Introduction
The main point of this article is that Jesus, in His humanity, experienced a judicial separation from God the Father for three hours while bearing the punishment for our sins on the cross. Jesus’ judicial separation from the Father was necessary for Him to atone for humanity’s sins.
Jesus Bore our Sins on the Cross
The Bible teaches that sin creates a separation between God and people. Isaiah wrote, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isa 59:2). When Jesus died on the cross, He took all our sins upon Himself and died in our place. Scripture states, “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6) and “He will bear their iniquities” (Isa 53:11). Additionally, Jesus gave “His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), “Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8), was “an offering for sin…in the flesh” (Rom 8:3), “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3), was made “to be sin on our behalf” (2 Cor 5:21), “tasted death for everyone” (Heb 2:9), was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb 9:28), “bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Pet 2:24), and “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18).
Jesus bore our sins without being contaminated by them due to His unique nature as the theanthropic person. As both fully God and fully man, Jesus’ divine nature was incorruptible and could not be tainted by sin, while His humanity was perfectly sinless and in complete obedience to God the Father (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9; Heb 4:15; 1 John 3:5). The Bible teaches that our sins were imputed to Jesus, meaning they were legally credited to His account without making Him a sinner in essence (2 Cor 5:21). He bore the penalty and punishment for our sins as our substitute, fulfilling His role as the sacrificial lamb (John 1:29; 1 Pet 1:18-19). This act satisfied God’s justice while preserving Jesus’ purity. Theologically, God’s justice required a payment for sin, which Jesus provided in His mercy without becoming inherently sinful. This concept is rooted in Old Testament sacrificial practices, where an unblemished lamb would bear the sins of the people symbolically. Jesus perfectly fulfilled this typology as the ultimate, spotless Lamb of God (Heb 9:12-14). Thus, through imputation and substitutionary atonement, Jesus took the punishment for our sins while remaining the sinless and spotless Lamb of God.
Jesus was Forsaken on the Cross
While Jesus was bearing our sins on the cross, He was briefly separated from God the Father. This is reflected in His words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). The word “forsaken” translates the Greek verb egkataleipō (ἐγκαταλείπω), which, according to BDAG, means “to separate connection with someone or something; forsake, abandon, desert.”[1] The same Greek word is used elsewhere to describe the literal separation of one person from another (2 Tim 4:10, 16). When Jesus used the word “forsaken,” He was referring to the Father’s judicial separation from Him while He was bearing the punishment for our sins.
In the context of Matthew 27:46, Jesus’ use of egkataleipō (aorist, active, indicative) underscores the fact of His experience on the cross. The aorist tense emphasizes that the forsaking was a specific, singular event in time. This was a definitive historical act, occurring during the hours Jesus hung on the cross. The active voice indicates that God the Father was the one who actively forsook Jesus, underscoring that this was a deliberate judicial decision rather than a passive occurrence. The indicative mood confirms that this forsaking was an actual historical event, a factual separation that Jesus experienced. This was not merely an expression of feeling but a declaration of reality.
Theologically, this judicial separation signifies that Jesus, in His humanity, bore the full weight of God’s wrath for sin. The forsaking was part of the punishment that was due for humanity’s sins, which Jesus took upon Himself. This highlights the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ death (Isa 53:6, 10; Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 15:3-4; 1 Pet 3:18): He was forsaken so that believers will never be forsaken, emphasizing the completeness of His atoning work. Furthermore, Jesus’ cry to the Father was drawn from Psalm 22:1, where David said, “”My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Whether one understands Psalm 22 as prophetic or Messianic, Allen Ross notes, “what is certain is that Jesus appropriated this psalm to himself in his greatest sufferings, and thereafter the evangelists and apostles saw the connections between the psalm and his passion.”[2] In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus employed these words while being forsaken by the Father. According to Ross, “for Jesus to be abandoned to death by the Father in heaven meant that His death would accomplish our redemption. Or, to put it more precisely, because the Father ‘abandoned’ Him who died in our place, He will never abandon us who have come to faith in Him.”[3]
These words, spoken from Jesus’ humanity (not His deity), indicate that He was alone while being judged by God the Father. This was a judicial act as Jesus bore our sins. John Walvoord states, “God the Father had to turn away as Jesus bore the curse and identified Himself with the sins of the whole world.”[4] William MacDonald states, “Because God is holy, He cannot overlook sin…When God, as Judge, looked down and saw our sins upon the sinless Substitute, He withdrew from the Son of His love.”[5] Since Jesus actually bore our sins, it follows that He experienced the same kind death we face: separation from God. Warren Wiersbe states, “It was during the time of darkness that Jesus had been made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). He had been forsaken by the Father! That darkness was a symbol of the judgment that He endured when He was ‘made a curse’ for us (Gal. 3:13).”[6]
Some might argue that Jesus was not actually forsaken but only felt that way while on the cross. Jesus certainly felt forsaken because He was forsaken. Jesus’ feelings agreed with the facts of the situation. And He knew exactly why He was forsaken: He was being judged for our sins “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). D. A. Carson states, “It is better to take the words at face value: Jesus is conscious of being abandoned by his Father.”[7] Jesus’ words must be understood as coming from His humanity and not His deity, for there can be no separation within the Trinity itself. Such a thing is not possible. According to Charles Ryrie, “In that work He had to be forsaken by God, and yet at the same time there was no splitting up of the trinity.”[8] Jesus’ separation from the Father was a judicial act, not one that broke the essence of the trinity.
The abandonment of Jesus in His humanity was temporary. It was only for the three hours as He was bearing our sins on the cross that He experienced judicial separation from God the Father. Previously, Jesus had told His disciples, “I go to the Father” (John 14:28; 16:10, 17), which meant He knew the work on the cross was temporary. And after He’d paid the full price for our sins, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30a). This meant the temporary suffering of Christ was over, and the payment for our sins had been paid in full. Then, being fully restored to His Father, Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Then Jesus died physically, when “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). Afterwards, His body was placed in a grave, and He was resurrected three days later and seen alive by many (1 Cor 15:3-8). Jesus conquered sin and death by means of His death and resurrection.
Summary
Scripture reveals Jesus experienced a judicial separation from God the Father for three hours while bearing the punishment for our sins on the cross. This separation was necessary for Jesus to bear our sins sacrificially, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and typologies that emphasized the need for a sinless substitute to take on the sins of others. Despite bearing our sins, Jesus remained sinless (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5). His death on the cross, culminating in His cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46), underscores the depth of His sacrifice and the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan. Jesus’ resurrection three days later demonstrated His victory over sin and death, securing salvation for all who believe in Him. His forsakenness on the cross was a moment of divine judgment, reflecting God’s holiness and justice, yet also revealing His immense love and provision for humanity’s reconciliation with Him (Rom 5:8; 1 Pet 3:18).
Dr. Steven R. Cook
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[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 273.
[2] Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms 1–89: Commentary, vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2011–2013), 527–528.
[3] Ibid., 531.
[4] John F. Walvoord, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come (Galaxie Software, 2007), 235.
[5] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1309.
[6] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 103.
[7] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 579.
[8] Charles C. Ryrie, Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Dubuque, IA: ECS Ministries, 2005), 63.
Penal substitution is the idea that Jesus bore the penalty for our sins on the cross. He was judged in our place and bore the wrath of God that rightfully belongs to us. The record of Scripture is that “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa 53:5), and “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him” (Isa 53:6), for “by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isa 53:11), and “the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering” (Isa 53:10a). Jesus is presented in the NT as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We’re also told that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf” (2 Cor 5:21), and that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Gal 3:13), and that “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Pet 2:24). In this way, the sins of all humanity were imputed to Christ while He was on the cross, suffering as our substitute. And we must always remember that the sacrifice of Christ was purely voluntary, as He said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11), and “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (John 10:18). And Jesus has “been offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb 9:28), and “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18).
Sin is the breaking of God’s law, for “Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law” (1 John 3:4 CSB). The penalty for breaking God’s law is death, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Jesus took our sins upon Himself and “bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Pet 2:24), and He “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). And He died for the sins of everyone, for “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Though Christ died for everyone, the benefits of the cross are applied only to those who believe, and “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43; Eph 1:7). Additionally, we receive “the gift of righteousness” (Rom 5:17), and “eternal life” (John 10:28). At the moment of faith in Christ, we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).