Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
On a Sunday morning in 1873, the great prince of preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon, speaking at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Newington, England, preached a sermon that he entitled ‘Death for Sin and Death to Sin’. His text was our text today. If Brother Spurgeon could make an excellent sermon on these two points, it would be worthwhile for us to look at them today, too.
The theme of death for sin runs throughout the Bible, beginning with God slaying animals to provide coverings for our first parents as they exited Eden. Abel’s sacrifice was more excellent than Cain’s because Abel’s was based on a death for sin. The system of sacrifices and offerings as performed by the Aaronic priesthood is based on the same principle. All of these sacrifices and offerings were the foretelling of the one great Sacrifice to be made for sin forever (Hebrews 10:12). The bearing of our sins in His own body on the tree was the death for sin that God was perfectly satisfied with. And that’s the basis on which you and I can rejoice in God’s salvation today. It is also the basis for us to be dead to sin.
Our text does not declare that God will help us to be dead to sin. The sense of this verse in the original Greek is that our being dead to sins occurs at our salvation. It is already fully accomplished. What is not yet accomplished is our living unto righteousness. That is something that we as Christians have to work at every day of our lives. Being dead to sins means that our salvation ends all of God’s judgment for our sins. In the words of the old Gospel hymn, ‘God will not payment twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine.’ It means that as far as our sins are concerned, eternity is looked after. It also means that as far as today’s sins are concerned, our ability to have victory over it is looked after. What remains for us is to live in the good of that ability. God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enables us to live unto righteousness. And that is what being dead to sin is all about.
God has completed the first two steps in our living unto righteousness. First, He provided the death of His Son for our sins. Second, He declared us dead to sin and enabled us to live in the good of being dead to sin. Whether we live unto righteousness is up to us. -Jim MacIntosh