Some Christians will insist, however, that “Jesus Christ was the
greatest sinner who ever lived.” But not only does the text not demand such a
claim, but it is also problematic. One may nuance the claim that Jesus was the “greatest
sinner” by adding that this was the case despite the fact that “he never
committed a sinful action,” but this is hard even to understand. How is someone
really a sinner if that person neither has a sinful nature nor commits
sinful actions? More troubling, however, are the theological problems. If Jesus
Christ is really a sinner, then he is not—and cannot be—divine.
To be divine is, after all, not only to be good; but also, to be divine is to
be necessarily good, it is to be Goodness itself. But classical Christian orthodoxy,
based as it is on the teachings of Scripture, leaves absolutely no room for
doubt that Jesus Christ is fully and truly divine (in addition to being fully
human). So he is not a “sinner.” Moreover, it would be terrible news for us if
Christ were a sinner. For if Christ were a sinner, then he would not be
qualified to be the saviour. Indeed, he himself would need salvation. Nothing
less than orthodox Christology and the doctrine of the Trinity would be at
stake here—and with it our hope of salvation.
We can only charitably assume that the theologians who make such
statements do not mean that Jesus Christ really became a sinner. Perhaps
they mean something more like this: God really thinks that Jesus Christ
is the greatest sinner—God really believes that Christ is morally responsible
for the sins of the world (or, alternatively, the sins of “the elect”) and thus
guilty for those sins, and he treats him accordingly. But the alternative is
not much better, for it would involve God in a mistaken belief. Thus God Would
not be omniscient, and he would be liable to an error of greatest importance.
Moreover, once again this would be terrible news for us; our salvation would be
based on a mistaken understanding of massive proportion. It seems much better
to understand 2 Corinthians 5:21 to mean that God “made him who knew no sin to
be the sin offering for us, that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.” Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, takes the punishment for sins that is not
his—the punishment for sin that is ours—upon himself. And he takes
it “away” from us, so that we need fear it no more (Jn 1:29). This idea of
Jesus taking our sin upon himself is, after all, a deeply traditional Christian
understanding of the text. As Ambrose says, the Lord was not turned into
sin, but “since he assumed our sins, He is called sin. For the Lord is also
called an accursed thing, but because He himself took on our curse” (The
Incarnation of Our Lord, 6.60).
Thomas H. McCall, Forsaken:The Trinity and the Cross, and Why it Matters (Downers Grove, Ill.:
Invervarsity Press Academic: 2012), 111-12. Emphasis in original.
