Substitution

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made . . . to be sin . . .” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).

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替代

神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪，好叫我們在他裡面成為神的義。 （林後五21）

現代人以為耶穌為我們的罪死，是因為他同情我們。但新約的觀點卻不然，他並非因同情而背負我們的罪，他乃是因為於我們認同。神使他成為罪。他的死，叫我們得以除罪；而他的死，是順服他父的旨意，而不是出於對我們的同情。我們蒙神悅納，不是因為順服，或答應放棄什麼東西，乃是因為基督的死，除此別無他法。我們說耶穌基督來，是彰顯神為父的地位，和他的恩慈；但新約卻說：他來是擔當世人的罪。他彰顯父神，只是向那些人他為救主的人。主從來沒有向世人說他自己就是彰顯父神的那一位，他只說自己是絆腳石（約十五22-24）。約翰福音十四章第9節是對門徒說的。

新約從沒有說基督為我死，所以我就免罰了。新約的教訓是[他為萬人死]（不是代替了我死），而我在他的死上與他合一，就從罪中得著釋放，並承受了他的義。新約所教導的代替是有雙重的意義：[神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪，好叫我們在他裡面成為神的義。 ]除非我決意讓基督成形在我裡面，否則，基督就不是[替]我死了。

祈禱◆主啊，為著再次感受到與你之間有著喜樂的相交，我讚美你。願你將平靜的思想和堅定的決心賜給我。讓我毫無懷疑和毫不偏斜地屬於你。