The Sin Bearer

What did Jesus bear on the Cross? Peter writes, “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. (I Peter 2:24) Jesus bore our sins on the Cross – in doing so, Jesus took away the sin of the world. Contrast this over and against what many of us have believed: That Jesus merely bore our punishment FOR sin, and thus, Jesus took away our punishment.
Now, don’t misunderstand – Jesus did die for us – and if He bore sin then He certainly bore the judgment FOR sin: Death. But this is much different than saying Jesus came to bear our punishment so that God could then lift that punishment from us. No. Jesus came to bear our sin, so that we could die IN HIM and be delivered from our sin.
Jesus did not die for us so that death could be lifted from us and we could live on as members of the Adam race. Jesus died so that the Adam race — our old man in Adam — could die in Him — God saw the death of the Adam race fulfilled in Christ. In the death of Christ, the old creation in Adam ended at the Cross.
So when John the Baptist said that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world he meant exactly what he said: Jesus Christ bore sin and took it away — all sin — the Adam race — died in Him. That is why He is called The Last Adam.
This is, of course, still being worked out. When we are saved, we are joined to Christ and made one with Him in spirit. Our spiritual union with Christ is that which is raised in Him — made possible by His resurrection. But we continue to carry the old nature; the natural man. It is this body of sin that died in Christ.
Yet at the resurrection of the body — when Christ returns, we will finally discard that old body of sin — that remnant of Adam — and be fully released into the fullness of Christ Jesus that we now possess in spirit

The more we grow to know and experience Christ in spirit and in Truth — under the work of the Cross — the more we will experience Christ as the power of God for us. As Paul said, “(If you) walk in the spirit (then) you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” — in other words, the key to overcoming sin is not to attack sin, fight sin, or take a twelve week program on how to get free — but we overcome sin only by living in and out from the One who is the power of God, Jesus Christ. Everything else is based upon THAT. Unbelievers can overcome addictions and reprogram their conduct. But Christ offers us Himself and the power of resurrection life. There will be choices, but behind those choices will not be human will power or effort. Behind them will be resurrection life. And in order to get us to the point where we can live out from Christ by faith, God must expose and bring out all of the futility of our own efforts.