Written by Six Pence Song Sunday March 9th through Monday March 10th Anno DOMINI 2025
All my understanding, ideas, main scripture text, doctrine, and impetus for this article lies not with me but is from my church family at RPC.OKC
tl; dr;
He did not become sin: he became a sin offering. Also, we are imputed righteousness unto life eternal through this atoning sacrifice (sin offering) and Christ's subsequent resurrection. See my exegesis and discussion below for details.
The Incarnate Christ was fully God, fully Man, and that never changed. See the second part of the Athanasian Creed about the nature of the Incarnate Christ for details here:
A Handy Guide to the Athanasian Creed
Exegesis from Contextual Words and Passages (Both English and Original Tongues)
Main New Testament Text (Originally Greek)
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV 1900)
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
ἁμαρτία (BDAG)
As abstr. for concr. [abstr. = abstractum pro concreto (abstract for the concrete)] τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁ. ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν (God) made him, who never sinned, to be sin (i.e. the guilty one) for our sakes 2 Cor 5:21.
This would be a more abstract, generalized statement (made him to be sin) standing in for a more concrete, specific meaning (made him to be a sin offering). So, not sin, but a sin offering.
Contextual Passages: English Language New Testament: Not Sin but a Sin Offering
Romans 8:3–4 (KJV 1900)
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 3:25 (KJV 1900)
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Not actually sinful flesh, but the likeness of sinful flesh, and not actually sin but for sin; Also, a propitiation (appeasement or reconciliation in the form of a sin offering) for the remission of sins; hence, not sin, but a sin offering.
Contextual Passages: Not Sin but Sin Offering Language Study in Old Testament (Originally Hebrew)
חַטָּאת (HALOT)
2. expiation, sin-offering (135 ×), MHb., → חטא pi., → חֲטָאָה 2, אָשָׁם, vRad Theol. 2:256ff: פַּר ח׳ Ex 29:36 Lv 4:8, 20 8:2, 14 16:6, 11, 27 Ezk 43:21 45:22, עֶגְלַת ח׳ Lv 9:8 שְׂעִיר ח׳ Lv 9:15 10:16 16:15, 27 Ezk 43:25 2C 29:23; דַּם ח׳ Lv 4:25, 34 5:9 Ezk 45:19, חֵלֶב ח׳ Lv 16:25; מֵי ח׳ Nu 8:7; שְׂרֵפַת ח׳ Nu 19:17 כֶּסֶף חַטָּאוֹת 2K 12:17; ח׳ הַכִּפֻּרִים Ex 30:10, ח׳ הַקָּהָל Lv 4:21; —Am 5:12 rd. חֲטָאֵיכֶם.
Exodus 29:36–37 (KJV 1900)
36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.
Sense number one above is (HALOT):
1. sin (155 ×): כָּֽבְדָה Gn 18:20, ח׳ קֶסֶם 1S 15:23, ח׳ פֶּה Ps 59:13 חַטֹּאות נְעוּרַי Ps 25:7; נָשָׂא ח׳ Gn 50:17 Ex 10:17 32:32 1S 15:25 and נָשָׂא לְח׳ Jos 24:19 Ps 25:18 and סָלַח לְח׳ Ex 34:9 1K 8:34, 36 Jr 36:3 2C 6:25, 27 to forgive sin
Genesis 18:20 (KJV 1900)
20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Hence, we see in this Hebrew word and associated passages both the sense of actual sin and sin offering within the semantic domain, sin offering being the correct choice in pertinent OT passages as proper context for 2 Corinthians 5:21.
חטא (HALOT)
pi: pf. חִטֵּא, חִטֵּאתָ, חִטְּאוֹ, impf. יְחַטֵּא, יְחַטְּאֵהוּ, אֲחַטֶּנָּה (BL 373g), inf. חַטֵּא, pt. מְחַטֵּא:
3. to make a sin-offering Lev 6:19 9:15 2C 29:24
2 Chronicles 29:24 (KJV 1900)
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
חֲטָאָה: חטא (HALOT)
2. sin-offering (→ חַטָּאת 2 [complete circle back first Hebrew word above]) Ps 40:7.
Psalm 40:6 (KJV 1900)
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
אָשָׁם: אשׁם; (HALOT)
3. guilt-offering Lv 5:6-25 6:10 7:1f, 5, 7, 37 14:12-28 19:21f Nu 6:12 18:9 2K 12:17 Ezk 40:39 42:13 44:29 46:20 cj. Ezr 10:19 Sir 7:31 (לחם אש[מ]ים ?);
Leviticus 5:6 (KJV 1900)
6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.
Contextual Passages: Christ the Lamb of God (Passover - Sin Offering): New Testament (Originally Greek)
ἀμνός (BDAG)
lamb (acc. to Istros [III b.c.]: 334 Fgm. 23 Jac., a sheep one year old; acc. to a schol. on Nicander, Alexiph. 151 ὁ μηδέπω κέρατα ἔχων. Acc. to Ex 12:5 the passover lamb must be one year old; Hippol., Ref. 4, 30, 1) ὁ λέων … ὡς ἄμνὸς εὐδίδακτος the lion as well-trained as the lamb AcPl Ha 4, 30; otherw. in our lit. used only of Christ or referring to him (so also the Christian addition to TestJos 19). Sacrificial lamb without blemish 1 Pt 1:19. ὁ ἀ. τοῦ θεοῦ J 1:29, 36
John 1:29 (KJV 1900)
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
πάσχα, τό indecl. [pronounced: pascha - “paschal lamb” (RSV)] (Aram. פַּסְחָא or פִּסְחָא for Hebr. פֶּסַח (BDAG)
② the lamb sacrificed for observance of the Passover, the Passover lamb θύειν τὸ π. (שָּׁחַט הַפֶּסַח.—Ex 12:21; Dt 16:2, 6; 1 Esdr 7:12; Just., D. 40, 1) kill the Passover lamb Mk 14:12a; Lk 22:7; fig. of Christ and his bloody death 1 Cor 5:7
1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV 1900)
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover [paschal lamb (RSV)] is sacrificed for us:
Old Testament Hebrew Language Context for πάσχα (pascha) Just Above from Aramaic פַּסְחָא or פִּסְחָא
פֶּסַח (HALOT)
2. in general: Ex 12:11, 21, 27, 43, 48 34:25 Lv 23:5 Nu 9:2, 14 28:16 33:3 Dt 16:1f, 5f Jos 5:10f 2K 23:21, 23 Ezk 45:21 Ezr 6:19f 2C 30:1f, 5, 15, 17f 35:1, 6-9, 11, 13, 16-19.
Exodus 12:11 (KJV 1900)
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover.
Final Scripture Quotation and Imputed Righteousness Discussion
Romans 10:9 (KJV 1900)
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Throughout the scripture and original language lexicon information (see especially italics in above scripture quotations) is manifold and manifest textual evidence that the sin offering of Christ was made and subsequent resurrection enacted so that man could be justified (made righteous in the eyes of God) unto life eternal in heaven via the imputed righteousness of Christ and victory over death, if he but repent, believe, and confess, which he could never do of himself.
All scripture emphasis added by author. Much emphasis added by author in BDAG and HALOT quotations.
Bibliography:
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.
The Revised Standard Version. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1971.
Koehler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J. Richardson, and Johann Jakob Stamm. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000. (HALOT)
Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. (BDAG)