Did Jesus Include Himself in Penitential Prayers?

[OldPathSeeker]

I have recently been engaged with the question, “Did Jesus pray the penitential portions of the penitential psalms in such a way as to include Himself along with His people?” Are we to understand that, whenever Jesus quoted a portion of a psalm concerning Himself, He was in reality quoting the entire psalm as applying to Himself?
I believe, for many reasons, He did not include Himself in the penitential portions of penitential psalms. For example, consider the words of Psalm 32:5, ". . . I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin." Jesus was never "forgiven". Rather He paid the full price for our sin. How then could He pray a prayer seeking forgiveness? Consider Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. . . ." Though He bore our sins, Jesus was never defiled or polluted by our sin. From eternity He has always had a perfectly holy and righteous heart. How then could He petition the Father for a clean heart? Another question I have is, What is the philosophy or theological motive for ascribing such penitential prayers to our ever-holy Savior?

 

[MW]

Another question I have is, What is the philosophy or theological motive for ascribing such penitential prayers to our ever-holy Savior?

Hebrews 2:11-12, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."

Jesus was baptised with John's baptism of repentance to fulfil all righteousness. He cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. He was delivered for our transgressions, He was raised for our justification. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. God made Him sin who knew no sin to be sin for us. In all these senses it was perfectly appropriate for Him to pray the penitential Psalms, as One who was bound by the law and justice of God to suffer as a sinner in our place. Besides the fact that He required deliverance from the grave and vindication in judgment by being raised from the dead.

 

[sc_q_jayce]

From Michael Lefebvre's Singing the Songs of Jesus, pg. 82-84:

People often find the Psalms of repentance the most difficult to sing as Jesus' words. Afterall, he was sinless. How could he ever sing, 'Let not the errors of my youth, nor sins, remember'd be'?

That is an understandable question. In fact, it is an issue John the Baptist struggled with as well (Matt 3:1-17) . . . John actually wanted to stop Jesus from coming into the water! . . . It is I who must repent, and all these people, not Jesus!

But Jesus responded to John with one of the most profound statements about the nature of his mediation: 'Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness' (Matt 3:14). This is the way that I come to bring righteousness to men, Jesus was saying, by identifying with my penitent people. Jesus came to be 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29; cf., Isa. 53:10-12). Jesus even owns the sins of his people, to lead them in repentance.

The Apostle Paul marvels at this truth in his letter to the Corinthians. . . . [Quoting 2 Cor. 5:21], Jesus never sinned, but he identifies with us as our Mediator even to the point of taking our sin and guilt upon himself. As John Calvin wrote in one place, 'This was the reason of his silence at the judgment-seat of Pilate, though he had a just defense to offer; [because of his] having become answerable for our guilt. . .'

The Psalms that lead us in repentance are among the most rewarding Psalms to sing with Jesus. They are the hymns which show how closely Christ identifies with us in our deepest need. And they give us songs whereby we can confess our own sins before the Father, and do so knowing without a doubt that Jesus truly does stand with us to intercede even in our repentance.

Let's look at an example. Psalm 40 is a psalm of repentance which the New Testament book of Hebrews specifically places on the lips of Jesus [citing Heb 10:5-10] . . . in the portion of Psalm 40 that Hebrews 10 cites, Christ speaks of himself as being, in his own body, the sacrifice foreshadowed in the ritual sacrifices of the law. New Testament-era Judaism had come to expect a Messiah who would conquer by killing others (e.g., the Romans), but the writer of Psalm 40 understood that the Messiah would bring salvation from sin by offering his own life as a sacrifice.

Edited for typos.