He hath made Him to be Sin for Us!

2 Corinthians 5:21

This is a plainly stated and clearly revealed point of gospel truth. It is both a matter of great importance and great consolation. It sets before us the mysterious wonder of redemption and the wisdom and glory of God in accomplishing it. Yet, as clearly revealed, as honoring to God our Savior as it is, many violently oppose this plain declaration of Holy Scripture: — “He hath made him to be sin for us.” Why? What possible reason can they give? What is their motive?

Either Or

Those questions I cannot answer; but I ask you to consider for a moment the horrid possibility that the thing here revealed by God the Holy Spirit is not true, that Christ Jesus our Lord was not made sin for us…

Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not bear our sins in his body on the tree, as the Book says he did, but only the consequences and effects of them. — Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not really bear the consequences and effects of them.

I mean by that, either he was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not bear the penalty of them. The shame and spitting, the beating and buffeting, the meanness and mockery our holy Savior endured at the hands of the Jews and Roman soldiers, the cross, the nails and the thorns were a very small part of the reward of our transgressions. The principal part of the punishment of sin consists in a sense of guilt and of divine wrath: but neither of these could Immanuel have endured, unless he was made sin, unless he bore our sins themselves.

Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or our sins are still our sins and justice finds them upon us still! The infinite justice of God still finds guilt upon us and upon the saints in glory, too, and must find them upon us forever. If that were the case, justice would still require satisfaction and mercy could be bestowed only at the expense of righteousness. But, thank God, that is not the case!

His Glory

Here is the great glory of God revealed in the salvation of his elect, as it is set forth in this Book. — The guilt of our sins, and our sins themselves were forever put away by the sacrifice of his darling Son, washed away completely by the blood of the Lamb!

Here is the glory of his righteousness: — Not only that that he removed the curse, but the cause of the curse too. — “For as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Our Savior was made sin for us, and our sins were so completely transferred to him, that if he had not conquered and destroyed them, they would have destroyed him. His resurrection is proof that both he and all for whom he died are freed from sin (1 Peter 4:1-2).

Don Fortner

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