“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.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
This Scripture is foundational in Christian beliefs. There are three fundamental principles. Jesus had no sin. Jesus took our sin. And we were made the righteousness of God in Him.
Is it possible for a man to live in this world without sin? For man it’s impossible. We all came from a sin nature. But Jesus didn’t. He did not have the seed of fallen man. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would have a son, she questioned how that would be because she was a virgin. “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35) His virgin birth was prophesied by Isaiah. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Matthew reminds all of this prophecy. “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:22-23) It was impossible for Jesus to sin. He didn’t have a sin nature.
Jesus was without sin, but He took our sin upon Himself. “ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:21-24) There are arguments about whether Jesus actually became sin for us. But Jesus was always sinless, or He would have ceased to be God. And Jesus was, is and always will be God. He never lost His sinlessness. This was an attribution given to Jesus. In other words, He was regarded as sin. And He was treated as having sin for our benefit so that He could suffer the penalty of sin for us. This is called the doctrine of imputation.
And just as sin was “imputed” to Jesus, His righteousness was “imputed” to us so that we can become the children of God and stand before the Almighty Father. We could not ever, have never been or will be righteous on our own merit. The righteousness of Jesus is attributed to us. And it’s through His righteousness that we can come before the Throne of Grace, approach the Father, make petitions to Him and receive all the benefits and inheritance of Jesus. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:17)
I will take a short detour because we love the benefits of salvation; the forgiveness of our sins, a heavenly future, the blessings and grace Jesus bought for us, but in Romans 8:17 we find that yes, we will inherit with Jesus, but we will also suffer with Him that we may be glorified. And we don’t even want nor like to think of suffering. But this life with Jesus is not a selfish one. We don’t get to do what we like and what we want. It’s a life of self-denial. “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) And the Name of Jesus will bring us enemies, spiritual and mortal. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake;” (Philippians 1:29) It bears more study, but we deviated in order to more fully understand our inheritance.
Yes! We do benefit greatly from the Lord’s work on the cross, both spiritually and here on earth now. But we must never deceive ourselves into believing that we are exempt the hardships of life on this earth. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And He has made us victorious. “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Corinthians 15:57) And He has made us conquerors. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
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