What I Would Do Differently
Lesson 5 2 Corinthians 5:21
Made Righteous in Him
Main Point:
Union with Christ means that the righteousness of Christ belongs to the believer so that God the Father sees the believer as righteous, just as Jesus is righteous.
Introduction -
• Review
o Lesson 1 –
▪ Every Spiritual Blessing
▪ Union with Christ is the source of every spiritual blessing the Christian enjoys.
o Lesson 2 –
▪ Identity Problems
▪ A proper understanding of union with Christ is essential for Christians to rightly understand their identity and address the various misunderstandings of self and identity.
o Lesson 3 –
▪ Abiding in Christ
▪ Believers are to abide in union with Christ by living out of that union and treasuring it above all else.
o Lesson 4
▪ New Creation
▪ The believer is a new person through his union with Christ.
• Have you ever done something that hurt someone you love?
o Did you ask for forgiveness? Did they forgive you?
• Do you always forgive others for the things they do to you?
o What if God treated us the same way we have, at times, treated others?
• This lesson will consider the true forgiveness we receive from God through Christ.
o In Christ, we are justified or declared to be righteous.
o Not just sinless, but perfectly good.
o We have seen that we are not righteous, we have sinned against God.
o How can he call us righteous?
Christ knew no sin
• He knew what it was; he just never did it.
o 1 John 3:5, “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
o 1 Peter 2:22–23. "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."
o Jesus never sinned even in thought – he was perfect & holy.
• He made him to be sin on our behalf
o 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
o Isaiah 53:4–5, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
o He was our substitute so that he received what we rightly deserved.
• Jesus became so closely identified with sin that it even says that God made Him to be sin.
o Yet, He did not become a sinner. He was the sin-bearer.
o He bore the curse of sin without being personally defiled by it.
• The only way that we can have our sins removed is by Jesus taking those sins upon Himself on our behalf.
We Became Righteous
• God did not (just) remove our sin and place us in an innocent state like Adam and Eve before the fall, but He made us righteous in Christ.
o This does not mean we will perfectly obey.
o We still sin and would fall just like Adam.
• We need to be perfect to stand in the presence of God.
o When God looks on us, that is exactly what He sees.
o Christ’s perfect righteousness counted as ours - "the righteousness of God."
• Since we could not perfectly obey Christ, he had to live a life of perfect obedience to God to earn righteousness for us.
o It was by his obedience that we are made righteous.
o Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
o Jesus offers the Father his perfect obedience for all who are in him.
o Adam failed in his obedience; Christ succeeded perfectly.
o Adam was the source of sin and death. Christ was the source of obedience and life.
• Jesus became sin for us, and through our connection or union with him by faith, we become the “righteousness of God.”
o What was lost in the Fall; the relationship of love, communication, and purpose, is restored in Christ.
o It changes not just our account but our identity.
o This explains why we are called new creations in 2 Corinthians 5:17.
o God considers Christians to be righteous because they are in Christ, who is righteous.
• We can only be righteous through faith in Jesus.
o Philippians 3:9, “be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
o Galatians 2:16, “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
o It is a gift from God - Romans 3:24, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Application
• Our identity in Christ
o Union with Christ means that the righteousness of Christ is counted to the believer so that God the Father sees the believer as righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. (Phil 3:8–10)
o Who we are and who Christ is.
▪ 2 Corinthians 5:21 describes what is sometimes called the great exchange, as sinners exchange their sin for the righteousness of Christ.
▪ Christians tend to think of this exchange simply in terms of their status.
▪ Grant Macaskill points out that “What Jesus takes to the cross is who we are, our very selves with all their guilt, and what we enjoy in union with him is precisely who he is, his fullness with all its glory.”21
▪ 1 Corinthians 1:30, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and
sanctification and redemption.”
o The believer is righteous because he is in Christ, not because of his actions.
▪ The puritan Richard Sibbes wrote, “Often think with thyself, What am I? A poor sinful creature; but I have a righteousness in Christ that answers all. I am weak in myself, but Christ is strong, and I am strong in him. I am foolish in myself, but I am wise in him.
What I want in myself I have in him. He is mine, and his righteousness is mine, which is the righteousness of God-man.
Being clothed with this, I stand safe against conscience, hell, wrath, and whatsoever. Though I have daily experience of my sins, yet there is more righteousness in Christ, who is mine, and who is the chief of ten thousand, than there is sin in me.”22
21 Macaskill, Living in Union with Christ: Paul’s Gospel and Christian Moral Identity, 39.
22 Michael Reeves, Rejoicing in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015), 69.
• Righteous fruit is an outworking of this union. Philippians 1:11, “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
• We gain a reconciled relationship with God.
o We previously saw how Adam’s sin impacted our relationship with God.
Part of being made righteous is being reconciled to God.
o What a glorious thought, that we who were dead in our sins and enemies of God are now alive in Christ and in a loving relationship with Him.
o Romans 5:1, 9–11, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
o 2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”
o Colossians 1:20, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
• Those who are united to Christ cannot be condemned.
o Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
o Acts 13:39, “by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”
For Reflection:
• Key verse: 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
• What are some things for which you condemn yourself or feel condemned by others?
• How can you purposefully filter these things through your union with Christ?
• What does abiding in Christ look like in relation to being righteous in Him? How do you live out of this truth?
• How is God assuring you of your righteousness in Christ?
• Ask: What do I think? What do I feel? What do I know?
Lesson 6