Christ Became Sin for Us

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 5:21

The sins of the world were placed on Him so that, in turn, His righteousness could be given those who trust Him (Rom. 5:17) and are thus in Him. That gift of righteousness is obtainable only by faith

(ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

v. 21 Him who knew no sin

It eliminates every human who ever lived, “for there is no man who does not sin” since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” ().

Only one who knew no sin of his own could qualify to bear the full wrath of God against the sins of others.

The perfect sacrifice for sin would have to be a human being, for only a man could die for other men.

Yet he would also have to be God, for only God is sinless. That narrows the field to one, the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Christ was not made a sinner, nor was He punished for any sin of His own.

Instead, the Father treated him as if He were a sinner by charging to His account the sins of everyone who would ever believe.

All those sins were charged against Him as if He had personally committed them, and He was punished with the penalty for them on the cross, experiencing the full fury of God’s wrath unleashed against them all.

It was at that moment that “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, … ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ ” ().

It is crucial, therefore, to understand that the only sense in which Jesus was made sin…..He was blamed for my wrongs… He was personally pure, yet accused for my sin; personally holy, yet guilty.

But in dying on the cross Christ did not become evil like we are,

Nor do redeemed sinners become inherently as holy as He is. God credits our sin to Christ’s account, and credits our account with His perfection. His goodness is credited to our account.

There is no way for sinners to reconcile themselves to God….the entire human race is cursed and unable to do anything to lift that curse.

Therefore, the only reason believers can be reconciled to God is because “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us

But Christ’s substitutionary death is applied only for those who would believe.

v. 21 so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Because Jesus paid the full penalty for believers’ sin, God no longer holds it against them.

Believers experience the blessedness of forgiveness solely by faith in the complete redemption provided by Jesus Christ.

On the cross God treated Jesus as if He had lived our lives with all our sin, so that God could then treat us as if we lived Christ’s life of pure holiness.

The sins of the world were placed on Him so that, in turn, His righteousness could be given those who trust Him. That gift of righteousness is obtainable only by faith.

That is the doctrine of justification by imputation—the high point of the gospel.

That truth, expressed so concisely and powerfully in this text, is the only cure for the sin plague.

John McArthur