Christ's Faultlessness

Pilate and the believing thief both confessed there was "no fault" in Him, and that He had done "nothing amiss" (Luke 23:14,41). The word "amiss" is rendered "harm" (Acts 28:6), and "unreasonable" (2 Thess 3:2), in the two other places where "atopon" occurs. There was nothing unreasonable in Christ's teaching, there was no harm in His actions, and not anything amiss in His character.

He did no sin - 1 Peter 2:22 says, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:"

There are many reasons for why we suffer. Some sufferings is the direct result of our own sin; some happens because of our foolishness; and some is the result of living in a fallen world. Peter is writing about suffering that comes as a result of doing good. Christ never sinned, yet he suffered so that we could be set free. When we follow Christ's example and live for others, we too may suffer. Our goal should be to face suffering as he did - with patience, calmness, and confidence that God is in control of the future.

In Him was no sin - 1 John 3:5 says, "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."

Under the Old Testament sacrifice system, a lamb without blemish was offered as a sacrifice for sin. Jesus is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Because he lived a perfect life and sacrificed himself for our sins, we can be completely forgiven (2:2). We can look back to his death for us and know we need never suffer eternal death (1 Peter 1:18-20).

He knew no sin - 2 Cor 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

When we trust in Christ, we make a trade - our sin for his goodness. Our sin was poured into Christ at his crucifixion. His righteousness is poured into us at our conversion. This is what Christians mean by Christ's atonement for sin. In the world, bartering works only when two people exchange goods of relatively equal value. But God offers to trade his righteousness for our sin - something of immeasurable worth for something worthless. How grateful we should be for his goodness to us.

He was holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from every vile association - Heb 7:26 says, "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;"

Many people take Christ's work on the cross for granted. They don't realized how costly it was for Jesus to secure our forgiveness - it cost him his life (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Because Christ died once and for all, he finished all sacrifices. He forgave sins - past, present and future. The Jews did not need to go back to the old system because Christ, the perfect sacrifice, completed the work of redemption. You need not look for another way to have your sins forgiven. Christ was the final sacrifice for you.

The greatest character that ever lived died the most shameful and undeserved death that was ever experienced.