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. (2 Cor 5:21)
This is a common proof-text for imputed righteousness and the Protestant
understanding of the atonement. For a thorough refutation of the abuse of this
text, see:
Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness (cf. Full Refutation of the Protestant Interpretation of John 19:30)
Interestingly, Protestant Robert Tannehill proposes two interpretations
of this passage; one is that the text is indeed speaking of the atonement, but
that “sin” here refers to “sin sacrifice” (not "penal substitute"); alternatively, he proposes that it
speaks of Jesus’ entering into mortality, paralleling it with Rom 8:3. If this
interpretation holds up, the atonement is not in view in the text to begin
with:
There is no
reflection in Rom. 8 3 upon whether Christ committed concrete acts of sin. The
phrase “flesh of sin” characterizes the world as a whole in its opposition to
the heavenly world from which the Son descended. The sending of the Son “in the
form of the flesh of sin” means that he entered this world and shared in its
life. Paul was no more afraid to speak of the real existence of Christ within
the world determined by the power of sin than of his subjection to the other powers
of the old aeon. This is shown by Rom. 6 10, which makes clear that Christ was
released by death not only from the dominion of death but also from the
dominion of sin. This is not to be refuted by the reference to Christ “not
knowing sin” in II Cor. 5 21. This verse can be interpreted in two ways. The
fact that Christ was “made sin on our behalf” may refer to Christ’s death as a
sin offering. Then the reference to his sinlessness can apply to his earthly
life. This interest in the sinless quality of Christ’s earthly life would be
unusual in Paul, and might be occasioned by the requirement of a sacrificial victim
“without blemish” (cf. Hebr. 9 14, I Peter 1 19). In that case we are dealing
with a pattern of thought which differs from the motif of the sending of the
Son into the world and his subjection to the powers, and it would be a mistake
to interpret Rom. 8 3 from II Cor. 5 21. On
the other hand, it is possible that II Cor. 5 21 does belong to the same circle
of ideas as Rom 8 3. In that case the period of not knowing sin refers to
Christ’s pre-existence and being made sin for us to the incarnation. (Robert
C. Tannehill, Dying and Rising with
Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology [Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 1967], 36-37,
emphasis in bold added)
