He Nailed It

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. II Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) emphasis mine

Jesus didn’t just carry our sins, but He also BECAME sin. He was our substitute, the payment for our sins, meaning He carried our sins to the cross and paid the penalty for every sin we ever committed or would ever commit. However, the Bible tells us in II Corinthians that He actually went a step further and actually BECAME sin. Why is it important for us to understand this?

Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2;14 (New International Version, NIV) emphasis mine

Jesus paid the penalty, but He also became sin itself and conquered it by nailing it to the cross. He took away the power of sin over us. We can live free from sin. He has separated us from sin. We are new creations with a new nature. We no longer have a sin nature because sin is no longer an issue. It’s been nailed to the cross. It has been defeated. It is powerless over us. We are not sinners. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are freed from sin and its effects.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they came under the dominion of sin. It ruled them. By becoming sin and putting it to death on the tree, Jesus removed sin’s dominion. It cannot dominate us. The only way we can become subject to sin is if we place ourselves under its power by giving in to it. And if we do this, we can repent and be freed from its grip once again.

Because Jesus became sin, we do not have to live under sin, and we can live unto righteousness. We have died to sin because sin is dead to us. It was killed on the cross. Jesus resurrected, but sin did not. We are alive through Christ and forever rescued from the clutches of sin.