The Straying Sheep Return

Penal substitutionary atonement affirms that Jesus took the sins of His people on Himself and suffered and died in their place to pay the penalty that we owe for breaking God’s law. Without penal substitution, we cannot understand all that is required for our redemption or make sense of texts such as Isaiah 52:13–53:12, Romans 3:21–31, and 1 Peter 2:21–24. Yet we cannot limit the benefits of the atonement to the judicial sphere, to the forgiveness of sins and our receiving a new righteous status in God’s sight (see also 2 Cor. 5:21). In dying for us, Jesus did more than secure the pardon of our sins and establish peace between us and God.

First Peter 2:24 describes two other benefits of Jesus’ atonement. Consider first Peter’s statement that by Christ’s “wounds you have been healed.” Promoters of the Word of Faith false teaching often cite this text as evidence that the atonement secures physical healing for believers on earth and that we can receive it by confessing that it has already happened. The atonement does ultimately lead to physical healing, but it is an error to teach that such healing is guaranteed before the return of Christ. Jesus had to die and rise again to secure the new heavens and earth (John 12:23–24; Rev. 1:9–18; 21:1–22:5). Ultimately, believers will enjoy the full restoration of all things, including their physical health, when they have resurrected life in the new creation. Until then, physical healing is not a guarantee, though spiritual healing (forgiveness of sins) is for every Christian before Jesus’ return.

In 1 Peter 2:24, we read also that Jesus bore our sins on the cross so “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Here we see that the atonement of Jesus also provides power for sanctification, for our growth in holy obedience to God. As Paul puts it, we have died to the power and dominion of sin and death through our union with Christ and can now use our bodies as “instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:1–14). John Calvin comments, “The death of Christ is efficacious for the [forgiveness] of sins, and also for the mortification of the flesh.”

The atonement of Jesus provides many benefits, and Peter concludes his look at the Savior’s death by returning to reconciliation with God through Jesus (1 Peter 2:25). Referencing Isaiah 53:6, the Apostle says that believers were like straying sheep, but that we have returned to the “Shepherd and Overseer” of our souls. We are the sheep of Christ and the subjects of His perfect loving care.