THE GLORIOUS EXCHANGE
I bless the Christ Who came from Heav’n
To wear my human frame,
To know my every earthly grief,
And own my worthless name.
I bless the Christ Who took my sin,
My pardon fully paid,
Then gave to me His righteousness—
An undeserved trade!
I bless the Christ Who pleads my cause
Before His Father’s throne;
Who makes my need His daily prayer,
And makes my care His own.
I bless the Christ Who guarantees
A future, heav’nly bliss:
Though once He shared in my estate,
Soon I will share in His.
Yet blessings from a thousand tongues
Are still a gift too small.
I can—I must—give o’er to Him
My heart, my life, my all.
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REFLECTION
2 Corinthians 5:21 speaks of what we call in theological terms the “double imputation.” This means that what we have is given to Christ, and what he has is given to us. In the context of that verse, this is referring to our sin and His righteousness. But Christ took on much more than our sin, as this hymn highlights. He shared in our humanity, our grief, and our weakness, and the blessed hope of the Christian is that “though once He shared in my estate, soon I shall share in His.” That's a glorious exchange indeed—a phrase theologians have been using for nearly two millenia to describe this double imputation. Consider this excerpt from the second-century Epistle to Diognetus, where we read, “O sweet exchange, O the incomprehensible work of God, O the unexpected blessings, that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous person, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners!”
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