1 Pet 2:24

 

1 Peter 2:24

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Paraphrase: Jesus carried our sins on the cross so that we, who are dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, and His stripes healed us.

Initial impression: The first idea from this verse is the fact that Jesus died in our stead, and that we should be dead to sins and living unto righteousness. The second part is probably the most famous: that we are healed by Jesus’ stripes. 

Let’s have a look at this verse from different angles:

Background:

Although named “Peter” there are much debate as to whether or not Peter the Apostle, actually wrote the books 1 Peter and 2 Peter. It is believed to have been written around 81AD, around the time when persecution of Christians began. Although some believe that if it was written by Peter himself, then it couldn’t have been later than 63AD. The letter is addressed to Christians in Asia Minor, with the reference to Babylon probably implying Rome. 

W-analysis:

Who:   Jesus, us

Where:   -

What:   we live unto righteousness and were healed by His stripes   

When:  past tense (bare sins, were healed) and present tense (being dead to sins, live unto righteousness)

Why:  because Jesus died for us

How:  on the tree, by His stripes

Greek analysis:

Who: S379 - pronoun

self: S846 – reflexive pronoun 

bare: S399 – to take up, bear, bring up, offer

our: S2257 - pronoun

sins: S266 – offence, sin (feminine noun)

in: S1722 - a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest

body: S4983 – bodily, body, slave

on: S1909 - preposition

tree: S3586 – timber, staff, tree, wood, stocks

that: S2443 – in order that, to the intent that, lest, so, as

we: S2198 – primary verb, to live, lively, lifetime, quick

being: +

dead: S581 – absent, deceased, (figuratively) renounced, being dead

to: +

sins: S264 – a sin, offence, sinful (feminine noun)

should: +

live: S2198 

unto: +

righteousness: S1342 – equity (of character or act), specially (Christian) justification, righteousness

by: S3739 – relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun

whose: S846 - reflexive pronoun

stripes: S3468 – a mole ("black eye") or blow-mark, stripe (masculine noun)

ye: +

were: +

healed: S2390 – to cure (literally or figuratively), heal, make whole

Definitions:

sin:  /sɪn/

noun - an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law, "a sin in the eyes of God"

verb - commit a sin, "I sinned and brought shame down on us"

tree: /triː/

noun - a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.

- a wooden structure or part of a structure.

righteousness: /ˈrʌɪtʃəsnəs/

noun - the quality of being morally right or justifiable, "we had little doubt about the righteousness of our cause"

healed: /hiːl/

verb - past tense: healed; past participle: healed

- cause (a wound, injury, or person) to become sound or healthy again, "his concern is to heal sick people"

- become sound or healthy again, "the bullet wounds had healed"

Similar: alleviate (a person's distress or anguish), "time can heal the pain of grief"

Context:

From 1 Pet 2:21 onwards, Peter is talking about Jesus and he is describing the example that Jesus set, that we must follow. 

Other anomalies:

Repetitions: “His own”- Jesus bore our sins himself, in his own body, repetition emphasises an idea. There were no substitutes, no-one helped him carry it, there wasn’t a body-double. Jesus himself carried our sins in his flesh.

Contrast: “dead to sins”, “live unto righteousness” – denotes action, choice between two extremes of death and life

HE bare OUR sins

Tenses: “bare” – past tense, “being dead” – present continuous tense, “should live” – present tense, “were healed” – past tense 

Cross-references:

Is 53:4,5,6,11 - Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

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

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities

Matt 8:17 - That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Heb 9:28 -  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Rom 6:2, 11 - God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 7:6 -  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

What does this passage teach me about God?

He did everything He could to save us. But we have to choose it, we have to want it, He won’t force it down our throats. He loves me, and He doesn’t want me to suffer, to be sick.  

What does this passage tell me about people?

That even though we are offered all we need to be whole, we’ll still not take it. We’ll suffer the sickness and hardship that comes with unrighteousness, rather than live righteously, and then complain about our suffering. Is it laziness or comfort that prevents us from doing what we need to do to be healed? 

What do I need to do?

I need to examine whether I am living unto righteousness. If I am saved and dead to sins, does my actions, my words, my thoughts, my life, my choices reflect that? Do I strive to be holy? Or am I doing just enough to soothe my conscience? And then I need to make a choice: to live unto righteousness or not. And if I choose to live unto righteousness, I need to commit to it.

Discussion:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Deut 21:23 - His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Sin carries curses, and these curses carry on for generations. We humans sin. All the time. Jesus never sinned. We’re unholy and He is holy. And if we could only get into heaven if we didn’t sin, no-one would ever get to heaven. 

But God didn’t create us to throw us into hell. He created us to be with Him. He knew we would never be able to be holy and righteous on our own. So He devised a plan to save us. He would become a human and die in our stead, for our sins, so we humans can go to heaven. 

By being crucified, Jesus was cursed. He had to be buried the same day of his crucifixion to fulfil the law. He carried that curse for us, too.

Him carrying our sins on the cross happened in the past, yet that action gives us the responsibility to live unto righteousness in the present, now. “Being dead” is present continuous – we need to choose to die to sin on a continuous basis, it is not something that happens just once. While we are mortals in our physical bodies, the fight against sin is ongoing, every day.

“Should live” is the conditional simple tense, it indicates that it is something we are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to be living unto righteousness. That is what we should be striving for. It also sounds like it is

something that is NOT happening, but it is something that SHOULD be happening. For your own health you should be drinking water – it is advice, but does not imply that it is actually happening, it is something you will have to start doing. We SHOULD LIVE unto righteousness carries the same conclusion: because of what Jesus did on that cross, what He sacrificed for us, what He carried for us, we need to take full advantage of that and live unto righteousness. We cannot use it as an excuse to sin (Romans 6:15), but we should be living righteously.

And according to this verse, our healing has already happened. Our healing isn’t in the future, it happened in the past. The stripes Jesus bore healed us back then already. So why do we get sick? Well, as humans living in flesh we are quite taken with the flesh and we only consider physical healing. Although not wrong, I do believe that even our physical healing was outworked that day, I think that our spiritual healing was more addressed. The Greek also means “to make whole”. Not just in one area of our being, but our whole being, that would include our spirit, soul AND body. 

Although God cares very much about what we do with our bodies – it is His temple after all! (1 Cor 16:19-20) – I believe that He is much more concerned about healing our spirits and our souls than our bodies, because our bodies are not going to heaven. Our bodies do not need saving, our souls do. The most important healing that can happen, is inside of us. And Jesus already won that fight for us, we now need to learn how to apply it, how to claim it for ourselves.
And then LIVE it. 

Sources:

Wikipedia

PDF: 1 Pet 2:24