The Great Exchange: Jesus for Us

God’s holiness exposes our sin for what it is. The law hangs over our heads like the blade of a guillotine, ready to drop at any moment and plunge us into eternal misery. There is no way for any sinner to escape the demands of the law. But praise be to God that He has provided another way!

God’s holiness exposes our sin for what it is.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal. 3:13–14)

The Lord Jesus Christ has done the unthinkable. He suffered the full curse of the law for all His people when He died on the cross. And according to the apostle, He did it so that every ethnic group might receive the Abrahamic blessing promised in Genesis 12:3. The flip side of this transaction is that Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s law on behalf of His people, satisfying God’s righteous demands in that regard as well. Paul mentions this in Romans 5:19, when he contrasts the work of Adam with the work of Christ:

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

We mentioned earlier that God requires perfect obedience. There’s only one person in the history of this world who was able to meet this demand: the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ, believers receive credit not only for the death that Jesus died, but the sinless life that He lived! This transaction—our guilt for Christ’s righteousness—is famously known as the Great Exchange.[1]

The glory of this truth cannot be overstated. This truth should have churchgoers shouting and dancing in the aisles! This truth should have us singing praises to God at the top of our lungs. This truth should cause us to resist sin with all of our might. This truth should compel us to lay down our lives for the gospel and for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This truth should prompt us to pursue ethnic unity in the church with all the strength that God supplies.

[1] See the book The Great Exchange: My Sin for His Righteousness by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007).