THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

Sir,

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we have the heart of the gospel in one verse. Everything we need to know about salvation is found in these 23 words; “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Christ ‘had no sin’; He ‘knew no sin’. He walked on the earth and was perfectly righteous.
He was without fault, without sin and without evil. He never did anything wrong, never broke any commandment and never deviated in the slightest degree from the path of God’s will.

Even Christ’s adversaries testified of his being without sin. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, declared; “I find no fault in him,” John 19:4. When Herod and the Jewish leaders put him on trial, they could find no witnesses against Him so they rounded up false witnesses who lied under oath (Matthew 26:59-60). When Christ hung on the cross, the Roman centurion cried out; “Truly this was the Son of God,” Matthew 27:54.

He lived in a sinful world, but the stain of sin never tarnished his character. He faced temptation head on, full strength, all that the devil could throw at Him, but having felt its full weight, He never gave in, never flinched and never even came close to sinning. He never confessed a fault because He had no faults to confess. He never asked for a pardon because He never needed one. He claimed that no one could convict Him of sin (John 8:46) and He was right. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

The fact that Jesus, the sinless Son of God, became sin for us does not suggest that Christ literally became a sinner. God treated His Son as if He were a sinner.
He so identified with sinners that He was numbered among the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). He not only died between two sinners, He was numbered with them and died as they died.

When Christ died on the cross, he took my place and yours. His nails were meant for us, the crown of thorns should have been on our heads, the spear should have pierced our side, and the cheers and insults were meant for us. It should have been us hanging on the cross - but it wasn’t.

He died in our place.
When He died, He died taking the place of the very people who put Him to death. Jesus became the sinless sin-bearer. He paid the price we owed to God, the debt we could never pay. His death satisfied God’s righteous decree that sin must always be punished.

Isaiah 53:6 says; “The Lord has laid on him (that is, on Christ) the iniquity of us all.” He removed our sins from us ‘as far as the east is from the west’ (Psalm 103:12). God in Christ made himself sin for man, and man in Christ is now made the righteousness of God.

He was condemned that we might be justified. He bore our sins that we might be set free. He died that we might live. He suffered that we might be redeemed. He was made sin that we might be made righteous.

Dear beloved, when we trust Christ our sin is credited to Christ’s account and his righteousness is credited to our account.
He takes our debt and we get his credit. He paid what we owed (and could never pay) and He gives us what He has (and we could never earn).

Liciniso lanamuhla

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