Here is a great video clip of Kirk Cameron interviewing my pastor, John Mac Arthur. John gives a great explanation of 2 Corinthians 5:21, which says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

What does that mean? God made Jesus sin. He treated Him as if He had committed our sin, even though He never sinned. God punished Jesus for our sin and when we place our faith in Jesus, God looks at us and He sees the righteousness of Jesus. This is referred to as the doctrine of substitution.

A Common Question People Ask:


Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God just forgive our sins without requiring Jesus to die?

The answer is that Jesus had to die because the character of God is holy and just. God hates sin so much that His very nature demands that He execute justice on wickedness and sin. The bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and that the wrath of God is being revealed against all the wickedness and godlessness of men (Romans 1:18). If God overlooked sin he would not be righteous and just. Think about the atrocities and evil things that happen in the world. God will not just turn His back and excuse sin, no matter how big or small it is. Instead, He provided a substitution for the punishment we deserve by pouring out His wrath on Jesus, when he died on the cross.

I remember hearing an allegorical story that pictures the doctrine of substitution. The story is about a great King who was respected in all the land because he was a good and wise King, treating everyone with fairness. Yet, everyone knew that he carried out judgment for all those who disobeyed the laws of the land. One particular law was that anyone who was caught stealing would receive 40 lashings. One day one of the King’s officials told him that the King’s young son was caught stealing. The King was grieved because he knew that his son would not be able to withstand the lashings, yet he also knew that if he didn’t execute the same judgment towards his son that he did towards everyone else, he would no longer be a just King. So he told his official to execute the judgment, and as the official began to inflict the lashings, the King wrapped his body around his son’s and took the lashings for his son. Just as the King in the story took the punishment for his son, Jesus took our punishment for us.

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