Remember The Good News

What better encouragement and motivation can we receive for worship and evangelism than from the very word of God? Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 for this.

For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The explanation of this verse is the very essence of the Gospel.

He (God the Father) made him (Jesus- the son- God in the flesh) to be sin. In what sense was he made to be sin? Only in one sense, He treated him as though he had committed every sin that was ever committed by every person who would ever believe, when in fact he had never committed a sin nor was he even born into sin because of his miraculous birth. He was never a sinner, He is a Holy God; but he is treated as though (to put it more practical) he lived my life and he paid the penalty for my sin and I am looked upon as though I have lived his life. That is the great doctrine of substitutionary atonement and it is at the very heart of the gospel.

Next we see that all of this happened that we might become the righteousness of Christ, not because we actually are righteous in deed or thought but we are declared righteous because of God’s choice based on His love and mercy to make this substitution. What we get is complete forgiveness. This is the great doctrine of justification and also at the heart of the gospel.

When God the Father looks at the cross He will see you and when he looks at you He will see Jesus, If only you will believe by faith that all this happened and it happened for your sake. May this truth move us to worship the one who came, lived, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, that is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

This is the Gospel in its simplest form, simple enough for a child to understand and complex enough for a Theologian to study his entire life and never fully grasp the complete truth and implications of this good news.

It is my prayer that the exegesis of this verse will ignite a fresh zeal for God and His kingdom and cause us to do what God has enabled us to do for the growth of that kingdom. I hope that this reminder of the Gospel we have received will motivate and encourage us to share with others the abundant grace we have ourselves received. May God Bless You in Your Ministry.