1 Peter 2:24

Who his own self, bare our sins in his own body on the tree. St. Peter has thus far spoken of our Lord as our Example of patient endurance; but he seems to feel that, although this is the aspect of the Savior's sufferings most suitable to his present purpose, yet it is scarcely seemly to dwell upon that most momentous of all events, the death of Christ our Lord upon the cross, without mentioning its more solemn and awful import. A martyr may be an example of patient suffering; he cannot bear our sins. The apostle proceeds to unfold the contents of the ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν in 1 Peter 2:21 . The Lord died for us: but what is the meaning of the preposition? Was it that his example might stimulate us to imitate his patience and his holy courage? This is a true view, but, taken alone, it would be utterly inadequate. The death of the Son of God had a far deeper significance. The ὑπέρ used here and elsewhere is explained by the more precise ἀντί of Matthew 20:28 ; Mark 10:45 ; 1 Timothy 2:6 , in which last passage both propositions are combined. The Lord died, not only in our behalf, but in our stead. He gave "his life a ransom for many;" "he is the Propitiation for our sins." St. Peter exhibits here, with all possible emphasis, this vicarious aspect of the Savior's death. "He bore our sins himself ." The pronoun is strongly emphatic; he bore them, though they were not his own. They were our sins, but he bore them—he alone; none other could bear that awful burden. He bare ( ἀνήνεγκεν ). The apostle is evidently quoting Isaiah 53:12 , where the Hebrew verb is אשָׂןָ , and the Septuagint Version is καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκε ; comp. Isaiah 53:4 and Isaiah 53:11 (in Isaiah 53:11 there is another Hebrew verb) of the same chapter. In the Old Testament "to bear sins " or "iniquity" means to suffer the punishment of sin, whether one's own sin or the sin of others (see Le Isaiah 5:1 , Isaiah 5:17 , and many similar passages). In the description of the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16:1-34 . it is said ( Leviticus 16:22 ) that the scapegoat "shall bear upon him [the Hebrew is וילָעָ ריעִשָׂהַ אשָׂןָ ; the Greek is λήψεται ὁ χίμαρος ἐφ ̓ ἑαυτῷ ] all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited," where the scapegoat is represented as bearing the sins of the people and taking them away. Compare also the great saying of the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of the world!" where the Greek ( ὁ αἴρων ) may be rendered with equal exactness, "who beareth," or "who taketh away." The Lord took our sins away by taking them upon himself (comp. Matthew 8:17 ). As Aaron put the sins of the people upon the head of the scapegoat (Le Leviticus 16:21 ), and the goat was to bear them upon him unto a land not inhabited, so the Lord laid on the blessed Savior the iniquity of us all, and he bare our sins in his own body on to the tree, and, there dying in our stead, took them away. He bare them on himself, as the scapegoat bare upon him the iniquities of Israel. It was this burden of sin which made his sacred body sweat great drops of blood in his awful agony. He bare them on to the tree ( ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον ) ; he carried them thither, and there he expiated them (comp. Hebrews 9:28 , "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," where the same Greek word is used— ἀνενεγκεῖν ). Another interpretation takes ἀναφέρειν in its sacrificial sense, as in Hebrews 7:27 , and regards the cross as the altar: " He bore our sins on to the altar of the cross." The Lord is both Priest and Victim, and the verb is used in the sacred writings both of the priest who offers the sacrifice and of the sacrifice which bears or takes away sin. But the sacrifice which the Lord offered up was himself, not our sins; therefore it seems best to understand ἀναφέρειν here rather of victim than of priest, as in Hebrews 9:28 and the Greek Version of Isaiah 53:12 . The thought of sacrifice was doubtless present to the apostle's mind, as it certainly was to the prophet's (see Isaiah 53:10 of Isaiah 53:1-12 .). The word ξύλον is used for the cross twice in St. Peter's speeches in the Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 5:30 ; Acts 10:39 ). It is also so used by St. Paul ( Galatians 3:13 ). That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. The Greek word ἀπογενόμενοι occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Bengel understands it differently. He says that as γενέσθαι τινός means "to become the slave of some one," so ἀπογενέσθαι may mean to cease to be a slave. But this would require the genitive, not the dative, ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ; and the ordinary translation is more suitable to the following context. The word is several times used in Herodotus in the sense of "having died;" more literally, "having ceased to be." The tense (aorist) seems to point to a definite time, as the time of baptism (comp. Romans 6:2 , Romans 6:11 ; Galatians 2:19 , Galatians 2:20 ). Righteousness here is simply the opposite of sin—obedience, submission to the will of God. Bengel says, "Justitia tota una est; peccatum multiplex." By whose stripes ye were healed . The apostle is quoting the Septuagint rendering of Isaiah 53:5 . The Greek μώλωψ means the mark or weal left on the flesh by a scourge (comp. Ecclesiasticus 28:17, πληγὴ μάστιγος ποιεῖ μώλωπας ). The slaves, whom the apostle is addressing, might perhaps not infrequently be subjected to the scourge; he bids them remember the more dreadful flagellation which the Lord endured. They were to learn patience of him, and to remember to their comfort that those stripes which he, the holy Son of God, condescended to suffer are to them that believe healing and salvation. Faith in the crucified Savior lifts the Christian out of the sickness of sin into the health of righteousness.