2 Corinthians 5

17 so then, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old things have passed on; look, all has become new!*This is neither immediate nor automatic; it is potential. No benefit of the shed blood of God’s Lamb is automatic; it must be appropriated. 18 And that ‘all’ is from the God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus*Perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts omit "Jesus", to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. Christ and given us the ministry of the reconciliation,*Yes, the reconciliation—no other reconciling compares with reconciling men to God. 19 namely that in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself,*Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! not imputing their trespasses to them, including committing to us the message of this reconciliation.

20 So then, we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God! 21 Because He made the One who did not know sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become God’s righteousness.*Here we are face to face with the mystery of our redemption. Jesus, God’s Son, never sinned, did not ‘know’ sin, experientially, but He was "made to be sin" on our behalf. It is a grim picture, as though on the cross He was changed into a bundle of sin. And in exchange He gave us His righteousness. How can we ‘measure’ or understand such love? It is beyond our comprehension. As Romans 11:33 expresses it: "Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"