Christ Was Made To Be Sin For Us
2 Corinthians 5:21
In order to save me, the Lord Jesus Christ was made to be sin for me. The Son of God voluntarily took upon himself that horrible, ugly, vile, ignominious thing which he most hates - sin. O my soul, be forever astonished! The God-man became sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in him!
A Door Opened For Sinners
When he was made
to be sin for me, he was treated as the obnoxious thing itself, and suffered
all the wrath of God due to me for my sin. The Father forsook him. Justice was
executed upon him. And when the infinite justice of God had spent itself upon
the sinners’ Substitute, a door was opened in heaven for sinners, whereby we
may draw near to God (Heb.
“For Us”
Christ was made to be sin “for us.” That little word, “us,” is very important. Every time the Bible sets forth the glorious, gospel doctrine of substitutionary redemption, every time the Word of God explains the meaning of Christ’s death and the atonement he made for sinners at Calvary, it speaks of his work as something done for a specific people, by which he accomplished the eternal redemption and secured the everlasting salvation of a specific people called “us.”
The
Son of God was made to be sin for and redeemed “us.” – “Us” whom he came
to save (Matt.
Like all the other blessings of grace, redemption is for God’s elect alone. If Christ were Surety and Substitute for all men, then all men must be saved. Had he paid the debt of all men, then none could ever suffer the wrath of God for sin. Justice would not allow it. But that he did not do. Jesus Christ died for us. He died for me, and paid my debt in full. How I rejoice to know that I shall, therefore, never be called to account for myself.
“Payment God cannot twice demand,
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at
mine!”
Security In Christ
I
know that Christ died for me because I trust him. My faith (the gift of his
Spirit) in him is the result of his death for me (Gal.
“He bore that I might never bear
The Father’s righteous ire!”
In him, God is both just and the
Justifier of this sinner, who believes on his Son (Rom.
Don Fortner