Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.
his own self.
Exodus 28:38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.
Leviticus 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Leviticus 22:9 They shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die therefore, if they profane it: I the LORD do sanctify them.
on.
Deuteronomy 21:22,23 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: …
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Acts 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
being.
1 Peter 4:1,2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; …
Romans 6:2,7,11 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? …
Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
live.
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 1:74,75 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, …
Acts 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
by.
Isaiah 53:5,6 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed…
Matthew 27:26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Mark 15:15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness
This phrase indicates the purpose of Christ's sacrifice: transformation and sanctification of believers. "Die to sin" implies a decisive break from the power and penalty of sin, echoing Romans 6:2-11, where believers are described as being dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. "Live to righteousness" suggests a new way of life characterized by obedience and holiness, reflecting the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). This transformation is not merely moral but spiritual, enabled by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).
“By His stripes you are healed.”
This phrase is a direct quotation from Isaiah 53:5, linking Christ's suffering to the healing of believers. "Stripes" refers to the physical wounds inflicted on Jesus during His scourging, a common Roman practice before crucifixion, which fulfills the prophecy of the suffering servant. The term "healed" can be understood both physically and spiritually, indicating the comprehensive nature of salvation. While some interpret this as physical healing, the broader context suggests spiritual restoration and reconciliation with God, as seen in passages like Psalm 103:3 and James 5:15. This healing is a present reality and a future hope, pointing to the ultimate restoration in the new creation (Revelation 21:4).
Peter starts with a staggering statement of substitution: “He Himself bore our sins.”
• Jesus personally carried our guilt; no proxy, no angel—just Him (Isaiah 53:4-6).
• The load was not partial; “our sins” means the full catalogue (Hebrews 9:28).
• John declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), mirroring Peter’s words.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 underscores the transaction: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.”
This phrase grounds our salvation in Christ’s voluntary, once-for-all sacrifice.
The sin-bearing happened “in His body,” highlighting real blood, real flesh.
• Colossians 1:22 reminds us we are reconciled “by His physical body through death.”
• 1 Peter 3:18 repeats the theme: “Christ also suffered for sins once for all… He was put to death in the body.”
• Hebrews 10:10 says we are sanctified “through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
God did not punish an idea or a vision; He judged sin in the literal body of His Son.
The cross is called “the tree,” linking to Deuteronomy 21:22-23 where a hanged man is under God’s curse.
• Galatians 3:13 explains, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.”
• By using “tree,” Peter shows Jesus stepped into the cursed place we deserved.
• John 19:17-18 records the historical moment—Jesus nailed to wood outside Jerusalem.
The curse fell on Him so that the blessing could fall on us.
Christ’s purpose is transformative: believers “die to sin.”
• Romans 6:6-7 says our old self was crucified with Him so we “would no longer be slaves to sin.”
• Romans 6:11 urges, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God.”
• Colossians 3:5 calls us to “put to death” earthly passions because we share in Christ’s death.
His cross breaks sin’s dominion, freeing us to say no to what once mastered us.
Salvation is not mere subtraction of guilt; it’s addition of new life.
• Romans 6:13: “Offer yourselves to God… instruments of righteousness.”
• Ephesians 2:10: we are created in Christ for good works prepared in advance.
• Titus 2:14: He redeemed us “to purify for Himself a people eager to do good.”
The same grace that kills the old nature empowers joyful obedience and visible holiness.
Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5 word-for-word, connecting physical wounds to spiritual healing.
• The lashes Jesus bore purchase wholeness—primarily the healing of our sin-ruined souls (Psalm 103:2-3).
• Matthew 8:16-17 links the verse to Christ’s earthly healings, showing the atonement’s reach touches body and soul.
• Every scar on His back preaches that God’s justice is satisfied; therefore, restoration is available now and forever.
1 Peter 2:24 stacks six truths like stepping-stones: Christ alone carried our sins, in a real body, upon the curse-bearing cross, to free us from sin’s power and launch us into righteous living, sealing the deal with healing bought by His wounds. The verse answers both the “how” and the “why” of salvation—showing a Savior who does not merely forgive on paper but radically re-creates people for godly, healed life.
(24) Who his own self.--This verse, like the "for you" in 1Peter 2:21, is intended to make the readers feel the claims of gratitude, not to set before them another point in which Christ was to be imitated. But at the same time it serves to enforce still more strongly the two points already mentioned--i.e., sinlessness and suffering. So far was Christ from "doing sins," that He actually His own self bore ours, and in so doing endured the extremity of anguish "in His own body," so that He could sympathise with the corporal chastisements of these poor servants; and "on the tree," too, the wicked slave's death.Bare our sins . . . on the tree.--This brings us face to face with a great mystery; and to add to the difficulty of the interpretation, almost each word is capable of being taken in several different ways. Most modern scholars are agreed to reject "on the tree," in favour of the marginal "to," the proper meaning of the Greek preposition, when connected (as here) with the accusative, being what is expressed in colloquial English by the useful compound "on-to the tree." It is, however, not obligatory to see motion consciously intended in this preposition and accusative everywhere. It is used, for instance, Mark 4:38, of sleeping on the pillow; in 2Corinthians 3:15, of the veil resting upon their hearts; in Revelation 4:4, of the elders sitting upon their thrones. This word, then, will give us but little help to discover the meaning of the word translated "bare." (1) That verb means literally "to carry or take up," and is used thus in Matthew 17:1, Mark 9:2, of taking the disciples up the Mount of Transfiguration; and in Luke 24:51, of Jesus being carried up into heaven: therefore Hammond, Grimm, and others would here understand it to be, "He carried our sins up with Him on-to the tree," there to expiate them by His death. (2) A much commoner meaning of the word is that which it bears in 1Peter 2:5, "to offer up" (so also in Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 13:15; James 2:21). The substantive formed from it (Anaphora) is still the liturgical term for the sacrificial section of the Eucharistic service. This interpretation is somewhat tempting, because the very preposition here used, with the very same case, appears in James 2:21, and frequently in the Old Testament, together with our present verb, for "to offer up upon the altar." In this way it would be, "He offered up our sins in His own body on the altar of the cross." So Luther and others take it. This would be perfect, were it not for the strangeness of regarding the sins themselves as a sacrifice to be offered on the altar. The only way to make sense of it in that case would be to join very closely "our sins in His own body"--i.e., as contained and gathered up in His own sinless body, which might come to nearly the same thing as saying that He "offered up His own body laden with our sins" upon that altar. (3) Both these renderings, however, pass over the fact that St. Peter is referring to Isaiah 53. In the English version of that chapter, "hath borne," "shall bear," "bare," appears in 1Peter 2:4; 1Peter 2:11-12, indifferently; but the Hebrew is not the same in each case, for in 1Peter 2:11 the word for "shall bear" is identical with that rightly rendered "carry" in 1Peter 2:4, and has not the same signification as that which appears as "to bear" in 1Peter 2:4; 1Peter 2:12. The difference between these two Hebrew roots seems to be that the verb sabal in 1Peter 2:11 means "to carry," as a porter carries a load, or as our Lord carried His cross; while the verb nasa,' used in 1Peter 2:4 and 1Peter 2:12, means rather "to lift or raise," which might, of course, be the action preparatory to that other of "carrying." Now, the Greek word which we have here undoubtedly better represents nasa' than sabal, but the question is complicated by the fact that the LXX. uses it to express both alike in 1Peter 2:11-12, observing at the same time the distinction between "iniquities" and "sin," while in 1Peter 2:4 (where again it reads "our sins" instead of "our griefs") it adopts a simpler verb; and St. Peter's language here seems to be affected by all three passages. The expression "our sins" (which comes in so strangely with the use of "you" all round) seems a reminiscence of 1Peter 2:4 (LXX.). The order in which the words occur is precisely the order of 1Peter 2:11, and the tense points to 1Peter 2:12, as well as the parallel use in Hebrews 9:28, where the presence of the words "of many" proves that the writer was thinking of 1Peter 2:12. We cannot say for certain, then, whether St. Peter meant to represent nasa' or sabal. We have some clue, however, to the way in which the Greek word was used, by finding it in Numbers 14:33, where the "whoredoms" of the fathers are said to be "borne" by their children (the Hebrew there being nasa'). Many instances in classical Greek lead to the conclusion that in such cases it implies something being laid or inflicted from without upon the person who "bears." Thus, in Numbers 14:33, it will be, "your children will have to bear your whoredoms," or, "will have laid upon them your whoredoms." In Hebrews 9:28 it will be, "Christ was once for all presented (at the altar), to have the sins of many laid upon Him." Here it will be, "Who His own self had our sins laid upon His body on the tree." Then comes a further question. The persons who hold the substitute theory of the Atonement assert that "our sins" here stands for "the punishment of our sins." This is, however, to use violence with words; we might with as good reason translate 1Peter 2:22, "Who did, or performed, no punishment for sin." St. Peter asserts that Christ, in His boundless sympathy with fallen man, in His union with all mankind through the Incarnation whereby He became the second Adam, actually took, as His own, our sins, as well as everything else belonging to us. He was so identified with us, that in the great Psalm of the Messianic sacrifice, He calls them "My sins" (Psalm 40:12), sinless as He was. (See St. Matthew's interpretation of the same thought, Matthew 8:17.) . . .
Verse 24. - Who his own self, bare our sins in his own body on the tree. St. Peter has thus far spoken of our Lord as our Example of patient endurance; but he seems to feel that, although this is the aspect of the Savior's sufferings most suitable to his present purpose, yet it is scarcely seemly to dwell upon that most momentous of all events, the death of Christ our Lord upon the cross, without mentioning its more solemn and awful import. A martyr may be an example of patient suffering; he cannot bear our sins. The apostle proceeds to unfold the contents of the ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν in ver. 21. The Lord died for us: but what is the meaning of the preposition? Was it that his example might stimulate us to imitate his patience and his holy courage? This is a true view, but, taken alone, it would be utterly inadequate. The death of the Son of God had a far deeper significance. The ὑπέρ used here and elsewhere is explained by the more precise ἀντί of Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6, in which last passage both propositions are combined. The Lord died, not only in our behalf, but in our stead. He gave "his life a ransom for many;" "he is the Propitiation for our sins." St. Peter exhibits here, with all possible emphasis, this vicarious aspect of the Savior's death. "He bore our sins himself." The pronoun is strongly emphatic; he bore them, though they were not his own. They were our sins, but he bore them - he alone; none other could bear that awful burden. He bare (ἀνήνεγκεν). The apostle is evidently quoting Isaiah 53:12, where the Hebrew verb is ▀and the Septuagint Version is Καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκε; comp. vers. 4 and 11 (in ver. 11 there is another Hebrew verb) of the same chapter. In the Old Testament "to bear sins" or "iniquity" means to suffer the punishment of sin, whether one's own sin or the sin of others (see Leviticus 5:1, 17, and many similar passages). In the description of the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. it is said (Ver. 22) that the scapegoat "shall bear upon him [the Hebrew is ; the Greek is λήψεται ὁ χίμαρος ἐφ ἑαυτῷ] all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited," where the scapegoat is represented as bearing the sins of the people and taking them away. Compare also the great saying of the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of the world!" where the Greek (ὁ αἴρων) may be rendered with equal exactness, "who beareth," or "who taketh away." The Lord took our sins away by taking them upon himself (comp. Matthew 8:17). As Aaron put the sins of the people upon the head of the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:21), and the goat was to bear them upon him unto a land not inhabited, so the Lord laid on the blessed Savior the iniquity of us all, and he bare our sins in his own body on to the tree, and, there dying in our stead, took them away. He bare them on himself, as the scapegoat bare upon him the iniquities of Israel. It was this burden of sin which made his sacred body sweat great drops of blood in his awful agony. He bare them on to the tree (ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον); he carried them thither, and there he expiated them (comp. Hebrews 9:28, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," where the same Greek word is used - ἀνενεγκεῖν). Another interpretation takes ἀναφέρειν in its sacrificial sense, as in Hebrews 7:27, and regards the cross as the altar: "He bore our sins on to the altar of the cross." The Lord is both Priest and Victim, and the verb is used in the sacred writings both of the priest who offers the sacrifice and of the sacrifice which bears or takes away sin. But the sacrifice which the Lord offered up was himself, not our sins; therefore it seems best to understand ἀναφέρειν here rather of victim than of priest, as in Hebrews 9:28 and the Greek Version of Isaiah 53:12. The thought of sacrifice was doubtless present to the apostle's mind, as it certainly was to the prophet's (see ver. 10 of Isaiah 53.). The word ξύλον is used for the cross twice in St. Peter's speeches in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39). It is also so used by St. Paul (Galatians 3:13). That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. The Greek word ἀπογενόμενοι occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Bengel understands it differently. He says that as γενέσθαι τινός means "to become the slave of some one," so ἀπογενέσθαι may mean to cease to be a slave. But this would require the genitive, not the dative, ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις; and the ordinary translation is more suitable to the following context. The word is several times used in Herodotus in the sense of "having died;" more literally, "having ceased to be." The tense (aorist) seems to point to a definite time, as the time of baptism (comp. Romans 6:2, 11; Galatians 2:19, 20). Righteousness here is simply the opposite of sin - obedience, submission to the will of God. Bengel says, "Justitia tota una est; peccatum multiplex." By whose stripes ye were healed. The apostle is quoting the Septuagint rendering of Isaiah 53:5. The Greek μώλωψ means the mark or weal left on the flesh by a scourge (comp. Ecclus. 28:17, Πληγὴ μάστιγος ποιεῖ μώλωπας). The slaves, whom the apostle is addressing, might perhaps not infrequently be subjected to the scourge; he bids them remember the more dreadful flagellation which the Lord endured. They were to learn patience of him, and to remember to their comfort that those stripes which he, the holy Son of God, condescended to suffer are to them that believe healing and salvation. Faith in the crucified Savior lifts the Christian out of the sickness of sin into the health of righteousness.