To Be Sin

To Be Sin...

I was walking one brisk, beautiful fall morning memorizing 2 Corinthians 5:21. A verse that is very familiar to me and yet... as I meditated on each phrase my heart was awash in the depth of meaning contained in these words:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus, God the Son) to be sin...
Read that again.

He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus, God the Son) to be sin...

Jesus did not just take on our sin, He actually became our sin. He did not become a sinner. While His divine nature remained undefiled, in His human nature he became "the embodiment of sin" having sin imputed to Him by the Father. "God dealt with Christ not as though He were a sinner but as though He were sin-absolutely identified with our sin." (Pastor Bill helped me with the clarification).
I used to envision the cross as the place where Jesus Christ put on my sin, as if it were a cloak. On that cloak were words like gluttony, lies, anger, hatred, murder". I don't believe that is theologically correct.
When Jesus was crucified there was sign affixed at the top of the cross. "And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." (Matthew 27:37) If God the Father had put the sign at the top of the cross, it would have read: "This is Jesus, gluttony, lie, murder, gossip". The sign would not be large enough to list all sin which Jesus embodied.
Please don't miss the subtle difference. In the first case He put on types of sins, in the latter, He became sin. This is huge. Don't rush past this. "For our sake he made him to be sin..."

Just as amazing is the truth that in him we become the righteousness of God. We do not put on His righteousness like a cloak; no rather, we become the righteousness of God, in Jesus Christ. At the moment of regeneration, we became the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. If it were like a cloak we would be able to take the righteousness of God on and off, and lose it. It is not so. We become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. WE CANNOT LOSE IT!!! It is who we are. If God the Father were to put a sign around our neck it would read: This is ___________; my righteous one. Please stop a moment. Fill in the blank with your name. Say it out loud. Keep saying it until your heart leaps with delight over what God did for and to us at the cross.

Diane