Misconceptions about Jesus are nothing new. Some say, He was a deceiver, others say He was demon possessed, others that He was a winebibber, others that He was a blasphemer. Many say a lot of things about Jesus through ignorance of the Bible, dishonesty of the evidence, and a failure to love and obey the truth. For example, on the evening of July 9th, CNN host Don Lemon made the following assertion: “Jesus Christ admittedly was not perfect when He was here on the earth.” This statement is either true, and tragic, or false and blasphemous! Incidentally some recklessly report the news like they report on what the Bible says.

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The message of the gospel of Christ, is that salvation is grounded in the death of Jesus Christ, who was SINLESS! After the healing of the crippled beggar, the apostle Peter preached a masterful sermon and courageously proclaimed Jesus, before a very hostile audience, to be the “Holy and Righteous One,” underscoring the sinless nature of Jesus. In 2 Cor. 5:21, the apostle Paul said: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This cannot mean that God made the sinless One a sinner. Such would be contradictory. It cannot mean that God imputed to the sinless One the sins of the whole world, and in turn punished Him for the world’s sin! Except for John Calvin such would be repugnant to reason! What then does it mean? This verse in The New Living Translation says: “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” The writer to the Hebrews said: “Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” (Heb. 9:28). Again, The New Living Translation has: “Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.” Thus, Christ died, not as the consequence of His own sin (for He Himself was sinless, Heb. 4:15) but that He might take away or bear the sins of the whole world.

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Thus, Christ was “without sin” or “knew no sin” or “never sinned,” although He lived in a sinful world and was powerfully tempted, and died as though He was a sinner! He did this that He might be our PERFECT offering or sacrifice for sin. Think on these things.

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Dennis Abernathy