Christ therefore was `made' sin in this sense. He was appointed, reckoned, and

treated as though He were sin, while all the time it was absolutely essential that He

should Himself "know no sin" otherwise He could never be the sin Bearer for others. In

Deut. 25: 1 the words "They shall condemn the wicked" reads, literally "They shall

MAKE him wicked" which employs a figure of speech, meaning `to declare' that he is

so. The other term "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" employs

the word ginomai `to become'. That there is much in common between these two words,

a reference to Gal. 3: 13 will reveal. There `being made a curse for us' is very close to

`being made sin for us', but II Cor. 5: 21 uses poieo whereas Gal 3: 13 uses ginomai.

So we might compare Eph. 2: 13 with 2: 15.  We "are made nigh" (ginomai), He

"made peace" (poieo). Let us use the one English word `become' in a few selected

passages where ginomai is employed--it may help us.

"Who became of the seed of David, according to the flesh" (Rom. 1: 4). "The

circumcision becomes uncircumcision" (Rom. 2: 25). "I have become all things to all

men" (I Cor. 9: 22). We might note that in II Cor. 5:, a little earlier than the verse we

have examined, we read "behold, all things are become new" where ginomai is used.

While poieo `made' indicates that Christ was appointed to be sin for us in His great office

of Sin-bearer, the word ginomai reveals that the believer `becomes', "comes into

existence" in the condition of being "the righteousness of God" in Him. Ginomai is used

of creation (John 1: 3; Heb. 11: 3) and of birth (Gal. 4: 4). It is used in the phrase "the

body that shall be" (I Cor. 15: 37).

Let us carefully note the steps or links in the Apostle's argument as indicated by the

prepositions employed in I Cor. 1: 30. "But OF Him", ek out of, denoting origin, as in

Rom. 11: 36, and I Cor. 8: 6 "But to us there is one God, the Father, OF Whom are all

things". The first thing to recognize is that the blessings of the gospel originate or take

their rise in God. The gospel preached by Paul is "The Gospel OF GOD". While it is

true that the gospel is "of God" it would be no gospel or message of good news to

sinful man, apart from Christ. "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world";

"God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son". God, in heaven, could not redeemed

"for as by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead". The whole

doctrine of the Kinsman-Redeemer that permeates the O.T., cries aloud for "The Word

made flesh", Emmanuel, God with us. Moreover, Paul does not say that these blessings

are "in Christ" or "in Jesus" or "in the Lord" or even "in Jesus Christ". He uses the title

"in Christ Jesus".

When all the revised readings are recognized it will be found that the title "Christ

Jesus" does not occur in the epistle to the Hebrews, is never found in the epistles of Peter,

James, John or Jude! One occurrence of this title is found in Acts, namely in the record

of Paul's preaching (Acts 24: 24 R.V.), the remainder of the occurrences are exclusive

to the epistles of Paul. The title is peculiar in that the order of the names is reversed. The

emphasis is upon Christ, the One Who on earth bore the name "Jesus".

Some of the blessings that are found "in Christ Jesus" are: