2 Corinthians 5:21 - Trading Places

Chad Werkhoven
May 6
5 min read

Learn to explain the gospel in ten seconds or less.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NET)

God made

the one who did not know sin
to be sin
- for us,
- so that
  - in him
  - we would become the righteousness of God.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ

Since, however,
1. we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction
2. or deliver ourselves from God’s wrath,
3. God in boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee
  1. his only begotten Son,
  2. who was made to be sin and a curse for us,
    1. in our place, on the cross,
    2. in order that he might make satisfaction for us.

Summary

In our church we often talk about the importance of practicing our '1-minute gospel' speech so that when the opportunity arises (often at unexpected times) we're ready to share it. Today's passage makes an excellent 1 minute gospel (and in reality it only takes ten seconds!).

It's likely that most of the people you know have heard of Jesus and might even be very familiar with Him. They know that He cared deeply for the poor and marginalized, that He lived a perfect life that sets an example for the rest of us to follow, and that He's the best friend anybody could hope for, since even when things are down and everyone else has bailed out, He'll still be there. And, praise God, all of those things about Jesus are absolutely true!

But what your friends, neighbors and coworkers probably don't know about Jesus is the primary purpose He came for, and that's the purpose Paul spells out for us in today's short passage. Jesus came, as the Canons put it, to make satisfaction for us, and thereby to deliver us from God's wrath against our sin.

Dig Deeper

Notice here what we've already noticed so many times reading the Bible together this year: that our salvation begins with God's initiative - God made... God would have been totally justified to do nothing and let us face the consequences of our sin, but instead He took action to save us. The verb Paul chose is perfect. God didn't just decree or stipulate or dictate from a distance, He made.

But it's what He made that's so stunning. God made the One who did not know sin... This, of course, doesn't mean that Jesus had no idea what sin was until it was foisted upon Him. Rather, Jesus had no personal experience as a sinner until He was made to be sin for us. As Murray Harris puts it, "Treated as if he were a sinner, Christ became the object of God’s wrath and bore the penalty and guilt of sin."

Remember always to be on the lookout for so that clauses and circle them in your Bible. The Bible doesn't just tell us what God did - in this case, that God made Jesus to be sin for us - the Bible also tells us why God did this. He did it so that in Christ, we would become the righteousness of God.

The prepositional phrase there is critical; you need to do more than just believe some key facts about Jesus. You - by the power of the Holy Spirit - need to put yourself in Him.

When you place every aspect of your life in Christ, you become the righteousness of God. That means that you fulfill your covenant responsibility and can live eternally at peace with Him.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who made our salvation possible through Christ;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that every facet of your life - you're desires, ambition, family and work - is all firmly embedded in Christ;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: