He Was Made To Be Sin

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21.

Where and when was it that He knew no sin? With the Father, before He renounced being like God. When was He made to be sin? When He put on the flesh of the seed of David, the same flesh as ours.

John 1:29 bears witness to this in the plainest terms: “Behold! The Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world!” This was long before He went to Calvary. This also agrees with 1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins in His body up on the tree . . . .” In other words, He bore our sins before He was on the tree!

The idea and the preaching that our sin was “laid upon” Christ while He hung on the tree has no scriptural foundation. Because people have not understood the great mystery of godliness, they have tried to find an explanation; and so, by giving free rein to their imagination, they have hit on the idea that our sin was suddenly laid upon Christ while He hung on the cross, all the while acknowledging it to be a great mystery.

There is not one word in the Bible about this, for the simple reason that it didn’t happen that way. Because of their lack of understanding, people have let their imaginations run wild.

When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” both His own course and His work were finished. He had completed what had occupied Him the whole time: all sin in the flesh was condemned; the way into the Holy of Holies was consecrated; the sin of the whole world was atoned for; the spotless Lamb, the righteous and innocent One, died for us, who were unrighteous and guilty. Because of this we now have the opportunity to receive forgiveness for our sins and to overcome sin in our own flesh. Glory to God!