and Satan to loyal subject, adopted child and beloved son, clothed in the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness and standing faultless with strong hope of eternal life, not for inherent goodness but because Christ receives him.
Therefore there remains no excuse for religious defection or despondency, for all the promises of heavenly grace belong to those who hunger for righteousness. Erring and faulty souls who are not sinless may still commit the keeping of their souls to God, for rest does not depend on personal merit but on Christ's spotless righteousness credited by faith as the eye turns away from self to Jesus. Jesus supplies what is lacking and makes up human deficiency, strengthens weak faith, gives through His representative the Comforter a sense of forgiveness, security, hope and grateful praise, and His unfailing inexhaustible righteousness received by faith overflows in gratitude to others.
What the Redeemer wrought out must be made effectual in each case by the Spirit as constant working regenerating agent, without whom His humiliation, lifelong conflict and death as the Just for the unjust would be of no avail for any to escape perishing. Through the Spirit the soul receives new mental and spiritual power, is born again, is drawn by Christ lifted on the cross to see the sinfulness of sin, and through union with divinity becomes one with God and partaker of the divine nature escaping worldly corruption. This exchange of the Innocent for the guilty is a great mystery no one can fully explain or take in, to be meditated upon, appreciated and practiced rather than held as mere theory that only increases condemnation, and it can only be spiritually discerned. It is the mystery into which angels desire to look, beholding matchless love that kindles ardent faith, hope and joy in those who love and keep His words.
New Obedient Life
Through His power those made righteous partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, receiving divine strength to obtain victory over evil as He overcame in their behalf. Because the Innocent One bore their guilt and the penalty of their disobedience, repentant sinners stand justified and accepted before God, the undeserving made deserving because the Deserving became undeserving, placed on vantage ground where they may live pure, sinless lives. Though He took fallen human nature with its weaknesses and infirmities and tabernacled among men, He remained holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, perfectly obedient, condemning sin in the flesh by obeying every jot and tittle of the law before unfallen worlds, holy angels and the fallen world. As spotless substitute and Surety He lived a sinless life for them and made atonement, laying aside royal robe and kingly crown and clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race so they might be accepted as members of the royal family and delivered from eternal death. Those who believe in Him, accept Him as sin-offering and rely on Him as personal Saviour are advantaged by His righteousness, and through His imputed righteousness the believing soul obeys the commandments of God from the heart, so that no one can say he is hopelessly subject to bondage to sin and Satan. Salvation's glory belongs solely to God who gives righteousness by faith and grace justifying to eternal life, while those who belong to Christ and share His body are called to live purely, chastely and holily.
Being made sin does not remove obligation to keep all of God's commandments nor permit continued breaking of the law, for His bearing guilt is meant to bring to repentance and obedience and to make an end of sin. Without His death no one could keep God's law, but the repenting sinner through the worth of His righteousness makes sincere efforts to overcome sin and keep God's holy law in and through Him, and those efforts made in Christ are fully acceptable, raising moral standing before God. His righteousness does not save anyone while knowingly breaking the Father's law, which is as unchangeable as His throne; the person must change and stop breaking the law, which is to stop sinning, with repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ working a painful death to self like a crucifixion that puts hatred for all sin in the heart. The righteousness of Christ is placed upon the undeserving so the repenting sinner is declared sinless and complete in Him with Christ formed within, while the one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself a lost sinner in need of a Saviour, refuses His blood and does not believe in the only-begotten Son, his sin remains.
The righteousness counted to believers for justification is their title to heaven, while the righteousness imparted through sanctification is their fitness for heaven, making them complete in Him and whole in body, soul and spirit. His complete sacrifice makes full sanctification possible, covering His people with His righteousness and transforming their lives so they reveal God's character of love and are distinguished from the world. Those who come to Him must renounce their own ways and works and self-righteousness, be purified and clothed in His righteousness to stand loyal and true, while God works with them and Christ works in them. He reaches out His hand to save those who fall many times, forgives sin confessed with shame and sorrow by those who love Jesus, are sorry for grieving infinite love, look to the cross and are convinced by the Holy Spirit of ingratitude and sin, and calls the forgiven to a higher, nobler life. Keeping close to Jesus by faith gives success in the battle against sin and that forgiven sin will not appear against him if he holds fast his faith and the beginning of his confidence firm unto the end, while unbelief separates the soul from Christ.
The moment the sinner repents and believes he stands uncondemned in God's sight, for Christ's perfect obedience is imputed to him and He bears the guilt and takes the punishment Himself so the repenting sinner can stand innocent before God. Through repentance and faith sinners become like Christ in holiness of character, but they must cooperate with divine power and put forth human effort to subdue sin, obey in cheerful self-sacrifice, and stand complete in Christ. His willingness to suffer for the fallen race, bearing even the Father's wrath, shows the depth of selfless love and disinterested benevolence, and His suffering, self-denial, humiliation and death prepared the way for humanity's ransom while winning on humanity's behalf and working out a righteous character they could not achieve for themselves. That love bears long with presumptuous, high-headed, hard-hearted souls who irritate and provoke, refusing to cut them off, and sets the pattern for dealing with sinners, ingratitude, betrayal, injury, abuse and enemies with Christian meekness, calmness under injury and kindness in return, so the wrongdoer is surprised and shamed by the contrast.
Love Beyond Measure
The verse reveals measureless love, for in giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, His only Son to a life of humiliation and suffering as an offering of unsurpassed value. It was not because of any goodness or righteousness in man, but because He loved while men were yet sinners and rebels and disobedient, to bear their shame and grief and load of guilty shame. The God of justice did not spare His own Son but demanded from the Mediator the whole debt owed by the transgressor, requiring full atonement without abatement, that the guilty might be pronounced without guilt. He who knew no sin and in whom dwelt absolute perfection was made sin by having the terrible weight of the guilt of the whole world borne in his behalf, becoming propitiation and sin-offering to reconcile the world. The more fully this sacrifice is understood the more glorious salvation becomes, awakening love and peace and joy and praise and driving out pride and self-worship, while the cross was erected to awaken a sense of the sinfulness of sin and draw all to Christ as the only hope of those in the gall of bitterness.
Christ voluntarily humbled Himself, eternally rich and clothed with light and glory, leaving His throne, laying aside royal robe and kingly crown, and clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race and know human sufferings and temptations. As a member of the human family He was mortal, yet as God the fountain of light, coming to a sinful world to be scorned, set aside, jeered at and rejected, enduring the temptations of the foe and wrestling with him through His entire life on earth. He carried out redeeming grace earnestly and untiringly in preaching and healing, pledging Himself under no obligation except love to bear the punishment due transgressors, enduring without complaint every suffering and indignity belonging to salvation. He was not compelled to die and could have withstood death and refused the grave, but by His own choice He did not save Himself from the cross, dying the Just for the unjust that humanity might not perish and that believers might receive life measuring with the life of God. The sinless One bore the punishment due sinners so that repentant believers could receive the merit of His spotless righteousness, and what He wrought must be made effectual by the Spirit as constant regenerating agent, without whom His humiliation, conflict and death would be of no avail.
As one with and equal to the Father and above all law, He alone as chosen Mediator was of sufficient value to undertake the suretyship of the fallen race, where holy created angels bearing the yoke of duty as delegated messengers could not make adequate sacrifice. Because God's law is as sacred as God Himself and its transgression demands the sinner's life, only Christ equal with God could make atonement and restore harmony with heaven. His death carried forward the great plan of redemption which depended on it, defeated Satan so that his kingdom was lost, caused joy in heaven, opened Paradise, and brought light and immortality to light. Through being made sin the sons of Adam can be reconciled to God and, through a life of obedience, be finally exalted to the throne of God and elevated to life with Him in the mansions of glory. Fuller comprehension of the magnitude of that sacrifice magnifies salvation, awakens living emotion and praise to God and the Lamb, and brings humility that kills pride and self-worship.
Center of Proclamation
The sinless one was made sin so that in him sinners might become God's righteousness, and this exchange is the central burden to be carried into every place as Christ and him crucified. It is the heart of teaching and missionary work, holding together forgiveness of sins, Christ's death for sins with his resurrection and ascension as intercessor, and the restoration of God's moral image in followers. It is the way Paul lifted up Christ everywhere to every sort of person, before scowling Pharisee or Roman authority, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, to the cripple at Lystra and to convicted sinners in the Macedonian dungeon, and soul-winners are to present the truth as it is in him with meekness and fear when giving reason for hope. It is a jewel of truth, a precious gem and sacred eternal principle long lost from sight, to be rescued from error, restored to its proper place, set in its true setting, made to appear in heavenly light, and presented in schools so that youth and children understand the way of salvation and teachers and scholars know justification by faith within the plan of salvation and the framework of the gospel, to penetrate the moral darkness enshrouding the world.
Its setting is reconciliation, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing trespasses, and committing the word of reconciliation to ambassadors who in Christ's stead beseech men to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation with God and adoption as children come through believing in Christ, not through human favors or effort, by the sinless self-giving of him who knew no sin made sin for the guilty, tasting death for every man and laying down his life that man might live through faith in redeeming power. Those in Christ become new creatures with old things passed away and all things become new, made God's righteousness in him, raised to life with him in glory when his death completed redemption. Those thus reconciled receive the ministry and word of reconciliation, which requires practically loving one another as he loved, rooted in God so loving the world that he gave his only begotten Son for everlasting life and in his covenant to deliver the beings he created, in which both heaven and earth are concerned. Through his humiliation, suffering and sacrifice he bore the burden of human guilt and made redemption and the way to heaven possible, so the repentant sinner finds comfort and peace through repentance and faith in Christ as Redeemer and advocate.
This provision was made in heaven before the world was founded, so that the repenting sinner who recognizes guilt and unworthiness but relies on Christ's mercy is pardoned, has Christ's righteousness imputed, and is moved to gratitude and praise. He is the foundation of the system of sacrifices and offerings given to the church in its infancy, and every sacrifice pointed to him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to teach that the wages of sin is death. His sinless sacrifice secured salvation because no stain rested on him, and by dying for all the world he fulfilled the sacrifices that had pointed to him and opened salvation to every nation. As suffering, dying victim, the innocent one took upon himself the sin of which man was guilty, and the sanctuary service with its sacrificial offering taught this continually as an object lesson meant to create in every heart love for the law of God, which is the law of his kingdom, while the whole symbolic system worked to vindicate that law so believers may come into unity of faith and full maturity.
The more fully this sacrifice is understood, the more glorious the plan of salvation becomes, for fuller comprehension magnifies salvation, awakens living emotion and praise to God and the Lamb, awakens love and peace and joy, and drives out pride and self-worship through humility. The eternally rich Son, clothed with light and glory, left his throne, laid aside his royal robe, clothed divinity with humanity, became mortal as a member of the human family while as God remaining the fountain of light, came to a sinful world to be scorned and rejected, and by his own choice bore the sin of the world and its bitter penalty of eternal death though he could have withstood death and refused the grave, that he might bring light and immortality to light and bring men back to God to be accepted in the Beloved, called sons of God, and given place with him in mansions of glory. The story of Calvary must be meditated upon, appreciated, then acted upon and practiced in daily life, beholding the cross daily, dying to self, consecrating all powers and time, and pressing to nobler character, because mere theoretical knowledge only increases condemnation unless its witness is carried out, an exchange of the innocent for the guilty that is a mystery angels cannot comprehend but desire to look into. It reveals the love Christ brought into his work in taking what sinners earned and giving what he earned, enduring the wrath of the Father in body and heart as the sinless one standing in the guilty one's place, a love full and broad and deep growing until it embraces the whole world, counted ample to accept every sinner who will accept salvation at such infinite cost. Therefore needy and unpromising people are not to be treated as they deserve but with that same love, bearing long with presumptuous and hard-hearted souls with Christian meekness, calmness under injury and kindness for abuse, to encourage them, keep them in hope and save them, and the work is not to be spent over and over in one place while other fields lie barren, but carried to neglected parts of the world by representatives whose lives reveal his fragrance of character and purity of thought, pure and undefiled without spot or wrinkle, so others beholding him desire to be like him.
In living union with Christ through living faith and personal consecration, with self hid with Christ in God, human sin is reckoned to Christ and his righteousness imputed so believers become righteous before God in him, and because of his atoning sacrifice their prayers rise laden with the fragrance of his character and are accepted in him, in unbroken communion where grace received is constantly imparted as grateful offering. No one has righteousness of his own on which to stand, so Christ became righteousness and believers must be continually clothed with it, which means letting his tenderness into the soul and living as children of God with tender, kind, patient spirit free from selfishness and covetousness, with the only plea for final salvation that Christ died and his blood cleansed from all sin, the heart touched by subduing love unto perfection of character. His righteousness becomes theirs, curing by his blood and filling helplessness and utter want, received by living active faith with entire dependence as little children casting the whole weight upon the living chain of mercy let down from heaven, and only as faith comprehends the length of the cord let down is known the depth of mire from which they were lifted. As propitiation for the sins of the whole world he makes it possible for people to represent him through lives revealing his character and purity, so others seeing him desire to become pure, undefiled and wholly acceptable, for those who trust receive a righteousness shining from above in heart and character that makes them his representatives, his chosen ones purchased by suffering in the flesh, belonging to him and loved with tender affection, given the fragrance of his righteousness.
He who personally knew no sin and remained pure, spotless and perfectly obedient though taking fallen human nature and its temptations was made sin by having human guilt and iniquity laid upon Him, reckoned to His account and charged to Him as substitute and surety. He bore the full curse, condemnation and penalty of the broken law, was treated as a sinner and forsaken under the weight of wrath, though He Himself never sinned, that guilty sinners might be treated as He deserved and go free. In Him believers are made the righteousness of God by having His perfection, merits and character imputed and credited to them by faith, pardoned and accepted as if they had not sinned and clothed as with a robe covering all unworthiness. His death fully satisfied justice and vindicated the unchangeable law rather than abolishing it, so that God can be just and yet justify the sinner, while reconciliation comes as a free gift received by repentance and living faith and not by works of law. This great exchange reveals measureless love in giving all heaven for rebels while yet sinners, calls for vital union with Christ that imparts power to overcome and live in obedience, and stands as the central message of reconciliation to be proclaimed everywhere.
Christ Knew No Sin
The verse declares that Christ personally knew no sin, being guiltless, pure, spotless, holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, without even the least taint of sin in Him for the adversary to exploit. His purity was not distant or untouched, for though He took fallen human nature with its infirmities, weaknesses, degeneracy and low condition, He bore those burdens without ever participating in its sin. Tempted in all points like humanity and facing temptation as a man under the hardest conditions, He remained completely and perfectly obedient.
It was this sinlessness that fitted Him to be both Sin-bearer and Sin-pardoner, humanity's representative, substitute, surety and sacrifice. His spotless life was the only offering sufficient to atone, ransom and save, for no stain rested on Him and therefore His death fulfilled all pointed sacrifices and opened salvation to every nation and every age. Being one with and equal to the Father, above all law and of infinite value, He alone could undertake the suretyship of the fallen race, where even holy created angels bearing the yoke of duty and obedience could not make an adequate sacrifice.
Had He sinned in the least, Satan would have bruised His head, divine wrath would have come upon Him as it came upon Adam, and He Himself, the church and the whole human race would have perished without hope. Because He knew no sin, Satan could touch only His heel and could not strike His head, and that unbroken humanity vindicates God's law and settles the controversy before the universe for all time.
His sinless life in human flesh condemned sin in the flesh by obedience to every jot and tittle of the law before unfallen worlds, holy angels and the fallen world, testifying that the law can be kept in humanity. That same life reveals the Father's true character and refutes Satan's false charges against God. He met trial without using divine power to lessen it or rescue Himself, leaving a pattern of dependence on the Father and complete faith and trust in God even under severe testing for all who follow.
Made Sin for Us
To be made sin means human sins and iniquities are taken away and placed to His account, transferred to Christ, laid upon Him, reckoned to Him and charged to Him as substitute, surety and representative. All transgressions are transferred to the sinless One counted as sinful, with the sins of all who believe made liable upon Him, so that His righteousness may be imputed and credited to the believer. This is a divine exchange in which human sins are reckoned to Jesus and His righteousness is imputed to the believer for forgiveness and justification.
He bore the guilt, condemnation, curse, punishment and full penalty of the law for transgression, with the whole debt for breaking God's law demanded from Him as Mediator and suffered without abatement until justice was fully satisfied. Though guiltless and knowing no sin, He took upon Himself the guilt and punishment called for by the sins of the whole world, though that guilt was not His, and only by bearing the penalty of disobedience could He deliver from eternal death. He bore even the Father's wrath, displeasure, hiding of His face and withdrawal of the divine countenance against iniquity.
He was treated as a sinner, counted among transgressors and among the unholy, condemned though innocent, receiving the treatment sinners deserve and the curse due to sins coming upon Him. The innocent Christ was treated as guilty while through His merits guilty people are counted innocent, that guilty sinners might be treated as He deserved, justified by His righteousness, and go free. His suffering and death were theirs, while the life that was His is offered to them, and fallen people are treated not as they deserve but as He deserved.
Becoming sin did not mean He sinned or knew sin by sinning; He remained holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners while bearing its weight, with sins laid on Him, punished in Him and put away by Him although He remained perfectly sinless. He became its sin-bearer, not one who had sinned, taking human nature in its fallen condition with its infirmities and weaknesses yet not in the least participating in its sin, remaining perfectly free from sinfulness, spotless and without guile. In that holy Substitute He offered atoning sacrifice with perfect humility and perfect obedience to all requirements, condemning sin in the flesh by obeying every jot and tittle of the law.
He became the sin-offering, sacrifice, propitiation and ransom for the sins of the whole world in every age, the one means by which sinners are cleansed, giving His life for those under sentence of death. The sinless Son suffered the penalty for sin as an offering of unsurpassed value to reconcile the world, with suffering and death paying the price of redemption and restoring sinners to favor.
His anguish was soul-anguish far greater than physical pain, for the guilt of every descendant of Adam in every age pressed upon His heart and He endured judicial punishment for iniquity. The weight of sin and the Father's wrath and displeasure toward sin made His cup bitter and His suffering bitter; He felt forsaken, could not see through the darkness to resurrection or acceptance, feared sin had brought eternal separation and would shut Him out forever from the Father's love, and this broke His heart. In Gethsemane and on the cross He was bowed under the weight, cried out, and His heart broke, with earth quaking and rocks rent, His horror coming not from dread of death or bodily anguish but from sense of the malignity of sin so deeply rooted and difficult to eradicate.
This work was undertaken in heaven's council where the Son pledged Himself as surety, was assured at His baptism as man's representative giving the race a second trial, and was offered at Passover as antitype of all sacrifices. He passed over the ground where Adam fell and met the wilderness test where Adam failed on appetite, taking human nature with the infirmities, weaknesses and degeneracy of the fallen race, enduring temptation on behalf of sinful humanity and overcoming the tempter through obedience, purity and steadfast integrity. By facing a test more severe than Adam's and bearing the test Adam failed to endure, He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, humiliated Himself to the lowest depths of human woe to reach man where he was, and made His righteousness available as imputed gift by which through His name people can overcome.
As man's surety He faced the temptation to leave the human race to bear the consequences of its own guilt, standing innocent before God in its place. His innocence and willingness to bear humanity's burden reveal the terrible malignity of sin.
Become God's Righteousness
To be made the righteousness of God in Him means His righteousness, merits, perfection and virtue are imputed, reckoned and credited to those who believe, and become theirs by faith as their sins are placed to His account as substitute, surety and representative. The exchange rests on His atoning sacrifice in which sins laid upon Him were punished in Him and put away by Him while He remained perfectly sinless, and it is received through vital union with Him by living faith like sap from the vine to the branch, making believers one with Him as He is one with the Father. It is not casual or nominal profession but personal, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul, requiring transformation of character, supreme love, daily consecration, reliance, constant communion partaking of unlimited grace, and walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit. It is a free gift without money and without price to meet the sinner's one great need, by which the defiled soul is pardoned and has Christ's purity imputed, answering all claims of the law so the human agent can keep the law and stand innocent. By this faith believers are to all intents and purposes accepted in the Beloved, so that He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
God pardons the guilty, remits punishment, declares the repenting sinner sinless, innocent, uncondemned and guiltless, treats him as just as if he had not sinned, receives him into favor and accepts him in the Beloved. Because the Innocent One bore their guilt as Surety, having overcome in their behalf and lived a sinless life for them and borne the penalty of disobedience to deliver from eternal death, repentant sinners stand before God justified and accepted, the undeserving made deserving because the Deserving became undeserving. Those who believe in Him as personal Saviour and claim Him as substitute and surety, hanging helpless souls upon Him, are for His merits accounted pure from contaminating influence and can endure as seeing Him who is invisible, to whom belongs the blessing that the pure in heart shall see God. We cannot make ourselves righteous or perfectly obey the holy law, but when we give ourselves to Him and accept Him as Saviour His character stands in place of ours and we are accounted righteous and accepted as if we had not sinned. The one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself a lost sinner in need of a Saviour, does not believe in the only-begotten Son and refuses His blood, has his sin remain.
His character thus stands in place of the believer's as a woven robe, covering defilement and unworthiness, linking the finite to the Infinite and clothing with purity and glory. No one can manufacture righteousness; He has woven it in heaven and puts it upon the sinner over sins, taking away the old defiled garment, taking the sins and imputing His own righteousness and pardoning all transgressions. Those who receive Him as personal Saviour have nothing in themselves worthy of such love, yet at judgment can ask to be beheld not as sinners but in Jesus their Advocate, clothed with His righteousness. In Him believers are counted as if they themselves had suffered the penalty incurred and had obeyed with perfect obedience to the law, for He imparts His merits and righteousness and only in Him is obedience made complete, revealing the fullness in Jesus and the love with which He loved sinners. No one has righteousness of his own on which to stand, so He became their righteousness and they must be continually clothed with it, letting His tenderness into the soul and living as children of God with tender, kind, patient spirit free from selfishness and covetousness, giving as the only reason for final salvation that He died and His blood cleansed from all sin.
In Him believers enter into His rights and victories, become heirs of God and joint heirs with Him, sons of God, members of the royal family, with prayers accepted as a sweet-smelling savor in the Beloved, receiving pardon, peace, life with the life of God, restoration to favor, and the crown of life and eternal life. That communion identifies the believer with Him in feeling, interest and service and identifies His interest with the believer's before the universe. He offers Himself to the trembling sinner as propitiation, Justifier and Righteousness, calling the sinner to lean on Him and accept life through Him; those who do are clothed with the robe of His righteousness, stand justified before the Father and accepted, gain eternal life they are not worthy of, recover the blessing lost through disobedience and, by partaking of the divine nature, escape corruption through lust. Through Him the sinner can return to allegiance, receive full pardon and restoration and be accepted as a son of God, the penalty remitted even for the most guilty, by faith uniting human weakness to the source of divine strength and by obedience possessing love and peace and joy, the contrite one covered as with a spotless robe because He satisfied the demands of the law. Because He was made sin, the sons of Adam can be reconciled and through a life of obedience be finally exalted to His throne and elevated to life with Him in His mansions in glory, and the more fully the sacrifice is understood the more glorious the plan becomes, awakening love and peace and joy and praise and driving out pride and self-worship.
He interposes to pay the debt for withheld service, intercedes for transgressors, lives as Advocate, and at judgment believers plead to be beheld in Him; repentant names are recorded in the book of life and they stand complete in Him. His death for sins is central to salvation, together with His resurrection and ascension as Intercessor. He bore the sin of many, was counted among transgressors, and intercedes for them. Sinful people can be made complete in Jesus through forgiveness and His righteousness credited to them, through the spotless Lamb whose sacrifice ransoms humanity and reveals love, making possible the restored connection the repentant sinner needs. When a sinner repents, trusts in Him and obeys the law, His righteousness is credited and becomes theirs; they are counted as God's child and their name is recorded in the Lamb's book of life. The sinner has no merit and has done nothing worthy of salvation, but through His righteousness is accepted, and through obedience to the commands may find pardon and peace while He lives as Advocate.
Justice and Law Upheld
The sinless One took the sinner's place and was made sin, bearing the whole debt owed for breaking the law and suffering its full penalty as Mediator without abatement. His death made full atonement, for the God of justice did not spare His own Son but demanded from Him the extreme penalty of the law for transgression, and justice was fully satisfied. He took the punishment though undeserving so that those who deserved it could go free, was treated as a sinner so that believers might be treated as righteous, and thus God can be just and yet the justifier of the sinner. Through faith in that atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned, the fallen are uplifted from degradation, and return to allegiance and reconciliation with God is made possible, for Christ is the only hope of salvation. His mediatorial work as surety and deliverer began as soon as man became a transgressor and guilt and misery began, pardoning sins, remitting deserved punishment, and receiving the sinner into divine favor as though just and as if he had not sinned.
The law was not abolished, weakened, changed to fit fallen man, or set aside to save man and bring him into union with God, but remained in force with its authority intact, established in its immutability. His suffering and death met the law's claims rather than annulling it, satisfying justice and vindicating the honor and dignity of the law. By perfect obedience in human life He honored and exalted the law and redeemed what was lost through the fall, making it possible for men to obey it and to stand uncondemned and become holy in character through His credited righteousness. Being made sin does not remove obligation to keep all the commandments; with Christ formed within, the believer is complete in Him, while the one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself lost, refuses His blood and does not believe in the only-begotten Son, his sin remains.
Reconciliation with God and adoption as children, with righteousness itself, come as gifts through believing in Christ, not through human favors, effort, will or power. The law reveals sin and condemns transgression and points the sinner to Christ as the only hope, but it cannot pardon, save, or restore the sinner. Justification is freely given by grace through faith by imputation of Christ's righteousness, not by works, and salvation is God's gift through Jesus Christ who alone is the way to life and admission to the kingdom. Sinners must therefore exchange their sins for His righteousness, being purified and sanctified to be fitted for heaven.
The sacrifice that redeems from sin's penalty was costly, bearing guilt and even the hiding of the Father's face, and those who refuse this atonement must bear their own guilt and punishment. Refusing the atoning sacrifice leaves men without excuse and exposed to judgment, for at Calvary God declares Himself a God who will avenge and punish sin. Yet the provision laid the sins, punishment and guilt of every sinner in the world upon Jesus, who as bearer of both divine and human nature could be the sin-bearer for the race, a grand and glorious though incomprehensible mystery to be accepted. Every repentant soul finds forgiveness through His righteousness and is made righteous in Him, so that even the most guilty may be pardoned through faith, while all who do not believe in Him as personal Saviour must bear the full penalty of their own sins.
Received Through Living Faith
The great exchange becomes the sinner's own through repentance, confession, humiliation of self, and simple personal faith in Christ's blood and merits as representative, substitute, surety and sin-bearer. No one can make himself righteous or perfectly obey the holy law by works, merit, self-cleansing or casual nominal profession, but when the soul gives itself to Christ and accepts Him as Saviour, his character stands in place of the sinner's own. This is justification: God lays human iniquity upon the sinless One, punishes it in Him and puts it away, then imputes Christ's righteousness to the believing soul and declares him righteous, innocent and accepted as if he had not sinned. That righteousness is a free gift without money and without price to every defiled soul that hungers and thirsts for it, and the intensity of that hunger is itself the pledge that the coveted supply will be given and the needy shall be filled.
It is received only in vital union and intimate communion with Christ by a personal living faith that works by love and purifies the soul. That faith expresses supreme preference for God, perfect reliance, entire consecration and a will wholly yielded and hidden in God, with feelings, desires, interests and honor identified with His kingdom, nourished by daily consecration and constant partaking of unlimited grace as the branch draws sap from the vine. So united, the believer becomes one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father, is accepted in the Beloved with access to God, and Christ's interest becomes one with his before the universe. The outward sign of what has inwardly happened is baptism, death to the life of selfishness and rising to walk in newness of life by faith in the power that raised Christ, and continual feeding upon the broken body and spilled blood.
Pardon and justification are one and the same thing, the opposite of condemnation. God pardons transgressions for Christ's sake, remits the deserved punishment, receives the rebel into divine favor and treats him as though he were really just and had not sinned, because Christ as Substitute and Surety has taken guilt upon Himself and His sacrifice as propitiation fully satisfies the demands of justice. The contrite soul who discerns that atonement and accepts it as his only hope for this life and the life to come passes from child of sin and Satan to loyal subject, adopted child and beloved son, clothed in the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness and standing faultless with strong hope of eternal life, not for inherent goodness but because Christ receives him.
Therefore there remains no excuse for religious defection or despondency, for all the promises of heavenly grace belong to those who hunger for righteousness. Erring and faulty souls who are not sinless may still commit the keeping of their souls to God, for rest does not depend on personal merit but on Christ's spotless righteousness credited by faith as the eye turns away from self to Jesus. Jesus supplies what is lacking and makes up human deficiency, strengthens weak faith, gives through His representative the Comforter a sense of forgiveness, security, hope and grateful praise, and His unfailing inexhaustible righteousness received by faith overflows in gratitude to others.
What the Redeemer wrought out must be made effectual in each case by the Spirit as constant working regenerating agent, without whom His humiliation, lifelong conflict and death as the Just for the unjust would be of no avail for any to escape perishing. Through the Spirit the soul receives new mental and spiritual power, is born again, is drawn by Christ lifted on the cross to see the sinfulness of sin, and through union with divinity becomes one with God and partaker of the divine nature escaping worldly corruption. This exchange of the Innocent for the guilty is a great mystery no one can fully explain or take in, to be meditated upon, appreciated and practiced rather than held as mere theory that only increases condemnation, and it can only be spiritually discerned. It is the mystery into which angels desire to look, beholding matchless love that kindles ardent faith, hope and joy in those who love and keep His words.
New Obedient Life
Through His power those made righteous partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, receiving divine strength to obtain victory over evil as He overcame in their behalf. Because the Innocent One bore their guilt and the penalty of their disobedience, repentant sinners stand justified and accepted before God, the undeserving made deserving because the Deserving became undeserving, placed on vantage ground where they may live pure, sinless lives. Though He took fallen human nature with its weaknesses and infirmities and tabernacled among men, He remained holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, perfectly obedient, condemning sin in the flesh by obeying every jot and tittle of the law before unfallen worlds, holy angels and the fallen world. As spotless substitute and Surety He lived a sinless life for them and made atonement, laying aside royal robe and kingly crown and clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race so they might be accepted as members of the royal family and delivered from eternal death. Those who believe in Him, accept Him as sin-offering and rely on Him as personal Saviour are advantaged by His righteousness, and through His imputed righteousness the believing soul obeys the commandments of God from the heart, so that no one can say he is hopelessly subject to bondage to sin and Satan. Salvation's glory belongs solely to God who gives righteousness by faith and grace justifying to eternal life, while those who belong to Christ and share His body are called to live purely, chastely and holily.
Being made sin does not remove obligation to keep all of God's commandments nor permit continued breaking of the law, for His bearing guilt is meant to bring to repentance and obedience and to make an end of sin. Without His death no one could keep God's law, but the repenting sinner through the worth of His righteousness makes sincere efforts to overcome sin and keep God's holy law in and through Him, and those efforts made in Christ are fully acceptable, raising moral standing before God. His righteousness does not save anyone while knowingly breaking the Father's law, which is as unchangeable as His throne; the person must change and stop breaking the law, which is to stop sinning, with repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ working a painful death to self like a crucifixion that puts hatred for all sin in the heart. The righteousness of Christ is placed upon the undeserving so the repenting sinner is declared sinless and complete in Him with Christ formed within, while the one who blinds himself to light, hardens conscience, will not acknowledge himself a lost sinner in need of a Saviour, refuses His blood and does not believe in the only-begotten Son, his sin remains.
The righteousness counted to believers for justification is their title to heaven, while the righteousness imparted through sanctification is their fitness for heaven, making them complete in Him and whole in body, soul and spirit. His complete sacrifice makes full sanctification possible, covering His people with His righteousness and transforming their lives so they reveal God's character of love and are distinguished from the world. Those who come to Him must renounce their own ways and works and self-righteousness, be purified and clothed in His righteousness to stand loyal and true, while God works with them and Christ works in them. He reaches out His hand to save those who fall many times, forgives sin confessed with shame and sorrow by those who love Jesus, are sorry for grieving infinite love, look to the cross and are convinced by the Holy Spirit of ingratitude and sin, and calls the forgiven to a higher, nobler life. Keeping close to Jesus by faith gives success in the battle against sin and that forgiven sin will not appear against him if he holds fast his faith and the beginning of his confidence firm unto the end, while unbelief separates the soul from Christ.
The moment the sinner repents and believes he stands uncondemned in God's sight, for Christ's perfect obedience is imputed to him and He bears the guilt and takes the punishment Himself so the repenting sinner can stand innocent before God. Through repentance and faith sinners become like Christ in holiness of character, but they must cooperate with divine power and put forth human effort to subdue sin, obey in cheerful self-sacrifice, and stand complete in Christ. His willingness to suffer for the fallen race, bearing even the Father's wrath, shows the depth of selfless love and disinterested benevolence, and His suffering, self-denial, humiliation and death prepared the way for humanity's ransom while winning on humanity's behalf and working out a righteous character they could not achieve for themselves. That love bears long with presumptuous, high-headed, hard-hearted souls who irritate and provoke, refusing to cut them off, and sets the pattern for dealing with sinners, ingratitude, betrayal, injury, abuse and enemies with Christian meekness, calmness under injury and kindness in return, so the wrongdoer is surprised and shamed by the contrast.
Love Beyond Measure
The verse reveals measureless love, for in giving Christ God gave everything, all heaven, His only Son to a life of humiliation and suffering as an offering of unsurpassed value. It was not because of any goodness or righteousness in man, but because He loved while men were yet sinners and rebels and disobedient, to bear their shame and grief and load of guilty shame. The God of justice did not spare His own Son but demanded from the Mediator the whole debt owed by the transgressor, requiring full atonement without abatement, that the guilty might be pronounced without guilt. He who knew no sin and in whom dwelt absolute perfection was made sin by having the terrible weight of the guilt of the whole world borne in his behalf, becoming propitiation and sin-offering to reconcile the world. The more fully this sacrifice is understood the more glorious salvation becomes, awakening love and peace and joy and praise and driving out pride and self-worship, while the cross was erected to awaken a sense of the sinfulness of sin and draw all to Christ as the only hope of those in the gall of bitterness.
Christ voluntarily humbled Himself, eternally rich and clothed with light and glory, leaving His throne, laying aside royal robe and kingly crown, and clothing divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race and know human sufferings and temptations. As a member of the human family He was mortal, yet as God the fountain of light, coming to a sinful world to be scorned, set aside, jeered at and rejected, enduring the temptations of the foe and wrestling with him through His entire life on earth. He carried out redeeming grace earnestly and untiringly in preaching and healing, pledging Himself under no obligation except love to bear the punishment due transgressors, enduring without complaint every suffering and indignity belonging to salvation. He was not compelled to die and could have withstood death and refused the grave, but by His own choice He did not save Himself from the cross, dying the Just for the unjust that humanity might not perish and that believers might receive life measuring with the life of God. The sinless One bore the punishment due sinners so that repentant believers could receive the merit of His spotless righteousness, and what He wrought must be made effectual by the Spirit as constant regenerating agent, without whom His humiliation, conflict and death would be of no avail.
As one with and equal to the Father and above all law, He alone as chosen Mediator was of sufficient value to undertake the suretyship of the fallen race, where holy created angels bearing the yoke of duty as delegated messengers could not make adequate sacrifice. Because God's law is as sacred as God Himself and its transgression demands the sinner's life, only Christ equal with God could make atonement and restore harmony with heaven. His death carried forward the great plan of redemption which depended on it, defeated Satan so that his kingdom was lost, caused joy in heaven, opened Paradise, and brought light and immortality to light. Through being made sin the sons of Adam can be reconciled to God and, through a life of obedience, be finally exalted to the throne of God and elevated to life with Him in the mansions of glory. Fuller comprehension of the magnitude of that sacrifice magnifies salvation, awakens living emotion and praise to God and the Lamb, and brings humility that kills pride and self-worship.
Center of Proclamation
The sinless one was made sin so that in him sinners might become God's righteousness, and this exchange is the central burden to be carried into every place as Christ and him crucified. It is the heart of teaching and missionary work, holding together forgiveness of sins, Christ's death for sins with his resurrection and ascension as intercessor, and the restoration of God's moral image in followers. It is the way Paul lifted up Christ everywhere to every sort of person, before scowling Pharisee or Roman authority, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, to the cripple at Lystra and to convicted sinners in the Macedonian dungeon, and soul-winners are to present the truth as it is in him with meekness and fear when giving reason for hope. It is a jewel of truth, a precious gem and sacred eternal principle long lost from sight, to be rescued from error, restored to its proper place, set in its true setting, made to appear in heavenly light, and presented in schools so that youth and children understand the way of salvation and teachers and scholars know justification by faith within the plan of salvation and the framework of the gospel, to penetrate the moral darkness enshrouding the world.
Its setting is reconciliation, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing trespasses, and committing the word of reconciliation to ambassadors who in Christ's stead beseech men to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation with God and adoption as children come through believing in Christ, not through human favors or effort, by the sinless self-giving of him who knew no sin made sin for the guilty, tasting death for every man and laying down his life that man might live through faith in redeeming power. Those in Christ become new creatures with old things passed away and all things become new, made God's righteousness in him, raised to life with him in glory when his death completed redemption. Those thus reconciled receive the ministry and word of reconciliation, which requires practically loving one another as he loved, rooted in God so loving the world that he gave his only begotten Son for everlasting life and in his covenant to deliver the beings he created, in which both heaven and earth are concerned. Through his humiliation, suffering and sacrifice he bore the burden of human guilt and made redemption and the way to heaven possible, so the repentant sinner finds comfort and peace through repentance and faith in Christ as Redeemer and advocate.
This provision was made in heaven before the world was founded, so that the repenting sinner who recognizes guilt and unworthiness but relies on Christ's mercy is pardoned, has Christ's righteousness imputed, and is moved to gratitude and praise. He is the foundation of the system of sacrifices and offerings given to the church in its infancy, and every sacrifice pointed to him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to teach that the wages of sin is death. His sinless sacrifice secured salvation because no stain rested on him, and by dying for all the world he fulfilled the sacrifices that had pointed to him and opened salvation to every nation. As suffering, dying victim, the innocent one took upon himself the sin of which man was guilty, and the sanctuary service with its sacrificial offering taught this continually as an object lesson meant to create in every heart love for the law of God, which is the law of his kingdom, while the whole symbolic system worked to vindicate that law so believers may come into unity of faith and full maturity.
The more fully this sacrifice is understood, the more glorious the plan of salvation becomes, for fuller comprehension magnifies salvation, awakens living emotion and praise to God and the Lamb, awakens love and peace and joy, and drives out pride and self-worship through humility. The eternally rich Son, clothed with light and glory, left his throne, laid aside his royal robe, clothed divinity with humanity, became mortal as a member of the human family while as God remaining the fountain of light, came to a sinful world to be scorned and rejected, and by his own choice bore the sin of the world and its bitter penalty of eternal death though he could have withstood death and refused the grave, that he might bring light and immortality to light and bring men back to God to be accepted in the Beloved, called sons of God, and given place with him in mansions of glory. The story of Calvary must be meditated upon, appreciated, then acted upon and practiced in daily life, beholding the cross daily, dying to self, consecrating all powers and time, and pressing to nobler character, because mere theoretical knowledge only increases condemnation unless its witness is carried out, an exchange of the innocent for the guilty that is a mystery angels cannot comprehend but desire to look into. It reveals the love Christ brought into his work in taking what sinners earned and giving what he earned, enduring the wrath of the Father in body and heart as the sinless one standing in the guilty one's place, a love full and broad and deep growing until it embraces the whole world, counted ample to accept every sinner who will accept salvation at such infinite cost. Therefore needy and unpromising people are not to be treated as they deserve but with that same love, bearing long with presumptuous and hard-hearted souls with Christian meekness, calmness under injury and kindness for abuse, to encourage them, keep them in hope and save them, and the work is not to be spent over and over in one place while other fields lie barren, but carried to neglected parts of the world by representatives whose lives reveal his fragrance of character and purity of thought, pure and undefiled without spot or wrinkle, so others beholding him desire to be like him.
In living union with Christ through living faith and personal consecration, with self hid with Christ in God, human sin is reckoned to Christ and his righteousness imputed so believers become righteous before God in him, and because of his atoning sacrifice their prayers rise laden with the fragrance of his character and are accepted in him, in unbroken communion where grace received is constantly imparted as grateful offering. No one has righteousness of his own on which to stand, so Christ became righteousness and believers must be continually clothed with it, which means letting his tenderness into the soul and living as children of God with tender, kind, patient spirit free from selfishness and covetousness, with the only plea for final salvation that Christ died and his blood cleansed from all sin, the heart touched by subduing love unto perfection of character. His righteousness becomes theirs, curing by his blood and filling helplessness and utter want, received by living active faith with entire dependence as little children casting the whole weight upon the living chain of mercy let down from heaven, and only as faith comprehends the length of the cord let down is known the depth of mire from which they were lifted. As propitiation for the sins of the whole world he makes it possible for people to represent him through lives revealing his character and purity, so others seeing him desire to become pure, undefiled and wholly acceptable, for those who trust receive a righteousness shining from above in heart and character that makes them his representatives, his chosen ones purchased by suffering in the flesh, belonging to him and loved with tender affection, given the fragrance of his righteousness.