John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 5:21

"Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him." — 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ASV)

Him who knew no sin. Do you observe that, according to Paul, there is no return to favor with God except what is founded on the sacrifice of Christ alone? Let us learn, therefore, to turn our views in that direction whenever we desire to be absolved from guilt. He now teaches more clearly what we referred to above—that God is propitious to us when He acknowledges us as righteous. For these two things are equivalent—that we are acceptable to God, and that we are regarded by Him as righteous.

To know no sin is to be free from sin. He says, then, that Christ, while He was entirely exempt from sin, was made sin for us. It is commonly remarked that sin here denotes an expiatory sacrifice for sin, and in the same way the Latins term it piaculum. Paul, too, has in this and other passages borrowed this phrase from the Hebrews, among whom אשם (asham) denotes an expiatory sacrifice, as well as an offense or crime. But the meaning of this word, as well as the entire statement, will be better understood from a comparison of both parts of the antithesis.

Sin is here contrasted with righteousness when Paul teaches us that we were made the righteousness of God on the ground of Christ’s having been made sin. Righteousness here is not taken to denote a quality or habit, but by way of imputation, on the ground of Christ’s righteousness being reckoned as received by us.

What, on the other hand, is denoted by sin? It is the guilt on account of which we are arraigned at the bar of God. As, however, the curse of the individual was formerly cast upon the victim, so Christ’s condemnation was our absolution, and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

The righteousness of God in him. In the first place, the righteousness of God is taken here to denote—not that which is given to us by God, but that which is approved by Him, as in John 12:43, where the glory of God means that which is esteemed by Him, and the glory of men denotes the vain applause of the world.

Furthermore, in Romans 3:23, when he says that we have come short of the glory of God, he means that there is nothing in which we can glory before God. For it is not a very difficult matter to appear righteous before men, but this is a mere deceptive appearance of righteousness, which ultimately becomes the ground of perdition. Hence, that is the only true righteousness which is acceptable to God.

Let us now return to the contrast between righteousness and sin. How are we righteous in the sight of God? It is certainly in the same respect in which Christ was a sinner. For He, in a manner, assumed our place, so that He might be a criminal in our stead, and might be dealt with as a sinner—not for His own offenses, but for those of others, since He was pure and exempt from every fault—and might endure the punishment that was due to us, not to Himself.

It is certainly in the same manner that we are now righteous in him—not by rendering satisfaction to the justice of God through our own works, but because we are judged in connection with Christ’s righteousness, which we have put on by faith so that it might become ours. On this account, I have preferred to retain the particle ἐν, (in,) rather than substitute per, (through,) in its place, for that meaning corresponds better with Paul’s intention.