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"For he [GOD] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5.21 (KJV)
"Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him." (ASV)
All people sin at times. But Jesus actually "became" sin on the cross. This might sound heretical to some, but it's Biblical, folks! In order for us to be righteous, He who was righteous had to become unrighteous. He became "accursed" so that we would be "blessed." Amazing! He truly loves us, to take our place, to be ever with us!
I believe the demonstration of this fact, is found in Jesus' provocative statement to the Father, "why have You forsaken me?" It was an accusation to the Father of having done something wrong. This is the Adamic nature, when Jesus became sin for us.
So don't think that God doesn't understand your failures, because He became "all failures" in order to unite us to Him in Love!
"For he [GOD] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5.21 (KJV)
"Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him." (ASV)
All people sin at times. But Jesus actually "became" sin on the cross. This might sound heretical to some, but it's Biblical, folks! In order for us to be righteous, He who was righteous had to become unrighteous. He became "accursed" so that we would be "blessed." Amazing! He truly loves us, to take our place, to be ever with us!
I believe the demonstration of this fact, is found in Jesus' provocative statement to the Father, "why have You forsaken me?" It was an accusation to the Father of having done something wrong. This is the Adamic nature, when Jesus became sin for us.
So don't think that God doesn't understand your failures, because He became "all failures" in order to unite us to Him in Love!
Peace,
brian
He was quoting scripture...... Psalm 22. He was simply fulfilling prophesy.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Think about this . . . there is a condition where a person can become so stressed that they bleed through the pores of the skin. Jesus prayed that if possible the cup he was about to be given pass away from him. He was so stressed he began to bleed from his skin. (Matthew 26:39, 42 / John 18:10, 11 / Luke 22:44)
It wasn't the horrendous beating and subsequent death he was about to undergo. It was the sin that was about to be put upon him and the necessary separation this would cause from his beloved Father. If only Adam had had that mindset.
The only problem I have with your post is that the cross is a pagan phallic symbol adopted by apostate Christianity about 400 years after Jesus' death. Jesus couldn't have died on a cross.
I know. I've heard other "theories" that He died on a tree. like an actual stripped tree with a board across it where His arms would be, but what else could He have been crucified on?
And that's what I don't understand. Was it necessary for Jesus to become sin? I mean, there are literally a million ways God could have broken the dominion of sin other than to become it. Like, what is it supposed to mean? Jesus doesn't have to become sin to destroy it.
And that's what I don't understand. Was it necessary for Jesus to become sin? I mean, there are literally a million ways God could have broken the dominion of sin other than to become it. Like, what is it supposed to mean? Jesus doesn't have to become sin to destroy it.
I was just thinking about posting the same question.
What does it mean? How did Jesus "become sin"? And how would that make other people righteous or unite anyone to God? What does any of this mean without the religious jargon?
Yeah, that's a very good point. But the part of HOW Jesus became sin, I don't think anyone of us would begin to comprehend how that happened, or what happened during.
I was just thinking about posting the same question.
What does it mean? How did Jesus "become sin"? And how would that make other people righteous or unite anyone to God? What does any of this mean without the religious jargon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkylightMike231
Yeah, that's a very good point. But the part of HOW Jesus became sin, I don't think anyone of us would begin to comprehend how that happened, or what happened during.
Okay. That isn't so difficult really. First of all you know what sin means? It means to miss the mark. For example, when archers or stone and spear throwers in the army missed their target the word sin is used. (Hebrew chattath; Greek hamartia) (Judges 20:16 / Job 5:24 / Proverbs 8:35-36) It means to miss.
To sin against God, like Adam did, means to fall short of his expectations, but you can sin against anyone. Your wife, husband, children, boss, neighbor etc.
So Adam sinned. And keep in mind, the angels were created an indeterminate time, probably a long, long time, before the earth and man. (Job 38:4-7) They hadn't sinned.
Now the life that Jehovah created in Adam and Eve was sacred. The newly formed planet Earth was a hostile place outside of the Garden he had created for them, so he sent an angel, the most beautiful of angels as it turned out, to protect them in this small area. (Ezekiel 28:12-18 is a difficult text which compares this angel, later known as Satan, with the King of Tyre. Note: The King of Tyre was never in the Garden of Eden)
This angel began to think along the lines of challenging Jehovah's sovereignty. To make a long story short, Adam sinned. We all know that.
It brought death. And to Jehovah life was sacred. Life was in the blood. The blood is the soul. Killing a person, shedding his blood, was a most heinous crime against God, who created life. God is a God of justice. He can't arbitrarily make up rules that are an affront to his sense of justice. A price needed to be paid in order that justice could be done. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood, life for life.
Meanwhile, in ancient Israel, if a person was found murdered on the outer edge of a town and no one knew who the murderer was, then the nearest town was what they called, "bloodguilty." No justice there in God's eyes. Someone took the life blood, the soul of someone else, which was sacred to God. So they had to sacrifice a bull. Spill it's blood in a symbolic gesture acknowledging God's sacred creation of life. ()
Are you beginning to see the picture? All of those blood sacrifices were an imperfect way of educating the Israelite on the need for justice. Israel after all, was, a nation of laws as well as the means of producing the Messiah.
Adam was created perfect. Without sin. How, then, could his blood be repaid with the blood of someone with sin?
Jesus was the "exchange piece" for our Life. Just as Adam's disobedience was passed to all mankind, Jesus became sin on the cross. And at that moment, all His righteousness was "exchanged" to us, passed over to all sinful humanity.
The evidence, imo, that He actually became sin, was shown in his accusatory statement to the Father: "why have You abandoned me?" This statement is very different from how his life was before that moment. He became sin, accused God, and died.
So we have to praise God for 2 things: 1) He didn't sin; He became sin! That means He fully knows our condition! and 2) By becoming sin, He passed His Life over to us! Hallelujah!
When you look at an image of Christ hanging on the cross, you are looking at the curse of Adam. (Remember the scripture, "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"?)
Jesus took on the flesh, not just to "be with us." He knew He had to die, and in order to die, there had to be sin. "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. " Jesus didn't sin. He became sin.
So what you are seeing when you look at a crucifix, is sin. All sin. Manifested in one body: His.
Personally, I prefer to look at Life! Because that's what we've been given. Everyone. It is the Life He has always had, which was passed to all mankind when He became sin. There was a "switch." And that is why "the veil of the temple was rent in two." There is now no separation between God and man!
Thanks for the time put into your posts, Theist and Brian. I can only say that the substitution/penal theory of atonement that I was raised with and which you are both putting forward, is no longer something I believe to be true. It simply does not make sense, imo, that the God who is love (which keeps no record of wrongs) needed a sacrifice in order to forgive or to satisfy wrath.
Brian, your thread has prompted me to grapple with this 2 Cor. passage, which I appreciate. I have come to believe that it conveys a spiritual reality: not of Jesus literally dying on the cross (not saying that he didn't), but rather of Christ, God's spirit, IN us.
As I see it now, that's how Christ was "made sin" for us: God's spirit is in us sinful beings, not separate from us, but actually inextricably intertwined with us. It's by virtue of this union that God/Christ can be said to have been "made sin". And it is through the resurrection, the raising up, of God's Spirit within us, overcoming the sinful nature, which in turn allows God to express Godself/love through us, that we become God's very righteousness.
That's the goal, as I see it: God/Love expressing Godself through each of us, and that can only happen because God/Christ is within us.
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