For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21 ESV)
In a previous post, I discussed how this verse does not support the doctrine of forensic justification. There is another element, however, of this verse that serves to refute the doctrine of forensic justification.
If the Reformed understanding of the first part of this verse is true, that is, Christ was a penal substitute who had the sins of the elect imputed to him in their stead, then, taking logic of penal substitution to the second half of v.21, one would have to conclude that the elect become the righteousness of God in the stead of Christ(!) Of course, such is a nonsense reading, but it does show the eisegesis Calvinism requires people to engage in to prop up such a theology.
