Isaiah 53:5 (ESV) 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
1 John 4:10 (NKJV) 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 1:29 (NKJV) 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
When we place our faith in Christ we do so because He stood in our place as atonement for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became our substitute for the punishment of sin and endured the wrath of a just and righteous God for us in our stead (Romans 3:24-26). He bore the sins of others in His body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24); He suffered once to bear the sins of others (Heb. 9:28); He experienced horrible suffering, scourging, and death in place of sinners (Isaiah 53:4-6). That is the meaning of substitution. It is often describes as “vicarious,” meaning; “in place of another.” The innocent Christ made atonement and suffered for the wicked (1 Peter 3:18).
Two Greek prepositions emphasize the substitutionary nature of the death of Christ on the cross. The preposition anti, ( appears, 22 time in N.T.) translated “for,” means Christ died “instead of” sinners (Matthew. 20:28; Mark 10:45). The preposition huper, also translated “for,” means Christ died “for the benefit of,” or “in place of” sinners (Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy. 2:6; 2 Corinthians. 5:21; 1 Peter. 3:18).
The doctrine of substitution is important because it answers the forensic or legal demands of God. We are justified and have a right position before God because the legal demands of God regarding sin have been met in another. In other words, God saves His people by doing for them, and in their stead, what they were unable to do for themselves, satisfying the demands of the law in their behalf, and bearing its penalty in their stead; whereby they are reconciled to God.
The substitutionary death of Christ is a propitiating work. What that means is that God vented His wrath on His Son who bore our sins. Because God is immutably just, i.e., that his moral excellence, in the case of sin, demands punishment, or expiation.. Therefore,. Christ was set forth as a propitiation, in order that God might be just in justifying the ungodly. This assumes that it would be unjust, (contrary to moral character) to pardon the guilty without a propitiating work, an appeasement of God’s wrath, a satisfaction of His justice. In other words, if sin could have been pardoned, without a satisfaction, the Apostle says, Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21.) If there could have been a law which could have given life, salvation would have been by the law. (Galatians 3:21.)
What requires, substitution and propitiation is then, the justice of God. God cannot move in love and mercy toward us and against His immutable character of justice. Therefore, the substitutionary death of Christ on our behalf, meets and fulfills the requirement of God’s justice (satisfaction) against sin and then He is free to show grace in mercy in forgiveness.
The whole argument of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans is founded on the principle that justice is a divine attribute distinct from His love. His argument is: God is just. All men are sinners. All, therefore, are guilty and under condemnation (John 3:36; Romans 5:16). Therefore, no man can be justified, pronounced not guilty, on the ground of his own character or conduct. Sinners cannot satisfy the justice of God. But what man could not do, Christ, the Eternal Son of God has done for them. He has brought in everlasting righteousness, which meets all the demands of the law. All those who renounce their own righteousness, and trust to the righteousness of Christ, God justifies and saves. This is the gospel as preached by Paul. It all rests on the assumption that God is just.
Most arguments concerning the loss of one’s salvation are based on the fact of possible sin. Such an assumption of necessity proceeds on the supposition that Christ has not borne all the sins the believer will ever commit, and that God, having saved the soul, might be disappointed and surprised by the unexpected, subsequent sin. It can only be concluded from this kind of reasoning that the substitutionary death of Christ was therefore incomplete or not fully satisfactory. This flies in the face of the Scriptures that teach that the work of Christ was final and complete.
Hebrews 10:12-14 ( NKJV ) 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
The atoning work of Christ on the cross was offered once as a “sacrifice for sins forever.” As our sacrifice and our priest once the sacrifice was offered the writer of Hebrews states He “sat down.” The substitutionary work of Christ is now complete. There is no need for further sacrifice for sin, simply because Christ’s sacrifice “has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (vs.14b). The point here is simple. There is nothing incomplete with the substitutionary death of Christ. His death on the cross fully appeased and satisfied the righteous demands of the law and justice of God.
Some have countered with the reference of Jesus to the sin of blasphemy against the holy Spirit as the “unpardonable sin”
Matthew 12:31-32 ( NKJV ) 31“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (Note also Mark 3:22-28)
The context here is of the Pharisees’’ unbelief and the equating the miracles of Christ with the operation of the devil (vv.24-28). Our Lord was confronting the Pharisees with their rejection of what they knew to be of God (cf. John 11:48; Acts 4:16). They then attributed the miracles that Christ performed under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to the devil. They had first had witness to the miracles, knew the truth of Christ’s claims, and still rejected the fullness of this clear revelation and blasphemed the Holy Spirit. No forgiveness was possible because they steadfastly stayed in their unbelief and were so intractable in their sin. The sin against the Holy Spirit is not a matter of speech; the words spoken are only “fruit” from the sinful heart. Their hearts were so darkened as to describe a state of being permanently hardened against God. It was not that every sin cannot be forgiven (vs.31a), but rather the Pharisees’ hearts were so fixed as to be immovable to faith in Christ. They had been contemporary personal witnesses to the ministry of Christ and failed to believe. Their accusation that the miracles of Christ were worked in the power of the devil only demonstrated their reprobation. Our Lord’s statement in verse 32 is a clear commentary to the fact of the Pharisees’ permanently hardened hearts.
To claim that the child of God is not safe because of the supposed un-saving power of sin is to put sin above the blood and to set at naught the eternal redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The saved one will be brought into judgment concerning his life and service (2 Corinthians 5:10), and be chastened of the Father (Hebrews 12:6); but never will he “be condemned with the world” ( 1 Corinthians 11:31,32; Romans 8:1; John 5:24; 3:18).
-Michael Holtzinger