Did Jesus become sin? World Christian Fellowship 60, High Worple, Rayners Lane, Harrow Middlesex, HA2 9SZ, United Kingdom Tel: +44 208 429 9292 www.wcflondon.com wcflondon@gmail.com The heart of the question centres on Paul s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:21, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Did Jesus become sin on our behalf? Does this verse literally mean that Jesus became a sinner on the cross? There are some today who teach that Jesus became a sinner (or took on a sin nature) at the cross. Benny Hinn is one such advocate. He *Jesus+ who is righteous by choice said, The only way I can stop sin is by me becoming it. I can t just stop it by letting it touch me; I and it must become one. Hear this! He who is the nature of God became the nature of Satan when he became sin! (Benny Hinn, Trinity Broadcasting Network, December 1, 1990) 1
Kenneth Copeland echoes those same teachings. In Copeland s words: The righteousness of God was made to be sin. He accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit. And at the moment that He did so, He cried, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? You don t know what happened at the cross. Why do you think Moses, upon instruction of God, raised the serpent upon that pole instead of a lamb? That used to bug me. I said, Why in the world would you want to put a snake up there; the sign of Satan? Why didn t you put a lamb on that pole? And the Lord said, Because it was a sign of Satan that was hanging on the cross. He said, I accepted, in my own spirit, spiritual death; and the light was turned off. (Kenneth Copeland, What Happened from the Cross to the Throne, 1990, audiotape #02-0017, side 2) But the statements like these accurately reflect Paul s teaching that He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf? Did Jesus become the literal embodiment of sin, or take on a sin nature, or become a sinner when He died at Calvary? NO 2
Here are five reasons why: 1. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul declares that Jesus knew no sin. Whatever the rest of the verse means, it must be interpreted in light of Paul s statement that Jesus knew no sin meaning He had no personal experiential knowledge of sin in any way. 2. The rest of Scripture makes it clear that the Lord Jesus remained perfectly sinless, righteous, and obedient throughout His entire Passion. At no point did He ever become less than perfectly holy. Paul s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:21 must be interpreted in light of the whole witness of Scripture. Below is a sampling of biblical passages that make this point explicit: a) Isaiah 53:10 11, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His 11 hand. He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My 3
righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. The Suffering Servant is called the Righteous One even in the context of bearing the sin of others. b) Luke 23:47, Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, Certainly this man was innocent.' The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to record the centurion s comment. As the centurion rightly understood, Jesus remained innocent throughout His crucifixion. c) Romans 5:19, For as through the one man s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Jesus death on the cross was an act of obedience, such that His righteousness is imputed to those who believe in Him. d) Philippians 2:8, Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 4
In His death, Jesus remained perfectly obedient. e) Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. In this passage, the author of Hebrews is focusing on Jesus work of redemption (as our great High Priest). Even in the act of redemption, He was always without sin. f) Hebrews 9:11 14, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, 5
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The author of Hebrews emphasizes that, even in His death, Jesus offered Himself to God without blemish. g) 1 Peter 1:18 19, You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Speaking of Christ s death, Peter emphasizes that He was the spotless Lamb (cf. John 1:29Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)). There was no sinful blemish in Him at any point. h) 1 Peter 3:18, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Peter explicitly states that Christ (the just) died for sinners (the unjust). If Jesus became a sinner, 6
how could He still be called just or righteous? i) 1 John 3:5, You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. It is difficult to see how anyone could force John s statement in this verse to fit the notion that Jesus became a sinner on the cross. Even in the act of taking away sin, there was still no sin in Him. Based on the above passages, we can safely determine what 2 Corinthians 5:21) does not mean. It cannot mean that Jesus became unrighteous, or that He became a sinner, or that He took on a sin nature, or that He literally embodied sin. 3. The best way to understand Paul s statement (that Jesus became sin on our behalf) is in terms of imputation. Our sin was imputed to Christ, such that He became a substitutionary sacrifice or sin offering for all who would believe in Him. 7
God the Father using the principle of imputation, treated Christ as if He were a sinner though He was not, and had Him die as a substitute to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him (Cf. Is. 53:4 6); Gal. 3:10 13); 1 Pet. 2:24). On the cross, He did not become a sinner (as some suggest), but remained as holy as ever. He was treated as if He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by all who would ever believe, though He committed none. The wrath of God was exhausted on Him and the just requirement of God s law met for those for whom He died. This view explains Paul s use of the Greek word hamartia ( sin ) which was often used in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) to mean sin offering. For example, in Leviticus 4 6, the Septuagint uses the word hamartia more than 20 times to translate the Hebrew concept of sin offering. Paul s frequent use of the Septuagint means he would have been familiar with using hamartia in that way. Furthermore, this view fits with what the rest of the Scriptures teach about Christ s death and the doctrine of imputation. Here are a few more biblical passages to make the point. a) Isaiah 53:6, All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but 8
the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. This verse does not teach that the Suffering Servant would become a sinner; but rather that that sins of others would be imputed to Him. b) Ephesians 5:2 Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Jesus death was a fragrant aroma to God. The idea here points back to the Old Testament concept of a sin offering (Lev. 4:7 10). c) Hebrews 9:28, Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. The author of Hebrews describes the fact that Jesus Christ bore our sins, meaning they were imputed to His account. He did not become a sinner, rather He bore the sins of those who were sinners. 9
d) Hebrews 10:10, By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. In referring to Jesus death, the author of Hebrews points back to the Old Testament sin offering. e) 1 Peter 2:22 24, He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. Peter again expresses the point that Jesus was sinless, even in His Passion. Moreover, Peter articulates the fact that on the cross Jesus bore our sins as our substitutionary sacrifice. Based both on Paul s use of the Septuagint, and on other passages that describe the death of Christ, it is best to understand Paul s statement 10
in 2 Corinthians 5:21 as a reference to the imputation of our sin to Christ, such that He bore our sins as a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. 4. It is should be noted that, if Jesus took on a sin nature or became a sinner on the cross, He would no longer have been an acceptable sacrifice for sin, since He would have been blemished by sin at the very moment of His death. In the Old Testament, only a spotless lamb could be offered as an acceptable sacrifice. As Moses recorded in Leviticus 22:20, Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. The analogy, fulfilled perfectly in the Lamb of God, necessitates that Jesus remained spotless even in His sacrificial death. 5. Finally, on a theological level, the idea that God the Son even temporarily became a sinner, or the literal embodiment of sin, raises serious questions about the unchangeableness of His holy character and perfect nature. Those who would twist 2 Corinthians 5:21 to claim that 11
Jesus perfect nature was momentarily replaced by a sin nature immediately raise unanswerable theological questions about the immutability of Jesus Christ. We do not say that Christ became a sinner, far from it, but being righteous (or rather righteousness, because He did not know sin at all), the Father made Him a victim for the sins of the world. God allowed His Son to suffer as if a condemned sinner, so that we might be delivered from the penalty of our sins. This is God s righteousness, that we are not justified by works (for then they would have to be perfect, which is impossible), but by grace, in which case all our sin is removed It was only because all flesh was subject to sin that He was made sin for us. In view of the fact that He was made an offering for sins, it is not wrong for Him to be said to have been made sin, because in the law the sacrifice which was offered for sins used to be called a sin. 12