“You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
On December 20, 1936, J. Gresham Machen, the great champion of Presbyterian orthodoxy, delivered a radio address titled “The Active Obedience of Christ,” in which he explained the significance of the Savior’s sinless obedience to the Father.
He spoke these words: “I have not merited eternal life by my own perfect obedience. God knows, and my own conscience knows that even after I became a Christian I have sinned in thought, word, and deed. But although I have not merited eternal life by any obedience of my own, Christ has merited it for me by his perfect obedience.”
This radio address was certainly still on his mind when, in North Dakota just a few days later, he contracted pneumonia. From his deathbed he dictated a telegram to his colleague John Murray, “I’m so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.”
The apostle Peter, in his first letter, highlights the same aspect of the Savior’s work that Machen possessed as his dying hope: Christ is the “lamb without blemish” (1:19). Peter makes it clear that to redeem lost sinners, silver and gold are not valuable enough (1:18). No bank account, stock portfolio, or possession that can be bought with money can redeem you from your dead past and hopeless future under Satan’s tyranny and sin’s curse.
Only one thing can purchase your redemption: “the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1:19).
Blameless Lamb
In the Old Testament, God appointed regular sacrifices to remind Israel of the guilt of its sin and its broken fellowship with God. One requirement for the sacrificial animals — whether the yearly Passover lamb or the animals offered daily as burnt, freewill, or peace offerings — was this: they must be “without blemish” (Exodus 12:5, Numbers 28:3,9). Yahweh did not permit any defect; the animals could not be blind, disabled, mutilated, scabbed, torn, or cut (Leviticus 22:17-25).
But why was physical perfection necessary? Michael Morales points out that it represented moral perfection:
The Hebrew term for “without blemish” refers to “blamelessness” or “wholeheartedness in devotion to YHWH”… . The animal, a vicarious substitute for the worshipper, represents a blameless proxy through its physical wholeness, being without spot or blemish. YHWH’s heavenly abode may only be approached through a blameless substitute, through a life of wholehearted submission to the will of God.
Total Submission
These unblemished sacrificial lambs all pointed to Jesus’ sinless submission to the Father’s will. During his earthly ministry, Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46). They would have gladly accused Jesus if they could, but their mouths remained shut. Jesus proclaimed, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34).
The book of Hebrews testifies that Jesus is “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). And in setting forth Christ as the once-for-all sacrifice able to take away sin, it puts the words of Psalm 40 in his mouth: “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (Hebrews 10:7).
Complete Sinlessness
Jesus’ spotlessness becomes even more remarkable when we stop to consider what a sinless life entails.
On the one hand, Jesus was free from the stain of original sin. He possessed a true human nature, and yet when conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, he was supernaturally preserved from the taint of Adam’s first sin.
Augustine said, “There was born, not a nature corrupted by the contagion of transgression … .” Satan had no foothold in him. Christ’s judgment was never clouded by sin. It never seemed natural to obey a wicked passion. If you delved as deeply as possible into Jesus’s soul, you’d never find any corruption, only perfect, whole, sinless humanity.
On the other hand, Jesus was also free from committing any actual sin. As a young boy, he never once spoke to his parents disrespectfully. As a young man, he never once entertained a lustful thought. He never coveted another person’s belongings, failed to use the Sabbath Day for holy purposes, or flew off the handle when provoked.
Even when he was unjustly crucified, “he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). He never spoke a thoughtless word that hurt his friends or shaded the truth to his own advantage. He never had to repent to his Father or seek forgiveness from someone that he wronged. He always loved the Lord his God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loved his neighbor as himself.
Peter, having known Jesus intimately and closely witnessed his life, could give this testimony: he was “without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).
Sinners’ Only Hope
Christ, the spotless lamb, is the only fit substitute for sinners. This is why Machen could say of Christ’s active obedience, “There is no hope without it.”
God saves us through an act of double imputation. Our sins are imputed to our sinless substitute. He suffered the curse that we deserved, covering our guilt and shame. And then his obedience is imputed to us, so God looks upon us as righteous. God rewards us with eternal life through Christ’s merit alone. Oh, what a beautiful, all-sufficient Savior we have, the “lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19), our only Redeemer.
Machen’s favorite hymn says it so well:
There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
of heav’n, and let us in.
Rob Hill serves as senior pastor of West Springfield Covenant Community Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts.