We can be dead to sin
1 Peter 2:24 Christ’s crucifixion should be reason enough for us to change how we live our lives
“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”
1 Peter 2:24 NLT
Peter was more than just an Apostle of Jesus; he was the leader of the early Christian church and a letter from him would carry more weight than words from any of the other Apostles. In this epistle, Peter was writing to the churches of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, all regions of the Middle East in the First Century into which the Jewish converts to The Way dispersed to avoid persecution.
This epistle was a reminder to the early church members of why they were undergoing persecution at the hands of both Gentiles and Jews. In 1 Peter 1:6-9, the Apostle specifically points out that their faith is being tested and purified by their trials, and that faith in God would protect them.
The followers of Christ also needed to be reminded of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and what He accomplished through his suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter does that in Chapter 2 of this epistle, along with instructions on how the followers are to live. He advises them to get rid of “all kinds of evil behavior,” pointing out that they are the “living stones” of God’s spiritual temple and His holy priests.
Peter witnessed much of what Jesus went through on His final day, and in this one verse, he explains why the crucifixion was necessary and what it accomplished. My favorite 19th century preacher Charles H. Spurgeon expanded on the verse, saying “He who bore my sins in his own body on the tree, took all my debts and paid them for me, and now I am dead to those debts; they have no power over me. I am dead to my sins; Christ suffered instead of me. I have nothing to do with them. They are gone as much as if they had never been committed.”1
For those of us alive now in the 21st century, doesn’t being dead to your sins thanks to Christ’s sacrifice make you want to emulate His life as a tribute and live for what is right? It should!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I thank You that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins, so that I could live my life dead to sin and with new life in Christ. With Your help, I can live my life righteously in Christ Jesus and bring honor to You. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, AMEN.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)