And here is the assumed falsehood, made by commitment to a false tradition:
There is only 1 Scripture here, where the Lord's work is prophesied. None of the other Scriptures specify who is doing the work, but only that the suffering Messiah is on the recieving end of it.
Vs 8 & 11 can certainly apply to Vs 3-4: That men despised and rejected Him, and that men imputed and esteemed Him guilty and smitten of God. Falsely.
And so, one more time, since God did not lay the stripes on His back, neither by His own hand nor by law; Nor did He impute sin and transgression on His soul.
Therefore, Vs 6 not only applies to what God and the Son did together, but also only applies to the Son submitting into men's sinful hands, without defence nor complaint, and meekly suffering their unlawful wrongdoings against His own body on a tree.
I think Isaiah 53 says more than you're allowing it to say.
Certainly men despised, rejected, mocked, scourged, and crucified Christ. No disagreement there. But Isaiah does not merely describe what men did. Isaiah explicitly says: "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (v.6),
and: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief" (v.10).
The subject in both cases is the LORD, not men.
I agree God did not physically wield the whip or drive the nails.
Wicked men did that.
But Isaiah goes beyond identifying the human agents and reveals God's purpose in Christ's suffering.
Verse 11 connects that suffering directly to justification: "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
Therefore, the passage does not permit us to reduce Christ's sufferings to merely enduring the unlawful actions of sinful men.
Isaiah explicitly presents both realities together: men sinned against Him, and God was accomplishing redemption through those sufferings. That seems to be the plain meaning of the chapter.
He bore the evil consequence and false judgment of sinful men, by submitting to their hands.
He did not bear any shame, guilt, nor death by law of God for any sin of His own soul.
Your effort to acknowledge the truth if is 53:3-4, is nullified by your rejection of the truth, to go on and stay committed to the lie, that God Himself 'laid' sin on His own Son's soul, made Him guilty of sin, and cursed Him to death as by law.
He did no sin, had no sin, nor knew any sin at all in Himself.Therefore, God did not 'lay' any sin upon His soul, nor impute any guilt to His own 'account'.
God the Son's soul did not die to God, nor pay any guilt price of sin against God, but only paid the price of meekly submitting into the hands of false and wicked rulers, judges, and smiters.
The body of Jesus died on a cross by the sins of others laid upon Him. God the Son did not die by any sin imputed to Him.
I don't believe the text supports the conclusion you're drawing.
I agree completely that Christ did no sin, knew no sin, and was personally innocent throughout His suffering (Isa. 53:9; 1 Pet. 2:22).
I have never argued that Christ became morally corrupt or personally guilty in His own character.
However, Isaiah does not merely say that men falsely accused Him.
Isaiah says: "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6),
and: "he shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:11).
That language goes beyond merely enduring the unlawful actions of wicked men. The bearing of iniquities is directly connected with the justification of many.
Likewise, you keep arguing that only men acted against Christ.
But Isaiah 53:10 explicitly says: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief."
The chapter presents both realities simultaneously: wicked men sinned against Christ, and God was accomplishing redemption through those sufferings.
To acknowledge the first while denying the second does not seem to do justice to the whole passage.
Absolutely, since Isaiah separates what sinful men did to His body, vs what God and the Son did together with Himself in their hands: Meek submission without defence, complaint, protest, fault, nor sin.
Gen 22:8
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
The innocense of His soul remained true unto the end in death. The He bare His body to the iniquities and wrongdoings unjustly laid upon Him unto death of the body, but never the soul:
1 Pe 2:22
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.
Once again, this Scripture does no specify who laid those sinful stripes on His body, but we know from other Scriptures that it was not God, but only wicked men.
Act 2:23
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Isaiah{50:5}
The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isa 53:7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Once again, the last Scripture does not specify who oppressed and afflicted Him, but we do know from the other Scriptures, that it was not God, but only oppressive men.
And we also know from Scripture 53:3-4, that all men at the cross believed it was done by God, but it was not God doing those things by His own hand, nor by His own law at all.
Gal 6:17
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Who put those marks on Paul's body? Did the Lord Jesus Himself lay them on his back, or only sinful men persecuting a son and apostle of God?
Neither did God the Father lay any marks upon the Son and Christ of God. But the apostle of the Lord followed in His Master's steps, and obediently took the wrong of others, and submitted to their wrongdoing against His own body in stripes and stoning.
Did the Lord impute the wrong to His apostle, and make Him guilty and worthy of stripes? No. Neither did God the Father impute any sin His own Messiah, nor make Him guilty and worthy of death on a cross.
I think you're creating a distinction that Isaiah itself does not create.
I fully agree that wicked men scourged Christ, mocked Christ, and crucified Christ.
Acts 2:23 explicitly says He was slain by "wicked hands."
I also agree that Christ remained personally sinless throughout His suffering (1 Pet. 2:22).
But Isaiah 53 does not stop with what men did.
It explicitly says: "The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (v.6),
and: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief" (v.10).
The chapter attributes Christ's suffering not only to the actions of wicked men but also to the redemptive purpose of God.
I am not saying God made Christ personally sinful, corrupt, or morally guilty.
Scripture never says that.
But neither does Scripture reduce His sufferings to merely enduring human mistreatment.
Isaiah connects His bearing of iniquities directly with the justification of many:
"By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities" (v.11).
So the issue is not whether Christ remained innocent. He did.
The issue is whether Isaiah teaches that God was accomplishing atonement through Christ's sufferings.
The text repeatedly says He was.
To acknowledge only the role of sinful men while denying the LORD's stated role in verses 6, 10, and 11 does not seem to account for the whole chapter.