7. A Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Audio
(22:24) | Print this Page
Sign up now for a free
Galatians Bible Study
|
Bernardo Daddi, “St. Paul” (1333), tempera on panel, 233.7 x 89.2
cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. |
This lesson is very much a continuation of the themes of the
previous lesson. Paul has talked about Christ’s love that compels us to persuade
men of the truth of the gospel in light of the judgment. Now he turns to what
this salvation looks like in an individual and our role in the process of God’s
program of reconciliation.
Because Christ died for all, Paul now sees each person in a
different light.
“16 So from now on we regard no one from
a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no
longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!” (5:16-17)
So often we judge people according to the various categories
we have set up – male / female, hetero / homo, black / white /Asian / Hispanic,
white collar / working class / unemployed, married / single / living-together,
conservative / moderate / liberal, Republican / Democrat / Independent, child /
teen / young adult / middle aged / old. We pigeon-hole people into our own
categories and then can’t see beyond them to what actually defines them as
people. This is a worldly point-of-view.[203]
Jesus sees them differently. He sees God at work in them.
Paul once regarded Christ as a heretical Jewish rabbi,
thankfully executed for his sins, and his followers as dangerous subversives who
must be stopped at any cost. But outside Damascus everything changed. Paul cried
out, “Who are you, Lord?” And the answer he received turned his world upside
down: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5).
Paul had what is called a “paradigm shift.” That is, the
working hypothesis by which he evaluated his world was dramatically altered. Now
he saw everything in a new light.
In the same way, Paul says,
“16 So from now on we regard no one from
a worldly point of view..... 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (5:16a, 17)
People who find Jesus and are rescued by him don’t just “get
religion.” They are changed in some fundamental way. Paul calls them “a new
creation.” “Creation/creature” is ktisis, “the result of a creative act,
that which is created.”[204]
The New Testament uses several other words to describe this, including:
- Born again/anew/from above (John 3:3, 5; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 3:9;
5:18)
- Made alive, quickened (Ephesians 2:5; John 5:24; 1 John 3:14)
- Regenerated, rebirth (Titus 3:5)
- Washed (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5)
- Renewed (Ephesians 3:10)
- Sealed (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30)
We Christians believe that when Jesus saves us and puts
his Holy Spirit in our hearts that a life-altering change has taken place. A new
life has been formed by the Creator, which is being nurtured by the Holy Spirit.
If you are discouraged at the little fruit in your life or
the little change, look to your Creator! He has put his life within you and set
you on a new course. You have changed on the inside. Now just cooperate with him
so that the inward change begins to affect and alter your outward life as well.
It is a process. It takes time. But the beginning creative work of the Holy
Spirit has begun.
This verse brings to mind a simple chorus:
“I’ll never be the same again, oh no,
I’ll never be the same again, oh no,
Since I found the Lord, I am not the same,
And I’ll never be the same again!”[205]
Q1. (2 Corinthians 5:16-17) What does verse 17 teach us
about the nature of a new believer? What changes in a person when he puts his
faith in Christ? Why don’t old habits disappear immediately if everything has
become new?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1095
We Christians are not members of an exclusive “born again”
club. Far from it! We have a message that he can change anyone! Jesus can rescue
and renew anyone! There is hope in Jesus! Now Paul points us to our own personal
mission.
“18 All this is from God, who reconciled
us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting
men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation.” (5:18-19)
To reconcile means to exchange hostility for a friendly
relationship.[206]
To restore to friendship or harmony.[207]
Families sometimes have a falling out. Sisters no longer speak to one another.
Husbands leave, wives and children are abandoned. Adultery and alcoholism and
greed alienate people. Reconciliation is needed, to take what was broken and
mend it, to heal a relationship. That’s what God has done.
The problem is that many times it isn’t just an unfortunate
misunderstanding. It is caused and exacerbated by grievous sins. Unless the man
is willing to forsake his philandering ways, his wife is unwilling to take him
back. Unless the woman deals with her drug addiction, her relationship with her
children can never be healed.
Now look at what God did about the sin that was at the root
of our estrangement from God.
“God ... reconciled us to himself through Christ....
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins
against them.” (5:18b-19a)
The reason that God could justly stop counting our sins
against him is because he had laid those sins on Christ, “the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In two other letters, Paul
discusses this act of reconciliation that centers on the cross.
“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been
reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10)
“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical
body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free
from accusation.” (Colossians 1:22)
God is the chief Reconciler by sending his Son to bear our
sins. But now he delegates to us a role in this reconciliation process.
“All this is from God, who ... gave us the ministry of reconciliation[208]....
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal
through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (5:18-20)
Paul discusses three roles that we have in his reconciliation
program:
- Ministry of Reconciliation. “Ministry” is diakonia, “functioning in the interest of a larger public, service, office.”[209]
We have an official capacity to fulfill. In America, the government usually has
departments or agencies. But in Europe they’re often called ministries. Instead
of America’s Secretary of State, England has a Foreign Minister. In the same
way, we are official representatives, ministers of God’s Ministry of
Reconciliation.
- Message of Reconciliation. “Message” (NIV, NRSV),
“word” (KJV) is logos, here, “a communication whereby the mind finds
expression, word.”[210]
This word or message has been “committed” (NIV, KJV) or “entrusted” (NRSV) to
us.[211] The Message puts it this way: “God has given us the task of telling
everyone what he is doing.” (5:19).
- Ambassadors of Christ. “Ambassador” is the verb
presbeuō, “be an ambassador/envoy, travel or work as an ambassador.”[212]
(We get our words “presbyter” and “Presbyterian” from this root.) Literally,
this phrase would read, “On behalf of (hyper) of Christ we serve as
ambassadors....”
Hyper is a preposition indicating that an activity or event is in some
entity’s interest, “for, in behalf of, for the sake of someone or something.”[213]
An ambassador in a country’s foreign service lives in a
foreign country, but is charged with communicating clearly his president’s or
prime minister’s words and positions. An ambassador cannot operate in silence,
but is a constant voice who bears his kingdom’s message. See how personal and
direct this communication can be:
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though
God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be
reconciled to God.” (5:20)
“Appeal” (NIV, NRSV), “beseech” (KJV) is parakaleō,
which means here, “to urge strongly, appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage,”[214]
and is used in this strong sense also in 12:8. The word could be translated, “to
beg.” It’s that strong!
Dear friends, we may not be foreign missionaries like the
Apostle Paul, representing Jesus abroad. But we are very clearly Jesus’ personal
representatives in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our
families. There is a sense, when we share the good news with people, that we are
conveying Jesus’ own personal love for that person. We also convey his
authority. This delegation of love, authority, and message is indeed awesome!
“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am
sending you.” (John 20:21)
“He who listens to you listens to me; he
who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
(Luke 10:16; cf. Matthew 10:40)
“I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send
accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” (John 13:20)
Perhaps we would prefer to be quiet rather than take upon
ourselves this kind of responsibility. But if we remain quiet, then the Kingdom
of God has a faithless representative in the workplace, in the family, in the
community. We cannot bear the name of Christ with authenticity unless we are
willing to represent him as his ambassadors, as inadequate as we may feel we are
for this task.
Q2. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) How have we humans been
reconciled to God? What did God do so that reconciliation could take place? In
what sense are you an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God? In what sense are you a
Minister of Reconciliation for Jesus Christ?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1096
Now Paul shares part of the essential message of
reconciliation, that our sins no longer need to be a barrier between us and God.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (5:21)
This verse is one of the clearest statements in the entire
Bible of the Doctrine of the Substitutionary Atonement (also known as penal
substitution or vicarious atonement). This refers to the Bible teaching that
Jesus bore the penalty for our sins and took our place, so we didn’t have to die
for our own sins. A “substitute,” of course, is “a person or thing that takes
the place or function of another.”[215]
Let’s examine this verse carefully.
Jesus had no sin. In a number of places, the Scripture
affirms that Jesus did not sin and had no sin in himself to atone for (Hebrews
4:5; 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2:1; John 14:30; 1 Peter 3:18). This alone
sets him apart from any other human, from any other founder of a religion. He
uniquely is sinless.[216]
“God made him to be sin.” God is the subject of this
sentence.[217]
God “made”[218]
Jesus to be sin. That is, Jesus became the bearer of sin, as would a sacrifice
under the Mosaic Law.
“For us” (NIV, KJV), “for our sake” (NRSV) represents
the preposition hyper (that we examined in verse 20), “for, in behalf of,
for the sake of someone or something.”[219]
“So that is the conjunction hina, a very common
marker used to denote purpose, aim, or goal, “in order that, that,” in the final
sense.[220]
God’s action was for the expressed purpose to free us from sin.
“In him.” We are now looked at by God as fused to
Jesus Christ. We are united to him.
“We might become the righteousness of God.” The verb
is ginomai, “be, become,” here in the sense, “to experience a change in
nature and so indicate entry into a new condition, become something.”[221]
The verb is in the Aorist tense which suggests a sudden event, not a gradual
process. “Righteousness” is dikaiosynē, here, the “quality or state of
juridical correctness with focus on redemptive action, righteousness.”[222]
Because Jesus took our sins upon him, we take upon us his righteousness which
comes from God. It was this righteousness that Paul sought. Righteousness
obtained by obeying the law could do nothing to atone for sins. Paul expressed
the desire to:
“... be found in him, not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the
righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)
Though our passage teaches the Doctrine of the
Substitutionary Atonement quite clearly, it is taught throughout the New
Testament. Some of these passages include:
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and
said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have
been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, alluding to Isaiah 53:5)
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18a)
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not
only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Q3. (2 Corinthians 5:21) In what sense did Jesus “become
sin” on our behalf? In what sense do we “become righteousness”?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1097
You can hear Paul the Preacher in this passage. He is
appealing to the Corinthian believers directly. Two verses previous he had said:
“... As though God were making his appeal (parakaleō)
through us. We implore (deomai) you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to
God.” (5:20)
Now he continues this appeal:
“As God’s fellow workers we urge (parakaleō)
you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” (6:1)
To “receive God’s grace in vain” would mean that though
they had been pardoned and cleansed by God and had been given a responsibility
to share the good news of this reconciliation and atonement, but that they did
nothing with it. They stayed silent. Paul isn’t implying that the Corinthians
had received God’s grace in vain. He only exhorts them that there should be good
fruit through their ministry to others.
What’s more, this is an urgent matter.
“For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s
favor, now is the day of salvation.” (6:2)
We aren’t to put off sharing the good news to a more
convenient time – or resist God’s speaking to us for another time. Paul cites
Isaiah 49:8 here to underscore his appeal. “Now” is the time. “Today” is the
day. We aren’t to put it off, or God’s work in us could be in vain.
This has been a rich chapter. Paul has exhorted the
Corinthians of the urgency of Christ’s love to see people become Christians, and
to experience the new creation of the Holy Spirit. This reconciliation was God’s
purpose in sending Christ and we are ambassadors of this message. It is a strong
message, an urgent message, and one that God is still speaking to us today.
Q4. (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2) If you, then, are called to
be an urgent agent of reconciliation, how is this likely to affect your daily
life? How will it affect how people perceive you? How will it affect how God
perceives you?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1098
Prayer
Lord, put in our hearts the compelling love for Jesus that
will share his message, speak his words, become ambassadors and reconcilers on
his behalf. Thank you for the great price you paid through the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. Use us, we pray, in your grand plan of salvation for those around
us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Key Verses
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though
God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be
reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is
the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2b)
End Notes
2 Corinthians Bible Study
Copyright © 1985-2012, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
joyfulheart.com> All rights reserved. A single copy of this article is free. Do not put this on a website. See legal, copyright, and reprint information.
Christmas Incarnation
