Objection: The Greek Word Used in Matthew 8:17 for “Bare” Is Bastazo, Which Is Never Used to Describe Atonement-Bearing of Sins and Diseases

We’ll give the objector enough rope to hang himself by letting him continue his argument, which is that anaphero is the Greek word used twice of the Lord’s sacrifice in Hebrews 9:28 and 1 Peter 2:24.  The objector assumes that if Matthew 8:17 were really talking about a substitutional bearing, Matthew would have used the word anaphero and not the word bastazo.

The objector is correct as far as bastazo never being used in a substitutionary sense elsewhere, and he is also correct about anaphero being used twice to denote a substitutionary bearing of our sins.  The objector goes on to conclude that Jesus must have borne sicknesses in a different sense than He bore our sins, and that therefore He “bore” our sicknesses throughout His earthly ministry.

This objection has at least six serious problems.

The first is that Matthew is quoting Isaiah, and in Isaiah 53:4, the words used clearly are substitutionary words – they are the same ones used to denote Jesus’ bearing of our sins.  See Isaiah’s Prophecy of Redemption for proof of this.  Claiming that Matthew quoted a substitutionary prophecy as non-substitutionary is tantamount to claiming that the Bible misquotes itself, and I certainly wouldn’t want to wade into those waters!

The second is that Jesus never bore sicknesses in a literal sense until His atonement.  So even if the word for “bore” isn’t the same word, He still did bear our sicknesses, and the only time that could apply would be when He was punished for our sins.  We never see Jesus sick before then.  (If you disagree, read the reply to that objection.)  So His bearing of our sicknesses must have been as our Substitute.

The third is that the word anaphero doesn’t necessarily, or even usually, relate to “atonement-bearing” either!  It is not some special Greek word only used for that.  At least the objector pointed us in the right direction, as we can look up the other places where anaphero appears.  We are to offer (anaphero) the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15) and spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5), and we are certainly not atoning for anyone or anything when we do it!  It’s the same word used of Jesus being carried up (anaphero) to heaven, and He was already finished atoning for everyone’s sins before then.  Both Matthew 17:1 and Mark 9:2 talk of Jesus bringing the disciples up (anaphero) to a high mountain, and that certainly wasn’t the atonement for anyone’s sins either.

The fourth is that by bringing up the word anaphero, the objector has actually pointed us in the opposite direction than the one he intended.  A study of anaphero shows that a word may be taken correctly in a substitutionary sense even when many instances of the same word are not substitutionary.  If that can be true for anaphero, it can be true for bastazo as well!

The fifth is what the word bastazo actually means – to bear or to carry.  Jesus did not walk around Capernaum bearing or carrying anyone’s illnesses, sick Himself while He healed others!  He only bore our sicknesses when He suffered for our sins later.  This clearly denotes substitution.

Say that you get the flu and go to the doctor, and he gives you a prescription for some newly invented drug that cures the flu.  You take it and the flu leaves.  You tell everyone at work that the doctor bore and carried your flu so that you don’t have it anymore.  They would probably think that you’re crazy.  Matthew doesn’t say that Jesus merely healed the diseases, He says that He fulfilled prophecy by bearing (carrying) them – bastazo.  Thus, the only possible meaning in Matthew 8:17 of bastazo is substitutionary, as no doctor carries your diseases to get you healed of them!

Sixth, the very same verse of Isaiah’s prophecy that Matthew quotes continues, “yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”  That COULD NOT have been fulfilled that evening at Capernaum, as Jesus was not stricken, smitten of God and afflicted at that time.  Trying to split this verse in two makes no sense – it all flows together as one thought.  So Isaiah and Matthew HAD to be looking forward to Christ’s suffering as the fulfillment of that prophecy.  Matthew said “that it might be fulfilled” pointing to a future fulfillment rather than “it was fulfilled” (the phrase Matthew used to describe a prophecy that had just been fulfilled in its entirety).  Matthew used that same phrase “that it might be fulfilled” to refer to other events that were yet unfulfilled – see the answer to the related objection for proof of that.

So splitting hairs over bastazo vs. anaphero still doesn’t negate the powerful truth that Jesus actually BORE our sicknesses rather than just healing them or merely feeling sorry about them.  Why would He have to be sick?  He was our Substitute, being punished in our place, bearing our sins in His body, being wounded, bruised, smitten, afflicted and whipped for our sins, so that we could go free from the physical punishment for sin.