FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
– 2 Corinthians 5:21
Christ in Our Place
We’ve looked this week at the tension between Grace and Works. 2 Corinthians 5:21 lays out our path to righteousness.
It says that “For our Sake”— for us, for you, for me, for the human race, for all of us who have chosen rebellion against the Creator, God. We were made to represent God but instead we have chosen to rival him; instead of worshiping him, we’ve chosen to worship ourselves.
And it is for our sake that God, “made him to be sin who knew no sin.” Who is “him?” It is Jesus Christ. The historical person, who lived 2023 years ago in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas was, in fact, God in the flesh. He made Jesus who had no sin (he was perfect, he was exactly who we were intended to be), to be sin. Essentially, Jesus took on our sin and thus took on the punishment of our sin. The punishment for our sin is death; it is separation from God.
Why would he do this? “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God in his kindness has come to rescue us, that the unrighteous humanity would be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is a great exchange that takes place in Christ’s death and resurrection.
Jesus gets our sin and shame and we get his righteousness and life. He gets our punishment and we get his reward. He gets our cross and we get His crown.
It is our good news, our gospel, that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. Death and sin no longer have the final word, because, in Christ, we have become the righteousness of God. When the Father looks on you, he no longer sees your sin, He sees Jesus’ righteousness. Thanks be to God.
PRAYER
Our Father,
Thank you for your Word. We pray that by your Spirit, 2 Corinthians 5:21 would change us into the likeness of Christ. We praise you for your gospel. We praise you that we are new in Christ. We thank you for pursuing us while we were in our sin. We long to be like Jesus. Father, we pray this now through The Son and by the Spirit. Amen.
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