2 Corinthians 5:21. For He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
I do not even mention, he says,
that you dishonored the Benefactor, that He did not concern Himself with
revenge, that rather He was the first to seek reconciliation–what He has now
done, is that not sufficient to move you to be reconciled? What did He do? He
delivered up His Son, “who knew no sin,” that is, who is Himself righteousness,
to death for us, as a sinner and evildoer, for “cursed is everyone who hangs on
a tree” (Deuteronomy 21:23), and “He was numbered with the transgressors.” He
did not say: “He made Him a sinner,” but “a sacrifice for sin,” which is
greater. And why was this done? That we might be justified—by works or the Law,
but by the grace of God. For the righteousness of God is when a person is
justified by grace, without any spot being found in him. Therefore he does not
say: that we may be righteous ourselves, but that we might become “the
righteousness of God,” pointing to the superabundance of grace. (The New Testament Commentaries of Theophylact
of Ohrid, 3 vols. [trans. Dean Marais; Based Book, 2025], 2:265)