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How Was Christ Made Sin?

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question.

You ask me to explain 1 Corinthians 5:21.

Here is that verse:

2 Cor 5:21  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.
I simply cut and pasted that from my King James on e-sword. Whenever a word is not in the Greek, it pastes over with brackets around the words that are not in the Greek. In this case it is the words "to be." Those words are not in any of the Greek manuscripts. It actually reads "He made Him sin; who knew no sin..."

Coy did an excellent job of showing how Christ was just like us. That is what the scriptures teach. Christ had the exact same flesh and blood that we have. It was not some special flesh, untainted by sin and disconnected somehow from the first Adam:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
There it is. The children of Adam have partaken of flesh and blood and so Christ also partook of "the same...flesh and blood.  What has Christ done? "He also Himself likewise took part of the SAME..." Now all we have to do is to apprise ourselves of what is "flesh and blood?" Once we become knowledgeable as to what that is then we will know what Christ was.

But doesn't the Bible say that Christ was born from his mothers womb "Of the holy ghost?" It certainly does:

Matt 1:18  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Doesn't Christ being born of His heavenly father make Him different from us? In the sense that Christ was born of His father from birth, and never committed a sin, yes, He was different from us. Christ never sinned. But does the fact that he never sinned make it impossible for Him to be sin? No, it does not. Christ still has "His mother," and that mother connected Christ to the first Adam. The first Adam is even called "the figure of Him who was to come:"

Rom 5:14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

How could Adam prefigure Christ if Christ didn't have anything in common with Adam? But Christ did have very much in common with the first Adam. The were both "of the same... flesh and blood." Again:
Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Christ took part of "the same... flesh and blood."  What then are we told of that very "same flesh and blood" of which Christ partook:

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
How untrue those words would be if Christ were not "the same flesh and blood...as the children" of Adam. But he was "the same flesh and blood." And what are we told of that "same flesh and blood?"

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
1 Cor 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
No flesh, not even the flesh of Christ, can inherit the kingdom of God. Why would that be? It is because flesh is 'corruption.' "Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."  God sent "His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ." Mankind was "made of the dust," made "of the ground... made corruptible." The only thing that can inherit the kingdom of God is "a spiritual body."

1 Cor 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Cor 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Cor 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1 Cor 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1 Cor 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Is there a single word here which does not apply to our Savior while He was in "the same flesh and blood?" I was taught that Christ was not made sin. I believed that most of my adult life and taught that right here on this web page until I came to see that Christ had "the same flesh and blood... as the children. That "made of a woman" means that Christ too, was the son of "the mother of all living." It was actually Christ Himself that made this prophecy:

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
So here we have Christ Himself telling us that He is "her seed." Any version of the fabled immaculate conception false doctrine, denies that Christ was really Eve's seed. It is argued that not only did Christ have a heavenly Father, but He was also conceived of a supernatural egg which was completely untainted by Adam's "sinful flesh." Therefore, the argument goes, what King David says about being born of a woman does not apply to the flesh of Christ:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
What was said about this vessel of clay we all first come in as described in Jeremiah, also would then not apply to Christ:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
It was not that the Potter accidentally made a misshapen vessel of clay; God does not make mistakes. Christ was not physically mishapened. He was rather a perfect unspotted sacrifice and not one of His bones was even broken. And yet all vessels of clay are marred because it was "the vessel that He made of clay," that made it "marred." God is not remaking us into another "vessel of clay:"

John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
John 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
John 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Here again is what is the new vessel as seems good to the Potter to make it:
1 Cor 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Cor 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Cor 15:46  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1 Cor 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1 Cor 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly .
1 Cor 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Coy Brock went to great lengths to show that the very purpose for giving Israel both a sin and a trespass offering, was so we today would know that Christ came in the same flesh we are all in. Anyone who denies that Christ came in "sinful flesh... the same flesh and blood [which] the children" have is actually Antichrist, according to the apostle John:
1 John 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1 John 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1 John 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the [" same"] flesh is not of God : and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world .
It "is that spirit of antichrist" which denies that Christ came in the same sinful flesh as the children. That is the greater portion of orthodox Christianity who cannot even see that Christ  was both a  "sin offering" for what we are; "shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin... marred in the Potter's hand, made of a woman, made under the law... made sin;..."

2 Cor 5:21  For he hath made him... sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
...as well as a trespass offering for what we do:

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Paul tells us clearly that all the things that Israel did were done for our admonition. We need to see that we are "shapen in  iniquity and conceived in sin...marred in the Potter's hand...and made sin." We need to see that we need a sacrifice for what we are as well as a sacrifice for what we do . Christ is both. "He made Him sin who knew no sin."

I don't think that I have said a word that Coy did not cover, so I only hope I have "explain[ed] to your understanding 2nd Corinthians 5:21."

Mike