THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

To reconcile is to make peace, to bring an end to hostility. We live in a hostile world. The root of that hostility is bound up in man's rebellion against God which leads to hostility towards others. Paul wrote, Now all these things (the new creation, vs.17) are from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and who gave to us the ministry of reconciliation, that is God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting against them their sins, and having deposited in us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Reconciliation begins with God and ends with man. God is no helpless victim of man's hostility. The hostility goes both directions. Humans rebelled against God and God is angry at humans. If we do not take the wrath of God seriously, then the cross becomes a cruel and unjust exercise of a petty deity. God, on the cross, poured out His wrath upon Christ to reconcile us to Himself (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.205). God takes the initiative in reconciliation. The verb translated "reconciled" (καταλλάξαντος) is in the active voice. Paul always uses the active voice of this verb to indicate God's actions while the passive voice indicates our response. God reconciles us. We are reconciled to God (Witherington, Conflict & Community in Corinth, p.396, fn. 14). The voice of the verb is theologically important. We cannot reconcile ourselves to God. Only God can reconcile us to Himself because only He can remove His hostility toward us.

The structure of these two verses in the Greek text is significant. God made peace with us by not counting against us our sins. How? He made peace with us because Jesus became sin for us (v.21). The cross is the foundation for our ministry of reconciliation. Vertical peace with God precedes horizontal peace with others. The cross is the basis for all peacemaking on earth.

God reconciled us to Himself through Christ
                        and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself
          not counting against them their sins
                        and having deposited in us the word of reconciliation.

Two parallel clauses describe our peacemaking service in this world. God gave, and God deposited. God gave (δόντος) to us the ministry of reconciliation. God acted unilaterally to remove His hostility toward us by paying for it on the cross. Reconciliation is His gift to us, so the ministry of reconciliation is also His gift to us (NIDNTT, 3:166). Ministry or service (διακονίαν) is a gift even as it is a deposit. God deposited (θέμενος) in us the word of reconciliation. The verb translated "deposited" is an Aorist participle of the verb τίθημι which means to put, place or lay something (BAGD, p.815). God put in us the word of reconciliation.

The ministry (διακονίαν) and the word (λόγον) are parallel. The ministry of reconciliation consists of the word of reconciliation. We announce peace. We proclaim the end of hostility. We speak reconciliation. As has often been said, the gospel is not good advice. It is good news. Our job is to announce the good news. We must be careful not to turn the good news into bad news by adding qualifiers to the word of reconciliation deposited in our lives. Our lives should reflect the reconciliation we received.

Vertical peace with God paves the way for horizontal peace with others. Paul is writing to a divided and conflicted church. The Christians were quarreling with each other and with him. Such fights are inconsistent with Christianity. We are given the ministry of peace talking. Peace talking is deposited in our lives. We are called to be peace talkers. The ministry of reconciliation is inextricably bound up in the apostolic preaching of the cross. We cannot at the same time announce peace with God while living in enmity with men!

A NEW WORLD DAWNING

The dawn of a new world has broken over the horizon of darkness. We, Christians, are the vanguard of God's new creation which will someday wholly replace the old world order. Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the entire old order has passed away, behold the new has come to be (2 Corinthians 5:17).

There is no verb in the opening clause so we must supply one. A common interpretation is to make this into a statement of personal regeneration. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The noun (κτίσις) can mean "creature," and it is certainly legitimate to supply "he is" as the verb. The verse would be understood as an explanation of regeneration. The form of the expression is similar to Rabbinic language for proselyte conversion and the forgiveness of sins (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p. 534). Paul uses similar language when he writes that we are created (κτισθέντες) in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). 

However, I think it best to understand the verse as speaking about a new creation that Christians inhabit when we are placed into Christ. Do the words "new creation" (καινὴ κτίσις) explain the person (anyone, τις) or "in Christ" (ἐν Χριστῷ)? The emphasis falls on "in Christ." The new creation defines "in Christ" more than personal regeneration (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p. 152). We become part of a new creation in Christ. The old world order has passed away for us, and we are now part of a whole new world that has dawned. We certainly must be new creatures (by regeneration) to be part of the new creation, but I think the emphasis is on what it means to be part of the new creation for three reasons.

1) The noun κτίσις is more commonly used for God's creation whereas the noun κτίσμα is more commonly understood as creatures (NIDNTT, 1:378). James 1:18 says that God brought us forth ... so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures (κτισμάτων). The Qumran sect used the concept of a new creation (κτίσις) to refer to a new world order that the righteous would inhabit after the old world order disintegrated (NIDNTT, 1:383).

2) The following clause explains the new creation. Paul says the old order has passed away. The neuter plural adjective (τὰ ἀρχαῖα) means the total of everything old (Robertson, Grammar, p. 654). When combined with the verb "passed away" (παρῆλθεν) the sense refers to an old world order (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p. 534). The verb translated "passed away" is used elsewhere for the passing away of an old world order (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p. 203, fn 42). Peter uses this word in 2 Peter 3:10 to describe the Day of the Lord when the heavens will pass away (παρελεύσονται) with a roar (cf. Mt. 24:35). John uses a similar verb in Revelation 21:4 when he describes a world without death, mourning or pain because the first things have passed away (ἀπῆλθαν). 

3) The opening word of the verse (ὥστε) ties verse 17 directly to verse 16. Verse 17 is the result of what he has said in verse 16. Our relationships with one another and with Christ have been completely changed because we are part of a whole new creation. We no longer recognize others according to our physical connections, but we relate to one another in a new and spiritual way. The prejudices of the old world have passed away in this new creation. In Christ, we practice a new way of relating to others because we are part of a new creation.

A new world order is dawning. Because we are new creations in Christ, we are part of a new creation of Christ. One day we will see the new world in all its glory. We will see a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away (ἀπῆλθαν). We will finally and fully experience our new creation relationships with God and with others in ways we can only glimpse today (Revelation 21:1-4). Awesome!