²¹He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The message of reconciliation must be solidly established on truth so that we don’t just convey a feel-good gospel devoid of substance. In the original Greek, the passage lacks the usual connective between this verse and the previous one (about our being ambassadors), indicating a continuity of thought that is inseparable, undividable. In essence, this verse provides the basis for reconciliation. It answers the “how” of reconciliation, that is, how God is able to reconcile us to Himself.

Verse 20 speaks of God’s invitation for sinful humans to do something, namely, to “be reconciled to God.” That is something we do. But that is predicated on a prior and more foundational truth, namely, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself …” (2 Cor. 5:19). That is His part. So we see there are two parties to reconciliation, with God taking the first step. Our part is to receive the reconciliation through confession of our sin and belief in Christ.

But how did God fulfill His part? How can a holy God not hold people accountable for their “trespasses” (2 Cor. 5:19)? What does He do with the sin of unrighteous people? Just overlook their sins, forget about them, whitewash them, or sweep them under the proverbial carpet? Does God just say, “Let bygones be bygones”? No, for He spoke through Ezekiel, “The soul who sins will die” and through Paul, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Passages like this are not meant simply as warnings, but are to be taken at full face value. God cannot lie or contradict Himself (Heb. 10:4), so how then can He reconcile lost sinners to Himself and still keep His word that there needs to be accountability for sin?

This is how: Christ took our accountability for sin onto Himself. “He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.” Notice the text does not say that Christ became sinful, but rather He was “made … to be sin.” When he says He “knew no sin,” Paul uses the familiar sense of intimate, experiential knowledge. There was a transference of the penalty of sin, “as though” Christ was the one who sinned, and therefore He suffered the consequence of sin. He took the accountability for sin and therefore the judgment. He stood in our place and died the death that both Ezekiel and Paul wrote about. He was our substitute. All with the result that we would take on His righteousness—a switching of places with Him. That is the entire basis of reconciliation with God. It is left only to the individual to repent and believe.

Lord, thank You, thank You for switching places with me on the cross.