THE PRICE OF PEACE

The clearest and most important verse in the Bible regarding justification is 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made peace with us by removing the enmity between us, but someone must pay to reconcile enemies. Forensic payment for sin is justification. Paul writes, "Be reconciled to God. The one who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Verse 21 is an example of asyndeton, a sentence that is grammatically unconnected to what comes before or after (MHT, Grammar, 3:340). Paul's transition from the topic of reconciliation to justification is abrupt without any connecting particles. The verse stands alone grammatically but is essential to the overall argument Paul advances. To be reconciled requires us to be justified.

God made (ἐποίησεν) the sinless Christ to be sin for us. Christ is sin. He is neither sinner nor sin offering. Christ is sin (ἁμαρτία) not a sinner (ἁμαρτωλός). This point is important theologically for if Christ became a sinner, He could not die for our sins. God made him sin itself, the object of God's forensic anger so that our sin could be judged and removed. Reconciliation depends on the removal of that which caused God anger by the satisfying of His judicial wrath. Furthermore, Christ is not merely a sin offering like the scapegoat under the Mosaic law. We discern this truth because of the double use of the noun "sin" which requires us to take both uses of sin in the same way. While it is possible to understand "he made Him sin" as "He made him a sin offering," it is not possible to take "the one who knew no sin" as "the one who knew no sin offering." Therefore both uses of the word must mean sin, not sin offering (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, pp. 213-215).

The two clauses are parallel, Paul draws a sharp contrast between sin (ἁμαρτίαν) and righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) and between made (ἐποίησεν) and might become (γενώμεθα). Christ was made sin. We are not made righteous. Our righteousness is a gift of God in Christ. It is the righteousness of God (θεοῦ) which must be understood as a subjective genitive meaning that the righteousness comes from God. It is also only a righteousness found in Him (ἐν αὐτῷ). The antecedent must be Christ (Χριστοῦ) in verse 20. God gives us His righteousness because of our union with Christ.

Since righteousness is a gift from God (Rom. 5:17), it cannot mean good works. Good works cannot be given to us. The righteousness Paul is talking about must refer to a right relationship with God. God confers a standing of righteousness on us in Christ. God provides the right standing Christ bought for us. The gift is judicial righteousness on the basis of His payment for sin. In this sense, our sin is imputed to Christ, and His right standing with God is imputed to us (Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, pp.281-282). God both requires of us and provides to us His righteousness. The verb "might become" (γενώμεθα) infers a growing life of actual righteousness (good works) as the result of this conferral of judicial righteousness (Eph. 2:10) although Paul's emphasis is forensic in this passage.

Reconciliation depends on justification and justification depends on atonement. Justification is judicial forgiveness. Christ paid the price for God to forgive. Because God forgives, we can be reconciled to God and offer reconciliation to others. The price tag of peace is payment for sins.

AMBASSADORS FOR PEACE

Our mission is the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). God reconciled us to Himself in Christ, "therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20).

The word translated "ambassadors" (πρεσβεύομεν) is a verb, not a noun. Originally, the verb meant to be the oldest or to assume first place in rank. By the time of Paul, the verb came to mean the actions of an ambassador who represents another person in negotiations (NIDNTT, 1:193). The word was used to refer to the Emperor's legate, one who carries out the official duties of an envoy or emissary. Those duties could include petition and intercession on behalf of the king (M&M, Vocabulary of the Greek NT, p.534). Paul uses the same verb to describe his mission in Ephesians 6:20 where he writes, "I am an ambassador in chains" (πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει). Chains may become the badge of our position because we represent a king, not of this world.

We act as representatives not just on behalf of Christ but in place of Christ (ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ). The prepositional phrase is placed first in the sentence for emphasis. It is true that the preposition ὑπὲρ does not necessarily infer a substitutionary meaning like the preposition ἀντὶ. However, ὑπὲρ is often used in a vicarious way meaning "instead of" or "in place of" someone else, and the context here supports such a substitutionary meaning (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.209, fn 48, see p.193, fn 24). We are ambassadors in place of Jesus Christ which is why when we speak we are speaking "as though God were making an appeal through us." The particle ὡς followed by the genitive absolute τοῦ θεοῦ makes the genitive the subject of the participle παρακαλοῦντος (R&R, Linguistic Key, p.470). The better translation would read: "We are ambassadors in place of Christ, with the conviction that God is appealing through us." When we as His ambassadors talk peace, God talks through us. God is present in our words (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.156).

Our mission is to call all people to "be reconciled to God" (καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ). Paul does not say that we call people to believe they are reconciled. We plead with people to be reconciled (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.397, fn 16). People are to put away the enmity in their hearts toward God (repentance) by accepting God's peace achieved for them in Christ (faith). God appeals (παρακαλοῦντος) to people through us. The verb means to implore, entreat or request people to be reconciled (BAGD, p.617).

The appeal to be vertically reconciled to God leads naturally into the appeal to be horizontally reconciled to each other. Paul is not only thinking of the outside world in this appeal. He is thinking about the Corinthians themselves as the following verses make clear. He is concerned that the professing Christians in Corinth might have received the grace of God in vain according to the next verse (2 Cor. 6:1) so he urges or appeals (παρακαλοῦμεν) to them to be reconciled.  Later he will beg them to "make room for him in their hearts" (2 Cor. 7:2-4). Paul sees the dynamic connection between vertical and horizontal reconciliation.

We are ambassadors for peace in a hostile world. No peace with God means no peace with others. No peace with others is a sign we have no peace with God. God talks peace when we talk peace! Lord, help me to be a peacemaker for you.

RECONCILING THE WORLD

Reconciliation is a two-way street. God must reconcile us to Himself, and we must be reconciled to Him. There is enmity between God and man which goes both directions. Our rebellion against God must be reconciled, and God's anger toward us must be reconciled. Paul writes that "God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ" (2 Cor. 5:19) and then concludes with an appeal to "be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20). The compound verb translated "reconcile" (καταλλάσσων)  is perfective meaning to effect a complete change back from enmity to peace (MHT, Grammar, 3:298). Reconciliation is not complete until both sides are reconciled.

Paul is the only one who uses the verb καταλλάσσω for the relationship between God and man. The active voice is only used of God, and the passive voice is only used for humans (TDNT, 1:255). We do not achieve reconciliation with God. Reconciliation with God is never something we can accomplish. To imply otherwise is to deny the gospel - the good news of what God has done for us (Denney, 2 Corinthians, 211-215 cited by Martin, 2 Corinthians, 154).

In Christ, God was reconciling the world "to Himself" (ἑαυτῷ). God pacified Himself in Christ. The sacrifice of the Son appeased the anger of the Father. Paul writes, "while we were enemies we were reconciled (κατηλλάγημεν) to God through the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10). God made peace with Himself for us so that no impediment stood between Him and us any longer. He reconciled (active voice); we were reconciled (passive voice)! He did it for us! This is the essence of the good news.

When Paul writes that God "was reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19), he was not suggesting universalism. The present tense of the verb (καταλλάσσων) indicates continuous, ongoing reconciliation. The "world" (κόσμον) refers to a class of people. The absence of an article gives the noun a collective sense. He is referring to mankind as a whole. God is "not imputing to them" (αὐτοῖς) "their" (αὐτῶν) "sins." The plural pronouns refer back to a collective singular (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, 147). The individual members of the collective world are being reconciled to God down through history.

Paul does not mean that all humans, believing and unbelieving, are forgiven, but God, in Christ, forgives the sins of those who are part of the collective world (Hodge, 2 Corinthians, 145). Imputation was sufficient for the whole world but efficient only in Christ. The cross was sufficient to remove the judicial anger on God's side, but it does not remove the rebellion on our side of reconciliation. Humans must receive the reconciliation to be reconciled. We must accept what God has done for us before reconciliation is complete for both sides.

How else can we understand Paul's appeal to "be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:21)? The verb is in the passive voice. We appeal to humans to be reconciled (καταλλάγητε) to God. Humans don't reconcile themselves to God. Humans accept the reconciliation God has made for them by turning away from their rebellion to enjoy peace with God. God commissions us to urge people to receive the reconciliation provided by God. The Gospel is good news because we declare what God has done not what we must do to be reconciled to God!