Christ the Sin-Bearer

Ernst-August Bremicker

It will always move our hearts deeply to dwell on what our Lord and Saviour endured and suffered on the cross of Calvary. We cannot fathom the depths of what He experienced there, but we adore Him for persevering until, having completed the work given to Him by His Father (John 17:4), He could cry, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). 

Our appreciation and admiration for the Lord’s work on the cross is also increased when we reflect on why He was there. It was our needs which led Him there, and it was for us that He delivered Himself up. Amongst the many glories of the cross (John 13:31), we will never forget that it was our sins which He bore there in the three hours of darkness and for which He suffered the judgment of a holy and righteous God. He became our substitute, and the punishment that should have befallen us was laid on Him there.

The Apostle Peter speaks of this aspect of our Saviour’s work in these words: ‘who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, in order that, being dead to sins, we may live to righteousness’ (1 Pet. 2:24) ― only a few words, but full of fruit for meditation and content for thanksgiving and worship.

First, we are told that the Lord Jesus did this work of atonement by Himself. No one else but He could ever undertake this work. Neither an angel nor a mere human being, no matter how morally upright, could have borne the sins of other people. Further, not even the Creator’s own word of power could take away our sins. Again, only the Lord Jesus Himself could do this. Accordingly, He came to earth to die for us. We joyfully wonder when we read Paul’s words: ‘the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20).

Second, Peter reminds us that it was our sins which He bore there. The Lord Jesus did not die solely as a martyr. No, He gave His life for our sins. Every single evil deed, every bad thought, every lie, every unkind word … — all of them were laid on Him. How great was that mountain of sin — how many billions of sins He bore! And what deep suffering those sins — our sins — caused Him. For the Lord Jesus, sin was something completely alien to His nature. It was something which He could only hate. He did no sin, there was no sin in Him, and He knew no sin. Yet He became the sin-bearer for us. How terrible it must have been for Him firstly to take up those sins in mercy towards us and then to endure the floods of divine judgment for them which passed over Him in those three hours of darkness. May He receive our eternal praise and thanks.

Third, the Holy Spirit informs us that the Lord bore the sins of believers in His body. God cannot die. Accordingly, the Lord Jesus could only carry out the work of the cross by becoming a man, so that He could pour out His soul unto death (Isa. 53:12). But He remained God as well. This brings us to the incomprehensible fact that God became man. ‘And confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh’ (1 Tim. 3:16). As a man, the Lord Jesus suffered for our sins. As man, He became the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). But again, although sin was and is an abomination to Him, He made our guilt His own in judgment, because there was no other way for us to be saved. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Fourth, we are told expressly that the Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross. That the Lord Jesus was nailed to a cross demonstrates the wholly corrupt state of the human heart and the human race (see also John 12:31; Gal. 6:14). We regarded the Lord Jesus as worthy of death — in fact, the shameful death of the cross. There could be no greater proof of man’s enmity towards God and the wickedness of our natural hearts. However, at the same time, it was part of God’s counsel that the Lord should die on a cross. The cross is a symbol of the curse of sin. That is why Paul writes: ‘Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed is every one hanged upon a tree)’ (Gal. 3:13). How grateful we are to Him for bearing the curse which would otherwise have justly fallen on us.

Last, our verse states that the Lord Jesus bore our sins. In addition to atonement, does this not make us think of the full weight of the burden which the Lord had to bear? We see Him in Gethsemane, lying on His face in conflict. As it was close to the time when He would have to bear our sins and this weighed upon His soul, He prayed to His Father that if it were possible, the cup should pass from Him (Matt. 26:36–39). How much more of a burden for His whole being it must have been for Him in the three hours of darkness on the cross — forsaken by His God, and suffering as our sin-bearer. 

Through His death, the Lord Jesus has established an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). We have been washed from our sins in His blood, and are perfected for ever through His sacrifice (Rev. 1:5; Heb. 10:14). However, Peter goes on to connect the fact that Christ was our sin-bearer with a very practical consequence for our daily lives (just as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 6:20). He continues: ‘in order that, being dead to sins, we may live to righteousness’.

At first glance, this statement might seem to follow Paul’s teaching in Romans, where he writes that we have died to sin (6:2) and that God’s righteousness is proclaimed to us (3:21ff). However, Peter’s thought is different. Romans is about our position, i.e. about God’s point of view. As God sees us in the Lord Jesus, we have — according to our position — died to sin and been justified by God (these are two great facts of our salvation). God sees us this way, even if we still sin in our lives, although we can and should grasp God’s perspective by faith and rejoice in it. But at the same time, our lives on earth should reflect what we already are before God according to our position. In practical terms, we should have done with sin or die to sin (i.e. no longer sin) and live a life of practical righteousness. This is Peter’s argument in our verse. We should follow the Lord Jesus and become more like Him. He is our role model, and we are exhorted to walk in His footsteps, the footsteps of the one who did no sin (1 Pet. 2:22). 

To reckon ourselves dead to sin and live to righteousness is something for our daily lives. It is a daily responsibility.  It may seem an immense responsibility, as we all know how we are tempted again and again to sin and to behave differently from how God wants us to behave. But here we have a real help: to look to the suffering Saviour. The more we dwell on the Lord Jesus and His sufferings for our sins on the cross, the more sensitive we will become to sin. When we are tempted to sin, we should think of the cross. Every sin we commit, even as believers, has added to the suffering of Him who hung there. A deep awareness of this tremendous fact will make us more careful to avoid sinning.

But in addition to this negative aspect (becoming sensitive to sin), looking to the cross helps us to live in practical righteousness — that is, to practise righteousness and to live in accordance with what is found in God. This is what God seeks in our lives. We stand before Him as justified, but He wants us to live out this righteousness every day, just as our suffering Saviour did in His life.

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2025