2 Corinthians 5:21

For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Verse 20 Read Chapter 5

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

But if you hold to the letter, so as to think from what is written, namely, the Word was made flesh, that the Word of God was turned into flesh, do you not deny that it is written of the Lord that he did not make sin but was made sin? So, was the Lord turned into sin? Not so, but, since he assumed our sins, he is called sin. For the Lord is also called an accursed thing, not because the Lord was turned into an accursed thing but because he himself took on our curse. He says: “For he is accursed that hangs on a tree.” … It is written that he was made sin, that is, not by the nature and operation of sin … ; but that he might crucify our sin in his flesh, he assumed for us the burden of the infirmities of a body already guilty of carnal sin.

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

This proves that his body and soul are of the same substance as ours.

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Ambrosiaster

AD 400

Christ did not have to be born as a man, but he became man because of sin. It was only because all flesh was subject to sin that he was made sin for us. In view of the fact that he was made an offering for sins, it is not wrong for him to be said to have been made “sin,” because in the law the sacrifice which was offered for sins used to be called a “sin.” After his death on the cross Christ descended to hell, because it was death, working through sin, which gave hell its power. Christ defeated death by his death and brought such benefit to sinners that now death cannot hold those who are marked with the sign of the cross. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

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Basil the Great

AD 379

In yet another passage, contemplating the still more wonderful benevolence of God in Christ, he says: “Him who knew no sin, he has made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.” In view of these utterances and other similar ones, we are under the strictest obligation, unless we have received in vain the grace of God, first, to free ourselves from the dominion of the devil who leads a slave of sin into evils even against his will. Secondly, each of us, after denying himself present satisfactions and breaking off his attachment to this life, must become a disciple of the Lord, as he himself said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

Him who knew no sin. Experimentally, says S. Thomas, Christ knew no sin, though by simple knowledge He did, for He did no sin. Hath made Him to be sin for us. For us, says Illyricus, who were sin; because, he says, sin is the substance and form of our soul. But to say this of ourselves is folly, of Christ blasphemy. (1.) The meaning is that God made Christ to be the victim offered for our sin, to prevent us from atoning for our sins by eternal death and fire. The Apostle plays on the word sin, for when he says, "Him who knew no sin," he means sin strictly speaking; but when he says, "He made Him to be sin for us," he employs a metonymy. So Ambrose, Theophylact, and Anselm. In Psalm 40:12, Christ calls our sins His. (2.) Sin here denotes, says S. Thomas, the likeness of sinful flesh which He took, that He might be passible, just as sinners who are descended from Adam are liable to suffering. (3.) Sin, in the sense of being regarded by men as a noteworthy sinner, and being crucified as... Read More

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

We do not say that Christ became a sinner, far from it, but being righteous (or rather, righteousness, because he did not know sin at all), the Father made him a victim for the sins of the world.

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

For this reason, we say that he was named sin; wherefore, the allwise Paul writes, “For our sakes he made him to be sin who knew nothing of sin,” that is to say, God the Father. For we do not say that Christ became a sinner. Far from it, but being just, or rather in actuality justice, for he did not know sin, the Father made him a victim for the sins of the world.

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Eusebius of Caesarea

AD 339

And he, since he understood at once his Father’s divine counsel, and because he discerned better than any other why he was forsaken by the Father, humbled himself even more. He embraced death for us with all willingness and “became a curse for us,” holy and allblessed though he was… . “He that knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Yet more—to wash away our sins he was crucified, suffering what we who were sinful should have suffered, as our sacrifice and ransom, so that we may well say with the prophet, he bears our sins and is pained for us, and he was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities, so that by his stripes we might be healed, for the Lord has given him for our sins. So, as delivered up by the Father, as bruised, as bearing our sins, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter.

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Him (Christ) who knew no sin, (who had never sinned, nor was capable of sinning) he (God) hath made sin for us. I had translated, with some French translators, he hath made a sacrifice for sin, as it is expounded by St. Augustine and many others, and grounded upon the authority of the Scriptures, in which the sacrifices for sins are divers times called sins, as Osee iv. 8. and in several places in Leviticus, by the Hebrew word Chattat, which signifies a sin, and is translated a victim for sin. But as this is not the only interpretation, and that my design is always a literal translation of the text, not a paraphrase, upon second thoughts I judged it better to follow the very words of the Greek, as well as of the Latin text. For besides the exposition already mentioned, others expound these words, him he hath made sin for us, to signify that he made Christ like unto sinners, a mortal man, with the similitude of sin. Others that he made he reputed a sinner; with the wicked was he reputed... Read More

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Gregory the Theologian

AD 390

But look at it in this manner: that as for my sake he was called a curse who destroyed my curse, and sin who takes away the sin of the world, and became a new Adam to take the place of the old, just so he makes my disobedience his own as head of the whole body. As long, then, as I am disobedient and rebellious, both by denial of God and by my passions, so long Christ is also called disobedient on my account. But when all things shall be subdued to him on the one hand by acknowledgment of him and on the other by a reformation, then he himself also will have fulfilled his submission, bringing me whom he has saved to God.

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Gregory the Theologian

AD 390

And so the passage “The Word was made flesh” seems to me to be equivalent to that in which it is said that he was made sin or a curse for us; not that the Lord was transformed into either of these—how could he be? But because by taking them upon him he took away our sins and bore our iniquities.

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

God allowed his Son to suffer as if a condemned sinner, so that we might be delivered from the penalty of our sins. This is God’s righteousness, that we are not justified by works (for then they would have to be perfect, which is impossible), but by grace, in which case all our sin is removed.

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

'I say nothing of what has gone before, that you have outraged Him, Him that had done you no wrong, Him that had done you good, that He exacted not justice, that He is first to beseech, though first outraged; let none of these things be set down at present. Ought ye not in justice to be reconciled for this one thing only that He has done to you now?' And what has He done? Him that knew no sin He made to be sin, for you. For had He achieved nothing but done only this, think how great a thing it were to give His Son for those that had outraged Him. But now He has both well achieved mighty things, and besides, has suffered Him that did no wrong to be punished for those who had done wrong. But he did not say this: but mentioned that which is far greater than this. What then is this? Him that knew no sin, he says, Him that was righteousness itself , He made sin, that is suffered as a sinner to be condemned, as one cursed to die. For cursed is he that hangs on a tree. Galatians 3:13 For to d... Read More

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Severian of Gabala

AD 425

Paul shows here how much he grieved for those who obstinately kept the law. For by keeping the law, he says, we become sinners. Christ became sin in order to deliver us from the law. God says to us that we should accept this freedom by no longer remaining in bondage to the commands of the law. .

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