Perceptions #36

"Substitution"

by Norman Bales

A few years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported a bizarre story about a Ventura, California man named Donald Anderson, who served a jail sentence for his twin brother Ronald. My father was an identical twin, and I could tell you a lot of funny stories about mistaken identity. My Dad and his brother sometimes switched seats at school to confound the teacher. They were even known to trade girl friends on dates, but I never heard anything quite so weird as one brother serving a jail sentence for another.

According to the story reported by the Times, Donald Anderson went to jail for his brother because he loved him. His brother had a lot of problems and Donald had been in jail before, so he figured he knew how to handle it. They might have pulled this switch off without anybody noticing had it not been for the fact that Ronald got picked up by the police four days after he was supposed to begin serving a six-month sentence. The authorities discovered the switcheroo and ordered Ronald to the slammer; Donald was released. I guess there's no law against going to jail for somebody else in California.

I don't know anymore about this story than what I've just told you, but while I admire Donald's spirit of sacrifice, I question his judgment, especially in view of the fact that his brother used this freedom as an opportunity to commit more crime.

But the concept of one person accepting the punishment of another is not new, even though it is highly unusual. That's what Jesus did when he went to the cross. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." According to 1 Peter 2:24 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." You can't do enough works to atone for your own sins. According to Isaiah, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). We are completely dependent on our Lord's substitutionary suffering. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).

How do grateful people respond to the one who served our sentence for us? Do you celebrate your freedom from the penalty of sin by committing more acts to grieve the heart of God? If you're cohabiting with a person who is not your spouse, do you assume that God wants you to continue that relationship? If your world view and lifestyle are more in line with this decaying world, would you comfortably continue that lifestyle knowing that Jesus died to free you from it? Ronald Anderson presumed upon the grace of his brother when he committed an additional crime. When Jesus accepted the penalty of death on our behalf, he didn't do it to give us an opportunity to commit additional sin. Instead, he provided us with the privilege of living for righteousness. "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Norman's e-mail address is: nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

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