Substitution

October 29th, 2013 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21


The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made. . . to be sin. . . .” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9  , where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today I see where I have gotten tangled up in the past… Confusing the event and the process of my salvation. The event was a once and for all event. While the process of me “working out my salvation” continues on daily and will continue until I arrive there. The temptation is to work for salvation instead of toward Christlikeness. Aren’t we really working together on the project of my life? And your part is already done. It’s kind of like, you brought a Christmas gift … and I am spending a lifetime unwrapping it? Why dont I unwrap it faster and get more perfected in holiness faster? To continue the analogy of the Christmas gift, it would be one of those gifts that is a box inside of a box inside of a box …. As areas of sin and carnality get exposed and dealt with … more and deeper areas will just show up. So it’s a life long project, getting more and more of the gift unwrapped. Your ways are good. I am happy with the project. Thank you. I love you.

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