EMPTY RECONCILIATION

What does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain? Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:1, "And working together we also are appealing to you not in vain to receive the grace of God." The words conclude Paul's explanation of God's reconciling work in Christ and the reconciling ministry we have toward others (2 Cor. 5:16-21). Therefore, Paul warns us not to receive God's grace in vain.

The infinitive "to receive" (δέξασθαι) means to receive a gift from someone or to receive someone into your home (BAGD, p.177). Paul uses the word in 2 Corinthians 7:15 to describe the reception the Corinthian church gave to Titus, his messenger. The negative particle (μὴ) goes with the infinitive rather than the verb "appeal" (παρακαλοῦμεν) because οὐκ is used with indicatives while μὴ is used with the other moods (BAGD, p.590). The sense is "we appeal to you not to receive" as opposed to "we do not appeal to you to receive." The phrase translated "in vain" (εἰς κενὸν) means without result, without reaching its goal. God's grace is empty and achieves no purpose (BAGD, p.427) if it is received in vain.

Is it even possible to receive the grace of God in a way that proves to be ineffective? Philip Hughes raises that question and then summarizes the four ways that this phrase is interpreted (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, pp.217-219). 1) Paul is talking about receiving God's grace in a purely external and superficial manner. Such a person is a professing Christian but not a true believer. However, the context makes it unlikely that Paul is talking about false professions of faith. 2) Paul is talking about a person who accepts God's grace only to reject it later. Such a person loses his salvation, thus receiving the grace in vain. This view flies in the face of Paul's statements elsewhere regarding salvation (e.g., Phil. 1:6) 3) Paul's appeal is not directed toward the Corinthians but to the world in general to whom God offers His reconciliation. Paul appeals to the world not to reject this great salvation. In this view, people do not receive the grace in vain. They never receive it all. 4) Paul is talking about Christians when they stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10)

The best interpretation is the fourth view. To receive the grace of God in vain is to live in ways that are inconsistent with grace. Our practice does not match our doctrine. Here we go back to the meaning of the word "vain" (κενὸν) above. The grace of God does not produce the intended results in our lives. Our actions constitute a denial of the truth. When we stand before Christ's judgment seat (the evaluation of believers not unbelievers), our actions will prove to be empty of eternal value. The purifying fire of God's judgment will consume the wood, hay, and stubble in our lives although we will be saved "as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

Paul writes these words in the context of a great parenthesis in his letter (2 Cor. 2:14 - 7:4) dealing with sin and conflict in the body. He exhorts them to forgive the sinful offender before the parenthesis and then commends them for that forgiveness after the parenthesis (2 Cor. 2:7, cf. 2 Cor. 7:12). The conflict includes Paul who has felt alienated from the people in Corinth (2:2:13, cf. 7:5-16). Reconciliation is meant to transform our relationships. If we are reconciled to God by His grace, then we should be reconciled to one another as well. If we are not reconciled with one another, then we have received God's grace in vain. In this case, His reconciling grace serves no purpose in our lives (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.166).

Horizontal reconciliation proves we have not received vertical reconciliation in vain!

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!

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!

HOW DO WE KNOW WHO WE KNOW?

Relationships are forever changed when we become Christians. We do not regard each other the same way in Christ as we did before Christ. Paul wrote: "For this reason, we, from now on, know no one according to the flesh. Although we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we no longer know Him in this way" (2 Corinthians 5:16). The old order of life has passed. Earthly distinctions no longer matter. A new way of life began in Christ. We can no longer evaluate each other according to the worldly criteria of social status, achievements or success. We must not bring those standards into the church because we have been changed.

DID PAUL KNOW JESUS DURING HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY? The word translated "although" literally means "even if" (εἰ καὶ). The condition is assumed to be true (Rienecker and Rogers, Linguistic Key, p.469). It is very possible that Paul did see Jesus during His earthly ministry since he came to Jerusalem to study under the Rabbi Gamaliel during his teen years when Jesus was alive (Witherington, The Paul Quest, p.307; F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, p.43). Some have gone so far as to suggest that Paul might have been the rich young ruler who interviewed Jesus (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.198). Whatever Paul's knowledge of the historical Jesus, he is drawing a sharp contrast between his former attitude toward Jesus and his current attitude toward Jesus (Bruce, Paul, p.99). The line separating the two attitudes cuts through the heart when anyone comes to Christ. We are forever changed by Christ to see Christ differently after regeneration.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO NO LONGER KNOW CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FLESH? The prepositional phrase "according to the flesh" (κατὰ σάρκα) is adverbial, modifying the verb "have known" (ἐγνώκαμεν) not the noun "Christ" (Χριστόν). The way we know is according to the flesh or not according to the flesh (Witherington, Conflict and Community, p.394). The standard for measuring our knowledge is fleshly or not fleshly. If we know Christ by the superficial standards of this world - who He is, what He did, what He said - we are no different than many. Crowds followed Jesus but they did not know Jesus in a spiritually regenerate way. Many today claim to know Jesus because they know about Jesus, but to know about Jesus is not to know Jesus at all (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.201). Our conversion changes how we know Christ. True Christians no longer know Christ by the superficial standards of the world. True Christians no longer know Christ "according to the flesh" (κατὰ σάρκα). We know Christ by "the Spirit of the Living God" (πνεύματι Θεοῦ ζῶντος, 2 Corinthians 3:3).

HOW DO WE KNOW NO ONE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH? Paul starts with this assertion. We evaluate others and are evaluated by others according to an entirely new standard of knowing. We no longer judge others or are judged by others according to the world's standards of success. Being in Christ changes how we relate to others in Christ. External, superficial, outward measurements should not determine how we relate to one another. Wealth, status, position and achievement are not the yardsticks for our relationships in Christ. We know no one by these standards. We judge ministry by different standards as well. We died in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14), so we live by the standards of the cross. The crucified life marks our relationships forever. We know who we know at the foot of the cross.