He was bruised for our Iniquities

"He was bruised for our iniquities”

The word “iniquities” refer to the root/origin and the cause of our sin(s) which points to our sinful nature. Our nature is to sin because it is constituted sinful. The NIV translates “flesh” as “sinful nature” (the NLT translation also translates 7:5 as “sinful nature”),7

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Rom.7:18).

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (7:25).

Paul contrasts Adam and Christ in a key section of his letter to the

Romans (5:12-21), In v19 he writes,

“For as by one man's disobedience many were made (constituted) sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made (constituted) righteous” (v19).

No evangelical Christian would deny the consequence of sin as stated by Paul here, which is the sad reality of a nature constituted sinful. In the cross Jesus did not only dies for our sins, but He also died for our sin nature.

Carefully examine this chapter and you find no reference to personal sin with regards to the Lord’s suffering Servant, - I am referring specifically to the period of His intense sufferings on the cross. His temptations on the cross far exceeded anything He had encountered during his lifetime of service. He did not suffer due to His own sin because He had not sinned, rather he had fulfilled all righteousness. I read that His sufferings were for our sin. The sin bearer must be sinless in order to suffer vicarious suffering and death (on our behalf), for sinful men and women. Speaking of a sin bearer points to linking His suffering death with our sins and therefore we speak of penal suffering and death. The Messiah paid the price for our sin. He suffered the wrath of God’s justice against sin. His death for sin is thus the basis on which we are forgiven and justified before God. Peace with God is the result of God’s pronouncement of our justification and the Holy Spirit witnesses in our conscience to this fact.

Although the holiness of the Lord’s Servant is not stated it is implied due to the fact that He takes upon Himself the judgment of God on our behalf. Certainly, His qualities of character are demonstrated in His passive submission to Father and His active obedience in embracing the cross as Father’s only means of gaining our salvation.

Peter points to the sinlessness of Jesus with regard to His sufferings on the cross by quoting Isa.53:9 and v7 (1Pet.2:22-25). He views the cross through the eyes of Isaiah, fully endorsing his theology of the cross,

“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: 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. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1Pet.2:22-25).

The continued submissive obedience of the Servant to the sufferings of crucifixion called for all the resources of His nature. We often confuse passive submission with passivity of nature. No one could remain passive when confronted with the atrocities of the cross. Submission to God calls for all the resources of our nature. To bow the knee to Jesus is to deny all human passivity and to actively repent and obey the divine summons to follow Him. To understand the dangers of passivity with regard to Christian experience I suggest you read Mrs Jessie PennLewis War on the Saints.

Isaiah links the suffering of the Lord’s Servant with our transgressions and our iniquities. He was pierced for our transgressions. This verse says He was pierced and crushed on account of our sins which He had taken on Himself, causing Him to suffer such a cruel death. Transgressions is the wilful and rebelliousness of sin, the deliberate flouting of the LORD and His law. Iniquities reflect the bentness or perverseness of human nature … the result of the ever-flowing fount of sin. Our transgressions have to do with the Law, and are defined by the apostle John as sin,

“Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1Jn.3:4 KJV).

Iniquities are the tangible outcome of our sinful nature. The Hebrew word means, “to bend, bend double,” and quotes David’s graphic picture of sin (Ps.38:6-7), as reflecting, “the bentness or perverseness of human nature. But by His death the Servant bore our punishment.” The punishment necessary to restore our peace with God.