How Was Christ "Made To Be Sin"?

An individual once asked, “In 2 Corinthians 5:21, in what way was Christ made to be sin? I’ve heard the teaching that when Christ was on the cross, He literally took the world’s sins upon Himself, thus becoming the greatest sinner the world has ever known. I know this cannot be true, because Christ was sinless. Can you please explain this verse so I can correctly understand it.”

The text in 2 Corinthians 5:21-KJV reads:

“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.“

In the above quoted passage, Paul uses the word “sin” as a figure of speech called “metonymy” in which the name of one thing is used in place of that of another associated with or suggested by it. He uses this term to describe the sinless Lord as our “sin offering,” or offering for sin. God “made him” to be our sin offering that we might be accounted as being righteous before God (note the latter part of the verse).

Let us turn to the Old Testament and note the descriptive words of Moses in Exodus 29:14-KJV, describing the sin offering: “But the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin-offering.” Note the ending phrase (“sin-offering”).

The Hebrew text renders it, “it is sin” ( cf. Exodus 29:14-ASV – see footnote at the bottom of the page). Thus, the word “sin” in this text stands for “sin offering” (Exodus 29:14; cf. Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 13:11-12).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets