NOTES for Pe1 2:24

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²⁴Who 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.

Speaking about the Savior's earthly ministry, Peter, like the other apostles, pays special attention to His death on the cross. He sees the meaning of precisely this death in the fact that it made possible for the faithful complete deliverance from the power of sin, opening righteousness to them in all its fullness. What does he mean?

Of course, by this time the Jewish people already knew well the examples of righteous people who ended their lives as martyrs, and many of those examples belonged to comparatively recent times. Each such example became a living testimony that righteousness is more important than life; that the main question of human life is not how long one lives - and not even whether one lives or dies - but how one lives and how one dies. And Jesus' death on the cross was a perfect proof of this, especially since, unlike an ordinary fallen human being, death was not inevitable for Him at all: He made His choice free from the thought that sooner or later He would have to die - a thought that makes the prospect of a soon martyr's end easier for some people.

But if Jesus' martyr's death had simply been the death of a righteous man and witness, it would have differed in no way from the death of those who died for their righteousness or for their testimony long before His coming into the world. Such a death can be an example for others, but it cannot free anyone from sin, which in our fallen world weighs upon everyone. The point, however, is that Jesus died not simply as a witness of the Kingdom. He died for the sake of the Kingdom He brought into the world. Had He refused His earthly path (and in a fallen world that path inevitably had to end in violent death), the Kingdom would not have entered our world and would have remained alien to it. Then, of course, there would be no question of any victory over sin or any fullness of righteousness. Then nothing in the world would have changed at all; even today it would remain what it had been for many millennia before Christ's coming.

And the apostle, of course, understands this perfectly. He understands who Jesus is and what He has done. And he reminds the recipients of his letter of this, because without such understanding there is no Christianity.

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For Pe1 2:24

²⁴Who 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.

Speaking about the earthly ministry of the Savior, Peter, quite as the other apostles, pays a special attention on His death on the cross. And it is in particular the meaning of such a death that he sees in the fact that it made possible for the believers the total liberation from the power of sin, opening them righteousness in all its plenitude. What he means then? Of course, the examples of righteous men, which ended their life in martyr, at the moment of the Jewish people, were already well known, and some of them are related in to relatively recent times. Each of such an example became the living witness on the fact that righteousness is more important than life, that the main question of the human life is not how long we are going to live, and even not if we are going to live or die, but rather how to live and how to die.

The death of Jesus on the cross was a tremendous proof of it, especially that, unlike the common fallen man, for Him death was inevitable at all: He made His choice, being freed from the idea that sooner or later it will be necessary for Him to die, which facilitates to some the idea of the fast end of agonies. But if the death of Jesus was simply the death of a righteous and a witness, it wouldn’t distinguish itself at all from the death of those who died for their righteousness or their witness, long time before His coming to the world. Such a death can be an example for others, but it can free nobody from sin, which in our fallen world hangs over everyone. And in this is the problem that Jesus died not simply as a witness of the Kingdom. He died for the sake of the Kingdom that He brought in the world.

If He refused His earthly path (and in the fallen world this path had to end inevitably with a violent death), the Kingdom would not have entered our world, but remained foreign to it. And then, one could speak of course about no victory on sin, about no plenitude of righteousness. Nothing then was going to change in the world generally, and it would remain today such as it was several millenniums before the coming of Christ. And the apostle, certainly, understands this perfectly. He understands who Jesus is and what He has done. And reminds that to the addressees of his message: because without such an understanding, there is no Christianity.

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NOTES for Pe1 2:24

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