The Righteousness of God in Christ

[Always in His Presence]

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.​

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20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.​

Thoughts?

 

[bling]

You quote:

“2 Cor 5:21 Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

This is an extremely important verse to show imputing our sins to Christ, so the imputing of righteousness to man seems logical, BUT:

Is that even a good translation?

First off: we might need to look at 2 Cor. :21

What does “Christ made to be sin” or “Christ made sin” mean: did Christ become a sinner, did a being become an intangible thing like “sin” and are there other scripture to help us with this?

If you go to the NIV there is an alternative translation for at the bottom where “sin offering” is given as an alternative to “being made sin” and we all know Christ was a “sin offering”, so what support is there for that translation?

Paul being a scholar of the Torah, used a Hebraism. In this case, the Hebrew word for "sin" was also used to mean "sin offering" (see the Hebrew word: chatta'ath), and thus to be "made sin" was a Hebrew way of saying "made a sin offering". the NASB cross-references to Romans 8:3 which uses "sin offering" in a similar text as 2 Corinthians 5:21

There is the analogy in 2 Corinthians 8:9; the cross-reference to the clearer statement in Romans 8:3 that Christ was sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh" to deal with sin; and the allusion to Sacrifice in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where it says Christ "knew no sin" in corresponding to the sacrificial animal being free of blemish (otherwise Paul saying "knew no sin" would be irrelevant here).

The Greek word for "sin" that Paul uses is used in the Greek Old Testament both to mean "sin" and "sin offering," with both usages even in the same verse such as in Leviticus 4:3.

You can certainly do a deeper study of 2 Cor 5: 21 and we can go into Ro.3-4.

 

[Hoping2]

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.​

​

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.​

Thoughts?

Thanks for the reminders of what Jesus did for us by His death, burial, and resurrection.
He freed us from sin ! (Rom 6:7)

 

[Maria Billingsley]

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.​

​

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.​

Thoughts?

And then pass to the regenerated believer through His Holy Spirit.
Blessings

 

[Clare73]

And then pass to the regenerated believer through His Holy Spirit.
Blessings

"Pass" by imputation (Ro 5:18-19), as Adam's sin was imputed to all those of Adam, and was the pattern for the imputation of Christ's righteousness (Ro 5:14) imputed to all those of Christ.

 

[Soyeong]

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.​

​

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.​

Thoughts?

While the only way for someone to attain a character trait is through faith, what it means for someone to attain a character trait is for them to become a doer of that trait. For example, the only way for someone to become courageous is through faith apart from being required to have first done enough courageous works in order to earn it as the result, but it would be contradictory for someone to become courageous apart from becoming a doer of courageous works, and the same is true for righteousness and every other character trait. This is why the same faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works does not abolish our need to be a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:27-31). In other words, everyone who has faith will be declared righteous and everyone who has faith is a doer of God's law, which is how Paul can deny in Romans 4:1-5 that we can earn our righteousness as the result of our works while also maintaining in Romans 2:13 that only the doers of God's law will be declared righteous.

For God to be righteous means that He is a doer of righteous works and it would be contradictory for God to be righteous if he were not a doer of righteous works. Christ expressed the righteousness of God by setting an example for us to follow of being a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law, so the only way for us to become the righteousness of God is through faith and what it means for us to become the righteousness of God in Christ is for us to become a doer of righteous works in accordance with following Christ's example, which is why those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6).

 

[RileyG]

And then pass to the regenerated believer through His Holy Spirit.
Blessings

Amen!

 

[The Liturgist]

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.​

​

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.​

Thoughts?

We become a new creation when we are baptized in Christ, for according to Galatians 3:27 all who are baptized in Christ have put on Christ. This is particularly pertinent since tomorrow is for most Orthodox (specifically those on the Julian calendar, and Coptic and Ethiopian Oriental Orthodox) date of the celebration of the baptism of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, and also prior to the fifth century, the date on which all Christian churches celebrated the Nativity - it still is when the Armenians celebrate the Nativity in Jerusalem (for the Armenians celebrate the Baptism of Christ together with the Nativity).*

And on this feast day, and also on Pascha (Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection), we sing Galatians 3:27 as a hymn. “As many as are baptized in Christ have put on Christ, alleluia!”

By the way, I know you and I have differences of opinion on some issues of theology, but I just want to reiterate how much I appreciate your friendship and the love I have for you as a fellow Christian, and how much I admire your intense pro-life activism. The sparing of the unborn children is particularly dear to me, and at this time of year when the liturgical churches commemorate the Holy Innocents who were massacred by Herod, it is especially salient. I abhor the fact that there are some liberal mainline denominations which have actually donated money to “pro-choice” entities, compromising what should be a united Christian front against abortion. Children once conceived have the right to be born, the right to live, and the right to be loved.

* All Orthodox churches in Jerusalem celebrate the Baptism of our Lord tomorrow, and the Great Blessing of the Waters celebrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem is something I hope to visit as a pilgrim soon, for it would be interesting to see the Jordan flow in reverse.

 

[Always in His Presence]

Romans 5:17. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One,

Gift of Righteousness

 

[Always in His Presence]

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.