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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 2 Corinthians 5:21 - 5:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Him who knew no sin (ton mē gnonta hamartian). Definite claim by Paul that Jesus did not commit sin, had no personal acquaintance (mē gnonta, second aorist active participle of ginōskō) with it. Jesus made this claim for himself (Joh 8:46). This statement occurs also in 1Pe 2:22; Heb 4:15; Heb 7:26; 1Jo 3:5. Christ was and is “a moral miracle” (Bernard) and so more than mere man.
He made to be sin (hamartian epoiēsen). The words “to be” are not in the Greek. “Sin” here is the substantive, not the verb. God “treated as sin” the one “who knew no sin.” But he knew the contradiction of sinners (Heb 12:3). We may not dare to probe too far into the mystery of Christ’s suffering on the Cross, but this fact throws some light on the tragic cry of Jesus just before he died: “My God, My God, why didst thou forsake me?” (Mat 27:46).
That we might become (hina hēmeis genōmetha). Note “become.” This is God’s purpose (hina) in what he did and in what Christ did. Thus alone can we obtain God’s righteousness (Rom 1:17).