Passage

2 Corinthians 5.21

Book: 2 Corinthians · NASB95

Verse

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

NASB95 (NASB95)

"19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

"21. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:19-21, NASB95)

Setting

Speaker: Paul (with Timothy as co-sender, 2 Cor 1:1), writing to the church at Corinth from Macedonia c. AD 55-57.
Audience: the Corinthian believers, in the wake of the painful confrontation of 1 Corinthians + the "severe letter" + Titus's intervening visit; Paul defends his apostolic ministry (chs. 1-7), commends the Macedonian collection (chs. 8-9), and confronts the "super-apostles" (chs. 10-13).
Location: Paul writing from Macedonia (likely Philippi); recipients in Corinth, the Achaian commercial-seat.
Time period: c. AD 55-57, mid-third missionary journey. The atonement theology of v. 21 sits at the apex of the katallassō (reconciliation) cluster of vv. 18-20, this is Paul's most concentrated reconciliation-theology paragraph.

Theological reading

1. The structural shape, a chiastic exchange

The verse has a precise rhetorical structure: He made Him (Christ) who knew no sin (sinless) to be sin (substituted into our condition) on our behalf (substitutionary force), so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (we substituted into His condition, by participation). The pattern is an A:B::B':A' double-substitution: Christ is positioned where we were (under the verdict of sin); we are positioned where He is (the righteousness of God). Luther captured this as the "happy exchange" (fröhlicher Wechsel), Christ assumes our sin and we receive His righteousness. Calvin: "the great exchange."

2. Hamartian epoiēsen, "He made Him sin"

The phrase hamartian epoiēsen ("He made [Him] sin") is theologically dense and historically debated:

Penal-substitution reading (Reformed tradition, Anselm-Aquinas-Luther-Calvin lineage): Christ bears our sin's imputed guilt and penalty; hamartia = sin-as-condition-of-condemnation. The verb epoiēsen + Isa 53:6's "the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him" + Isa 53:10 asham ("guilt-offering") + Lev 16's day-of-atonement scapegoat-pattern frame the imputation. Paul uses the same Christ-bearing-our-sin grammar in Gal 3:13 ("Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us") and Rom 8:3 ("sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin", peri hamartias, the LXX rendering of chatta't, sin-offering).
Sin-offering reading (Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, some patristic + Catholic exegetes): hamartia here renders the LXX use of hamartia for the chatta't sin-offering (Lev 4:24, etc.). On this reading, "made Him sin" = "made Him a sin-offering", Christ as the antitypical Levitical chatta't. Augustine: "He was made sin so that we might be made righteousness, not our righteousness but God's righteousness; not in ourselves but in Him." The two readings are not mutually exclusive: Christ is both the imputation-bearer AND the sin-offering antitype; the cultic and forensic frames converge.
Either way the substitutionary force is decisive. Christ is positioned where sinners deserve to be (under judgment), so that sinners can be positioned where He is (the righteousness of God). The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA) does not depend on resolving the lexical ambiguity in favor of one reading; both readings preserve the substitutionary-and-imputational logic.

3. Dikaiosynē theou, "the righteousness of God"

The phrase hina hēmeis genōmetha dikaiosynē theou ("so that we might become the righteousness of God") parallels Paul's signature theme in Romans 1:17, 3:21-26, 5:17-19, 10:3, the dikaiosynē theou is both God's character (His righteousness) and the righteousness God gives (imputed righteousness, iustitia aliena in Luther's vocabulary; iustitia Christi imputata in classical Reformed). The hina-clause marks purpose: the substitution is for the end that we are positioned in Christ as objects of the divine-righteousness verdict. This is imputation, Christ's righteousness reckoned to the believer as a forensic-legal status (cf. Rom 4:3-8's Abrahamic logizomai / logizetai). The verse is therefore a load-bearing scriptural anchor for the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith (Luther's sola fide + iustitia aliena; Calvin's Inst. 3.11).

4. "In Him", en autō incorporative

The closing en autō ("in Him") signals incorporative-union with Christ, not merely external-imitation or external-imputation. The believer's righteousness is not a possession-given but a status-held-by-being-in-Christ. This grounds Paul's persistent en Christō / en autō / syn Christō vocabulary (~165× across his corpus) and the doctrine of mystical union with Christ (Calvin Inst. 3.1 unio mystica; Edwards Religious Affections 3rd Sign). Imputation is not a legal-fiction but a real-relation-grounded status, we are righteous because we are in Christ, who is righteous, and whose righteousness is communicated to those incorporated into Him.

5. Patristic + Reformation reception

Athanasius Contra Arianos II.55 + III.31, De Inc. 8-9: Christ became what we are so we might become what He is (Eastern theōsis exchange-formula); Gregory of Nazianzus Oration 30.5: "He took my sin upon Himself, that He might give me His own righteousness"; Cyril of Alexandria Comm. on 2 Cor, sin-offering reading (Christ as antitypical chatta't + scapegoat); Augustine Enchiridion 41 ("He was sin so that we might be righteousness, not ours but God's, not in us but in Him"); Anselm Cur Deus Homo (1098), satisfaction-theory framework; Aquinas ST III q.46-49, satisfaction + substitution + merit-imputation synthesis; Luther Lectures on Galatians (1535) + Two Kinds of Righteousness (1519), the fröhlicher Wechsel; Calvin Comm. on 2 Cor 5:21: "Our condemnation is annihilated by the punishment of the Son of God... we are righteous in him, in respect that God reckons not unto us our sins, but rather imputes to us his righteousness" + Inst. 3.11.10-12. Modern: John Stott The Cross of Christ (1986) chs. 6-7; Leon Morris The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (1955); Murray Harris 2 Corinthians NIGTC (2005); Scott Hafemann NIVAC (2000); Schreiner / N. T. Wright debate (2007-2009), covenantal-incorporative vs classical-imputational readings; both preserve substitutionary force.

Key words (Greek)

hamartian epoiēsen (G266 hamartia + G4160 poieō aorist active, "He made [Him] sin"), the substitution-language; ambiguous between sin-as-condition-of-condemnation (Reformed) and sin-offering-antitype (LXX hamartia for chatta't). Both readings preserve substitutionary force.
ginōskō perfect-active gnonta in mē gnonta hamartian ("the one who knew no sin"), Christ's sinless-experiential awareness; cf. Heb 4:15 "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin"; 1 Pet 2:22 "He committed no sin"; 1 John 3:5 "in Him there is no sin."
hyper hēmōn (G5228 + G2257, "on our behalf / for us"), substitutionary preposition + genitive; identical force to 1 Cor 15:3's hyper tōn hamartiōn hēmōn.
dikaiosynē theou (G1343 + G2316, "righteousness of God"), Paul's signature phrase across Romans + Philippians + here; both God's character AND the imputed-status given to those in Christ.
en autō (G1722 + G846, "in Him"), incorporative-union vocabulary; the en-Christō formula appears ~165× in Paul.

Cross-references

Isaiah 53:5-12, the OT Servant Song; "He bore our griefs... the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him", substitution-anchor (see Isaiah 53.5 / Isaiah 53.12)
Romans 3:21-26, dikaiosynē theou through faith in Christ; hilastērion propitiation
Romans 4:3-8, Abrahamic imputation paradigm (logizomai)
Romans 5:17-19, Adam-Christ imputation parallel; "the gift of righteousness"
Romans 8:3, peri hamartias (sin-offering); Christ "as an offering for sin"
Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us"
1 Peter 2:22-24, "He committed no sin... He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross"
Hebrews 4:15, Christ's sinless experiential identification with us
Leviticus 16, day-of-atonement scapegoat + sin-offering pattern; the OT type 2 Cor 5:21 fulfills