A common, but hardly accurate, illustration of the death of Christ. Sin, correctly speaking, is no debt the creature owes to God. Love, obedience, righteousness, truth, are duties or debts a creature owes. The failure in these duties is sin, and the penalty of sin is death and the judgment of God. Now our debts are forgiven, not paid. Strictly speaking, Christ did not pay the sinner’s debt of love and obedience to God; as a perfect man He rendered due obedience, but not for us. For us He paid the penalty attaching to sin, nay, more, He was made sin, i.e., took the debtor’s (the sinner’s) place; and justified him, not by paying his debts, but by fully bearing every penalty attached to the non-payment of them. Hence, God can now righteously forgive us our debts.