Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Yet there are two conflicting views as to how these sins were dealt with on the cross. On one hand, you have those who believe that our sins were placed upon Jesus and they were done away with as they were nailed to the cross. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Jesus shed His blood on the cross in order to make forgiveness possible for all those who will meet His conditions of salvation.
The first view, that Jesus literally bore our sins, is rank Calvinism. It is rooted in the idea that man cannot be saved by responding to God’s grace through faithful obedience, but rather that our sins were imputed to Christ and His righteousness has been imputed to us. Sadly, many in the Lord’s church have been influenced by Calvin’s doctrines as they relate to the death of Christ.
I came across an article today by Wayne Jackson of the Christian Courier that addresses this question: Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross? In the article, he shows the Calvinistic roots of the doctrine that our sins were imputed to Christ, and explains what the Scriptures actually teach on the subject. Below is an excerpt from his article:
A number of prominent sectarian theologians contend that as the Lord languished upon the cross, he literally bore our sins in his body, so that, in a sense, Jesus actually died in sin. Martin Luther, the prominent Protestant reformer, in his commentary on Galatians (as reflected in the 1838), taught that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold “that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer, that ever was or could be in the world.” He alleged that the Lord lost his innocence at Calvary, and died as a sinful being (quoted in Barnes, 1955. 334-335; also available online).
A Lutheran scholar has written: “…it is Scriptural to say that God did impute the guilt of man to the innocent Christ” (Pieper, 1951, II.353 — emp. WJ). A Presbyterian writer, James M. Boice, asserted that when Christ died upon the cross [tree] he, “violated the law — through no fault of his own — [and] he became technically guilty of all of it [the law]” (1976, 10.460). Another states: “More awful than the pain of physical suffering that Jesus endured was the psychological pain of bearing the guilt for our sin…. God imputed our sins to Christ…” (Grudem. 1994. 573-574; emp. original).
The theory is false: (a) If Christ was “guilty” of sin on the cross, his punishment was just. And, as Barnes observed, if it was deserved, there can hardly be merit in it for others (1955, 133). This dogma strikes at the very heart of the Christian system and the atoning death of our Savior, and logically reflects outright heresy (though some appear to be unable to follow the dogma to its inevitable conclusion). (b) In addition, the theory of imputed “sin” is nonsensical. Sin is an act committed by personal choice (1 Jn. 3:4). It is “behavior or activity” that does not conform to the divine standard (Danker, 2000, 51). A person cannot be “sinful” by the act of another (Ezek. 18:20). It is not surprising that sectarians so contend, for they generally are committed to the dogma of inherited depravity. What is extremely odd is that members of the Lord’s church would advocate this view.
You can read the rest of the article here: Did Christ Literally Bear Our Sins on the Cross?
Also, if you’re interested, you can read a few articles I wrote on the topic:
- Our Sins and His Cross
- Whose Place Did Jesus Take on the Cross?
- “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
As the author states in the section quoted above, not all who believe that Jesus literally took on their sins will carry this doctrine to its logical conclusions (full-blown Calvinism). But just because some brethren do not take it that far, that does not mean this theory is harmless. As Paul told the brethren in Thessalonica, “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
