the caption of the cross -- part 2

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

mark this: 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.



Some people (I know, because I'm one of them) carry with us, in our hearts and heads, only half of the cross. Our cross, then, looks like this:




Now, mind you, half a cross is better than none! It forms a big minus sign, which reminds us that our sins have been totally and forever paid for, forgiven, wiped out, and forgotten by God. So I love my half a cross!

The first part of 2 Corinthians 5:21 shows us exactly how God subtracted our sins:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us


(This does not say that God made Jesus to be a "sinner." He became sin as our substitute and sacrifice.)

But the subtraction of our sins leaves us morally neutral--nothing bad, but nothing good either. And a moral vacuum -- a "swept and empty house" -- would invite all kinds of trouble:
"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." (Matthew 12:43-45)

That's why Jesus also added something to us at the cross. He added a vertical dimension that lifts us out of moral neutrality all the way to the infinite righteousness of God. That's what the second part of 2 Corinthians 5:21 shows us:

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Right there at the cross, before the bad had a chance to jump back into our swept and emptied souls, God filled us with a right-ness that is like his because it is his.

And that's why 2 Corinthians 5:21 forms the Bible's best caption for the cross:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It shows us that, when understood in its entirety, the cross is a big plus sign:



He not only subtracted our sins but added to us His righteousness! This is the very crux of our faith; but it is, sad to say, the most overlooked concept in Christendom. So let's not overlook it any longer.

Let's not go through another year with only half of the cross.

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