the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Discovering Christ Day by Day
Today’s Reading: 1 John 1-5
“In him is no sin.”
1 John 3:5
The Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to take away our sins; and in him there is no sin. Though he was made sin for us, our Lord Jesus Christ had no sin of his own. “He knew no sin, neither was any guile found in his mouth.” “He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” In order for him to be a suitable sacrifice for sin, it was necessary that our Savior be without sin. The sinner’s Substitute must himself be innocent, righteous, and holy.
Made Sin
Yet, in order to redeem us from our sins and to justify us before God, the Son of God had to be made sin for us. When the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, our guilt was made his guilt, and our curse was made his curse. Being made sin for us, our sin and our guilt was imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ; and God’s holy law exacted from him the just penalty of our sins. “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.”
No Sin
Now, having taken our sins upon himself, suffering for us the just penalty of our sins, our glorious Mediator in heaven once again has no sin. That One who sits in heaven and makes intercession for us has no sin. We know and are assured that God will accept him and will accept his intercession for us, because he is perfect. He is holy. He has no sin. This is the basis of our assurance and confidence with God. We have a perfect Substitute and Sacrifice whom the Father will accept.
No Sin in Him
But here, as he was infallibly inspired by God the Holy Ghost, the Apostle John is speaking of those who are in Christ. He is telling us that in Christ we have no sin. In ourselves we are sinners. The old nature of sin is with us, and will be with us so long as we are in this world. Anyone who denies this is a liar, and makes God a liar. But before God, in the sight of God, those who are in Christ by a living faith have no sin. “He was manifested to take away our sins.” And he has done it: “And in him is no sin.” The all-seeing eye of God’s holy law sees no sin in his elect (Numbers 23:21), because in Christ we have no sin.
In the covenant of grace God promised that he would forgive us of our sins and remember them no more (Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:10-12; Hebrews 10:16-18). The means whereby he has accomplished this blessed forgiveness of sin is the substitutionary sacrifice of his dear Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ has, by his one atoning sacrifice, put away our sins; and they are no more (Romans 8:3; Colossians 2:14). “Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, It is well with my soul.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sins by his great atonement, God will never charge with sin, in anyway whatsoever, those for whom Christ suffered and died. “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Now, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are freed from sin. Being united to him by faith, we have no sin in him (Romans 6:7-8; 1 Peter 4:1-2). Trusting Christ as our Representative and Substitute, we fulfill the law of God perfectly and completely, because he fulfilled the law for us, as our Representative (Romans 8:4).
Child of the living God, get hold of this blessed revelation of the gospel and rejoice in it — “In him is no sin!”
Did you hear what Jesus said to me?
“They’re all taken away:
Your sins are pardoned, and you are free:
They’re all taken away!”
If we are in Christ, we are no longer under the dominion of sin; we are no longer subject to condemnation because of sin; in the eyes of the law we are no longer guilty of or accountable for sin; and we will never be charged with or punished for sin. Sin cannot be justly punished where sin is not found. Blessed be God for his great grace which put us “in Christ.” — “And in him is no sin!”
