2 Corinthians 5:21

Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

The great substitutionary passages of Isaiah 53 are behind such a declaration as this. Christ bore the sins of all people; his stripes were the healing of all people; his chastisement was the peace of all people; his suffering was the salvation of all people. "God laid upon him the iniquity of us all."

The righteousness of God ... All of the righteousness of God ever achieved upon earth was wrought by Jesus our Lord. Those who would participate in the righteousness of God must do so "in him," that is, "in Christ." It has been admitted by all who ever studied the question that only "the righteousness of God" can save people; and that righteousness is "in Christ"; thus no man can be saved out of Christ. In this context, it should also be observed that the righteousness of God was the achievement of God himself in Christ; and, in answer to the question of what constituted that righteousness, it was the perfect faith and obedience of Christ. The faith that saves, in any absolute sense, is therefore the FAITH OF CHRIST, a fact dogmatically affirmed no less than seven times in the Greek New Testament (see my Commentary on Romans, pp. 118-140). Furthermore, even in the case of the faith of Christ, it was not "faith only," but the perfect faith and obedience of the Son of God which wrought the true righteousness which is the foundation of all human salvation in him!