2 Corinthians 5:21

Context

This verse concludes 2 Corinthians 5:11–21, a passage in 2 Corinthians, the letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. While defending his apostleship, Paul says that God has reconciled the world to himself through Christ, restoring a broken relationship, and has entrusted "the ministry of reconciliation" to the apostles (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). After appealing in verse 20, "be ye reconciled to God," Paul explains in verse 21 how that reconciliation is made possible: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Interpretation

• Substitutionary reading: Most Protestant interpreters read the verse as a statement of substitutionary atonement, namely that the sinless Jesus Christ bore human sin in our place and underwent judgment.
• Double imputation reading: The Reformed and Lutheran traditions cite the verse as a basis for "double imputation." Imputation means reckoning or crediting to one person what belongs to another. On this view, human sin is credited to Christ, and Christ's righteousness is credited to the believer. Martin Luther's concept of the "joyous exchange" is often explained in connection with this verse.
• Sin-offering reading: Some interpreters take "sin" in "made him to be sin" to refer to the Old Testament sin offering. They point out that the Hebrew word ḥaṭṭāʾt means both "sin" and "sin offering" (Leviticus 4), and Augustine is reported to have read the verse this way.
• Transformational reading: The Catholic Church understands becoming "the righteousness of God" as believers actually being transformed and made righteous by grace. The Wesleyan tradition affirms justification while also emphasizing that it leads to sanctification.
• Apostolic-ministry reading: The British New Testament scholar N. T. Wright draws attention to the fact that the context of this passage is apostolic ministry. He reads the verse to mean that the apostles, in their ministry of reconciliation, come to embody God's covenant faithfulness.

Debates and Issues

• Whether justification is God's forensic declaration or an actual transformation within the person has long been a point of contention between Protestants and Catholics in debates over justification. Both sides cite this verse.
• Many interpreters object to taking the statement that Christ was "made sin" to mean that Christ became a sinner, on the grounds that such a reading conflicts with the phrase "who knew no sin" in the same verse.
• The phrase "for us" translates the Greek preposition hyper. Because the word can be rendered either "in place of" or "on behalf of," the choice affects how directly a substitutionary sense is drawn from the text. The New Korean Revised Version, like the earlier Korean Revised Version, renders it "in place of."

In the Korean Church

The verse is frequently cited to explain the meaning of atonement in Holy Week sermons, in Communion services, and in evangelism.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 53:4–6
• 1 Peter 2:24
• Galatians 3:10–14
• Romans 3:21–26
• 1 Peter 3:18