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.
Isaiah 53 is a confession, and the speakers keep saying "we" and "our" — and this verse is where they stop guessing about the sufferer and name what His suffering did. The questions it raises are simple and huge: who is saying "we," what wounds are these, and what is the healing?
One writer counts up the verses, then draws out what that means for each of us:
F. B. HoleHere is a remarkable fact: as printed in our English Bibles, verse 5 is the central verse of this chapter, which really begins with verse 13 of Isaiah 52. It is therefore the central verse of the central chapter of the central section of this latter part of Isaiah. And without doubt it predicts truth that is central both to our soul's salvation and to our soul's experience. The transgressions, the iniquities were mine, each of us has to say, but the wounding, the bruising were not mine but His. The peace, the healing are mine, but the chastisement, the stripes that bought them, were not mine but His. In all this He was my Substitute.
The confession belongs first to a people who once judged Him wrongly and later admit the truth:
William KellyIt is not the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations, but the Jews who say, "Who would have believed our report? … He carried our pains, while we thought God had struck Him down and punished Him. Yet He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and His wounds brought us healing." It is Israel who speak this way, when they repent and confess their past unbelief. They had thought He was hateful to God, when in truth He was making atonement for their transgressions.
Others can say the same words too, but the writers set one condition:
F. B. HoleIn these verses, we must remember, the "we" and the "us" are those who believe, whether ourselves today or the godly remnant of Israel in a coming day. And those who believe are those who have first confessed that they are sinners.
The verse before speaks of griefs and sorrows carried. This one speaks of something more, and one writer marks the shift:
H. J. VineIn sympathy He bore our griefs: in atonement He bore the punishment due to our sins. Blessed Saviour! "Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace." There was no other way. But thanks be to God, we can now say, "with His wounds we are healed." The wounds were His; the healing is ours.
Wounds, bruises and stripes sound like the work of soldiers and mobs. One writer rules that out:
An Outline of Sound WordsThe wounds, the bruises and the stripes that bring blessing did not come from human hands. They tell us what our sins deserved. They tell us what He bore for us at the hand of a righteous and holy God, when He carried our sins.
Some soften the word translated "chastisement" into suffering without penalty. One writer answers by pressing the word itself:
Frederick W. GrantSome argue that "while it is true that Jesus is our substitute, He is our substitute only in suffering, not in punishment. Sin was not punished on the cross. The cross was a scene of wonderful mercy and love, not of wrath and penalty." Yet Scripture still says, "Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace." One scholar, Delitzsch, says of that word, "We have translated the Hebrew word 'musar' as 'punishment,' and the language had no other word for this idea."
Peace, then, is not something we produce or grow into. It comes from a cause outside ourselves:
J. N. DarbyIf the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, then He took our place in drinking that dreadful cup. He was our (believers') representative there. God dealt with Him this way because our sins were laid on Him. That is why peace comes to us. It is not because we became righteous in ourselves. Our peace is the result of His chastisement.
Some read the healing as a promise that our bodies will be cured. The writers disagree, and point to a different healing:
Leslie M. GrantThis is not bodily healing. It is healing from the deadly disease of sin. The stripes are the stripes of God's judgment, poured out on Him at the cross.
Another writer answers this more plainly:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinSome claim that Christ died for our bodily ills as well, and that the stripes laid on Him were for the healing of our bodies. This is a most dangerous twisting of the truth. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, but nowhere is it written that He died for our bodily diseases.
- Ours. The transgressions and iniquities in this verse belong to us, not to Him.
- His. The wounding, the bruising, the chastisement and the stripes are all His — the exchange runs one way.
- God's. Those stripes came not from human hands but from a righteous God dealing with sins laid on Him.
- Peace. Our peace is the effect of His chastisement, not the effect of any change in us.
- Healing. The healing is healing from the disease of sin. Only those who first confess they are sinners can claim it.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6 stands at the centre of the chapter's confession: a scattered flock, each animal on its own path, and one Man carrying what they all deserved. Commentators press three questions here — what our straying was, who the "we" and "us all" are, and whose hand did the laying.
The verse describes our sin twice over, and one writer reads each clause as a separate charge.
J. T. MawsonWhat words are like God's words? Here in two short sentences God describes our character and our condemnation. Like sheep we have strayed, and in our straying we have shown the folly of our sin. "We have turned every one to his own way," and by that we have declared the wilfulness, the wickedness of our sin. After we had declared so definitely and deliberately what we are, what could fall on us but the just condemnation of God? But God has undertaken for us, and whether it be the folly or the wilfulness of our sin — all our iniquity He laid on our Surety. It is the saved remnant of Israel that is speaking these wonderful words, but every believer may use them.
One writer defines sin by that phrase, "his own way."
F. B. HoleSin is lawlessness; doing our own will regardless of God's will, and going our own way independently of Him.
The verse includes everyone, yet no two paths are the same.
William KellyThe mouth is all the more free and full to admit its wicked folly: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." There was no exception. All had strayed, yet each in his own evil way. Yet in the face of all these wrongs, and out of His own spontaneous and all-conquering goodness, Jehovah made the iniquity of us all fall on Him.
The pronouns matter. One writer asks who the "we" and the "us" are. His answer decides how far substitution reaches.
F. B. HoleIn this great verse two things strike us. First, it is "all we" and "us all." Who are the "we" and the "us"? The people of God who confess their sins and believe in the Substitute. Exactly so. The propitiatory work of Christ opens the door in righteousness to whoever will. But its substitutionary effect reaches believers only.
The verb belongs to God, not to us. One writer sets this beside Aaron, who once confessed the people's sins over a goat.
F. B. HoleFurther, it is the Lord Himself who laid our sins on the Substitute. Aaron no doubt confessed and laid on the head of the goat all that he knew and remembered of the people's transgressions. But how could he confess them all? A well-known hymn may say, "I lay my sins on Jesus," but we may well be thankful that it is not left to us to do it. God Himself has done it by one act, and so done it perfectly.
The verse is repeatedly used as the clearest proof text for one Person standing in the place of another.
J. N. DarbySubstitution is as certain a truth as Scripture can give us — that is, one person standing in another's place, bearing his sins in His own body on the tree, bruised for them instead of the guilty, who is healed by the other taking the stripes.
The moment matters. Some hold that Christ carried our sins all through His life. One writer answers them from this verse.
William KellyIf He had been bearing our sins all His life, He must all His life have been abandoned by God. God cannot look on sin with the least allowance. But no: Isaiah 53:6 shows that Jehovah laid our iniquity on His Anointed when He hung on the tree.
If God laid the sins, the believer's peace does not rest on his own grip.
William KellyIf anything could have made this doubtful, it was our sins. But they were laid — yes, He laid on Christ (Isaiah 53:6) the iniquity of us all. Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Where are they now? When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Not one sin did God leave on the believer; not one did Christ carry into heaven.
The sheep image runs on into rescue. The flock's danger was not only the enemies outside.
The Bible TreasuryThey had inward faults as well as outward foes. They had all gone astray. Everyone had turned to his own way. And on the One then speaking to them Jehovah would lay the iniquities of them all. He is the Shepherd, and the sword of divine judgment would soon strike Him for the sake of the flock. He guarantees salvation to anyone who seeks it from Him.
- Straying — the first clause names our folly, the second our wilfulness. All went astray, yet each chose his own route.
- Confession — the "we" here are people who have admitted they are sinners. The door stands open to whoever will, but Christ bears the sins of believers only.
- Laying — God Himself, not the sinner, placed the iniquity on the Substitute. Aaron could never name every sin, so God did it for us, and did it perfectly.
- Timing — God laid the load on Him at the cross. He did not carry it through His life; the bruising and the forsaking belong to that hour.
- Result — God left no sin on the believer, and Christ carried none into heaven. The stricken Shepherd now guarantees salvation to anyone who comes to Him.