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By Jimmy Swaggart
“By analogy, if Jesus became a serpent in nature as this erroneous teaching contends, then healing was provided by Satan, the serpent (Num. 21:4-9), not God.”
II CORINTHIANS 5:21 “FOR HE HAS MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN; THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.”
SIN OR SIN-OFFERING?
The Apostle Paul said, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin” (II Cor. 5:21).
In the Hebrew language the term “chetta’t” is the same word used for both “sin” and “Sin-Offering.” A single Hebrew term translates both words. “Sin” and “Sin-Offering,” then, are one and the same, at least as it regards the Hebrew word. It was the context in which the term was used that expressed whether a person was speaking of “Sin-Offering” or “sin.”
For example, if it was a matter concerning Sacrifices, “chetta’t” was understood to mean a “Sin-Offering.” If the matter was one of offense, the same word would be used; but the people involved would understand the meaning by the usage, the tenor of it.
We as Gentiles may confuse the word, but no Jewish Christian would ever, confuse “sin” with the “Sin-Offering,” even though the two thoughts are both expressed by the same Hebrew term.
It is the same with the terms “trespass” and “Trespass-Offering.” The same Hebrew word is used, “asham,” meaning that Jesus’ Death on the Cross is to be regarded also as a “Trespass-Offering” for sinners and not that He Himself became a “trespass” or “sin” or that He ever Personally “trespassed” or “sinned."
THE SERPENT (SATAN) AND CHRIST
This erroneous doctrine contends on the basis of Numbers, Chapter 21 (which presents the account of the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness for the healing of those bitten) that Jesus was also lifted up as a serpent when He was made sin on the Cross, and at that time took on the evil nature of Satan. They quote, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn. 3:14). From this they take it that Jesus became one with the serpent, Satan, and died spiritually.
However, the account in Numbers Chapter 21 does not support this fantasy. God did send fiery serpents as punishment against the rebellious Israelites. As a result of the intercession of Moses, God directed him to make a figure of a serpent in brass, to be elevated on a pole so that it could be seen from all quarters in the camp. All who looked in Faith in its direction were healed.
Naturally, we understand that the brazen serpent did not produce healing; it was merely an emblem of their sin and signified the nature of Divine Judgment. Their Faith in God’s Promise to heal brought deliverance through their obedience. To look upon an inanimate object (in this case, a serpent of brass) in itself could never produce healing.
By analogy, if Jesus became a serpent in nature as this erroneous teaching contends, then healing was provided by Satan, the serpent (Num. 21:4-9), not God.
What was being spoken of here was the manner in which Jesus would die, not a change in His Nature. As that serpent was lifted up on a pole, Jesus would also be lifted up on a pole, the Cross, bearing the penalty for every sin that has ever been committed and would ever be committed, at least for those who will believe. It signified that He would defeat Satan, by atoning for all sin. Satan’s hold on humanity, which produces guilt and death, is sin. When the sin is removed, which it was by the Atonement of Christ on the Cross, Satan, the serpent, loses his hold, which gives him no more claim on believing sinners. It was all done at the Cross, of which this “pole” was a type.
JESUS, A SINNER?
First of all, we know that all men are the children of wrath (Rom. 3:9; 5:12; Eph. 2:3). But we also know that Jesus lived without committing any act of sin (Jn. 14:30; II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15).
The “Jesus died spiritually” teachers say that Jesus did not Personally sin, but He was made by God to be Sin, that He took upon Himself the sinfulness of the human race and became evil with Satan’s nature.
Of course, this is impossible. Sin is a personal act of disobedience to the Will of God, and Jesus never once disobeyed His Father, and certainly not when He hung on the Cross.
Sin is not something tangible like a coat of black paint that God could drape over His Son, nor is it some type of inoculation of germs that Scientists could inject into the bloodstream as the Nazis did to some of their victims in World War II. Sin is an act (whether deed, word, or thought) that a person must personally commit. This fact alone rules out any possibility that Jesus could be made sin.
In the study of Biblical Theology, the Scriptural Doctrine of imputation shows that sin or Righteousness can be imputed or charged to another’s account in a legal sense. Applied to Jesus and His Sacrifice as a Sin-Offering, this indicates that He did not become sin, but remained sinless that He might be able to bear the punishment for our guilt that was imputed to Him. In other words, Jesus did not bear the wickedness and the filth of our sinful nature, but He did bear the terrible punishment that should have been poured out on us. In other words, although innocent, He suffered the penalty for the sin we should have suffered.
Our punishment was imputed to Him. Our sins, in regard to their moral character, are our own. They could not by imputation, other than a legal way, become someone else’s. However, Jesus Christ could take upon Himself the punishment for the guilt of our sins, which has reference to the legal liabilities that Christ assumed on our behalf.
So the transfer of our sins to Jesus Christ was not a transfer of the actual transgressions themselves — that is not possible — but Christ made Himself liable to endure the penalty for our sins. On the Cross and in His Death, Christ was a holy, spotless Sin-Offering. To have been anything otherwise would have violated the Old Testament Type and would have disqualified Him as an acceptable Substitute to God.
JESUS, JUSTIFIED IN HELL?
These teachers conclude from the phrase, “Justified in the Spirit” (I Tim. 3:16) that Jesus Himself had to be justified, that He had to be made sin and possess an evil, Satanic nature. Thus, it is said, He had to be made Righteous once more, justified and Born-Again, but according to the Greek “to justify” is “to declare Righteous” or “to show to be Righteous.” Jesus was evinced to be Righteous as to His Spiritual Nature.
The Bible, in this Passage, was not saying that Jesus was being made Righteous but that His Righteousness was being announced. Jesus never ceased to be Righteous, He never ceased to be just.
Without any Scriptural support whatsoever, these teachers declare, “Suddenly God justified Jesus in the pit (Hell) and He was Born-Again.”
God did not arbitrarily wave His Hand over Christ and say, “Be Thou cleansed,” and suddenly Jesus was justified (made Righteous, Born-Again, and restored to Sonship with the Father). There is no Scriptural basis for this doctrine. In fact, it is made up out of whole cloth.
JESUS, ABANDONED BY GOD?
Was Jesus abandoned by God at Calvary? No! Jesus was God’s Own Sacrifice, chosen by Him (Isa. Chpt. 53; Jn. 1:29; 3:16), and never out of Divine favor for one moment. He was called “An Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a Sweetsmelling Savour” (Eph. 5:2). This is in perfect harmony with the Old Testament teaching that the Sin-Offering was most holy to God (Lev. Chpt. 6).
First of all, it is impossible to separate the Godhead — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). If Jesus had died spiritually, then at the Cross — by His being lost — He would have divided the Godhead, or at the least had made the entire Godhead sinful and in need of the New Birth.
The idea of dividing up the Godhead for three days by sending the Son of God to Hell as a lost sinner, totally abandoned by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, is totally ridiculous. This spurious teaching even goes so far as to say that God was no longer the Father of Jesus while He was in Hell.
When Jesus uttered the words on the Cross, “My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Jesus was quoting from a prophetic Passage (Ps. 22:1). He also said, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28), an utterance based upon another Old Testament Prophecy (Ps. 69:21). When He uttered these words, “My God, My God,” the religious leaders and the people around the Cross misinterpreted what He said, by saying “This Man calleth for Elias (Elijah)” (Mat. 27:47).
With these words Jesus consciously identified Himself as the One of Whom the Old Testament Prophecies spoke. It is even believed by some Scholars that Jesus recited all of Psalm 22 as well as other Prophecies concerning Him while He hung on the Cross for several hours. We do know, of course, that not everything Jesus did was recorded. Only a small portion was recorded (Jn. 21:25).
Was Jesus forsaken by God? No, He was not. God had temporarily “turned His Face aside,” in that Jesus was suffering the penalty for all sin which was death, and that instead of delivering His Son from death, which He did on several occasions (Jn. 7:30), the Father instead, delivered Him up unto death, in that He became a Sin-Offering for others; but this was not abandonment. Jesus Himself said, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (Jn. 16:32). He could say this because “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Cor. 5:19).
JESUS, PHYSICAL OR SPIRITUAL DEATH?
The Bible states again and again that Jesus offered up His “Body” as a Sacrifice for our sins, that He was put to death “in the flesh.” In other words, Jesus died physically but not spiritually. Nowhere in the Word of God does it tell us that Jesus died in His Spirit. It does say, however, that . . . “Christ . . . His Own Self bare our sins in His Own Body on the Tree” (I Pet. 2:21-24).
“Christ . . . (was) put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (I Pet. 3:18).
“Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh” (I Pet. 4:1).
“He reconciled (us) in the Body of His flesh through death” (Col. 1:21-22).
“We are sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
“(He) abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the Law of Commandments” (Eph. 2:15).
So while the Scriptures repeatedly stress that Jesus offered up His Body and His Flesh as a Sacrifice for sin, not once do they say He died in His Spirit.
In fact, God could not die spiritually. Else why would the Son of God need a Body of flesh? He took on flesh so that He could die physically on behalf of sinners, as had the Old Testament Type.
The erroneous teaching, of the Jesus Died Spiritually Doctrine, is that the shedding of Jesus’ Blood was insignificant. The following are some of the ridiculous theories of this doctrine:
1. When His Blood was poured out, it did not atone. (How silly can we be?)
2. Jesus bled only a few drops, and when people sing about the Blood of Jesus, they do not know what they are talking about.
3. Jesus’ Death on the Cross was relatively insignificant, in that this was just a part of all that He did, with Redemption actually being accomplished when He was Born-Again in Hell.
To comment on these would be a foolish waste of time. The efficacy of the Atonement did not depend on how much Blood was shed on the Cross, or how much time was involved in the process of dying. The validity of the Atonement depended on the fact that the Son of God shed His spotless Blood and died on our behalf.
JESUS, BORN-AGAIN?
This false teaching also claims that:
1. Jesus was Born-Again in the pit of Hell as the first Man to be Born-Again under the New Covenant. The proponents of this doctrine apparently are referring to the Verse that says, “God . . . hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the Second Psalm, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee’” (Acts 13:33).
2. He was the first begotten from spiritual death, citing, “Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead” (Rev. 1:5).
3. Jesus started the Church in Hell when He was Born-Again in the pit, citing, “(Jesus became) the Firstborn among many Brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
4. He was Righteous while on Earth, on the Cross became unrighteous, went to Hell, then in the pit was made Righteous once more.
That seems strange when the Bible says He is unchangeable (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8).
The first thing we must make clear is that two different English terms were used by the King James translators to translate the same Greek word. “Firstborn” and “First Begotten” are both taken from the Greek word “prototokos.” “First Begotten” (Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5) is “Firstborn.” “Begotten” (Acts 13:33), a different Greek word altogether refers to the physical Resurrection of Jesus and completely rules out the fanciful notion that Jesus was Born-Again in Hell.
In the preceding Verses (Acts 13:16-32) Paul spoke of Christ’s physical Death and the Burial of His Body in a sepulcher. Verses 30-33 speak of His physical Resurrection from the dead. The Resurrection of Jesus in the Bible always has reference to the Resurrection of His Body and not His Spirit, since His Spirit did not die (Lk. 24:36-46; I Cor. 15:20-23).
The term “Firstborn” in Scripture is used not only to refer to the physical birth of the first child into a family, but also to speak of position and inheritance rights. So the term refers not merely to birth, but also to birthright as well as to position or status. The Firstborn always held a special position in God’s Sight, possessing special rights and privileges.
In this same sense Jesus Christ is called the “Firstborn” (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:6). The term in such Passages speaks of position, rank, legal rights, and special privileges. It never has any reference to the New Birth (being Born-Again).
JESUS, IN HELL?
Jesus did go down into Paradise, which was a part of Hell, where the Righteous souls — such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and other Old Testament Saints — were kept against their will. These souls were not in the burning part of the pit, but rather in the place commonly referred to as “Abraham’s bosom” or “Paradise.” This is the place to which Jesus was referring when He said to the dying thief, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43). He was speaking of that place in the heart of the Earth where He would go. The other thief would go to the punishment side of Hell where the rich man was (Lk. 16:19-31).
After Jesus died on the Cross, He went down into Paradise. Then the Bible says, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive” (Eph. 4:8). In other words, those Righteous souls who were kept against their will in the side of Hell called Paradise were led by Jesus to Heaven (like an earthly conqueror). That is what Scripture means when it says Christ descended first into Hell, the lower parts of the Earth (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27; Eph. 4:8-10). He captured the Righteous souls from Satan, who had actually been held captive by Satan, who hoped eventually to get them over into the burning side of the pit, but was defeated by Jesus Christ on the Cross, with Christ leading these individuals captive to Heaven when He ascended on high. This fulfilled Psalms 68:18.
Prior to this, all Righteous souls went into “Hades” or “Sheol,” along with the souls of the wicked who went to another compartment. These two compartments had a great gulf between them (Lk. 16:19-31). Satan could take all the Old Testament Saints down there and hold them captive against their will, simply because the sin debt had not yet been paid. To be sure, they were saved, that is if Jesus actually satisfied the sin debt on the Cross by dying, which paid all the wages of that monster, which He did (Rom. 6:23).
Now, due to what Jesus did at the Cross and the Resurrection, the souls of the Righteous no longer go into the heart of the Earth at death to be held captive against their will. They go immediately to Heaven at physical death to await the Resurrection of the body (II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21-24; Heb. 2:20; Rev. 6:9-11).
The wicked will continue to go unto the torment compartment of “hades” or “sheol” until the end of the Millennium. Then death and “hades” will deliver up the wicked souls, which will be reunited with their body and resurrected to be sentenced to the Lake of Fire forever (Rev. 20:11-15).
In this context a person could say that Jesus went to Hell, but it in no way means that He went down into the burning flames into the pit as a sinner. Nor was He molested by Satan, triumphed over by the powers of darkness, and then suddenly justified by God and Born-Again as the “Firstborn among many Brethren” (Rom. 8:29). This is an erroneous teaching that does not understand the Scripture sense of the Atonement and the vicarious Sacrifice paid by Jesus Christ at Calvary’s Cross as a Sin-Offering.
No, Jesus, as this false teaching claims, did not die as a sinner on the Cross. He did not go to the burning (punishment) side of Hell. He was not placed under Satan’s domain. He was not subject to the evil one. He was the Perfect Sacrifice as our Substitute, given up as a Sin-Offering. He died physically on our behalf, suffering the penalty of the broken law in our stead, taking the punishment we should have taken, thereby satisfying the terrible sin debt. He did not die spiritually, only physically.
(The above article was derived from the Jimmy Swaggart Bible Commentary, “Philippians”, Chapter 1.)
My wife and I have followed your ministry for years and words fail me to express the gratitude for all the Lord has done and continues to do for us both (in our personal lives and our marriage)! Since the Lord has brought us into the revelation of the true gospel - the message of the cross - the joy and freedom we have found cannot really be expressed! Please, brother Jimmy, don't stop what God has called you to... and if you go home before we do... save us a few moments in eternity to hug your neck (and perhaps in our glorified bodies we'll have the vocabulary to properly thank you for your faithfulness). There are at least 13 apostles I want to see there... may be more... but I assure you, my brother, you are one! God's richest blessings upon you, your growing family and all the 'family' at JSM and FWC!