“Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:21). The word sin here is singular. The Lord Jesus was made sin not sins for us. Why is the singular word sin used here? It is because the Lord Jesus, who knew no sin (singular), that is, who never knew what sin was and never served sin or knew the power of sin, was made to become sin, the very problem of sin, so that God could deal with sin by judging Him. His becoming sin means that God dealt with Him as God would deal with our problem of sin. If the Lord Jesus had become sins, then He too would have had sins in His conduct and would have been a sinner. He too would have had pride, jealousy, uncleanness, and such sins. Thank God, He did not cause the Lord Jesus to become sins. He dealt with the Lord Jesus as the very problem of sin, so that when the Lord Jesus died, the problem of the sin of the whole world was completely solved.

Finally, let us conclude the discussion of this question from the book of Romans. The first eight chapters of Romans specifically address the problem of sins and sin. Romans 1:1-5:11 is the first section, and it deals with the problem of sins (plural), not sin (singular). Romans 5:12-8:12 forms the second section, which speaks of the problem of sin (singular). In the second section, except for the one instance in chapter seven where sins (plural) is mentioned, all the references are to sin (singular). The first section deals with specific sins in outward conduct. The sinful records and their penalties need to be taken away and eliminated. Therefore, the Lord Jesus came to bear our sins and take them away. The second section says that God not only forgives us of our sins (plural), but He also frees us from the sin that dominates us. God not only forgives our sins and does not punish us anymore; He also saves us from sin and from committing sins. The first section speaks of the precious blood, while the entire second section speaks of the cross. The resurrection in the first section is the Lord’s resurrection for us, while the resurrection in the second section is our resurrection together with the Lord. The first section speaks of the Lord Jesus being crucified and shedding His blood for us; the second section speaks of our being crucified together with Him. The first section deals with forgiveness, while the second deals with deliverance. The first section deals with justification, while the second deals with sanctification. The first section solves the punishment of sin, while the second solves the power of sin. We all need to pass through these two sections.

When you first believed in the Lord, you were worried about the many sins you committed. All the individual sins were placed before you. You saw that there was nothing good without and within you. You wondered how the righteous God, the righteous Lord, could forgive your sins. But when you realized that the Lord Jesus had borne your sins, that His blood had cleansed you of your sins, and that they had all been forgiven, you rejoiced. Because your sins had been forgiven, you were able to stand in God’s grace, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. Now you believe that you can do good. But day after day you discover that you can still lie as you lied in the past. What should you do? You should come before the Lord to ask for forgiveness. The Lord still forgives, and the Lord’s blood is still efficacious. Then you may resolve and be determined to never sin again. The first few days you may do all right, but later as you become loose, you will sin again. Again you ask the Lord to forgive your sins, and again you resolve not to sin. But again and again you sin, and again you stumble. In the past you felt the evil of outward sins. After becoming a Christian, not only do you feel the evil of outward sins, but you also feel inward sin lording it over you. For example, consider a person who loves to gamble. In the past, he acknowledged that this was unacceptable conduct. But since he has believed in the Lord, he feels that there is a master in him with the power to force him to do the things which he does not want to do, leaving him no choice but to do them. Every one of us has our own particular sin that entangles us. You may recall how happy you were when you were saved. But now you suffer more than before you were saved. How can you overcome these sins? You inquire of God whether there is a deeper salvation. What Romans 5:12-8:39 describes is the deeper salvation. If the blood were all that God required, God could have used a different way to cause the Lord Jesus to shed His blood. Why was it necessary for Christ to die on the cross? It is because God wanted to show us not only that the punishment for our conduct was forgiven through the Savior Jesus, but also that our very person was crucified together with the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and, at the same time, He brought us along in His crucifixion so that we were crucified with Him. Not only were the sins of the sinner on the cross, but the sinner himself was on the cross. Not only were our sins on the cross, but all of us who are in Christ were on the cross as well. Not only did the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanse us of our sins, but God also reckoned His death to be our death more than nineteen hundred years ago. At the beginning, we believed that the Lord Jesus died for us. Today we reckon the Lord’s death as our death. Since the Lord has died, we too have died. As we believed in His death, we also should believe that His death is our death. In this way, although sin is still alive, it cannot seduce one who is already dead, for a dead person is freed from sin. Once a man has died, sin cannot interfere with him any longer, because even though sin is alive, the person is dead. God forgives our outward sins, but He will not forgive our inward sin. He has crucified our old man, so that the sin in us has no more power to drag us down. We believe that we are already dead. We do not have to go and die; rather, we believe that we have already died. We do not believe that we should die, but that we are already dead. When we feel weak and unclean, we must realize that God has already dealt with these things on the cross. If we look at Christ with the eyes of faith and believe that we have been crucified with Christ, we will see that the power of Christ will save us and free us from the power of sin within us. The first step of salvation gives us peace and satisfaction; it causes us to enjoy happiness. The second step of salvation gives us power to be freed from sin and walk in His way. Today, we may feel the power of sin oppressing us within. How good it would be if we could overcome the power of sin within. Overcoming the power of sin within is by deliverance and emancipation and not by forgiveness. Since the master within has been replaced, the old master can no longer control us. We must all go this way.
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