THE PRICE OF PEACE

The clearest and most important verse in the Bible regarding justification is 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made peace with us by removing the enmity between us, but someone must pay to reconcile enemies. Forensic payment for sin is justification. Paul writes, "Be reconciled to God. The one who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Verse 21 is an example of asyndeton, a sentence that is grammatically unconnected to what comes before or after (MHT, Grammar, 3:340). Paul's transition from the topic of reconciliation to justification is abrupt without any connecting particles. The verse stands alone grammatically but is essential to the overall argument Paul advances. To be reconciled requires us to be justified.

God made (ἐποίησεν) the sinless Christ to be sin for us. Christ is sin. He is neither sinner nor sin offering. Christ is sin (ἁμαρτία) not a sinner (ἁμαρτωλός). This point is important theologically for if Christ became a sinner, He could not die for our sins. God made him sin itself, the object of God's forensic anger so that our sin could be judged and removed. Reconciliation depends on the removal of that which caused God anger by the satisfying of His judicial wrath. Furthermore, Christ is not merely a sin offering like the scapegoat under the Mosaic law. We discern this truth because of the double use of the noun "sin" which requires us to take both uses of sin in the same way. While it is possible to understand "he made Him sin" as "He made him a sin offering," it is not possible to take "the one who knew no sin" as "the one who knew no sin offering." Therefore both uses of the word must mean sin, not sin offering (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, pp. 213-215).

The two clauses are parallel, Paul draws a sharp contrast between sin (ἁμαρτίαν) and righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) and between made (ἐποίησεν) and might become (γενώμεθα). Christ was made sin. We are not made righteous. Our righteousness is a gift of God in Christ. It is the righteousness of God (θεοῦ) which must be understood as a subjective genitive meaning that the righteousness comes from God. It is also only a righteousness found in Him (ἐν αὐτῷ). The antecedent must be Christ (Χριστοῦ) in verse 20. God gives us His righteousness because of our union with Christ.

Since righteousness is a gift from God (Rom. 5:17), it cannot mean good works. Good works cannot be given to us. The righteousness Paul is talking about must refer to a right relationship with God. God confers a standing of righteousness on us in Christ. God provides the right standing Christ bought for us. The gift is judicial righteousness on the basis of His payment for sin. In this sense, our sin is imputed to Christ, and His right standing with God is imputed to us (Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, pp.281-282). God both requires of us and provides to us His righteousness. The verb "might become" (γενώμεθα) infers a growing life of actual righteousness (good works) as the result of this conferral of judicial righteousness (Eph. 2:10) although Paul's emphasis is forensic in this passage.

Reconciliation depends on justification and justification depends on atonement. Justification is judicial forgiveness. Christ paid the price for God to forgive. Because God forgives, we can be reconciled to God and offer reconciliation to others. The price tag of peace is payment for sins.