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 Corinthians 5:21

This is what God does for every person who is in Christ:

1. God doesn’t count your sins against you

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (5:19). The reason a Christian is reconciled to God and has peace with Him is not that he or she is without sin, but rather that “in Christ” God does not count our sins against us. So, where do the sins that He doesn’t count against us go?

2. God counts your sin dealt with in Christ

“For our sake he made him to be sin” (5:21). Our sins were laid on Jesus on the cross. So, either our sins are still on us, or our sins are on Jesus and they are no longer on us, and cannot ever be, because they were dealt with on the cross. There’s more...

3. God counts Christ’s righteousness as yours

“He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (5:21). Jesus was the sinless Son of God, but our sins were laid on Him, and God dealt with Him as if He was sin itself. We are sinners, but we have been clothed with Jesus’ righteousness, and God deals with us as if we were righteousness itself.