"… we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20).
Paul exhorts us to be reconciled to God. But how can we as enemies of God, sinners before His holy tribunal, be declared innocent and thus be reconciled to Him? Paul tells us in verse 20: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
First of all, the exhortation to be reconciled is passive. You cannot reconcile yourself to God, but you must accept God’s offer of reconciliation in Christ. Paul explains how this is accomplished: we are reconciled to God because Christ became “sin” for us so that we might be the “righteousness of God.” Christ becoming “sin” does not mean that He became a sinner on the cross. It does mean that He was regarded and treated as a sinner in that He bore the curse of God as a substitute for us. This is important to understand because it directly relates to how we become “righteous.”
Jesus remained holy but bore the curse of the sin by receiving the punishment of death. In other words, this was a judicial procedure—Jesus was not actually changed into a sinner. Likewise, our becoming righteous (as it is used in this context) means that we are legally declared innocent because Jesus has borne the punishment for our sins. We remain sinners in this transaction, but we are legally declared righteous. This, of course, does not imply that in redemption we remain unchanged; because by the power of the Spirit, we are actually sanctified, or made holy. This passage is strictly referring to our justification before God as the basis of our reconciliation to Him.
We are reconciled to Him on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, which is imputed to us, or transferred to our account. It is not a righteousness of our own, but that which belongs to God. Christ “was made sin, that we might be made righteous,” Hodge wrote. “He was condemned, that we might be justified. The very idea of substitution is that what is done by one in the place of another, avails as though that other had done it himself.” In Christ, the justice of God has been satisfied, and by His righteousness we are declared innocent. Those who put their faith in Christ openly confess that His righteousness is the only means by which they can be reconciled to God.
Those who have been reconciled to God are new creatures: “old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” How have you changed since you became a Christian? As a growing Christian, how are you different this year from last? Make a list this week and keep it as a reminder of God’s grace in your life.
