How Did Jesus Become Sin in 2 Corinthians 5:21?

HOW DID JESUS BECOME SIN IN 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

2 Corinthians 5:21 says: "For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Christ]." (NKJV, emphasis mine).

A plain reading of the text may appear to suggest that Jesus was literally made a sinner at the cross. Nothing could be further from the truth! The writer of this text of Scripture employs allegorical language to explain the essence of Jesus' atoning death on the cross of Calvary. This metaphorical language is intended to convey an overarching divine truth - that Jesus carried the weight and burden of our sin at the cross yet He was without sin. He was undeserving of the condemnation that He suffered to redeem us. Our sin in Adam could not be atoned by the blood of bulls and goats (Hebrews 10:4). Only the sinless blood of Jesus Christ could atone for our sin and alienation from the holy and righteous God of Scripture. 

If Jesus was truly made sin, and hence became sinful, He could not have satisfied God's divine purposes for the atonement. Only a sinless Lamb of God could qualify to be slain at Calvary.

Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn that Jesus voluntarily submitted Himself to the Father in order to come as God incarnate and redeem us (Philippians 2:1-10). When Scripture speaks of Jesus being made sin, it underscores the theological paradox in His redemption work. It was inconceivable that a member of the divinity could come down to take on the role that Jesus accepted as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This truth underscores the essence of the substitutionary atonement that Christ accomplish for us - dying in the place of a condemned sinner to free them from God's divine wrath.  

In His incarnation, Jesus came to us as our kinsman Redeemer. He took on flesh and was in every essence human except for His divinity and His is sinlessness. This was a significant feature in His incarnate coming and atoning death. Scripture attests that there was no one in heaven, on earth or under the earth who could have taken the place of Christ in redeeming humanity. This is the reason that Jesus is celebrated in heaven as the Christus Victor - the one by whom a decisive victory over Satan was resoundingly achieved to the glory of God. Jesus took our place on the cross and suffered the condemnation that was meant for us. He redeemed us from the bondage of sin that our transgression in Adam consigned us so that any sinner that looks to the cross will receive his atonement for sin and adorns the righteousness of God in Christ.  Isaiah 53:6, speaking of our disobedience and Christ's atonement, says: 

"All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned every one to his own way;

And the LORD has laid on Him the inequity of us all" (NKJV). 

Revelation 5:2-5 says "2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 

4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” (NKJV).

Revelation 5:9-10 celebrates Christ's triumphant mission at the cross, saying:

" 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,

And to open its seals;

For You were slain,

And have redeemed us to God by Your blood

Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;

And we shall reign on the earth.” (NKJV).

Jesus was therefore not literally made a sinner. He took on our burden of sin on the cross and by His death and resurrection, He defeated Satan and freed us from sinful depravity. Colossians 2:13-15 says of Christ's redemption: “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (NKJV).

Keep it Christ!

 

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2026