Our salvation depends upon this double exchange. Our sin was imputed to Christ when He was nailed to the cross. As Isaiah tells us, “…the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:6b) In addition, Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Therefore, sin is removed from our account and righteousness is credited, allowing us to be legally declared just.

As we near that magical day when children will eat far too many sweets and parents will get far too little sleep, we are continually reminded that the Christmas season isn’t just about Santa Claus, elves, and reindeer (a.k.a. caribou). Slogans such as “Put Christ back in Christmas!” and “Jesus is the reason for the season!” abound, all of them meant to call our minds back to the true meaning of the holiday, or at least question whether or not atheists should be allowed to join in the fun.

One saying that seems to have a stronger theological grounding is some variation on the following: “Jesus Christ was born in order to die.” The motivation behind this choice of phrase is a good one. While the manger, angels, and donkey are all nice, the story of Christmas cannot be properly told without mentioning the problem Jesus came to solve. He was not born merely to proclaim peace on earth and goodwill toward men. Rather, He came to save us from our deadliest enemy: sin. The peace He brought us is not a temporary, earthly one, but rather an eternal, heavenly one. He made it possible for us to be permanently at peace with God.

Therefore, it is entirely appropriate and even necessary to link the incarnation of Jesus Christ with His atonement. Christmas means nothing without Easter. The first step in appreciating Christmas is to understand that the Son of God took on flesh to make an end of death and sin. His sacrifice allows us to be forgiven. We must never lose sight of that fact or diminish its importance.

Nevertheless, stating that Jesus was born to die puts us in danger of minimizing other parts of His work that were equally important and necessary. The Son of God became incarnate as a human being not only to remove our sin, but also to make us righteous. Yes, those two things are connected, but they are not exactly the same.

In order to understand this, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden. Adam was created without a sinful nature. He did not need God’s forgiveness, for he had never transgressed God’s laws. However, God also gave him a commission to fulfill. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28b) This is our one recorded example of the fact that Adam was expected to positively fulfill God’s commands by doing righteous deeds, in addition to abstaining from unrighteous deeds (i.e. not eating from the wrong tree).

What does this mean? It means that while the sinless Adam did not merit eternal punishment, there was still something he lacked: righteous deeds, also known as good works. Now, if you’re a good Protestant, you might be thinking, “No, no, no! God doesn’t require us to do good works in order to gain eternal life.” Well, yes and no. God actually does expect us to do good works, but He knows that is impossible for fallen human beings. With our souls chained to sin and our hearts unyielding to the Spirit’s call, we fulfill the words of the Psalmist: “There is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:3b) As Isaiah wrote, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment…” (Isaiah 64:6a)

We need righteous deeds in order to be declared “just” by God, but we have no ability to perform them in our flesh. Therefore, it was necessary for someone else to stand in our place and fulfill God’s commands on our behalf, so we might be credited with that righteousness by faith. The one who did this was Jesus Christ, the second and better Adam.

Many verses testify to Christ’s obedience and the way it was imputed (that is, transferred) to believers. Jesus established the need for perfect obedience in the Sermon on the Mount. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) However, just a few verses earlier, He noted, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill,” (v. 17) indicating in part that He would actively obey every one of God’s commands.

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