Without any doubt, the prophets in the Spirit saw that Christ would be the greatest transgressor, assassin, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer that ever existed on earth. When He was made the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world, He is no longer innocent and without sin, He is no longer the Son of God born of the Virgin Mary but a sinner. He has and carries the sins of Paul, a blasphemer, an oppressor, and a persecutor; of Peter, who denied Christ; and of David, an adulterer and murderer (he is to blame when the Gentiles blaspheme the name of the Lord). In brief, He is the One who has and has carried the sins of all human beings on His own body, although He, Himself, did not commit them, but willingly received them. We are the authors of the sins we have committed, but they were placed on His own body so that He could satisfy them with His own blood. Thus that same sentence given by Moses [“everyone”] also includes Him (although in Himself, He was innocent) because He was found among sinners and thieves. This is no different from the judge’s guilty sentence pronounced against anyone found among thieves and sinners, although such an individual did not do anything worthy of death. Now, Christ was not only found among sinners, but of His own will, and by will of the Father, He was a companion of sinners. He took on Himself the flesh and blood of sinners, thieves, and those who have fallen into all kinds of sin. Therefore, when the law found Him among thieves, it condemned and put Him to death as a thief.

— Luther, Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1535), Lecture 20 on Galatians 3:13

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