Reconciliation: The Meaning of the Cross
2 Corinthians 5:21
This Sunday and next Sunday I am taking a short break from our expositional series in Genesis to focus on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ during this Easter week. The most significant week in the history of the world was the eight days between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. During this week Christ was proclaimed as King and Messiah; He fulfilled the Passover and ordained the Lord’s Supper; He was betrayed, arrested, tried, tortured, wrongly convicted, and crucified. He was buried and gloriously raised to life. The Gospel we believe centers on these truths. We preach Christ crucified, buried and risen from the dead.
Today as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper, I want us to consider what the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ means for us. In most of my sermons I preach expositional sermons on a paragraph or more of scripture. But today I will focus our thoughts on just one verse: 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This is one of the most magnificent verses in the all the Bible. Spurgeon called it the heart of the gospel. It is the gospel in one verse. Listen to it in context:
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
The theme of this passage is obviously reconciliation. In those four verses Paul mentions the concept of reconciliation with God no less than five times. In 2 Corinthians 5:18 he writes about “God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 says “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself … ” and “has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” In 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul pleads as an ambassador of Christ for his readers to “be reconciled to God.”
What does “reconciliation” mean? Basically, the idea behind the word translated “reconciliation” refers to “a change” or “an exchange” of a hostile relationship for a friendly one. It means that two parties that were once against one another, or who were hostile to one another, are now brought together. It means enemies are now made friends.
The Bible teaches us that, because of the sin of our first parents, we are each born into a state of enmity with God. Human rebellion and disobedience to God broke the harmony in their relationship with Him. It resulted in death: spiritual death immediately and physical death eventually. All of us who are children of Adam and Eve have inherited the guilt of their sin; a broken relationship with the holy God; and death, both spiritual and physical. The Bible makes it clear that all people are sinners by nature and by their actions. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” And Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
How could the broken relationship between the holy God and sinful man ever be reconciled? The only way is to remove the cause of our enmity. The sin that broke our relationship with Him and brought our death must be dealt with—both the sin that our first parents committed in the beginning, and the personal sins we ourselves commit every day as a result. Reconciliation requires the removal of the guilt of our sin.
In Matthew 18 Jesus told a parable about a servant who owed his king a huge debt, ten thousand talents—that is, 200,000 years of labor! 60,000,000 working days! In modern money, it is over $3.5 billion. It was impossible for a servant to pay back that debt. Jesus says that the servant fell down before the king saying (Matt. 18:24), “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” But despite his pleadings and his best efforts both he and his master knew there was no way that he or even several generations of his family could ever pay that debt.
Our sin debt is like that. Because of the sin of our first parents, we are—each one—born into the human family with a debt before a holy God that we cannot pay. And we all compound our debt before God every day by adding our own personal sins against Him. It is impossible for us to repay this enormous debt of sin. How then can we be reconciled to God? The only way that the debt of our sin could be removed would be if someone else, extremely rich and kind, were to pay it to the full satisfaction of God. The problem is that no other human can pay our debt for they all have the same debt against them also.
Paul says here that the good news is that is what God Himself was doing in Christ—reconciling the world to Himself. His own Son, Jesus Christ, took the debt of our sins upon Himself, and paid it to the full satisfaction of His Father. And now, God—legitimately and freely—extends His hand to us and invites us to be “reconciled” to Himself. God didn’t simply ignore the sin debt that stood between us and Himself; He completely removed it, because His Son paid it to the full satisfaction of God’s own holy character and righteous law.
As we come to the Lord’s Supper this morning, we are remembering what God has done to reconcile us to Himself in Christ. In this one verse we will see how God can reconcile with sinners. We will examine four features of our reconciliation to God. Then we will pause after each one to give thanks to God in prayer. My desire is that through the truth of this verse we would grow in deep thankfulness to God what He did for us in Christ on the cross; and that we would bring this attitude of thankfulness to the Lord’s Supper this morning. (I have drawn these points from Greg Allen’s sermon, “Our Greatest Need”).
First, I ask you to notice that . . .
1. Reconciliation is from God
Our verse starts off by telling us Who it is that took the initiative in our broken relationship with God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 begins with the words “For He made …” Who is “He”? Go back to 2 Cor. 5:20, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made …” God is the antecedent. “He” is God Himself. Those beginning three words, “For He made”, tell us that the plan of paying for our sins, removing the cause of enmity between us, and welcoming us back into a relationship with Himself, was all the initiative of God the Father Himself.
Look back to 2 Corinthians 5:18; it begins, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself . . .” God initiated reconciliation. He designed the plan of redemption. He prophesied it. He fulfilled it. He executed it. God the Father did not have to be convinced by God the Son to save lost sinners. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God loved the world of lost sinners. He gave His Son. Peter preached about Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost,
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know– 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.” (Acts 2:22-23).
John MacArthur writes,
“Jesus went to the cross not because men turned on Him, though they did; Jesus went to the cross not because seducing spirits orchestrated the minds of the religious leaders of Judaism to plot His death, though they did; Jesus went to the cross not because an angry mob screamed for His blood, though they did. Jesus went to the cross because God planned it. God purposed it. And God designed it as the absolutely necessary means by which and by which alone reconciliation could take place.”
As we come to the table of the Lord this morning, we remember that we are giving the Father thanks for the reconciliation that He brought about. We remember that He loved us while we were still sinners, while we were still His enemies. We remember it was God the Father who gave His Son to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Father, as we come to the Lord’s table, we thank You that, while we were still dead in our trespasses and sins—though we were utterly unlovely to You, and utterly unworthy—You gave Your Son for us because You are the God who is rich in mercy, and because of the great love with which You first loved us. Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, and that You made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reconciliation is from God. Please look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 again with me; and next consider . . .
2. Reconciliation is through Christ
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us . . .” God the Father planned for reconciliation; and God the Son achieved it. Paul has already written about this in 2 Cor. 5:18 when he speaks of God, “who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ . . .” and again in 2 Cor. 5:19, when he writes that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them . . .”
Now in 2 Cor. 5:21 Paul emphasizes why reconciliation had to come through Jesus Christ. It was because Jesus Himself “knew no sin.” The Bible declares that Jesus Christ was born into the human family as one of us. But He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Thus, Jesus lived both without the guilt of sin that we inherited from Adam, and without having committed any sins of His own. Hebrews 2:17 says about Christ, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 4:15 also says, ” For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
If Jesus had any sin of His own, He could not have suffered and died for others because all His sufferings would have been justly charged against His own sin. But Paul declares what all the scripture confirms, Christ Jesus “knew no sin.” Because He was a man Jesus could die and because He was God He was sinless. Jesus did not die for His own sins—He had none. He died vicariously for our sin.
Jesus was not only sinless because of His divine nature, He was also without sin because He lived in perfect obedience to His Father’s commandments. He was able to say of His Father, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:28). Jesus Christ is the only man who knew no sin. The testimony of the eyewitnesses confirm it. Jesus says to the Jews in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” No one could then, and no one can now. In fact, at His trial they had to bring in lying witnesses who could not agree (Matt. 26:59-60). In Luke 23 the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, a pagan ruler known to be vicious, cruel and cynical, declared three times “I find no fault in this Man” (Luke 23:4, 14, 22). The thief on the cross beside Jesus said, “… this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). When Jesus died, the centurion exclaimed, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:47). The ultimate testimony of Jesus’ sinlessness was God the Father who twice testified with a voice from Heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5).
As we come to the Lord’s table this morning, we remember to give thanks to God the Father for the gift of His Son—the perfect, spotless Lamb of God who knew no sin. And we remember to give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ who willingly gave Himself in obedience to the Father’s plan to reconcile us to God.
Father; as we come your Supper today, we give thanks to You for Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, who walked among us on earth as fully human—and yet without the sin of humanity upon Him. Thank You that You so loved the world that You gave that which was most precious to Your heart—Your beloved, well-pleasing Son—in order to reconcile us to Yourself. And thank You that, in obedience to Your will, Christ gave Himself over to death, willingly, for us. In Jesus name, Amen.
Reconciliation was from God through Christ. Now; let’s consider . . .
3. Reconciliation is by a substitute
Paul writes, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us . . .” The debt of sin had to be paid. We could not pay it for ourselves. Only Someone who personally knew no sin could bear the debt on our behalf. And so, it was the plan of the Father that the Son would become a Man, live a sinless life on this earth, bear the guilt of our sins on His own Person, and die in our place on the cross—thus “becoming” sin for us.
Paul wrote about this in 2 Cor. 5:19 “that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them . . .” It wasn’t that God chose not to “impute” or “account” those sins at all. God didn’t simply ignore our trespasses. He fully treated them as they deserved, and as His holy justice demanded. But instead of counting them against us, God imputed them to Jesus; He charged them to Jesus’ account; and He extracted the full penalty of death for our sins upon Christ.
Paul speaks of this in Galatians 3:13, when he writes, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’) . . .” Our own sins brought about a curse upon ourselves; but Jesus became “cursed” in our place upon the cross. God made Him “to be sin for us.” What does it mean that Christ became sin for us?
Isaiah 53:4-6 states it clearly:
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).
Christ bore the penalty of death for our sin. All our sin was imputed, credited, to Christ on the cross. God laid the charge against sin completely on Christ. He died the death of a sinner as a sinless substitute for sinners. Christ became sin by imputation. Our sin was accounted to Him.
Father; thank You for the unspeakable gift of Jesus’ willing sacrifice on our behalf. Thank You that as the sinless Lamb of God, He bore our sins as our substitute and became sin for us, paying our sin debt in full. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
How marvelous is God’s mercy and grace, that the Father gave His Son to pay the debt for our sin. How wonderful to be forgiven! But God did much more. His plan is for full reconciliation and restoration.
Reconciliation is from God through Christ by substitution. Next we find that . . .
4. Reconciliation results in righteousness
Paul writes that God made Jesus—who knew no sin—to be sin for us, “… that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ became sin so that we would become righteousness.
First, notice that the outcome of reconciliation is the righteousness of God. This isn’t speaking of a self-righteousness that we work hard to achieve in order to earn a standing of acceptance before a holy God. We have already seen that we could never pay our own sin debt. The Bible also says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). We could never keep God’s commandments, nor could our good works remove the guilt of our sin.
Rather, this is speaking of a righteousness that has God as its source—a righteousness that is the free and gracious gift of God—where we are not only declared “not guilty” before His throne on the day of judgment, but where we are positively declared to be one-hundred percent acceptable in His sight with respect to the holy standards of His law. Paul writes in Philippians that he is found in Christ “… not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Phil. 3:9). When God looks at you as a believer in Christ, He sees you covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That’s why all your sin is automatically forgiven in the eternal sense because Jesus already paid debt for sin and the death penalty for all sinners who believe in Him.
Then, second, notice that we aren’t simply “given” this righteousness. Paul says that we actually “become the righteousness of God in Him.” All of Christ’s righteousness is placed to our account and is counted as our standing before God the Father. We become utterly identified with the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. Despite all of the sins we have ever committed, we are accepted in Him as if we had been Christ, while Christ was punished for us as if He had been sin.
His robes for mine: O wonderful exchange!
Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered ‘neath God’s rage.
Draped in His righteousness, I’m justified.
In Christ I live, for in my place He died.
His robes for mine: such anguish none can know.
Christ, God’s beloved, condemned as though His foe.
He, as though I, accursed and left alone;
I, as though He, embraced and welcomed home! (Chris Anderson)
Salvation is a full exchange. Just as God imputed our sin to Christ, God imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. Just as Christ Jesus became sin for us, we have by faith become the righteousness of God in Him. This is something that we need to remember we come to the Lord’s table.
Father; thank You that You not only took away all our sin, You also made us to become the very righteousness of Your beloved Son. You now accept us and love us as much as You accept and love Jesus! Thank You, Father, for this amazing gift of grace! In Jesus name, amen!
Our great need as sinners is reconciliation with God. We cannot be reconciled by our good works, or by our religious acts. It isn’t by the contrition of our souls before Him, or by the sacrifice of our lives to His cause. The Father has provided only one way for the debt of sin to be removed from us—but He has, in great mercy provided it freely to whoever will receive it. It is ours only through being “in Christ”.
You say, “How do I know that I am in Christ?” Believe. Believe what? Believe that you’re a sinner, you’re hopelessly alienated from God, a willful enemy of God. And then believe that God sent His Son into the world in the form of a man to die as your substitute and take your place; and that He took the penalty of death for your sin upon Himself. Believe that God’s love and justice was satisfied because God raised Jesus from the dead. At the resurrection God was saying, “I am satisfied.” When you believe in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, God takes the righteousness of Christ and credits it to your account because your sins were imputed to Christ on the cross.
As you come to the table of the Lord this morning, I invite you to be very sure that you are “in Christ”—that you have consciously and personally placed your trust in the sacrifice He has made on the cross for you. If you have never done so before, do it now: “we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20).
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
