Jesus Died in Our Place

The Doctrine of Substitution 

The truth about the salvation Jesus offers involves several richly immense concepts—all of which are awe-inspiring. The doctrine of substitution expresses the truth that God saved guilty sinners by sending Jesus to die on their behalf. Believers are saved through faith in Christ because He took our place. Jesus willingly drank to the dregs the cup of wrath that every sinner deserves to drink.1 The New Testament epistles expand the concept of Jesus’s substitution, which was also depicted at the Last Supper.2 When Jesus stood in our place, He bore the full force of God’s wrath for our transgressions. 

Only with Jesus as our substitute can we be counted righteous before a holy God and escape the judgment we deserve. Believers are enveloped in Christ and covered with His righteousness.3 Jesus wore a crown of thorns,4 a symbol of sin’s curse, so that we might be crowned with His righteousness.5 

Without Jesus as your substitute, you will bear God’s wrath for your own sin. Unless you recognize that Jesus bore your deserved punishment in your place, you will face God on a coming day without the substitute you desperately need. To fail to recognize personal sin and Christ’s sacrifice is to ignore the greatest gift of love ever offered. 

With Jesus as your substitute, when God looks at you He sees Jesus’s righteousness, not your sin. The record of your sin will never be charged against you because Jesus’s once for-all sacrifice in effect proclaims, “I paid for that!” The only debt believers owe their Savior is a debt of gratitude. Life has hope and eternity’s glory shines brightly because Jesus willingly offered Himself as a substitute for sinners. 

1. Jesus took our place: Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:25-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:17 

2. Substitution taught at Jesus’s Last Supper: Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20 

3. Covered by Christ’s righteousness: John 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Hebrews 2:9; 9:28; 10:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18 

4. Crown of thorns: John 19:2 

5. Crown of righteousness: 2 Timothy 4:8

Resource: Bible Study Fellowship, People of Promise: Kingdom Divided, Lesson 23, The Gospel of John