by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
November, 1940
THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL.
“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). It remains for us now to notice the three things here said about God's people: these are their guilt, their deliverance, their righteousness. First, our criminality. It was because we lay under the curse of the Law that the Holy One of God was made sin for us. Therein we may perceive the awful demerits of our case: such a drastic and costly remedy makes unmistakably evident the desperateness of our condition by nature. We best learn God's estimate of sin by the wages He pays it: nowhere is its exceeding sinfulness so apparent as at the Cross. Faulty views of the Atonement necessarily result in low estimates of sin. Contrariwise, nothing is so calculated to humble us because of our vileness as faith's contemplation of Christ being made a curse for us.
Second, our deliverance. This was something which lay wholly beyond our own powers. Impossible that we could undo the past, equally impossible that we could offer unto God any satisfaction for our countless transgressions. We could no more change our fallen natures than the Ethiopian can change the colour of his skin. To create a world would be no less impracticable than for a depraved creature to produce the fruits of holiness. So far as we were concerned, our case was utterly hopeless: unless Divine mercy took pity upon us, we must inevitably perish. That mercy took the form not of an arbitrary command nor simply of invincible power, but by ordering that none other than the Son of God should become man, take our place, assume our responsibilities and discharge our debts. It was by the sufferings of Christ we were eternally freed from condemnation.
Third, our righteousness. Here is the blessedness and glory of the Gospel of God's grace: that we who are totally devoid of righteousness, who are positively unrighteous, guilty, yea, whose best performances are “filthy rags” in the sight of Heaven, become the very “righteousness of God in Him.” Note well those words “in Him,” and not in ourselves, for the reference is not to sanctification, but to our justification; not to our state, but to our standing before the Divine Throne. “Righteousness” is here to be taken in its forensic sense, and not as referring to any moral change; to the ground of our acceptance, and not to any disposition of mind or heart wrought in us by the Spirit. The abstract is used for the purpose of emphasis: it is not merely that we are accepted as righteous, but the very ground on which that rests is stated—we become “righteousness” itself.
It is of vital importance that we should have a clear Scriptural conception of this fundamental truth. The believer becomes righteousness solely by imputation, just as Christ was “made sin” solely by imputation. True, there are inseparable consequences in each instance: for just as Christ's being made sin led to His being dealt with accordingly, so our becoming righteousness judicially entails the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us experimentally. But our text is not treating of the effects in either case, but goes right back to bed-rock causes. In precisely the same way that Christ was made sin for us—namely, by God's imputing to Him the entire guilt of our iniquities; so we become the righteousness of God in Him—namely, by God's imputing to us the whole merits of Christ's Law-magnifying obedience.
The antithesis is exact and minute: as our guilt was charged to Christ, so His righteousness is reckoned to our account. As the transference of our guilt to the Surety entailed His suffering the penalty thereof, so the imputation of Christ's obedience unto us entitles us to its reward. As it was for no criminal acts of His own that Christ was made sin—so it is not by any pious conduct of ours that we become righteousness before the Divine tribunal. As it was not on account of any infection of nature or any personal acts of sin that Christ was treated by Divine justice as an offender, so it is not in view of any holiness wrought in us that we are accepted of God and pronounced just by His Law. It is “by the obedience of One,” and not by the works of each believer, that the many are “made (legally constituted) righteous” (Rom. 5:19).
Let us call attention to a parallel passage: “but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Thus once more we see how helpfully Scripture explains Scripture, for by carefully weighing the terms of this prophecy we are supplied with a sure interpretation of our text. First, the fact of our Saviour's vicarious suffering is stated, those sufferings being inflicted upon Him for our iniquities. Second, the explanation of this solemn transaction is given: punishment was visited upon the Redeemer because the guilt of His people's sins had been laid upon Him. Third, the blessed outcome of this is declared: His being wounded ensures our healing. The “stripes” were all due to us, and they were due to us because of our transgressions; but because our iniquities were imputed to Christ, the stripes were laid upon Him, and therefore healing comes to be ours.
The grand truth affirmed in our text is the exchange of places. It is the twofold exchange of places in respect of sin and righteousness severally, and the counter imputations thereof. This is set forth by an antithesis, which fully drawn out would read: “He hath made Him that knew no sin to be sin for us: that we (who knew no righteousness) might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” But there is one word where the parallel is departed from, though this is hidden in our English translation. God “made (constituted) Christ to be sin for us,” but it is not said in the balancing clause, “that we might be made the righteousness of God”: an entirely different Greek word is used, and would be better rendered, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And why? Because this righteousness is only “upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22). The price was paid when Christ died; our actual possession thereof is when we are planted into Him by faith.—A.W.P.
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