The word “bore” in
verse 24, when read in its surrounding context and with common sense, does
not mean to carry, but to endure. Furthermore, sins cannot be literally
born in the sense of being carried of transferred anyway, because sins are
actions that take place within time. Jesus endured the action of sinners in his
own body, and Peter says we should also follow this example and be willing
to endure the sins of others. We can do this by identifying with Jesus who
endured humanity’s sin in his body. With this in mind, we ought to consider
ourselves as dead to sinning and live righteously.
In fact, this same
theme of Jesus dying to stop people from sinning was used by Peter just a few
weeks after the crucifixion, while people who were actually there in person
just a few weeks after the crucifixion, while people who were actually there in
person still had it fresh on their minds. He said, “God, having raised up
his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities” Acts 3:26. Nobody, including Peter, had any idea that Jesus had
paid for their sin. That thinking came into Christianity about 1,000 years
later.
Peter’s teaching
that we must be willing to endure the sins of others is meaningless if Peter is
literally transferring our sins to Christ. Notice also that he specifies the reason why Jesus
bore or endured our sins, and it was not so that God could forgive, it was done
to help stop people from sinning. “He bore our sins . . . on the cross, so
that we might die to sin and live in righteousness.” (See the same teaching
in Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:14.) The fact that Jesus’ death and resurrection are
supposed to result in righteous living is not what we are used to hearing, but
this crucifixion event should shock us into realizing how our collective sins
(as humanity) led to the cruel crucifixion of the very Son of God and should
cause us to hate sin and to stop sinning. We must stop serving sin and become
servants of righteousness as Jesus was a servant of righteousness (Romans
6:16-18).
Peter mentions the
phrase “by HIs wounds you were healed” from Isaiah 53:4, and in Peter’s
context it is being healed from sin. This phrase is also found in Matthew 8:17
but in a way that denies substitution. Jesus did not heal by making himself
sick and transferring the diseases to himself, and this healing was being
performed before Jesus went to the cross, by his life. When the doctrine
of PSA is taught, this passage in Matthew is seldom mentioned as it flies in
the face of its foundational claims.
So, 1 Peter 2:24,
when read in context, teaches us nothing about Penal Substitution, and in fact,
ignores the core idea of PSA altogether by ignoring the payment for sin idea
and insisting instead that he death of Jesus is intended to result in the righteous
living of the believer. (Kevin George, Atonement and Reconciliation: On what
basis can a holy God forgive sin? A search for the original meaning, contrasted
with Penal Substitutionary Atonement [2023], 204-5)
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