The context immediately preceding this
passage is an exhortation to pattern oneself after Jesus and to patiently
endure even unjust suffering in household relationships. This idea, it seems,
brings to the author’s mind the imagery of the suffering servant, a comparison
he develops in verses 22 and 23, and then he shifts further into what seems to
be a more general soteriological affirmation, which is what we have in verses
24 and 25. Drawing on the imagery from Isaiah—“he bore the guilt of many” (Is
53:12)—verse 24 emphasizes that it is Christ himself who bears (away) sins: it
is notable that the imagery here, like the imagery in priestly theology, is
quite substantial. Sin is effectively described as a wright, and because the
one who is himself sinless (v. 22) now bears this foreign object, sin seems to
be a transferrable “something.” This passage from 1 peter also uniquely
stresses the “location” of that sin-bearing: it occurs “in his body” and “on
the tree.” Somehow Jesus bears our burden away, for the sake of our freedom
from sin and our freedom for righteousness, all while remaining bound to the
wood of the tree. (This is analogous to how the “eyes of faith” perceive Jesus
entering the holy of holies with his own blood, even though, according to our
earthly perception, he remained pinned on the “altar” on the cross.) In other
words, for the author, Christ endures the wright of exile in his body, so that
we can again enjoy intimacy with “the shepherd and guardian” of our souls. By carrying
away our corruption, the Azazel-goat makes it possible for us to dwell in
peace. (Richard J. Barry IV, Jewish Theology and the Mystery of the Cross:
Atonement and the Two Goats of Yom Kippur [Washington, D.C.: The Catholic
University Press of America, 2024], 246)
