memory verse with notes 2 Corinthians 5:21

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

Notes: The fifteen words in the original Greek in this verse express the doctrine of substitution like no other single verse in the Bible. God made the only person who knew no sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. Some mistakenly think this means that Jesus became a sinner—that, on the cross, He actually was punished because He was a sinner. The truth is that, on the cross, Jesus was as holy as He ever was in the eternity before or the eternity after. On the cross God treated Jesus as if He had personally committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe, though, in fact, He committed none of them. God put the punishment for our sins on the sinless Son.

The rest of the verse says that "we might become the righteousness of God in Him." That's the other side of substitution. God treated Jesus as a sinner so that He could treat us as if we were righteous. He was not a sinner, and we're not righteous. That's the substitution. He fulfilled all righteousness so that His sinless life could be credited to your account. Pretty amazing, isn't it? On the cross, God treats Jesus as if He lived your life. That is the heart of the gospel.

Macarthur study Notes: Here Paul summarized the heart of the gospel, resolving the mystery and paradox of vv. 18-20, and explaining how sinners can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. These 15 Gr. words express the doctrines of imputation and substitution like no other single verse. who knew no sin. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God (cf. Luke 23:4, 14, 22, 47; John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19; 2:22-24; 3:18; Revelation 5:2-10). sin on our behalf. God the Father, using the principle of imputation, treated Christ as if He were a sinner though He was not, and had Him die as a subtitute to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him (cf. Isaiah 53:4-6; Galatians 3:10-13; 1 Peter 2:24). On the cross He did not become a sinner (as some suggest), but remained as holy as ever. He was treated as if He were guilty of all sins ever committed by all who would ever believe, though He committed none. The wrath of God was exhausted on Him and the just requirement of God's law met for those for whom He died. the righteousness of God. Another reference to justification and imputation. The righteousness that is credited to believer's account is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, God's Son. As Christ was not a sinner, but was treated as if He were, so believers who have not yet been made righteous (until glorification) are treated as if they were righteous. He bore their sins so that they could bear His righteousness. God treated Him as if He committed believers' sins, and treats believers as if they did only the righteous deeds of the sinless Son of God.

Esv study Bible Notes: This verse is one of the most important in all of Scripture for understanding the meaning of the atonement and justification. Here we see that the one who knew no sin is Jesus Christ (v. 20) and that he (God) made him (Christ) to be sin Gk. hamartia, “sin”). This means that God the Father made Christ to be regarded and treated as “sin” even though Christ himself never sinned (Heb. 4:15; cf. Gal. 3:13). Further, we see that God did this for our sake—that is, God regarded and treated “our” sin (the sin of all who would believe in Christ) as if our sin belonged not to us but to Christ himself. Thus Christ “died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14) and, as Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). In becoming sin “for our sake,” Christ became our substitute—that is, Christ took our sin upon himself and, as our substitute, thereby bore the wrath of God (the punishment that we deserve) in our place (“for our sake”). Thus the technical term for this foundational doctrine of the Christian faith is the substitutionary atonement—that Christ has provided the atoning sacrifice as “our” substitute, for the sins of all who believe (cf. Rom. 3:23–25). The background for this is Isaiah 53 from the Greek (Septuagint) translation of the Hebrew OT, which includes the most lengthy and detailed OT prophecy of Christ's death and which contains numerous parallels to 2 Cor. 5:21. Isaiah's prophecy specifically uses the Greek word for “sin” (Gk. hamartia) five times (as indicated below in italics) with reference to the coming Savior (the suffering servant) in just a few verses—e.g., “surely he has born our griefs” (Isa. 53:4); “He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5); “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6); “he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11); “he bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). In a precise fulfillment of this prophecy, Christ became “sin” for those who believe in him, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This means that just as God imputed our sin and guilt to Christ (“he made him to be sin”) so God also imputes the righteousness of Christ—a righteousness that is not our own—to all who believe in Christ. Because Christ bore the sins of those who believe, God regards and treats believers as having the legal status of “righteousness” (Gk. dikaiosynē). This righteousness belongs to believers because they are “in him,” that is, “in Christ” (e.g., Rom. 3:22; 5:18; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17, 19; Phil. 3:9). Therefore “the righteousness of God” (which is imputed to believers) is also the righteousness of Christ—that is, the righteousness and the legal status that belongs to Christ as a result of Christ having lived as one who “knew no sin.” This then is the heart of the doctrine of justification: God regards (or counts) believers as forgiven and God declares and treats them as forgiven, because God the Father has imputed the believer's sin to Christ and because God the Father likewise imputes Christ's righteousness to the believer. (See further notes on Rom. 4:6–8; 5:18; 10:3; 10:6–8; see also Isa. 53:11: “the righteous one, my servant, [shall] make many to be accounted righteous”).