Galatians 3:13-14
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
We were redeemed while Christ was cursed…the most lopsided transaction in the history of the world. What happened that day over two thousand years ago still contains a bit of mystery, at least for me. Jesus was not cursed by the Law (unlike us) because he kept it perfectly. Yet, he became as one who had been cursed. He became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). How is that even possible?
First, it does not mean that Jesus actually became sin itself. To posit such a theory denies all of Scripture, which clearly presents Jesus Christ as the One in whom there is no sin (1 Jn 3:5), who commits no sin (1 Peter 2:22), and who is holy, blameless, and pure (Mk 1:24; Acts 3:14; Rev 3:7). For Jesus to “become” sin, even for a moment, would mean He ceased to be God. But Scripture presents Jesus as “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He was and is and always will be the Second Person of the Godhead (John 1:1).
Second, the idea that Jesus became sin for us does not mean that He became a sinner, not even for a moment. When Christ suffered in our place and died for us, He bore the punishment for our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24). But Jesus at no time became a sinner personally. Third, it does not mean He was guilty of actual sin. No one is truly guilty who has not transgressed the law of God, which Jesus never did. If He were guilty, then He deserved to die, and His death could have no more merit than that of any other guilty person.
The key to this mystery is the doctrine of imputation. To impute something is to ascribe or attribute it to someone. I can impute money into your account, and you can use it, but the fact is…it was never yours in the first place. At the cross, Jesus imputed his righteousness into the account of those who would believe…but at the same time, our sin was imputed into his account. From God’s perspective—the only one that really counts—when Jesus hung on the cross, He saw him with our imputed sin and for a brief time, He forsook his one and only son. Conversely, when God looks at us, he sees Jesus’ imputed righteousness. He sees moral perfection in our account. Amazing, isn’t it? And because of that lopsided transaction, we are redeemed.
I love this excerpt from Pastor L.E. Maxwell sermon, Born Crucified:
The Roman orator, Cicero, summarized the attitude of the ancient world to the cross when he said: “Not only let the cross be absent from the person of Roman citizens, but it’s very name from their thoughts, eyes and ears.” Two thousand years ago we find no halo of glory, no beautiful associations of history, no nobility, and no thought of heroic sacrifice attached to the cross. How cluttered up is the cross at the present time! Even the unbelieving world now says: “The Cross stands for all that is noblest in manhood”. But it was not so in the beginning. It is not so today. As soon as the Cross ceases to be to us, first of all, the place of utmost shame and contempt, we make the Cross of Christ of no effect. In Christ’s day the disciples must often have beheld the procession of criminals, murderers, and rebels carrying their crosses on their way to an ignominious departure–a death of such infamy and shame and execration that we have no word that is significant of the deep and universal detestation that belonged to the cross in early times. Add to all this the scriptural anathema and capstone: “He that is hanged is accursed of God,” and we begin to understand the offense (literally, the scandal) of the Cross.
