Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Peter 2:24

"who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed." — 1 Peter 2:24 (ASV)

Who his own self. (See Hebrews 1:3, on the phrase when he had by himself purged our sins.) The meaning is that he did it in his own person; he did not make expiation by offering a bloody victim, but was himself the sacrifice.

Bare our sins. There is an allusion here undoubtedly to Isaiah 53:4, 12. (The meaning of the phrase "to bear sins" is fully considered in the notes on those passages.) As this cannot mean that Christ so took upon himself the sins of men as to become himself a sinner, it must mean that he put himself in the place of sinners and bore what those sins deserved. That is, he endured in his own person what, if it had been inflicted on the sinner himself, would have been a proper expression of God's displeasure against sin, or would have been a proper punishment for sin. (See 2 Corinthians 5:21).

He was treated as if he had been a sinner, so that we might be treated as if we had not sinned—that is, as if we were righteous. There is no other way we can conceive of one person bearing the sins of another. They cannot be literally transferred to another; all that can be meant is that he should take the consequences on himself and suffer as if he had committed the transgressions himself.

In his own body. This undoubtedly alludes to his sufferings. The sufferings he endured on the cross were such as if he had been guilty; that is, he was treated as he would have been if he had been a sinner. He was treated as a malefactor and crucified as the most guilty were.

He endured the same kind of bodily pain that the guilty experience when punished for their own sins, and passed through mental sorrows strongly resembling—as much as the case allowed—what the guilty themselves experience when left to distressing anguish of mind and abandoned by God. The Savior's sufferings were in all respects made as nearly like the sufferings of the most guilty as the sufferings of a perfectly innocent being could be.

On the tree. The margin reads, "to the tree." Greek: epi to xulon. The meaning is rather, as in the text, that while on the cross himself, he bore the sorrows our sins deserved. It does not mean that he conveyed our sorrows there, but that while there he suffered under the intolerable burden and was crushed to death by that burden. The phrase "on the tree," literally "on the wood," means the cross. The same Greek word is used in Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29; and Galatians 3:13 as applicable to the cross, in all of which places it is rendered tree.

That we, being dead to sins. His being put to death as an atoning sacrifice, by virtue of his having thus been suspended on a cross, was the means by which we become dead to sin and live to God. The phrase "being dead to sins" is, in the original, taiv amartiaiv apogenomenoi, literally, "to be absent from sins." The Greek word was probably used (as a euphemism) to denote to die—that is, to be absent from the world. This is a milder and less repulsive word than saying to die. It is not used elsewhere in the New Testament.

The meaning is that we, being effectually separated from sin (that is, being in such a state that it no longer influences us), should live unto God. In regard to sin, we are to be as if we were dead; it is to have no more influence over us than if we were in our graves. .

The means by which this is brought about is the death of Christ ; for as he died literally on the cross on account of our sins, the effect has been to lead us to see the evil of transgression and to lead new and holy lives.

Should live unto righteousness. Though dead in respect to sin, we still have real life in another respect. We are made alive unto God, unto righteousness, unto true holiness. (Galatians 2:20).

By whose stripes. This is taken from Isaiah 53:5 (see the notes on that verse for an explanation). The word rendered "stripes" (mwlwpi) properly means the livid and swollen mark of a blow—the mark we designate by the expression "black and blue." It is not properly a bloody wound, but one made by pinching, beating, or scourging.

The idea seems to be that the Savior was scourged or whipped, and that the effect on us in producing spiritual healing, or in recovering us from our faults, is the same as if we had been scourged ourselves. By faith we see the bruises inflicted on him, the black and blue spots made by beating; we remember that they were on account of our sins, and not for his. The effect in reclaiming us is the same as if they had been inflicted on us.

Ye were healed. Sin is often spoken of as a disease, and redemption from it as a restoration from a deadly malady. See this explained in the notes on Isaiah 53:5.