What Does It Mean That Jesus “Became Sin” for Us?

What does it mean that Jesus became sin for us? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account. You can watch Adriel right now in the studio live on YouTube and send us a message through our YouTube channel. And you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

Well, first up today, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Anna. I just have a question. I haven't really been too worried about this, but now that I'm actually going to get the vaccine after all this time, me being totally against it, I'm just worried. I know that you've answered this question that you don't think the vaccine is the mark of the beast, but like, based off of scripture and revelation, you know, could you just give me like specific scripture of like why, like how I am to know that this isn't the mark of the beast? Like, will we be deceived into taking it or is it something we'd be willingly taking? I'm really confused right now because everything surrounding the coronavirus is kind of weird to me.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it's just weird to me. And I'm just trying to get clarity and trying to honor the Lord through all of this, you know, so I have a little bit of fear. So thanks. Hey Anna, thank you for that question. May the Lord bless you and grant you his peace.

I know that this has been a really difficult time and a lot of people have, this has been a hard decision for a lot of people. We have, as you said, gotten the question before. Is the coronavirus vaccine the mark of the beast?

And I've said, no, absolutely not. There's just a misunderstanding here and part of that comes from people misreading the book of Revelation. The mark of the beast is not something that people take by accident. It's not like you get this chip by accident or this vaccine and you go, oh, I didn't know that was the mark of the beast and now I'm eternally condemned.

No, not at all. The mark of the beast is identifying with the antichrist. It's being characterized, shaped by the evil one, if you will, worshipping him. Throughout the book of Revelation, you have people who are marked by God with his name on their foreheads. You see this throughout the book of Revelation in places like Revelation chapter 7 verse 3 and Revelation chapter 9 verse 4, chapter 14 verse 1, chapter 22 verse 4. Throughout the book of Revelation, God's people, God's elect, are marked. What that is, it's symbolic. It's the fact that God is with them, in them, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, when it talks about the mark of the beast in places like Revelation chapter 13, it says that they're marked on their hand and on their forehead and the number of the beast, the mark of the beast is the number of man, the number is 666. This is symbolic language.

Of course, man was created on the sixth day of creation. This is a picture of the worship of man, the worship of self. The people that are engaging in this, it's idolatry. It's identifying with the antichrist. It's something that they're doing, that they're deciding definitively, rejecting the gospel, rejecting Jesus, and aligning themselves with the evil one, with the worship of man. At least as far as the vaccine is concerned, you don't need to be afraid that by getting the vaccine you're accidentally taking the mark of the beast. If there are Bible teachers out there that are saying that, they really should be ashamed of themselves because that's just not a faithful interpretation of the scriptures. This is why it's so important that we understand the context of the Bible and that we let the scriptures speak for themselves instead of trying to read things into them.

Then with regard to just the decision, this is where you want to talk to a doctor and medical professionals, and they're going to be the ones who are going to be able to help you out in terms of thinking through this for yourself. So Anna, God bless you, and again, may the Lord just give you his peace as you seek to honor him. I know that that's what you want to do. You said it, and I praise God for that. So may the Lord bless you and be with you, sister. Anna, thanks so much for being a regular listener to Core Christianity and for searching God's word.

We appreciate that so much. This is Core Christianity, and our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so.

So hop on your phone right now. We'd also take questions about theology and doctrine, or maybe you're an atheist or an agnostic and you stumbled on this program and you're saying, you know, I don't really believe in this Christianity stuff. We're open to your questions as well. Here's the number. It's 833-843-2673.

833 The Core. You know, we have a wonderful, timely new book that we are offering today, and it's something that I think will really appeal to you because it addresses a lot of what's going on in our world today. Yeah, Bill, you know, pain, conflict, uncertainty really dominate the headlines right now in the news, and the world is often filled with too much information and too little wisdom. It's tempting to just sort of hunker down in our bubbles with people like us and be cynical about everything going on in the world, but that isn't what God wants for us.

It's not how he wants us to live. And that's why today we're offering Hannah Anderson's excellent book, All That's Good, Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment. This book helps you to recognize and enjoy all of the good and beautiful things in the world. In this book, Hannah Anderson helps us to develop our taste for all that is good in God's creation, and it helps us also to navigate the world with confidence and joy instead of fear and cynicism. So head over to corechristianity.com and pick up All That is Good, Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment.

at corechristianity.com. Bakar wrote to us and said, what does it mean in 2 Corinthians 5 21 that Jesus became sin for us? Such an amazing passage of scripture, brothers and sisters. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, it says this, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is what some people have referred to as the great exchange. It's the very heart of the gospel, how it is that we are saved. How can we be saved? Well, get this, him who knew no sin, he's talking about Jesus Christ, never sinned once, came to earth, didn't ever sin, perfectly obeyed the law of God. This one, the eternal son of God, knew no sin and yet for our sake he was made to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Now there are different ways of understanding that phrase, made to be sin. There are some ways that are just not okay, some ways that we would say are unfaithful to scripture and will really get us into a big mess. This doesn't mean that Jesus was transformed into sin, the essence of sin, if you will, or that he was a sinner in any respect.

No, he wasn't. He was sinless, the spotless son of God. And so people who say, well, Jesus was transformed into sin or something abstract, we can rule that interpretation out. That's not what the apostle Paul is saying. There are others who say, well, what Paul is getting at here is this idea that Jesus was made into a sin offering. The word for sin used here, hamartia, is used in the Old Testament translation, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in places like the book of Leviticus, that word is used at times to refer to a sin offering. Now there are other places in scripture that make it clear that Jesus was a sin offering. I think of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53 talks about his soul being made an offering for sin. So that's theologically accurate, biblically accurate, but is that what the apostle Paul is getting at here?

Maybe that is one way of taking this verse. He was made into a sin offering for us. Probably the best way to take this idea, though, this idea of Jesus being made sin is the idea that Christ bore the consequences of our sin. Not that he was transformed into sin, but that he bore the consequences of our sin. There's another passage in the New Testament that the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 3, I think it's verse 13. It talks about Jesus Christ becoming a curse for us, that is bearing our curse, bearing the consequences of our sin. And I think that way of looking at this passage makes the most sense, especially because you have this sort of contrast, right? Jesus became sin for us, the sinless one became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.

Well, in what sense? He takes our sin and its consequences, we get his righteousness. That is the perfect life that he lived in our place. His obedience is given to us. The theological word that's sometimes used there is imputed. It's imputed to us so that you can stand before a holy God, perfect, righteous, not on the basis of your own righteousness, but on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that was given to you.

Friends, do you have that? Do you have that comfort knowing that your sin was paid for by Jesus on the cross and that his perfect life of obedience, his righteousness, is given to you freely as a gift by faith? I hope that you do. It's what the Apostle Paul is talking about here. It's the wonder of the Gospel, it's the great exchange, and that's the best way, I think, to understand 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. You know, I love the fact that you often mention that it's a free gift, because I think there are a lot of people that get caught up with, what do I need to do to earn God's favor? What do I need to do to get into heaven? You don't need to do anything that's been done for you. Isn't that beautiful?

Yeah. I mean, throughout the Bible, it's very clear that this is a gift. This is something that's given to us by God, by grace. I mean, think of what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2. And so, this is the beautiful thing about the Gospel. It's not saying, here's all the things you need to do so that God will love you. It's, here's how God has demonstrated His love for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might know Him and have a relationship with Him, and in turn follow Him and obey His word. And so, yeah, really wonderful news.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we do receive voicemails here. In fact, you can call us 24 hours a day and leave a voicemail with your question about the Bible, the Christian life, maybe how your Christian walk intersects with what's going on in today's culture. And we try to review our voicemails once each day and go through them and use many of them on the air. In fact, here's one of our listeners that called earlier this week.

My name is Zellis. The question was about these racial topics and why does the right wing have issues with the minorities joining the left side? I'm a moderate, but my right wing church members, they, you know, seem like they gossip from the pulpit, you know what I'm saying, in the podium, speaking about culture, about things that they wouldn't even have conversations about openly with minorities. Why they preach so much gossip about the culture when they could be effective helping as much as the leftists do when it comes to social issues. You know, they can easily take their place, but they choose not.

They've been complaining about it, you know, at lunch, you know what I mean? And gossip about it instead of actually on the streets, like the Bible said. So why don't the right do what the left is doing, but in a godly way?

Hi Zellis, thank you for that question. I mean, a couple of things I'm getting from your question. One, just the divisions that we see around us, obviously really strong opinions about how we should address social issues. And, you know, on both sides of the political aisle, you know, on the left and on the right, we got these ideas of how we need to engage the world around us. And it sounds to me like what you're seeing maybe in the church that you're in is a lot of people talking about it and complaining about the issues in society, but not really doing anything.

And right there, I mean, that's something that we need to be careful with, right? It's really easy to just sort of stand back to look at the world and say, oh, look at all the problems out there, all of these issues, to talk about them, to gossip about them, as you said, but not really to seek to address those issues and address them from a biblical viewpoint. God calls us to love our neighbors. This is the second great, great commandment. It's at the very heart of God's law is how we treat each other.

And part of that looks like how we care for the needy around us, the vulnerable. I think of the rebuke that God gave to his people in Isaiah chapter 1. Now they're going through the motions of religion. They're doing all of these things, and God was tired of it. He says to them in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 15, When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. This is what it looks like to do justice, to love our neighbor, to seek their good, the good of those who are in need.

And so there are all these problems out there around us, and oftentimes we just sort of talk about it or complain, as you said. What we need to do is recognize, one, first and foremost, all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Justice demands that we would be condemned, judged by God because of our sins, but he has justified us, as I said in that text, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, freely by the work of Jesus Christ. And now, as those who are justified in Christ, we are called to pursue justice around us in our own lives, not as a way of being justified, but because we've been justified by the Lord. And so, I mean, I couldn't tell you why, apart from sin, you know, why there's so much division, why a lot of times we just sort of talk about these things but don't actually seek to love the people around us.

It truly is an issue. And I think part of getting back to a place where we as the Church are engaging our neighbors as we should begins with a proper understanding of the Gospel, of the fact that we've been set free from our sins, that we've been justified, and that now we are called. You are called to love the people around you in a way that honors the Lord. And so may God bless you as you do that, as you seek to be someone who brings peace in your church, in your community. May the Lord be with you and bless you in that zealous.

Thank you for your question. A great challenge for every one of us who call ourselves Christians, call ourselves part of the body of Christ, so thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We want to mention that we have a special group of people who support this program on a regular basis. We call them our inner core. And if you believe in what we do here, in answering the tough questions of the faith and help spreading the Gospel on a daily basis, we would love to have you consider being part of that inner core.

You'll receive some special benefits, and what it involves is a monthly commitment of $25 a month, which I have to tell you, we don't receive money from a church or denomination. We count on people just like you to keep this show on the air. So if you believe in Core Christianity, why don't you go to our website, corechristianity.com, and learn about becoming a member of the inner core.

Let's get back to the phones. Raymond is on the line from Memphis, Tennessee. Raymond, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, thank you, Pastor. When Jesus was on the cross, he said, God, why have you forsaken me, or something like that. And then other preachers say that he says he'll never forsake us.

What does that mean? When Jesus was on the cross, Matthew chapter 27, we read in verse 45, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land, until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, This man is calling Elijah, and one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

But the other said, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. The first thing you need to know about those words, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, is that Jesus is quoting from the Psalms, the Psalm of Lament, Psalm 22, where the Psalmist begins by saying that, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning, crying out to you? Jesus is taking the words of the Psalmist on his lips. I was talking about that verse earlier in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, where Jesus, he bears our condemnation. He became a curse, if you will, according to Galatians chapter 3, received upon himself the curse of the law.

Cursed are all those who are hanged on a tree, that's what Paul quotes from in Galatians 3, for us. And in that sense, he can say in our place, he can quote the Psalmist there in Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, how should we understand this? Does this mean that the persons of the Holy Trinity are separated somehow at the cross?

We have to be really careful here. In fact, I think Jesus makes it clear that he was never abandoned in the sense that some people suggest when they read this verse. I think what's happening here is Jesus is standing in our place and he's crying out in our place as he's bearing our curse, but it's clear in other places that he makes it clear that the Father never abandoned him.

Think of what Jesus said in the Gospel of John, in John chapter 16, a really interesting passage. This is the context of his upper room discourse and he's telling his disciples how he's going to be leaving them soon. And in John chapter 16 in verse 32, he says, Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone.

He's talking about the hour of his crucifixion. He's preparing his disciples. He says, Look, you guys are about to leave. You guys are about to be scattered. You guys are going to abandon me.

Leave me alone. But then listen to what he says, Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. What Jesus is doing when he's offering himself on the cross is he's offering himself for our sins according to the will of his Father willingly is this great act of love so that we who deserve to be separated from the Father because of our sins would never be separated from God so that, again, we could be justified by the Lord. And so we have to take all of these passages together to make sense of Jesus's words there on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I think that when we do, we realize, hey, Jesus is standing in our place. He's taking the words of the psalmist on his lips.

He's bearing our curse and that's why he can say what he says there. God bless. This is CORE Christianity, and as we head into the weekend, if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can e-mail us, and we'd love to take a look at that e-mail over the weekend and answer it on Monday. Here's our e-mail address. It's questions at corechristianity.com.

Christy sent us this. She said, Why doesn't God just open the heavens above and show himself to everyone at once so we will know he's real? Why the riddles of the Bible and the never-ending questions? Even many in Jesus's day weren't sure if he was really the Messiah. God just show us all at once so everyone knows and will start living accordingly.

That would save a whole lot more people. Christy, this is just an excellent question. I know that a lot of people have this question, people who question God's existence, who maybe don't believe in Jesus, or maybe people who do believe, but they just struggle. Why doesn't God just sort of open up the heavens and say, Here I am. I'm here. You don't have to doubt my existence, that kind of thing.

Well, a few things. One, God has not left us without a witness of his existence. The whole creation around us, Christy, testifies to the reality of the fact that there is a creator God who is all-powerful. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork, the psalmist says in Psalm 19. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. That is, God is speaking to you 24-7 through the world around you.

When you look up at the stars at night, a beautiful starry night, and you're just overwhelmed by this sense of God, it's that. It's the very creation speaking to us about the fact that there is a creator, that it's not just us, that there's something greater than us out there that we're accountable to, who we're accountable to. The issue is not that God has not spoken. The issue, Christy, is that we suppress God's speech. We run from it.

We deny it. Paul in Romans 1 says we suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. The problem is not that God is not speaking, revealing himself to his people, to the whole creation. It's that we shut our ears, that we want to continue to rebel against him, to live in sin so often. So that's one thing. But God doesn't just reveal himself through creation, just sort of natural revelation.

He's even gone beyond that. He speaks to us through his word and specifically through his son, Jesus. We have the scriptures, the prophets. And I think about the parable in Luke chapter 16, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Remember, the rich man is in Hades. He's being tormented. And he says, please, just let me go back to talk with my family, to tell them that they need to repent. And do you remember what the response is to him? Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, no, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. And he said to them, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Christie, someone did rise from the dead. Jesus Christ. This is a fact of history. And we have that recorded in the gospels. And God calls everyone everywhere to repent because of what he's done.

And if we're unwilling, if we reject the word, then there's nothing that'll do the trick. And so God has spoken. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar. Or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.