Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Isaiah 51:1-53:12 Ephesians 5:1-33 Proverbs 24:7

“Why is Christ Punished”

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
[Isaiah 53:6]

These words must not be diluted, but must be left in their precise and serious sense. For God is not joking in the words of the prophet; He is speaking out of great love, namely, that this Lamb of God, Christ, should bear the iniquity of us all. But what does it mean to “bear?” Why is Christ punished? Is it not because He has become sin for us? Psalm 40:12 says: “For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.” In this Psalm and also in Psalms 41:4 / 69:5, the Holy Spirit is speaking of the Person of Christ, and is speaking of Christ becoming sin for us. Therefore, Paul correctly applies to Christ the general Law from Moses: “cursed be everyone who hangs upon a tree.” Christ hung upon a tree; therefore Christ is a curse of God. And this is our highest comfort, to clothe and wrap Christ this way in my sins, your sins, and the sins of the entire world, and in this way to behold Him bearing all our sins.