Both Old and New Testaments clearly say that Jesus bore our sins. That has never been an issue. What is an issue is the meaning of the word "bear." In what way did Jesus bear our sins? Does it mean that Jesus literally took our sins upon Himself while on the cross, that our sins were transferred to Him? Luther and Calvin insisted that Jesus actually became a sinner in bearing our sins. After all, if Jesus took the sinner’s place on the cross in order to bear sins, He had to become a sinner himself, which is the logical consequence of the position. One of the televangelists, Paul Bilheimer, in his book, Destined for the Throne, page 83, says,

    "Because He was ‘made sin,’ impregnated with sin, and became the very essence of sin, on the cross He was banished from God’s presence as a loathsome thing. He and sin were made synonymous."

    In a little softer tone is the following quotation from an Eerdman’s publication, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians by Phillip E. Hughes, pages 213-214.

    "But God made Him sin: that is to say that God the Father made His innocent, incarnate Son the object of His wrath and judgment, for our sakes, with the result that in Christ on the cross the sin of the world is judged and taken away. In this truth resides the whole logic of reconciliation ... Not for one moment does He cease to be righteous, else the radical exchange envisaged by the Apostle here, whereby our sin is transferred to Him and His righteousness is transferred to us, would be no more than a fiction or an hallucination."

    We looked at the specific passage referred to here in the last article, noting that the statement that Jesus was "made to be sin," II Corinthians 5:21, meant that He became a sin-sacrifice. "Bearing sins" is supposed to mean the sinner is guilty and unclean and so his substitute must also be guilty and unclean, whether the substitute is another person or an animal. Thus, Jesus became the object of God’s wrath and judgment and our punishment for sin is laid upon Him as well.

    It is asserted that the Levitical priesthood is an example of "bearing" the iniquity of the people by which the sins of the people were transferred to the offering or to the priest. One would think this would be true especially in regard to sins requiring capital punishment but there were no sacrifices that could be offered for one gulty of a capital crime. In the second place, the priest and the sacrifice had to be pure and holy and the "transference" of sin to the sacrifice would have made it unclean, and such "transference" of sin to the priest would have made him unfit to offer the sacrifice. In the third place, one other meaning of "bearing the iniquities of the holy things" has simply to do with the physical and emotional burden of carrying out the priestly duties. It was all because of the iniquities of the people that they had to take this burden, hence, the priests bore the iniquities of the holy things in that sense. However, bearing the iniquity of the holy things and of the sanctuary had nothing to do with transferring sin and guilt from the people to the priesthood.

    The bearing of sins by Jesus must not be understood literally, but figuratively, though to say it is figurative does not immediately define it. What characteristics of the literal are to be included?

    Two Hebrew words that apply are nasa and sabal along with four Greek words, airo, phero, anaphero and bastazo. Among other terms, these are translated as bear, bore, bearing. Nasa and sabal are used both literally and figuratively. Literally, nasa may refer to lifting or holding something up, as the waters did "bear up the ark," or refer to an "armor bearer." Figuratively, it may refer to a cheery countenance or placing confidence in another person. But, we are most interested in passages where it relates to sin. Nasa is translated in our Old Testament as to spare, pardon, forgive, or take away sins. Exodus 32:32 says, as Moses prayed to God, "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin." Exodus 34:7 says, "forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Numbers 14:18, "the Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression." Genesis 50:17, "Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy fathers." Exodus 10:17, Pharaoh asked Moses, "Now therefore forgive, I pray thee my sin only this once ..." I Samuel 15:25, Saul asked Samuel, "Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin."

    Are we to conclude that because God "bore" the sins of His people that their sins were imputed to God? Did their guilt and punishment now rest on God Himself? Were the sins of the people transferred to Joseph, or Moses, or Samuel? Of course not!

    We looked at the scapegoat in our last article so will not repeat all of that here. Leviticus 16:22 says the scapegoat will "bear ... unto a land" the sins of the people. This was figurative, meaning to "take away" sins, remove sins as is the likely definition of "azazel." The scapegoat symbolized the removal of sins. This is exactly the meaning to be attached to Jesus’ "bearing our sins." Let’s look now at three passages, Isaiah 53:4, 11-12.

    "Surely he hath borne (nasa) our griefs, and carried (sabal) our sorrows ... for he shall bear (sabal) their iniquities ... and he bare (nasa) the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

    Notice that the two words are used interchangeably. The typical substitution position on Isaiah 53:4, 11 may be represented by The Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament by Gesenius, page 578:

    "Used figuratively to bear griefs, sins, etc., i.e to receive the penalties which another has deserved, Isa. 53:4,11; Lam 5:7. [It must not be forgotten that when the vicarious sufferings of Christ are spoken of, every figure falls very far short of the full truth; he actually bore our sins.]"

    This is a perfect example of theological opinion placed above clear and understandable Bible truth, which we will clearly see. Keep in mind that the explanation in this quotation is only the opinion of Gesenius.

    Nasa and sabal are used as synonyms in Isaiah 53:4,11, but one needs no degrees in language nor advanced training to arrive at an understanding of what is meant. We have an inspired explanation in the Bible itself. Matthew 8:16-17 says, and note the context:

    "And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases."

    This is an inspired translation from Hebrew to Greek by the Holy Spirit guided Apostle. What Jesus performed in healing the physical diseases was the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4, specifically that He bore (nasa) our griefs and carried (sabal) our sorrows. What Jesus did, fulfilled both phrases! But, their diseases were not transferred to Jesus so that He then became a leper. He didn’t become demon possessed in casting out the demons. He didn’t become blind in restoring their sight. Yet, He "bore" their diseases in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. Jesus took away their diseases! That’s what it means.

    The Greek word for "bare" in Matthew 8:17 is bastazo, which, keep in mind, is the inspired translation of nasa. Bastazo may mean to take up, to transport, to carry, to take away or to remove. In this figurative use, the emphasis is on the taking away, removal. The word for "took" in this passage is lambano. It’s obvious in Matthew 8:17 that bastazo and lambano are synonyms and mean to remove. Matthew 3:11 says,

    "I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear (bastazo)."

    In the Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, page 106, by Moulton and Milligan, it says,

    "The firmly established vernacular use determines the meaning of Mt 3.11, as ‘whose sandals I am not worthy to take off: the phrase is an excellent example of Mt’s skilful abbreviation, for one word fully expresses all that Mk 1.7 tells us in four."

    We can easily demonstrate the truth of what Moulton and Milligan say here. The statement of John is repeated by Paul in Acts 13:25 with a slight change in words:

    "But behold, there cometh one after me the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to unloose (luo).

    Putting the two passages together, we can understand that to "bear" in Matthew 3:11 means the same as "unloose" (luo) in Acts 13:25, another inspired interpretation. The meaning, of course, was to "take off" or "take away," the shoes, just as Matthew 8:16-17 meant to take away diseases and infirmities. Further use of bastazo is found in John 12:6 where the KJV says that Judas "bare what was put" into the bag of money he carried. The ASV says that he "took away" what was in the bag. Judas stole from the bag, removed the money for himself.

    Seeing that the Holy Spirit gives us the meaning of nasa and sabal in Isaiah 53:4, why should we understand these words to mean any differently in Isaiah 53:11-12 when it says He "bare their iniquities" or "bare the sins of many?" This only tells us that He "took away" the sins and iniquities, not that the sins and iniquities were transferred to Him or imputed to HIm. Even with the meaning of removal, my sin and punishment were not literally taken away when Jesus died. If they were, then there would have been no need for a resurrection and the priesthood of Jesus and there would be nothing left for me to do. If substitution is true, everything was all done in my place and I am not accountable for my sins because they were obliterated before I ever existed to commit them! The figurative meaning of these passages is that He furnished the basis for taking away sins and iniquities.

    The Greek word phero means to take away. Adding the preposition ana to it gives us the word anaphero. It adds the meaning of taking up, and in our subject, to offer up as a sacrifice. Note these passages:

    "...who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up (anaphero) sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up (anaphero) himself," Hebrews 7:27.

    "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up (anaphero) Isaac his son upon the altar?" James 2:21.

    "Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up (anaphero) spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ," I Peter 2:5.

    In all these places, a sacrifice is the point, an offering up. Was Isaac a substitute for someone, perhaps Abraham? No, yet he was offered up. When the Christian "offers up" spiritual sacrifices to God, can he use a substitute in his place? No. Now notice the parallel in the next two passages.

    "But now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away (athetesin) sin by the sacrifice of himself," Hebrews 9:26.

    Athetesin means "removal," Bauer, page 21. Jesus "removed" sin by the "sacrifice" of Himself. Then verse 28 says,

    "So Christ also, having been once offered to bear (anaphero) the sins of many..." Hebrews 9:28.

    Verse 28 repeats the subject of verse 26 with a slight change of words. "Put away" in verse 26 becomes "bear" in verse 28. "Sacrifice" in verse 26, becomes "offered" in verse 28. Jesus bore our sins in that He took them away. I Peter 2:24 says,

    "...who his own self bare (anaphero) our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed."

    In this passage, the "cross" replaces the altar as the place of sacrifice. The body of Jesus was offered up on an altar, an offering to God. The last sentence of this passage is a quotation from Isaiah 53:5, which in context goes with verse 4, as we have seen, meaning to take away.

    In Isaiah 53:11-12, both sabal and nasa are translated in the Septuagint by anaphero. He "shall bear (sabal/anaphero) their iniquities" and "he bare (nasa/anaphero) the sin of many." We have seen the meaning of nasa and sabal to be to take away. The same is true in an offering up of a sacrifice. Now, let’s look at Isaiah 53:6.

    "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on (paga) him the iniquity of us all."

    In its figurative sense, paga has several meanings. Strong’s Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, page 93 says,

    "come (betwixt), cause to entreat, fall (upon), make intercession, intercessor, entreat, lay, light [upon], meet (together), pray, reach, run."

    Paga is found in Isaiah 53:12, "made intercession for the transgressors." So, even in the context of verse 6, the same verb is used to mean "intercession." The Hebrew scholars who translated Isaiah 53:6 into Greek, render it kai kurios paredoken auton tais hamartais hemon, "and the Lord gave him up for our sins." The verb paredoken, from paradidomi, means to deliver up or intercede. Paradidomi is in the following two N.T. passages,

    "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32.

    "...and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell," Ephesians 5:2.

    These passages are parallel in subject to Isaiah 53. From the evidence, the immediate text and context, we must conclude that the Septuagint is correct in giving the meaning of Isaiah 53:6 as "the Lord gave him up for our sins."

    Keep in mind that for Jesus to bear sins meant that he took them away, removed them, figuratively.