Fashioned for righteousness
2 Corinthians 5.21— 21 God For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we

might become the righteousness of God.

In the final verses of this chapter, Paul creates a summation of all his thoughts so far and centres them around the act of God that is crucial for our salvation—the cross. Paul declares that we are ambas- sadors for Christ. It is important to note how Paul understood the word Christ. Naturally, this can
get lost in our English language. For Paul, ‘Christ’ was not simply a pronoun but rather a title, a sig- nifier of who Jesus is. Christ is Messiah, King, ruler of Israel and even more than that, as is echoed throughout the Psalms, king of the world. No wonder Paul was compelled to drive forward in the mission of Christ—that all people should be reconciled back to God.

And why? Not only because of the extraordinary act of grace that was demonstrated on the cross but also, that we might become the righteousness of God. To understand this lets consider what Paul also wrote in Romans. The righteousness of God signified God’s faithfulness to his promises. The promises he made to Abraham, Moses, David and now, through Christ in his life, death and res- urrection.

And now to us. An incredible mission awaits us. As Paul called the Corinthians to prepare and ready themselves to become the embodiment of the promises and faithfulness of God, so now that charge is with us also.

Stop and breathe.
Holy Spirit, may we be a community of believers that ready themselves to be ambassadors for Je-

sus. Open our ears, sharpen our eyes, ready our hearts.