2 Corinthians 5:21
By Jonathan Mitchell
(From "Paul to Corinth," Jonathan Mitchell's Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians)
There is much to be considered in this one verse, 2 Cor. 5:21. We will begin this study with my expanded translation, beginning with 5:18, to set the context of the verse in this investigation.
18. Yet further, all things [are] (or: the Whole [is]; = all the things that exist [are]; [cf Rom. 11:36]) forth from out of the midst of God - the One transforming us to be completely other [than we were]
(or: bringing us into another place or state of being; changing us to correspond with other [perceptions and conceptions]; altering us to be conformed to another [person]; changing us from enmity to friendship; reconciling us) in Himself (or: with Himself; by Himself; to Himself; for Himself),through Christ, and giving to us the attending service of, and the dispensing from, the complete transformation [for folks] to be other [than before]
(or: the change into another [position]; the changing to correspond with other [situations; perceptions]; the alteration to be another [person]; the change from enmity to friendship; the reconciliation), [cf Rom. 8:19-21]
19. as that God was existing within Christ (God was and continued being centered in, and in union with [the] Anointed One) progressively and completely transforming [the] aggregate of humanity (or: world) to be other [than it is]
(or: progressively bringing [the] ordered System into another level or state; repeatedly changing [the] universe to correspond with other [conditions; perceptions]; progressively altering [the] ordered arrangement of culture, religions, economy and government to be in line with another one; habitually and progressively changing [the] secular realm [of humanity] from enmity to friendship; reconciling [the] world of mankind; cf Jn. 3:16])in Himself, to Himself, for Himself, by Himself and with Himself, not accounting to them (not calculating, or putting to their account, or assessing to them; not logically considering for them; not reasoning in them) the results and effects of their falls to the side (their trespasses and offenses), even placing within us the Word (the Logos; this transfer and conveyance of a Meaning-bearing Communication; the Idea; the Reason; the Message; the flow of Pattern-forming Information; the Blueprint) of the corresponding transformation to otherness (or: this full alteration; the change from enmity to friendship; the conciliation).
20. Over [the situation] in regard to Christ, then (or: Therefore, on behalf of Christ), we are elders of God, performing as ambassadors from God, as [Him] continually calling alongside to give comfort and relief (performing as a Paraclete) through us. We are constantly begging and urgently asking, on behalf of Christ (or: for Christ's sake): "Be fully transformed in, be correspondingly altered by, be changed from an enemy to be a friend with, be reconciled to, and be altered to be another [person] in, by, and with, God!" [cf 2 Cor. 6:1](or: "You folks be completely exchanged with God; or: Be conciliated to, and for, God!"),
21. For you see, He made (or: formed) the One not at any point knowing failure (sin; error; mistake) by intimate experience [to take the place of; to be] failure over us and our [situation and condition] (or: He produced a sin [offering] representing us: He prepared and established this Person not having an experiential knowledge of missing the target or making a mistake), to the end that WE may be birthed God's just, rightwising, flowing-together act of eschatological deliverance (or: would come to exist in righted, rectified and liberated relationships of equitable fairness from God; or: would become God's justice, which is the Way pointed out; or: could become participants in the new covenant from God: expressions of well-ordered living of the way it should be, which are God), within Him and in union with Him.
We now begin unpacking verse 21:
Paul now describes a part of what Jesus referred to as "the Way (or: Path), the Truth (the Reality) and the Life" (Jn. 14:6). In Phil. 2, he put it this way:
7. but to the contrary, He empties Himself (or: removed the contents of Himself; made Himself empty), receiving (or: taking; accepting) a slave's form (external shape; outward mold), coming to be (or: birthing Himself) within an effect of humanity's (mankind's; people's) likeness.
8. And so, being found in an outward fashion, mode of circumstance, condition, form-appearance (or: character, role, phase, configuration, manner) as a human (a person; a man), He lowers Himself (or: humbled Himself; made Himself low; degrades Himself; levels Himself off), coming to be (or: birthing Himself) a submissive, obedient One (one who gives the ear and listens) as far as (or: to the point of; until) death - but death of a cross (torture stake)!
Keep in mind that, in 5:21, above, God "made, formed, constructed and produced" what follows as the direct object of this verb. I have offered two theological lines of thought in what God "made (etc.)" of "the One not at any point knowing failure (sin; error; mistake) by intimate experience." By supplying two optional verbs, representing two pictures that suggest two possible understandings of what Paul is saying in this ambiguous statement, the first rendering tells us that God made, formed or constructed Christ either "to take the place of failure," or, "to be (personify?) failure (sin) over us and our [situation]." Now we can see one picture of this in the statement from Phil. 2 which we just quoted. This picture does not necessarily imply the idea of Christ being a sacrifice for us, for in this first reading we would have to insert the idea of sacrifice into the text. This, together with the added light from Phil. 2, simply says that He entered into solidarity with the human predicament.
Humanity was personifying and living out the entire complex of what the term "failure (error; sin; mistake)" actually means. The first Adam missed the mark, as is easily seen. That mistake brought death (the human predicament) as Paul explains in Rom. 5:12. This, of course, was not speaking of physical death, as we can see from Paul's instruction in Rom. 7:9-10.
This line of thought points to the very Incarnation of the Son of God as the Seed of what would come about that is described in vss. 16-19, above. He came into our situation in order to lead us (Rom. 8:14) out of slavery to death and into our inheritance of the Spirit. Jn. 10:10 further explains the purpose of the Incarnation and of the coming of the Messiah: "I, Myself, come so that they can progressively possess (would continuously have; could habitually hold) Life, and may continue possessing [it] in superabundance." Mark 2:10 informs us of Jesus saying that,
"the Son of Man (or: mankind's adult son; or: the Son who is human; or: = a human being) continuously holds authority (or: from out of his being possesses [the] right) to repeatedly send away (to habitually release and dismiss; to constantly forgive) mistakes (failures to hit the target; errors; sins) upon the earth."
This was before His death on the cross. The very gift of the Spirit (the down-payment of the purchase, stated above) accomplishes humanity's full transformation. In light of this, we might view the death of Jesus as the rejection of Him by both religion and empire. Is this not what His followers have experienced, down through the centuries? So, in this first line of thinking, He (God) entered into our situation in order to lead us out from the slavery to corruption and into the freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).
On offer in the parenthetical rendering is the second theological thought: that of Christ as a sacrifice. You will note that, with the more common rendering of what I first give as "failure," we see that God "constructed and produced a sin [offering], for our sake..." I have followed the Concordant Literal NT, by supplying (here in brackets) the word "offering." Now the rational and basis for this addition is that the OT reference to a "sin offering" was sometimes indicated by simply using the word "sin; the missing of the target; the failure." Due to this precedence, I have also offered this potential understanding of Paul's meaning here. We find a similar picture in the vision of Christ as "a little Lamb standing, as one having been slaughtered" (Rev. 5:7).
Also, in reference to Jesus, we read of John the Immerser saying, in Jn. 1:29,
"Look! (Pay attention, see and perceive)! God's Lamb (or: the Lamb from God; the Lamb having the character and qualities of God; or, in apposition: the Lamb which is God), the One continuously lifting up and progressively carrying away the Sin of the world, and removing the sin which belongs to and is a part of the System (or: habitually picking up and taking away the failure and error brought on by system and in the cosmos; progressively removing the falling short and the missing of the goal from the world of culture, religion, economy, government, society, and from the aggregate of humanity)!"
Now this would have been a reference to the Jewish Festival, during the Feast of Tabernacles, which was called the Day of Atonement. That Day was an annual day for cleansing the altar and tabernacle furniture, and for ritually removing all the sin of all of Israel that had been committed in the prior year. Part of this day was the scapegoat ritually taking those sins (that were symbolically placed upon its head) and carrying all the Sin of Israel outside of the camp of Israel. We read about how Christ fulfilled this type in Heb. 9, and then how the cleansing of the tabernacle (which was done by sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice on the furniture) was fulfilled by Christ's blood (a figure of His Life) being sprinkled on our hearts (Heb. 10:22). So, there is some merit to this second reading of Paul here in 5:21. We also have the instruction from Heb. 7:26, 27b,
"For you see, a Chief Priest such as this One was, and continues to be, fitting (appropriate; proper) for us: loyal and dedicated, benign (without bad quality; harmless; without bad form; not ugly), unstained (undefiled), having been parted (severed; separated) away from those failing to hit the target (those deviating or making errors; the sinners), even being birthed (coming into existence) higher than the atmospheres and heavens... For this He performed just once and once for all [times and people], offering up Himself [other MSS: bringing Himself toward {God, or, us} (or: presenting Himself); cf 9:25-28]."
I will leave it to our readers to hear from the Lord on which thought Paul had in mind - and as with numerous cases (we suggest), probably both. Perhaps we can gain insight by reading from Isa. 53, in the LXX:
9. And so I will continue giving and entrusting (or: proceed appointing, assigning or surrendering) the useless, unprofitable and unsound people (the bad, malicious, unserviceable folks) in the place of and corresponding to (or: instead of; in exchange for) His burial, and the rich folks in place of and corresponding to (or: instead of; in exchange for) His death, because He committed and produced no lawlessness (neither practiced nor built that which is without a law) - nor yet [was there] bait, fraud, guile, treachery or deceit within His mouth.
10. So [the] Lord (= Yahweh), from desire, continued intending and purposing to cleanse and purify Him from the blow (the beating; the calamity; the plague): If you would give (or: present) [an offering], around and concerning [those] failures (deviations; sins; etc.), the soul (consciousness; inner being) of you folks will see and perceive a long-lived Seed (or: offspring).
11. And yet with desire [the] Lord kept on purposing to take away from the trouble (or: hard, distressful labor; bodily exertion) of His soul (the consciousness which is Him) and then to point out and demonstrate Light in and by Him, and thus to shape and mold understanding.
And so He himself will continue taking and bearing-up (or: keep on bringing-back [from them] so as to carry-up) their failures (deviations; errors; mistakes; sins) [in order] to bring eschatological deliverance and turn folks in the right direction (or: to institute the Way pointed out; to demonstrate fairness and equity; to establish righted relationships) in and by [the] Just One ([the] Fair Person; [the] One who is pointed in the right direction) - the One continuously slaving well for and among [the] Many (or: within many people; by many [groups]).
12. Because of this, He himself will continue inheriting [the] Many and will keep on causing [the] Many to inherit, and thus will progressively divide the spoils of the strong folks, because His soul was transmitted into (or: delivered unto and committed to; surrendered and entrusted into the midst of) death and He was considered and viewed (or: counted and reckoned as being) among the lawless folks. So He, Himself, took up and carried the failures (deviations; errors sins; etc.) of [the] Many, and through these acts of lawlessness (or: because of the constructs that were without a law, and the additions that had no law) He was transmitted, entrusted, committed, delivered, surrendered, handed over and given to [our] side. [LXX, JM]
With either reading, we see that what God had in mind is: "to the end that we may be birthed God's just and rightwising act of eschatological deliverance." The Christ was produced by God for this purpose. But in producing Christ, He also produced us, IN Him. We are God's great opus, in Christ. But we should also take note of what Paul did NOT give as the end in view, from this great Production: he did not tell us that God's purpose in this was to "forgive our sins," or, "to take us to heaven." Paul gave us the purpose, said differently in 3:18, above: so that we would reflect His glory and His image (through being transformed!).
We will, as usual, point to the other optional, expanded renderings:- a) come to exist in righted and liberated relationships of equitable fairness; This presents us as existing in a transformed existence - from out of death,into the Life of Christ.
- b) would become God's justice, the Way pointed out;This presents us as representative of God's character (He is just and merciful; His removal of human guilt, and the transformation of humanity, are the right things to do), an embodiment of His justice (reconciliation, on His part, and His changing of humanity to be His friends), and also, a picture of Christ, the Way.
- c) could become participants in the new covenant from God: expressions of well-ordered living of the way it should be, which is God.
This third option gives the concept of "dikaiosune" in its common, cultural use: well-ordered living, in the way it should be. The last prepositional phrase is rendered here in apposition: this new existence in well-ordered living "is God" living in US.
And now, which is not surprising, Paul tells us that this new, transformed existence is "within Him and in union with Him." It is the result of, "the Word (the Logos; the Idea; the Reason; the message; the pattern-forming information) of the corresponding transformation to otherness (or: the full alteration; the change from enmity to friendship; the conciliation)." We see in the book of Acts how the Logos of God increased (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20), and now in vs. 19, above, we read that this same Logos was given to His representatives: God is doing what He told humans to do; He is being fruitful and is multiplying and is filling the earth with Himself - as an ever-increasing Family of God (Acts 17:28, 29).
Notice how Paul says virtually the same thing about God's Act in three different ways, as I have rendered thus:
1) "giving to us the attending service of, and the dispensing from, the complete transformation [for folks] to be other [than before] (etc.)" (vs. 18b, above); 2) "placing within us the Word (the Logos; the Idea; the Reason; the message; the pattern-forming information) of the corresponding transformation to otherness (or: the full alteration; the change from enmity to friendship; the conciliation)" (vs. 19b, above); 3) "that we may be birthed God's just and rightwising act of eschatological deliverance (or: would come to exist in righted and liberated relationships of equity, fairness and justice in the Way pointed out, and be participants in the new covenant from God...)" (vs. 21, here).Let us compare this, with Gal. 3:13-14,
"Christ bought us [back] out (or: redeems and reclaims us out [of slavery] and liberates us) from the midst of the curse (or: adversarial prayer; imprecation) of and from the Law, while becoming (or: birthing Himself to be) a curse (or: an accursed One; an [embodied] adversarial prayer) for our sakes (or: over our [situation]) - for it has been and now stands written:'A curse (an adversarial prayer) [is settled] upon all (or: [is] added to everyone) continuing hanging upon a tree (or: wood; a stake or pole)' [Deut. 21:23, omitting the phrase "by God," after the word "curse"] - to the end that the Good Word (the Blessing; the Word of wellness and goodness) pertaining to Abraham (belonging to and possessed by Abraham; whose intermediary source is Abraham) could within Jesus Christ suddenly birth Itself (or: may from Itself, within Anointed Jesus, at once come into being [and be dispersed]) into the multitudes (the nations; the ethnic groups; the Gentiles), so that we [note: "we" = the new "one" mankind; cf Eph. 2:11-16] could receive the Spirit's promise through the Faithfulness [of Christ] (or: to the end that we [all] may take in hand the Promise from the Breath-effect, through faith and trust; or: in order that we [Jew and Gentile] can lay hold of and receive the Promise - which is the Spirit - through that loyalty; [cf Isa. 44:3]).
In 1 Cor. 15:3, Paul wrote,
"For I handed on (or: give over as tradition; transmit and commit) to you folks, among [the] first (or: primary) things, that which I also accepted and embraced: that Christ died over [the situation and circumstances of] our failures (on behalf of our mistakes, deviations and sins) - corresponding to the Scriptures."
This last phrase, "corresponding to the Scriptures," points to Israel's story in relation to the New Testament images in which Christ's death is variously portrayed, such as "made [to be] sin," found here in vs. 21, above. Concerning the OT stories, they can be read as consecutively interpreting one another. For example, Adam and Eve's story is a preview of Israel's story, and Israel fleshes-out the story of Adam and Eve (which is a figure of the human predicament). In between those is the story of Abraham and Sarah who were chosen as vehicles within which to plant a Seed that would in time solve humanity's predicament. Mankind's story began in a garden, and its journey ends in a garden city (Rev. 22). From Adam to Christ, Israel was frequently figured as a garden, a fruitful field, or an orchard. They carried God's plans in the design and symbols of the Tabernacle.
Consider the picture given in Joshua 3 and the story of Israel leaving the desert and entering into "the promised Land." There, the priests were instructed to take the Ark of the Covenant and be the first ones to step into the Jordan River, while carrying the ark. Once their feet were dipped into the brim of the water, the river stopped flowing and the people passed over into the Land. Now recall what is on the top of the Ark: the cherubim. And what do we read was placed at the entrance of the Garden of Eden, in Gen. 3:24? Cherubim. So the priests were living out a parable of humanity returning into paradise, a bountiful Land flowing with milk and honey, and the Presence of God. Recall how Jesus used the story from Nu. 21:9, the serpent on the pole, to describe His upcoming death (Jn. 3:14), and how in another place He said that His being "lifted up" (on the cross; Jn. 12:32) would drag all humanity to Himself.
In Phil. 3:9, we observe that Paul's constant, expressed desire was always to "be found within Him (or: in union with Him; centered in Him)." In this same verse, he proclaims that this condition comes, "through means of Christ's faithfulness (or: the trust-conviction which is Christ; the faith of and from [the Messiah]): the rightwising, eschatological deliverance into the new covenant fairness and equity of righted relationships within the Way pointed out [which is] forth from out of the midst of God as a source (or: the just Act from the midst of God) [and based] upon that Faithfulness (or: [Christ's/God's] loyal allegiance; or: the Trust and confident faith)."
This "rightwising" is what is often translated "righteousness," and calls to mind Jer. 23:6b, "His Name by which one shall call Him: Yahweh, our Righteousness"(CVOT, the Heb. text; LXX reads differently). Rom. 1:17a instructs us,
"for by Him God's justice (solidarity in fair conduct; equity; righteousness; [covenantal] qualities of the Way pointed out; way of righting what is wrong; right relationship [with us]; or: a means of turning us in the right direction by an eschatological deliverance, which is God,) is continuously and progressively being unveiled (revealed; disclosed), from out of faithfulness (or: forth from the midst of faith, trust, conviction and loyalty), [reciprocally proceeding] into faith, trust, conviction and loyalty."
Paul gives us another view of this passage of 2 Cor. 5:18-21, above, and this is found in Rom. 8:
3. You see, [because of] the powerlessness and inability of the Law (from the written code; = associated with Torah) - within which it kept on making [folks] weak and feeble ([note: the active voice]; but as an intransitive: in which [incapability] it was constantly falling sick and continued being without strength) through the flesh (= the alienated self that is oriented toward the System; or: = Torah culture and cultus, with boundary-marker observances) - in sending His own Son (or: by sending the Son, Who is Himself) within a result of a likeness of flesh that is connected with sin (or: in an effect of being made similar to sin's flesh; = in union with a result from being made like the alienated existence that came from failure), and concerning sin (or: encircling failure and error; to address a missed target; surrounding deviation;
[note: or, as a technical term for the sin offering: = to be the sin-offering; see: Lev. 4:32; 5:6-9; 2 Chron. 29:24; Ps. 40:6; Ezk. 42:13, LXX]),
God gives a commensurate decision from a corresponding negative evaluation which falls in line with and follows the pattern which divides down (or: condemned; gives a down-oriented verdict; passed down a sentence on and gave judgment against) the Sin within the flesh [system] (or: the failure, the error, the miss of the target and the deviation [which is] in union with the human condition; or: = the mistake of the estranged, System-dominated self),
4. to the end that the effect of the just Deed of deliverance in which wrong was set right, resulting from being liberated and turned in the right direction within the Way pointed out, which is the principle, (or: so that the effect of the fair relationships which come from [His] law and custom; or: in order that the result of the equity and rightness of the Law) can (would; could; may) be fulfilled and become full within us - in those habitually walking about (or: = for the folks ordering their behavior/living their lives) not in accord with flesh (or: = not corresponding to the human condition; or: = on the level of Torah-keeping boundary-markers), but rather in accord with spirit (or: down from [the] Spirit; corresponding to [His] Attitude; on the level of and in the sphere of Breath-effect). [cf 2 Cor. 3:3]
Let us keep in view that all of which we have been discussing happened, or happens, "within Him and in union with Him." What He did in vs. 21a was done to create the result that is described in vs. 21b. If we render "dikaiosune" as "justice," then we see that "we have BECOME the justice of God" - our being reconciled and changed, to be different than we were, is the embodiment of God's justice!
Jonathan
Note: John Gavazzoni also has some thoughts on 2 Cor. 5-21 here.
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