2 Corinthians 5:21 - the silver bullet?

[Elzee]

*“God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(Galatians 3:13 also talks about Christ becoming a ‘curse for us’).

*What do these verses mean? . A friend of mine says it proves:

1. 
   *]Christ became sin on the cross taking on the guilt and punishment for all (which many Protestants teach)
   *]We are given the the ‘righteousness of God’ (when God looks at us, he sees HIS righteousness, not ours).
   
   *I know these are not ‘silver bullet’ verses, but don’t know how to respond. Can anyone help? Thank you!

 

[TOME]

Elzee, this is my understanding of the passage you asked about.

I think to help understand this particular passage it’s important to study Paul in general. An important theme throughout his writings is Jesus as the Second Adam. Paul contrast Adams disobedience with Christ obedience which took on ALL aspects of our humanity yet remained faithfull in doing the Will of God even to death on a cross.

From this, Paul developes the theme that Christ has now become the standard by which we will be judge, that is how well we do the Will of God no matter what the cost.

Another aspect of Paul’s writings is that Christ has established a New Covenant which though is related to the Old superceeds it and is beyond the Old of which the Law is rooted. This New Covenant, then, calls us to live the Righteousness of God which for Paul is not rooted in keeping Laws but from Christ Jesus’ teaching and example is rooted in mercy and justice. That’s how we will be judged.

 

[Fidelis]

First of all, your friend is drawing a HUGE assumption from a verse that doesn’t say nearly as much as he is saying it does. You need to point this out to him and not allow him to build an entire theology on one or two verses.

Anyway, here’s what the Navarre Bible Commentary says about 2 Cor 5:21

1. “He made him to be sin”: obviously St Paul does not mean that
   Christ was guilty of sin; he does not say “to be a sinner” but “to be
   sin”. “Christ had no sin,” St Augustine says; “he bore sins, but he did
   not commit them” (“Enarrationes in Psalmos”, 68, 1, 10).

According to the rite of atoning sacrifices (cf. Lev 4:24; 5:9; Num
19:9; Mic 6:7; Ps 40:7) the word “sin”, corresponding to the Hebrew
“asam”, refers to the actual act of sacrifice or to the victim being
offered. Therefore, this phrase means “he made him a victim for sin” or
“a sacrifice for sin”. it should be remembered that in the Old
Testament nothing unclean or blemished could be offered to God; the
offering of an unblemished animal obtained God’s pardon for the
transgression which one wanted to expiate. Since Jesus was the most
perfect of victims offered for us, he made full atonement for all sins.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, when comparing Christ’s sacrifice with
that of the priests of the Old Testament, it is expressly stated that
“every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand
of God, then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his
feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who
are sanctified” (Heb 10:11-14).

This concentrated sentence also echoes the Isaiah prophecy about the
sacrifice of the Servant of Yahweh; Christ, the head of the human race,
makes men sharers in the grace and glory he achieved through his
sufferings: “upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with
his stripes we are healed” (Is 53:5).

Jesus Christ, burdened with our sins and offering himself on the cross
as a sacrifice for them, brought about the Redemption: the Redemption
is the supreme example both of God’s justice–which requires atonement
befitting the offense–and of his mercy, that mercy which makes him
love the world so much that “he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16). “In the
Passion and Death of Christ–in the fact that the Father did not spare
his own Son, but ‘for our sake made him sin’–absolute justice is
expressed, for Christ undergoes the Passion and Cross because of the
sins of humanity. This constitutes even a ‘superabundance’ of justice,
for the sins of man are ‘compensated for’ by the sacrifice of the
Man-God. Nevertheless, this justice, which is properly justice ‘to
God’s measure’, springs completely from love, from the love of the
Father and of the Son, and completely bears fruit in love. Precisely
for this reason the divine justice revealed in the Cross of Christ is
‘to God’s measure’, because it springs from love and is accomplished in
love, producing fruits of salvation. The divine dimension of redemption
is put into effect not only by bringing justice to bear upon sin, but
also by restoring to love that creative power in man thanks to which he
once more has access to the fullness of life and holiness that come
from God. In this way, redemption involves the revelation of mercy in
its fullness” (John Paul II, “Dives In Misericordia”, 7).

 

[Todd_Easton]

Elzee:

We are given the the ‘righteousness of God’ (when God looks at us, he sees HIS righteousness, not ours).

If God does not see our righteousness, how is it that St. Paul says that God will increase its harvest?
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Corinthians 9:10) ?

According to the book of Revelation, the Church of Christ will be clothed with the righteous deeds of the saints as a bride clothed with fine linen, bright and pure:
7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Revelation 19:7-8)
So, it would appear that when we get to heaven our own personal righteousness, as demonstrated by our righteous deeds, will be quite visible to God and everyone else.

In Hebrews, we are told that the spirits of just men will have been “made perfect” by the time they get to heaven. (see Hebrews 12:23) So, whether in this life or in the purifying fire in Purgatory hereafter (see verses below), our own personal righteousness must and shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees and we shall become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, just as Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, 48.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3 KJV)