Christ our Whipping boy? (More on incarnation)

The last post illustrated that God suffered with us. In this post I want to illustrate that God in Christ suffered for us. The picture I want to use is that of a whipping boy. A whipping boy, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was a young boy who was assigned to a young prince and was punished when the prince misbehaved or fell behind in his schooling.  It was thought that only the king was worthy of punishing the king’s son. Since the king was rarely around to punish him when it was appropriate, tutors to the young prince found it extremely difficult to enforce rules or learning.

Whipping boys were generally of high birth, and were educated with the prince from his birth. Due to the fact that the prince and whipping boy grew up together, they usually formed an emotional bond, especially since the prince usually did not have other playmates. The strong bond that developed between a prince and his whipping boy dramatically increased the effectiveness of using a whipping boy as a form of punishment for a prince. The idea was that seeing a friend being whipped or beaten for something that he had done wrong would be strong motivation for the prince to change his behaviour (condensed from Wikipedia).

I said earlier that the Old Testament contains echoes and shadows of New testament revelation. One very specific example of this, and one that is highly relevant  our discussion here, is from Isaiah 53:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  Verse 5 puts it this way “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed”.  The New Testament identifies Jesus as the suffering servant of Isiah 53 (see Acts 8:35 in context).  The similarity between the ideas of Christ as our substitute and that of the whipping boy should be obvious. Certainly  part of what God intends is that our relationship with the One who who suffered for us, should be strong motivation for us to change.  “You are not your own, for  you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). That price is the precious blood of Jesus.

If you have seem Mel Gibson's  graphic illustration of His “stripes” (flogging) in “The passion of the Christ”, you will have some idea of that price that was paid, but only some idea.  There is probably no way to graphically portray death by crucifixion.  Crucifixion was the most painful means of execution then known to man. It provided a death that was particularly slow, painful, gruesome and humiliating. In Christ's case He was stripped naked and was nailed to the cross  (through the wrists and ankles – the hands would not support the weight). When the cross was  placed upright, the only way  for the victim to take a breath, was to press down on the ankles nailed to the cross. This is because  the way the body hung prevented the diaphragm from drawing in air. This is why when the victim's legs were broken, he would rapidly die of asphyxiation (see John 19:30-32 and Psalm 34:20).


The presence of a whipping boy in the young prince's life was intended to change him, and our relationship with Christ is intended to change us.  But what if the presence of the whipping boy did not change the young prince. What if the prince was a royal brat? What if he hardened his heart against his friend?  It is unthinkable that he would is it not?  Paul asks “Should we continue in sin that Grace may abound?” It is likewise unthinkable, but if we are honest we all have hearts that are less than tender towards Him at times. We call such parts unredeemed, and whether we know it or not, there are parts of your heart and mine that remain unredeemed.

So rules don't work, they become old, but there are always both old and new things that we  need to deal with. In particular, we cannot deal with everything at once. This is part of why we need relationship, so that the process can be ongoing. We do need some structure. A regular communion service, brings us back to “remember His death” and we will need to do this “until He comes (back)”.  This gives us an opportunity to honestly examine ourselves, and to “Judge ourselves so that we will not be judged with the World” (See I Corinthians 11:23-31). We also need relationship with His people (Hebrews 10:24), and we need to feed daily on His Word (I Peter 2:1-3). Good relationships take time, and we need, in our buys lives to take time out for Him, for His Word and for His people. The whole thing is an ongoing  process, but we can get stuck. It is related to our healing, and our willingness to be healed, our willingness to be honest with Him, with ourselves and others.

If your relationship with Christ is not changing you, then perhaps you don't really have a relationship with Him at all  (growth is the only evidence of life - see "Assurance by works").   As I keep saying in this series of posts, knowing Christ it what it is all about. It is not about what you do or don't do. The good we do is intended to be the fruit of His acceptance of us, not the grounds of it.  James tells us that what we do is the evidence of His life in us. We must not rest on our laurels, the eternal destiny of those we love is at stake. And even if they don't admit it, they are watching.  He died for them too, and how will they see it,  if we do not live for Him.  If we are not being changed,  why would they want to be like us?   The whipping boy endured punishment for the sins of the prince, but his suffering cannot begin to be compared to the suffering of Christ who “ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).  Is Christ our whipping boy? Well it is a very pale illustration,  just a small part of what Christ has done for us. Should we continue unchanged? Heaven forbid, may it never be.  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2). If you love Him, it is unthinkable!