“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus had no sin, but God placed on Him the sin of the whole world. In His death our sin was judged. That means that our sin has already been punished. We don’t have to die for our sins when we trust Jesus and what He did for us. We can now live free from guilt, fear and dread of punishment. That is an amazing gift of grace.
A truth in this verse will change the life of anyone who grasps it. “In Him we might become the righteousness of God.” How righteous is God? It sounds like a crazy question. He is completely righteous. How righteous is a believer? We, because of Jesus, are given the righteousness of God. While our best efforts fall far short of God’s righteous standard, when we believe in Jesus He gives us His own perfect righteousness.
That is the best news we’ve ever heard. It means that we can be done with guilt and condemnation and can get on with living the Christian life. As Paul said in Romans, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). What we could never achieve on our own—perfect righteousness—is God’s gift to us when we believe in Jesus. We can join with Paul in his words that close this letter to the Corinthians, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
